Ancient Civilizations: The Emergence of States and Empires

Ancient Civilizations: The Emergence of States and Empires offers a comprehensive and straightforward account of the world’s first civilizations and how they were discovered, drawing on many avenues of inquiry including archaeological excavations, surveys, laboratory work, highly specialized scientific investigations, and both historical and ethnohistorical records. This book covers the earliest civilizations in North Africa, Eurasia and the Americas, from Egypt and the Sumerians to the Indus Valley, Shang China, and the Maya. Gone are the days, however, when it was sufficient to study a too limited range of “classic” early civilizations to understand how early societies throughout the world experienced the transition to cities and empires. Ancient Civilizations hence also covers the first states of Africa south of the Sahara, divine kings and empires in East and Southeast Asia, the early Aegean civilizations, Greece and Rome, and the Aztec and Inka empires of Mesoamerica and the Andes. Ancient Civilizations incorporates multiple features to support student learning: a wealth of images, including new illustrations and updated maps; feature boxes which expand on key sites, finds and written sources; and an extensive guide to further reading at the end of each chapter. Now with many color illustrations, this sixth edition has been extensively updated in the light of the latest theoretical advances and spectacular discoveries made in recent years. It also acknowledges the input of a wider range of voices in the study of early states and empires, notably those from non-Western backgrounds. Examining the world’s pre-industrial civilizations from a multidisciplinary perspective and offering a comparative analysis of the field which explores the connections between all civilizations around the world, this volume provides a unique introduction to pre-industrial civilizations in all their brilliant diversity.

• Publication date: 30 July 2026
• Page count: 684
• Dimensions: Height 254 mm; Width 178 mm
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Format: Hardback
• ISBN-13: 9781032719634