Twenty-five-hundred years ago, civilizations around the world entered a revolutionary new era that overturned old order and laid the foundation for our world today. In the face of massive social changes across three continents, radical new forms of government emerged; mighty wars were fought over trade, religion, and ideology; and new faiths were ruthlessly employed to unify vast empires. The histories of Rome and China, Greece and India--the stories...

By "reading" the bones of people killed in the town of Herculaneum by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, an anthropologist reconstructs their lives.

"Lucretius was a Roman philosopher and poet of the first century BC whose only known work is The Nature of Things (c.50 BC), a didactic poem in six books that expounds his philosophical beliefs. He followed Epicurean ideas, believing the world to be made up of tiny atoms moving in a void and viewing life in terms of pleasure and pain, representing good and bad. The Nature of Things was to have a huge influence on poets such as Virgil (whose Georgics...

People have found ways to survive in almost every place on Earth. This work explores how we have adapted to these different habitats and what changes people have made to the places where we live.

"Presents more than 100 facts about ancient history in a unique layout that appeals to struggling and reluctant readers"--