A brilliant audiobook that is a MUST-OWN!

I loved this book. It is nicely divided into 4 sections (Ancient antiquity, bronze age collapse, early Rome and Greece and the Fall of Rome.) and each section gets a dozen or so obscure ancient societies as split into chapters which average abput 10 or 15 minutes to listen to. In my opinion, it is the ideal book for anyone interested in antiquity — it features many civilizations you have likely heard about but perhaps only by name or reputation or even in the bible. it begins with Ancient mesopotamia, discussing the Akkadians, the Medes, the Canaanites, etc, works it's way to the Hyksos rule of Egypt, the Bactrians of Afghanistan, the Thracian king feeding his guests at a banquet by literally "HURLING CHUNKS OF BREAD AND MEAT DOWN THE TABLE AT THEM". And on we go through the Roman Republic/Kingdom/Empire discussing the wide myriad of barbarian invaders like Visigoths and deeper yet, and most joyfully for anyone interested in History, discuss societies like the Catuvellani, the Celtiberians, or the Batavi whom even someone well versed in history such as myself had never even heard of. it also gets into a very, very good discussion regarding the fate of the Lost Tribes of Israel in the context of ancient societies moreso than in the biblical context. A worthy listen!

in addition to this, as all information is gleaned from ancient first-hand sources and archaeological findings, you also inherently learn more and become more intimate with the societies writing these reports of foreign tribes, you get a clearer mind of what the Romans Greeks and Egyptians were thinking and what their own societies reflected.

A brilliant book with a brilliant narrator I have listened to this book 20 times and I still hear little facts I missed from previous runs. I cannot extoll the virtues of this book enough, Please buy it! it's worth every dime.

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