Ancient History at a Glance

I have a new book coming soon. It is called Ancient History at a Glance, How the Bible Connects History. Some of my grandchildren helped me to illustrate the book by their drawings and photos. I tried to choose events and other bits and pieces of information that give us a snapshot of ancient history.

Where do we find written history? We have ancient historians such as Herodotus, sometimes called the father of history, and many others who lived after him. Herodotus lived 484-425 BC. History before that time can be difficult to find. Sometimes, lists of kings were written on temple walls, but they were difficult to date and verify.

Archeologists who have uncovered ancient cities have unearthed many cuneiform tablets that they date to 3000 BC or earlier. These tablets reveal bits and pieces of history.

We also have a history of the Israelites and neighboring peoples in the Old Testament of the Bible.

In this book, I created a timeline of written history, using the genealogy of Jesus Christ found in Luke, Chapter 3, of the Bible, which, by counting backwards, comes to about 4000 BC. We have relatively little information regarding the first 1500 years or so, but after that, written history picks up, both with the history found in the Bible and with secular history. We find powerful rulers who formed empires, such as Sargon, who united the city states of Akkad and Sumer, possibly forming the first empire. Then we find more empires in that region. First came the Babylonian Empire of King Hammurabi, who created a short-lived empire, and then, the Assyrian empire, which was followed by the Second Babylonian Empire. After the fall of that empire, the Persians in the East built their empire, and later, Alexander the Great from Macedonia, north of Greece, built a huge empire. Finally, as the BC era comes to an end, the Romans continued to extend their vast and long-lasting empire.

History can be fascinating. Wouldn’t you like to learn more? Watch for the book; I will let you know when it can be purchased.