I finished reading The Ancient World: A Beginning by T. R. Glover (1935). This is an overview of the history of the ancient world, focused on the Mediterranean region and primarily Greek, Jewish, and Roman culture. It touches lightly upon surrounding areas and peoples, including Asia Minor, Egypt, and Persia. There is a mention here or there of other parts of Asia, but only in passing. Glover stresses the importance of geography in history, and often paraphrases Polybius’ interest in cause and effect (“It is not the fact, he [Polybius] says, that matters, but the reason; not what, but why.”).

The author uses a colloquial tone and this lends a pleasant readability to the book. Much of the time it feels as if the reader is sitting by the hearth, listening to a grandparent tell stories. This makes the book fun to read, while the narrative creates a sense of an unfolding and interrelated arc of history.

A book like this helps to fill in gaps in my personal mental map of history and to make more sense of the disparate chunks of history I’ve learned before.

“He was being taught to wonder; and wonder, said the Greeks, is the mother of thought.“