Ancient History

History is like a tree—the ancient parts are roots, and as the story progresses the trunk rises and branches expand to encompass every person and event since Adam and Eve. Because history is unified, every element of the story is interconnected, even if that connection is distant. Furthermore, the current parts are all directly the product of the parts that have come before, and to understand the current situation you'll need to understand the past.

Understanding the ancient history roots at the bottom of the tree is essential for a proper perspective of everything that comes after. Some people take this too far and assume that ancient history is all that matters, but those who disregard it or understand it on no more than a cursory level are just as mistaken. Just as a building must have a strong foundation, so a study of history must begin in the right place.

The ancient world was different from ours, and the same. It was different in primarily physical ways: technology was less advanced, there were fewer people, and the general standard of living was far below what we enjoy (at least in the industrialized world). However, human nature never changes, and the same universal conflict that exists today—between God's children and His enemies—raged then.

It's interesting to what extent the dominant theories and philosophies of the modern world reflect those of the ancients. There is truly nothing new under the sun, and the Enlightenment rationalism, faith in human progress, belief in man's innate goodness, evolutionary idealism, and even postmodernism against which Christians fight all have their roots in the ideas of the Babylonians, Greeks, Egyptians, and every other early civilization.

That doesn't mean there isn't a clear trajectory from the ancient world to the present. Ideas all run a distinct course, and some reach prominence at different times; while the seeds of every successive philosophy were sown in the ancient world, it took time to grow them into what we recognize how as humanism, modernism, postmodernism, and the ever-illusory post-postmodernism.

The same is true of events. The history of any period is simply the chronicle of man's attempts to thwart God's will and Yahweh's use of even the most outrageous rebellion to achieve His own ends. In some ways, this is more obvious in ancient history, as the nation of Israel fought the surrounding nations, and too often embraced their paganism.

That story, of God's work among His people and in the world, and of man's continual rebellion, is also our story. The Church fights the same battles our Israelite forefathers did, though on a more ideological rather than physical scale. When we realize how much the story of the ancients is our own story, the significance of studying their world becomes much clearer, and the urgency of such study is made plain.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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Aeneid
by Virgil, translated by Robert Fitzgerald
from Vintage Classics
Ancient Literature/Epic Poetry for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$16.00 $8.50 (1 in stock)
Aeneid
by Virgil, translated by Robert Fagles
from Penguin Putnam
for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$19.00
Aeschylus II: The Oresteia
The Complete Greek Tragedies
by Aeschylus (translation by Richmond Lattimore)
3rd edition from University of Chicago
Ancient Greek Tragedy for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$14.00
Aeschylus' Oresteia
Penguin Classics
by Aeschylus (translation by Robert Fagles)
from Penguin Classics
Ancient Greek Tragedy for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$16.00
Aeschylus' Oresteia
by Aeschylus, translated by Peter Meineck
from Hackett Publishing Company
Ancient Greek Tragedy for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$13.50
Aeschylus' Oresteian Trilogy
Penguin Classics
by Aeschylus, translated by Phillip Vellacott
from Penguin Classics
Ancient Greek Tragedy for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$13.00 $7.00 (1 in stock)
Ancient Rome
by Richard Maybury
2nd edition from Bluestocking Press
for 9th-Adult
in Uncle Eric books (Location: ECON-ERIC)
$11.95
Annals of Imperial Rome
Penguin Classics
by Tacitus
from Penguin Classics
Historical Non-Fiction for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$19.00
Bacchae and Other Plays
Penguin Classics
by Euripides (translation by John Davies)
from Penguin Classics
Ancient Tragedy for 11th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$12.00
Bacchae and Other Plays
Penguin Classics
by Euripides (translation by Phillip Vellacott)
from Penguin Classics
Ancient Tragedy for 11th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$13.00
Basic Works of Aristotle
by Aristotle
from Modern Library
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$24.00
Civil War
Penguin Classics
by Julius Caesar
from Penguin Classics
Primary Source Documents for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$14.00
Conquest of Gaul
Penguin Classics
by Julius Caesar
from Penguin Classics
Primary Source Documents for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$12.00
Consolation of Philosophy
by Ancius Boethius
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$16.00
Darius, Artaxerxes, and Ahasuerus in the Bible
by James B. Jordan
from Athanasius Press
for 9th-Adult
in Bible Commentaries (Location: XBI-COMM)
$8.95
Early History of Rome
by Livy
from Penguin Classics
Historical Non-Fiction for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$16.00
Euclid's Elements
by Euclid & Sir Thomas Heath (translator)
2nd edition from Green Lion Press
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$29.95
Euripides I
by Euripides
from University of Chicago
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$12.00
Euripides: The Trojan Women and Hippolytus
by Euripides
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$2.50
Flames of Rome
by Paul L. Maier
2nd edition from Kregel Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.99 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Foxe's Book of Martyrs
by John Foxe
from Bridge-Logos
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$18.99
Gorgias
Penguin Classics
by Plato
from Penguin Classics
Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$10.00
Gorgias
Oxford World's Classics
by Plato
from Oxford University
Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$8.95 $6.00 (2 in stock)
Greek Lives
by Plutarch, translated by Robin Waterfield
1st Reissue from Oxford University
Biography for 11th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$13.95
Heroes of the City of Man
by Peter Leithart
from Canon Press
for 9th-Adult
in Classical Literature Guides (Location: LIR-CLA)
$25.00
Histories
Penguin Classics
by Herodotus (translation by Aubrey De Sélincourt)
from Penguin Classics
Historical Non-Fiction for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$13.00
Histories
Penguin Classics
by Herodotus (translation by Robin Waterfield)
from Oxford University
Historical Non-Fiction for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$10.95 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Histories
Penguin Classics
by Herodotus (translation by David Grene)
from University of Chicago
Historical Non-Fiction for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$16.00
History of the Ancient World - Study & Teaching Guide
by Julia Kaziewicz
1st edition from Well-Trained Mind Press
for 9th-12th grade
in Story of the World (Location: HISCUR-SoW)
$27.95 $14.00 (1 in stock)
History of the Medieval World - Study & Teaching Guide
by Julia Kaziewicz
1st edition from Well-Trained Mind Press
for 9th-12th grade
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$44.95 $30.00 (1 in stock)
How the West Won
by Rodney Stark
from Intercollegiate Studies Institute
for 12th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$18.00
Iliad
by Homer (translation by Robert Fagles)
from Penguin Putnam
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$20.00
Iliad
by Homer (translation by Robert Fitzgerald)
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Ancient Literature for 11th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$17.00
Iliad
by Homer (translation by Robert Fagles)
from Penguin Putnam
for 11th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$18.00
Iliad
by Homer (translation by Caroline Alexander)
from Ecco Press
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$19.99
Iliad of Homer
by Homer (translation by Richmond Lattimore)
from University of Chicago
Ancient Literature/Epic Poetry for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$15.00
Landmark Herodotus
by Herodotus (translated by Andrea Purvis & edited by Robert Strassler)
from Random House
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$30.00
Landmark Thucydides
by Thucydides
from Simon and Schuster
Historical Non-Fiction for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$32.00
Lysistrata and Other Plays
by Aristophanes
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$12.00
Medea and Other Plays
by Euripides
from Penguin Putnam
Drama for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$11.00
Meditations
by Marcus Aurelius
from Modern Library
Classic Literature for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$11.00
Metamorphoses
by Ovid, translated by Charles Martin
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$17.95
Metamorphoses
by Ovid
Reprint from Signet Classics
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in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$7.95
Mythology
by Edith Hamilton
from Little, Brown & Company
Mythology for 7th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$17.99
Odyssey
by Homer (translation by Robert Fitzgerald)
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Ancient Literature/Epic Poetry for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$16.00
Odyssey
by Homer (translation by Robert Fagles)
from Penguin Putnam
for 11th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$19.00
Odyssey
by Homer (translation by Robert Fagles)
from Penguin Putnam
for 11th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$17.00
Odyssey of Homer
by Homer (translation by Richmond Lattimore)
from HarperCollins
Ancient Literature/Epic Poetry for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$18.99
Oedipus Cycle
by Sophocles (translation by Dudley Fitts & Robert Fitzgerald)
from Harcourt
Ancient Tragedy for 9th-12th grade
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$15.99 $9.50 (1 in stock)
On the Nature of Things
by Lucretius
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
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$16.00
On the Nature of Things
by Lucretius
from Veritas Press
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$19.00
Pearl Maiden
by H. Rider Haggard
from Christian Liberty Press
Historical Fiction for 8th-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.75 $9.00 (2 in stock)
Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Greece
by Robert Morkot
from Penguin Putnam
Atlas/Greek History Reference for 9th-12th grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$18.00 $11.00 (2 in stock)
Plutarch's Lives Volume I
by Plutarch, translated by John Dryden
from Modern Library
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$19.00
Plutarch's Lives Volume II
by Plutarch, translated by John Dryden
from Modern Library
Biography for 11th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$20.00
Quo Vadis
by Henryk Sienkiewicz, translated by W. S. Kuniczak
from Hippocrene Books
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$24.95
Quo Vadis
by Henryk Sienkiewicz, translated by Jeremiah Curtin
from Dover Publications
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$14.95
Rhetoric and the Poetics of Aristotle
by Aristotle
from McGraw-Hill
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$14.00 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Roman Lives
by Plutarch, translated by Robin Waterfield
Reissue from Oxford University
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$14.95 $7.50 (1 in stock)
Sophocles I
The Complete Greek Tragedies
by Sophocles (translation/editing by David Grene & Richmond Lattimore)
3rd edition from University of Chicago
Ancient Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$14.00 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Sophocles I (old)
The Complete Greek Tragedies
by Sophocles (translation/editing by David Grene & Richmond Lattimore)
2nd edition from University of Chicago
Ancient Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Clearance: Literature (Location: ZCLE-LIT)
$6.00 $3.00 (1 in stock)
The Robe
by Lloyd Douglas
from Houghton Mifflin
Historical Fiction for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$19.99
Theban Plays
by Sophocles, excerpts from then translation by Sir George Young
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$5.00
Theogony and Works & Days
by Hesiod & Theognis, translated by Dorothea Wender
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$14.00
Thirteen Books of the Elements Volume I
by Euclid & Sir Thomas Heath (translator)
2nd edition from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$18.95
Three Theban Plays
by Sophocles (translation by Robert Fagles)
from Penguin Putnam
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$16.00
Twelve Caesars
Penguin Classics
by Suetonius
from Penguin Classics
History for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$16.00
War with Hannibal
by Titus Livius Livy
from Penguin Classics
Animal Stories: Realistic for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$18.00