The Joy of Ancient History

By: The Great Courses, Bart D. Ehrman, Bob Brier, Craig G. Benjamin, David Roochnik

Narrated by: Bart D. Ehrman, Bob Brier, Craig G. Benjamin, David Roochnik

Length: 18 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

For years, The Great Courses has taken lifelong learners on stirring explorations of our ancient roots; ones that bring you face to face with what history means, and how we use it to understand both the past and the present. So where's the best place to start? Right here with this eclectic and insightful collection of 36 lectures curated from our most popular ancient history courses.

Guided by some of our most highly rated and award-winning professors - including archaeologists, classicists, military historians, and religion scholars - you'll hopscotch around the world and across time to experience the fascinating variety of what ancient history has to offer.

Because the subject itself spans roughly five millennia, this "best of" collection does all the legwork for you, selecting captivating lectures that offer both introductions to and deep dives into some of the most prominent ancient civilizations, including the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians. This collection also takes you far afield into the dramatic stories of cultures in Europe, the Middle East, South America, India, China, and other parts of the world.

Listening to some of our brightest academic minds talk about the ancient world, you'll truly understand why we're still captivated by people and events from thousands of years ago, and why they still have much to tell us about where we are. And where we're headed.

©2014 The Great Courses (P)2014 The Teaching Company, LLC

Interesting History Outlines...

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Yes, Brief narrative, interesting topics.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Joy of Ancient History?

Outline of ancient Athens.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

- Tough to recall. However, a few have such strong accents the narration suffers.

Could you see The Joy of Ancient History being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Perhaps...

Very broad but interesting

Loved the ancient summaries and lectures in this series. They expand your mind to so much there is to learn of o only ancient history...

eclectic and interesting

this collection of lectures can be frustrating because the lecturers will reference back to parts not in this collection, but overall still well done and very enjoyable.

Varied and interesting

What did you love best about The Joy of Ancient History?

The different subjects and different professors. I added many new titles to my wish list.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Joy of Ancient History?

The sections on South American cultures. I knew very little about them, but I want to learn more.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

Several of the lectures mentioned Ramses II, who's one of my favorites.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No, but it definitley kept me interested. I couldn't wait to see what the next subject was going to be.

Any additional comments?

A good introduction to ancient history as a whole, and a way to sample different titles to see which ones might interest you. Great Courses needs more compilations like this.

good advertisement for other great courses titles

Just a bunch of chapters for other great courses titles. fun to get the variety, but sometimes jarring to hear a chapter from the middle of a course outside of context.

Excellent

There are references to earlier and later lectures, but that's expected. I had a hard time understanding the Irish guy, though his lectures are brilliant.

Great Lecture

I loved this it was amazing to learn a good overview of ancient civilizations. I especially liked learning about the lives of the people and a few myths were debunked but I wont say what, I'd hate to spoil it.

There is more, how buildings were made, how the more powerful of the civilization lived, foreign policy, war etc. If you like ancient civilization this is the lecture for you. Of the lectures I've listened to this is the best.

Worth the effort

A very good introduction to topics you may not have thought about or had any interest in pursuing. Gets you thinking.

Decent overview

Able to finish, but very grateful each chapter is just over 30 minutes only.
It's a quick overview of main points or characters in history.

Excellent Course on Ancient History

The only thing it was missing was a course guide book and chapter titles. All in all, a great survey of ancient history.