Ancient Wo rlds is abo ut peopl e and places, politi cs and ec onomics, art  and war, trade and tec hnology, b ut above a ll it’s the  story o f the p ainful bir th and difficul t growth of a radical  idea first tr ied and tes ted some si x thousand yea rs ago, a nd which we  are still struggling wi th today ; civilis ation. Ci vilisati on has not co me easily; it’s somethi ng we’ve ha d to fight ha rd to achieve, and even hard er to maintain , and the  greatest thr eats to it have come fro m our own tale nts for d estruct ion. But whe n we’ve manag ed to get it  right, the b enefits hav e been enorm ous. When we talk abo ut the  ancient world  we tend t o think of ra re and exot ic artefact s or the monume ntal remai ns of epic architec ture; but th ese are just th e empty sh ells that  got left beh ind when the tide of history turned ! The l iving creature s, the civili sations, that  once inhabite d these shells were rarely if ever static o r stately; th ey were dynam ic, chaotic,  and always  threatening to spin out of co ntrol,  because civ ilisation is based on an improbabl e idea; tha t stran gers can l ive and work togethe r in dense ur ban settings, forging  new alle giances that  replace t he natural  ties of famil y, clan or t ribe. It’s an  idea we ’re still comin g to terms with today, b ut one  of the best  ways to und erstand the challen ges that are involved is to lo ok at how our  ancestors tac kled them the first ti me aroun d. From ancient Iraq t o Imperi al Rome, An cient Worlds  examines how  our ances tors stru ggled with the levers of rel igion and poli tics, art  and cultu re, war  and diplomacy, techno logy and trade in order to  keep the c omplex machin ery of their  civilisat ions turni ng over. The ir insights an d blind-spo ts, the ir breakth roughs an d dead ends,  their triu mphs and d isasters are the  milestones o n the long  and winding  road that leads directly fr om their an cient to our m odern worl d.　　Anc ient Worlds i s about people  and place s, politi cs and econ omics, art a nd war, tr ade and techn olo