--- title: Ancient Civilizations description: Ancient Civilizations studies the rise, development, and collapse of early human societies across the globe. Learners will examine the political structures, cultural achievements, and daily lives of societies in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Mesoamerica. category: humanities subcategory: history difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/humanities-ancient-civilizations --- # Ancient Civilizations Ancient Civilizations studies the rise, development, and collapse of early human societies across the globe. Learners will examine the political structures, cultural achievements, and daily lives of societies in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Mesoamerica. ## Available Resources 3 Books • 1 Courses • 3 Websites ## Books ### 1. The Dawn of Everything **Author:** David Graeber, David Wengrow An anthropologist and an archaeologist reexamine 30,000 years of evidence to argue that early societies deliberately experimented with equality, hierarchy, cities, and farming. Readers gain a critique of linear stories of social evolution and a survey of recent archaeological findings. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0374157359?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, humanities-social-sciences, humanities ### 2. SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome **Author:** Mary Beard Beard's account of Rome's first millennium, from the founding legends to Caracalla's grant of citizenship in 212 CE. She weighs what the evidence actually supports and keeps ordinary Romans, not just emperors, in view. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1846683815?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, humanities-social-sciences, classics ### 3. 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed **Author:** Eric H. Cline An archaeologist's account of how the interconnected Late Bronze Age world of Egypt, the Hittites, Mycenaeans, and Canaanites collapsed around 1177 BCE. Readers learn how drought, earthquakes, invasions, and systems failure combined, and why historians reject single-cause explanations. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0691208018?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, humanities-social-sciences, humanities ## Courses ### 1. Ancient Greece Wesleyan University survey of Greek history from the Minoan and Mycenaean Bronze Age to the trial of Socrates in 399 BCE. Learners trace the rise of the polis, Sparta and Athens, Athenian democracy, the Persian Wars, and the Peloponnesian War. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/ancient-greeks **Tags:** courses, humanities-social-sciences, humanities ## Websites ### 1. etana.org ETANA (Electronic Tools and Ancient Near East Archive) is a digital portal offering free access to scholarly resources for studying the ancient Near East, including bibliographies, lexicons, text corpora, and teaching materials. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://etana.org **Tags:** websites, humanities-social-sciences, humanities ### 2. oi.uchicago.edu Official site of the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, offering insights into ancient Near Eastern archaeology and history, with details on ongoing research, excavations, exhibitions, digital collections, and scholarly publications. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://oi.uchicago.edu **Tags:** websites, humanities-social-sciences, history ### 3. smarthistory.org Smarthistory.org provides free, student-friendly art history resources through expert-led short videos and concise essays that analyze major artworks, movements, and cultural contexts from around the world. It features visual analyses, contextual histories, and thematic comparisons suitable for students and educators. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://smarthistory.org **Tags:** websites, arts-design, art-history --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/humanities-ancient-civilizations