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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500 Nations
by Alvin M. Josephy, Jr.
1st edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
in Native American History (Location: HISA-19NAT)
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Adam and His Kin
by Ruth Beechick
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Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
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Aeschylus I: The Oresteia (old)
The Complete Greek Tragedies
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Ancient Greek Tragedy for 10th-Adult
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Aeschylus' Oresteian Trilogy
Penguin Classics
by Aeschylus, translated by Phillip Vellacott
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Ancient Greek Tragedy for 10th-Adult
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Alexander the Great
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Alexander the Great
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Biography for 4th-6th grade
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Alexander the Great, Killer of Men
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Americans Before Columbus
by Elizabeth Baity, illustrated by C.B. Falls
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1952 Newbery Honor Book
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Amethyst Ring
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Ancient Civilizations: China
Ancient Civilizations
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by Carmella Van Vleet, illustrated by Tom Casteel
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Ancient Egypt
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Ancient Egypt
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Ancient Egypt History Curriculum for 2nd-7th grade
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Ancient Egypt Revealed
by Ben Morgan, Peter Chrisp, Sue Davidson
1st edition from DK Publishing
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Ancient Egypt: Life, Myth, and Art
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People of the Ancient World
by Lila Perl
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Ancient Egyptians
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by Jane Shuter
Revised and Updated from Heinemann-Raintree
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Ancient Greece
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Ancient Greece
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Ancient Greece
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Ancient Greece
by Peter Connolly, text by Andrew Solway
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Ancient Greece Activity File
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Book and Access from DK Publishing
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Ancient Greece of Odysseus
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Ancient Greece!
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Ancient Greek Art
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Ancient Greek War and Weapons
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Ancient Greeks
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Ancient History Portfolio & Timeline
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Ancient History-Based Writing Lessons - Student Book
by Lori Verstegen
6th edition from Institute for Excellence in Writing
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Ancient History-Based Writing Lessons - Teacher Book
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Ancient Near East - Coloring Book
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Ancient Rome
Discoveries Series
by Dr. Paul C. Roberts
from Barnes & Noble
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Ancient Rome
Then and There Series
by N. Sherwin-White
1975 Printing from Longman
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Ancient Science
by Jim Wiese
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Archaeologists Dig For Clues
Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science Stage 2
by Kate Duke
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Archimedes and the Door of Science
by Jeanne Bendick
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Archko Volume
by Drs. McIntosh and Twyman, translators
Reprint Edition from Keats Publishing, Inc
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$4.80 (1 in stock)
Art and Civilization: Ancient Greece
Art and Civilization
by Matilde Bardi
from Peter Bedrick Books
Ancient Greek History Reference for 4th-6th grade
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Art and Civilization: Ancient Rome
Art and Civilization
by Giovanni Di Pasquale & Matilde Bardi
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Roman History Reference for 4th-6th grade
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Assyrians
by Elaine Landau
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Athenians In the Classical Period
Life Long Ago
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Atlas of Mysterious Places
by Jennifer Westwood, editor
from Weidenfeld & Nicolson
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Authoress of the Odyssey
by Samuel Butler, introduction by David Grene
from University of Chicago
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Aztec and Maya Myths
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from British Museum Press
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by Robert Nicholson and Claire Watts
from Chelsea House Publishing
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Battles of the Ancient World: 1285 BC ~ AD 451
by Kelly Devries, et. al
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by Charles C. Mann
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Beggar's King
by Howard C. Emmons
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Beyond the Desert Gate
Bethlehem Books Young Adult Bookshelf
by Mary Ray
2nd edition from Bethlehem Books
Historical Fiction for
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Biblical Antiquity Volume Two: New Testament
by Evan B. Wilson
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Book of the Ancient Greeks - Student Guide
by Matthew Anderson
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Book of the Ancient Greeks - Teacher Guide
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Book of the Ancient Romans - Teacher Guide
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Book of the Ancient World
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Book of the Ancient World - Teacher Guide
by Matthew Anderson
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Boy of the Pyramids
by Ruth Fosdick Jones
from The Good and the Beautiful
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$4.00 (2 in stock)
Boys' and Girls' Herodotus
by John S. White
from American Home-School Publishing
Ancient History Reference for 4th-8th grade
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$23.99 $15.00 (1 in stock)
Boys' and Girls' Herodotus
by John S. White
Facsimile Edition from Kessinger Publishing
Ancient History Reference for 4th-8th grade
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Brave Cloelia
by Jane Curry
1st edition from J. Paul Getty Museum
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British Museum Visitor's Guide
by John Reeve
from British Museum Press
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Buildings of Ancient Greece
by Helen & Richard Leacroft
from William R. Scott Inc.
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Burial at Thebes
by Sophocles, translated by Seamus Heaney
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Bury the Dead
by Christopher Sloan
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Byzantine Empire
by Jennifer Fretland VanVoorst
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Captive
by Scott O'Dell
from HMH Books for Young Readers
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Hans Christian Anderson Award
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CD-ROM Fact Finders: Ancient Times
by Richard Tames, edited by Paul Harrison
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Children's Homer
by Padraic Colum & Willy Pogany
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Greek Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
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by Padraic Colum
from Simon and Schuster
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Children's Illustrated Jewish Bible
by Laaren Brown & Lenny Hort
Revised Edition from DK Children
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Chronological and Background Charts of the New Testament
by H. Wayne House
from Zondervan
Biblical Reference for 9th-Adult
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Chronological and Background Charts of the Old Testament
by John Walton
2nd edition from Zondervan
Biblical Reference for 9th-Adult
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Cities Then and Now
by Jim Antoniou
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Classical Acts and Facts History Cards: Ancient World
from Classical Conversations
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Classical Companion
by Charles F. Baker III and Rosalie F. Baker
2nd edition from Cobblestone Publishing
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Classical Rome
by John D. Clare, ed.
from Harcourt Children's Books
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in Ancient Rome (Location: HISW-ANRO)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Coloring Book of Ancient Egypt
by Bellerophon Books
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in Ancient Egypt (Location: HISW-ANEG)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Coloring Book of Incas, Aztecs & Mayas
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Coloring Book of Queen Nefertiti
by Bellerophon Books
from Bellerophon Books
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Coloring Book of Rome
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Coloring Book of the Olympics
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$2.00 (2 in stock)
Colosseum
by Peter Quennell
from Newsweek Books
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Coming of Civilization
by Trevor Cairns
from Cambridge University
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
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by Gillian Chapman
from Heinemann Educational Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Ancient Rome (Location: HISW-ANRO)
$6.00 (3 in stock)
Cultural Atlas for Young People: Ancient America
by Marion Wood
1st edition from Facts On File
Ancient History Reference/Atlas for 4th-8th grade
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Cultural Atlas for Young People: Ancient Egypt
by Geraldine Harris
3rd edition from Facts On File
Ancient History for 4th-8th grade
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$35.00 $24.00 (1 in stock)
Cultural Atlas for Young People: Ancient Maya & Aztec Civilizations
by Marion Wood
3rd edition from Facts On File
Ancient History Reference/Atlas for 4th-8th grade
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$35.00 $18.00 (1 in stock)
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