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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5,000-Year-Old Puzzle
by Claudia Logan, illustrated by Melissa Sweet
1st edition from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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in Ancient Egypt (Location: HISW-ANEG)
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Accidental Voyage
Mr. Pipes Series #4
by Doug Bond
from P&R Publishing
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Adventures in Ancient Greece
by Linda Bailey
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Adventures of Hercules - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
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Adventures of Ulysses
by Bernard Evslin
from Scholastic Inc.
Greek Mythology for 4th-6th grade
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Adventures of Ulysses - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
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Aeneid for Boys and Girls
by Alfred J. Church
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Roman Mythology for 5th-8th grade
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Aeneid for Boys and Girls
by Alfred J. Church
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Roman Mythology for 5th-8th grade
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Alexander the Great
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Alexander the Great
by Jacob Abbott
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Alexander the Great
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Biography for 4th-6th grade
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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
by Valerie Bodden
Reprint from Creative Paperbooks
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Ancient Egypt
by Robert Nicholson
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Ancient Egypt
by Karen Sullivan
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Ancient Egypt Activity Book
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Ancient Egypt Revealed
by Ben Morgan, Peter Chrisp, Sue Davidson
1st edition from DK Publishing
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
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by Cynthia Shearer
from Greenleaf Press
Ancient Egypt History Curriculum for 2nd-7th grade
Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks
in Ancient Egypt (Location: HISW-ANEG)
$7.50 $4.50 (2 in stock)
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by JoAnne Fletcher
First Edition from Duncan Baird
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Ancient Egyptian Art
by Susie Hodge
First Printing
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Dover Coloring Books
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Ancient Egyptians
People of the Ancient World
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from Scholastic Inc.
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$7.00 (2 in stock)
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by Marian Broida
from Chicago Review Press
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Ancient Greece
by Robert Nicholson
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Ancient Greece
by Peter Connolly, text by Andrew Solway
from Oxford University
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Book and Access from DK Publishing
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by Peter Connolly
from Oxford University
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Ancient Greece!
by Avery Hart & Paul Mantell
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Ancient Greek Art
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by John Malam, Mark Bergin
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by Rebecca Manor
2nd edition from Beautiful Feet Books
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by Rebecca Manor
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6th edition from Institute for Excellence in Writing
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$55.00
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6th edition from Institute for Excellence in Writing
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$35.00
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2nd edition from Heinemann Educational Books
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Gifted Learning Series
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from Vision S.R.L.
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Biography for 5th-8th grade
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from Purple House Press
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$10.99
Art and Civilization: Ancient Greece
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from Peter Bedrick Books
Roman History Reference for 4th-6th grade
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by Karl Taube
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Before Columbus
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from Jim Hodges Productions
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
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from Laurel-Leaf Books
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from Memoria Press
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from Memoria Press
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by Dorothy Mills
2nd edition from Memoria Press
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by Dorothy Mills
from Memoria Press
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from Memoria Press
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Historical Fiction for 5th-9th grade
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