Anatolia: Cauldron of Cultures

Lost Civilizations

by Dale Brown

A book dealing simply and in detail with the variety of peoples and cultures in Anatolia.
Chatal Hoyuk, in what is now south central Turkey, was excavated in the early 1960s and turned out to be one of the very first places that could be called a city. The excavators found evidence of a well-established agriculture, trade, and religion, all dating back to near the end of the Stone Age.
Other archaeologists' efforts in Turkey have resulted in the discovery of the ancient empire of the Hittites, lost to history for centuries.
These and several other little-known and understood civilizations are described.
Numerous full-color photographs and illustrations add an extra dimension to the text.
-David N. Pauli, Missoula Public Library, MT

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Archaeology

168 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Dale^^Brown Time-Life editor/author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Andrea M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one in a series called Lost Civilizations by Time-Life Books. It's a really fascinating way to study ancient civilizations because it discusses the findings of archaeologists and how they have figured out things about these ancient people. The text has lots of little gems of interest. We learned that the ruins were buried because of erosion upstream when the Romans cut down Turkey's forests and that they were threatened by a government plan to build a dam. The country's willingness to study archaeology at the university level broke down barriers to knowledge based on superstitions and the artifacts are being analyzed anew with lots of new discoveries. I also like that the merits of the civilization are discussed objectively without traditional biases due to "pagan" religious beliefs.

Civilizations in the Anatolia region, covered in this book are Hittites, Phrygians, Cimmerians, and Lydians. The fact that the Persians, Greeks, Romans and Byzantines were later influences in the region is mentioned.

Note to parents:
One story is recounted in the book on p. 96 where the queen's loveliness is grounds for a military coup. The excerpt comes from Herodotus and includes two paragraphs in which the queen says, you have seen me naked so either you must kill the king, marry me and be king of Lydia or die. So of course the man chooses to kill the king. The citizens rebel when they find out they will now be ruled by a murderer.

[Dianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I have read. Anatolia is the land of the Trojans, mythical Amazons, Greek and Persian influences, and before all that the Hittites with a culture as profound as the Egyptians. Birthplace of Saint Paul, Homer, Herodotus, and King Midas to name a few of its major figures. I am leaving out so much, so please educate yourself on this amazing place.

[Dimitri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Any notion of a "cauldron" serves to link the various distinguished cultures of the Ancient Middle East with pre-classical Europe and beyond. In this respect, it's a cornerstone volume of the series.