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What Is Ancient History?
From one of today’s most innovative ancient historians, a provocative new vision of why ancient history matters—and why it needs to be told in a radically different, global way
It’s easy to think that ancient history is, well, ancient history—obsolete, irrelevant, unjustifiably focused on Greece and Rome, and at risk of extinction. In What Is Ancient History?, Walter Scheidel presents a compelling case for a new kind of ancient history—a global history that captures antiquity’s pivotal role as a decisive phase in human development, one that provided the shared foundation of our world and continues to shapes our lives today.
For Scheidel, ancient history is when the earliest versions of today’s ways of life were created and spread—from farming, mining, and engineering to housing and transportation, cities and government, writing and belief systems. Transforming the planet, this process unfolded all over the world, in Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas, often at different times, sometimes haltingly but ultimately unstoppably. Yet it’s rarely studied or taught that way. Since the eighteenth century, Western intellectuals have dismembered the ancient world, driven not only by their quest for professional expertise but also by nationalism, colonialism, racism, and the idealization of Greece and Rome. Specialized scholarship has fractured into numerous academic niches, obscuring broader patterns and dynamics and keeping us from understanding just how much humanity has long had in common.
The time has come, Scheidel argues, to put the ancient world back together—by moving beyond the limitations of Greco-Roman “classics,” by systematically comparing ancient societies, and by exploring early exchanges and connections between them. The time has come, in other words, for an ancient history for everyone.
It’s easy to think that ancient history is, well, ancient history—obsolete, irrelevant, unjustifiably focused on Greece and Rome, and at risk of extinction. In What Is Ancient History?, Walter Scheidel presents a compelling case for a new kind of ancient history—a global history that captures antiquity’s pivotal role as a decisive phase in human development, one that provided the shared foundation of our world and continues to shapes our lives today.
For Scheidel, ancient history is when the earliest versions of today’s ways of life were created and spread—from farming, mining, and engineering to housing and transportation, cities and government, writing and belief systems. Transforming the planet, this process unfolded all over the world, in Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas, often at different times, sometimes haltingly but ultimately unstoppably. Yet it’s rarely studied or taught that way. Since the eighteenth century, Western intellectuals have dismembered the ancient world, driven not only by their quest for professional expertise but also by nationalism, colonialism, racism, and the idealization of Greece and Rome. Specialized scholarship has fractured into numerous academic niches, obscuring broader patterns and dynamics and keeping us from understanding just how much humanity has long had in common.
The time has come, Scheidel argues, to put the ancient world back together—by moving beyond the limitations of Greco-Roman “classics,” by systematically comparing ancient societies, and by exploring early exchanges and connections between them. The time has come, in other words, for an ancient history for everyone.
328 pages, Hardcover
Published April 22, 2025
24 people are currently reading
167 people want to read
About the author
Walter Scheidel
39 books130 followersDickason Professor in the Humanities
Professor of Classics and History
Catherine R. Kennedy and Daniel L. Grossman Fellow in Human Biology
Walter Scheidel is the Dickason Professor in the Humanities, Professor of Classics and History, and a Kennedy-Grossman Fellow in Human Biology at Stanford University. The author or editor of sixteen previous books, he has published widely on premodern social and economic history, demography, and comparative history. He lives in Palo Alto, California.
Scheidel's research ranges from ancient social and economic history and premodern historical demography to the comparative and transdisciplinary world history of inequality, state formation, and human welfare. He is particularly interested in connecting the humanities, the social sciences, and the life sciences.
Professor of Classics and History
Catherine R. Kennedy and Daniel L. Grossman Fellow in Human Biology
Walter Scheidel is the Dickason Professor in the Humanities, Professor of Classics and History, and a Kennedy-Grossman Fellow in Human Biology at Stanford University. The author or editor of sixteen previous books, he has published widely on premodern social and economic history, demography, and comparative history. He lives in Palo Alto, California.
Scheidel's research ranges from ancient social and economic history and premodern historical demography to the comparative and transdisciplinary world history of inequality, state formation, and human welfare. He is particularly interested in connecting the humanities, the social sciences, and the life sciences.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 26, 2025
3.5 stars rounded up to 4. I agree with the argument that Walter Scheidel made in “What Is Ancient History”, and I found much of it to be enlightening, interesting, and useful. Scheidel’s main argument is that ancient history should include the history of people all over the world rather than focus only on the Greeks and Romans. He argued that one way to accomplish this would be to compare and contrast how different people groups dealt with similar issues.
I personally found the beginning section of the book somewhat frustrating, but the rest was quite good. The first section examined different possible definitions of ancient history, and ultimately rejected them all, but without providing a better alternative.
The next section was both fascinating and depressing. It described the development of ancient history education in universities in Europe and America. Scheidel showed the insidious way that people in the 1700s decided that Greek and Roman languages and history were the best in the world, and excluded everything else. That idea took hold in universities, and still influences history education today.
The final section suggested some potential ways to improve history education in universities. I wish this section was longer, and had given more possible solutions, but it was still useful.
Overall, I’m glad I read “What Is Ancient History”, and I think it is making important arguments.
Thanks to HighBridge Audio through NetGalley who allowed me to listen to the audio version of this book. The narrator, Michael Langan, did an excellent job!
I personally found the beginning section of the book somewhat frustrating, but the rest was quite good. The first section examined different possible definitions of ancient history, and ultimately rejected them all, but without providing a better alternative.
The next section was both fascinating and depressing. It described the development of ancient history education in universities in Europe and America. Scheidel showed the insidious way that people in the 1700s decided that Greek and Roman languages and history were the best in the world, and excluded everything else. That idea took hold in universities, and still influences history education today.
The final section suggested some potential ways to improve history education in universities. I wish this section was longer, and had given more possible solutions, but it was still useful.
Overall, I’m glad I read “What Is Ancient History”, and I think it is making important arguments.
Thanks to HighBridge Audio through NetGalley who allowed me to listen to the audio version of this book. The narrator, Michael Langan, did an excellent job!
April 27, 2025
Walter Scheidel’s What is Ancient History is a thought-provoking exploration of the field, written primarily for professors and academics specializing in classical and ancient history rather than the casual reader. The book begins with a fascinating global perspective on ancient history before delving into the evolution of German academia, where the seminar university format was developed through a reverence for Greek and Roman ideals. This trajectory eventually gave birth to the Classics department as we know it.
Reading Scheidel’s work brought me back to my own university days, where courses in Western History and introductory Classics dominated my first-year experience. Even when I began teaching high school history in Ontario in the early 2000s, the curriculum remained firmly rooted in this Western-centric approach. That said, I found Scheidel’s arguments valuable in supporting my efforts to decolonize and broaden the lens of both ancient and modern history courses, which I began doing around 2005. His writing is clear, his argument sound, and his reflections on the future of academic history departments resonate deeply. As these institutions face the challenge of adaptation to meet the demands of a changing perspective, it will be interesting to see whether they can reinvent themselves before becoming obsolete.
While What is Ancient History may not appeal to the average reader, it is a worthwhile resource for educators and scholars invested in the ongoing evolution of historical study.
This was an ARC review of the audiobook for NetGalley.
Reading Scheidel’s work brought me back to my own university days, where courses in Western History and introductory Classics dominated my first-year experience. Even when I began teaching high school history in Ontario in the early 2000s, the curriculum remained firmly rooted in this Western-centric approach. That said, I found Scheidel’s arguments valuable in supporting my efforts to decolonize and broaden the lens of both ancient and modern history courses, which I began doing around 2005. His writing is clear, his argument sound, and his reflections on the future of academic history departments resonate deeply. As these institutions face the challenge of adaptation to meet the demands of a changing perspective, it will be interesting to see whether they can reinvent themselves before becoming obsolete.
While What is Ancient History may not appeal to the average reader, it is a worthwhile resource for educators and scholars invested in the ongoing evolution of historical study.
This was an ARC review of the audiobook for NetGalley.
December 9, 2025
I found myself feeling extremely defensive while reading this, which was interesting to me. Perhaps it's in defense of the 18 year old me "a generation ago" (the idea that he kept bringing up about how things had changed) feeling that mastering Greek was the key to life. I can't say I ever mastered Greek, though I got pretty good at it, and I did not pursue classics post-college, instead settling into life as a librarian and moving towards technology, just as the Classical Studies librarian at NYU told me all those years ago would happen if I didn't immediately get an MA in classics when my advisor put me in touch with him to get advice. That advisor was, incidentally, very enamored of the German model of the university. I think it was useful to get that experience before moving into academia as a librarian, and working quite a bit with historians of all stripes, if not classicists as much as I dreamed once upon a time.
A few thoughts: immediately my mental defense of myself was that I had also learned Biblical Hebrew in college, as well as German and Latin, and then Sanskrit in grad school, so I was covering more of the ancient world, but the larger debate (a favorite word in this book!) of course says that that's window dressing, a slight nod to cultures beyond Greece and Rome. Yet I do think that it's unrealistic to think you can fully understand an ancient culture, that you could hope to do so without studying their languages, that one person can fully integrate the scope of the global ancient world in their work without being surface level, or that people will actually collaborate on research across multiple disciplines given the higher ed landscape. Yet it also could be that it's silly to have disciplinary areas at all in the way we do. But I think learning other languages is hard, and it is good for your brain to do it, so I don't agree that dispensing with learning languages is a good idea, always knowing that you'll be stronger in the ones you use.
A lot to think about here, in summation.
A few thoughts: immediately my mental defense of myself was that I had also learned Biblical Hebrew in college, as well as German and Latin, and then Sanskrit in grad school, so I was covering more of the ancient world, but the larger debate (a favorite word in this book!) of course says that that's window dressing, a slight nod to cultures beyond Greece and Rome. Yet I do think that it's unrealistic to think you can fully understand an ancient culture, that you could hope to do so without studying their languages, that one person can fully integrate the scope of the global ancient world in their work without being surface level, or that people will actually collaborate on research across multiple disciplines given the higher ed landscape. Yet it also could be that it's silly to have disciplinary areas at all in the way we do. But I think learning other languages is hard, and it is good for your brain to do it, so I don't agree that dispensing with learning languages is a good idea, always knowing that you'll be stronger in the ones you use.
A lot to think about here, in summation.
May 13, 2025
[2⭐️]
Unfortunately, this one wasn’t for me. I went in expecting a general introduction to ancient history, but this book is clearly written for those already immersed in academic fields like classics, anthropology, or history.
What I did appreciate:
The writing is good and thoroughly researched. Scheidel's main argument—that Western academia often centers Greek and Roman civilizations while neglecting other ancient cultures—is thought-provoking and important. However, as someone not deeply familiar with the subject matter, I found the book dense and difficult to follow. I was hoping to learn something new, but instead felt a bit lost.
Final thoughts:
This isn’t a beginner-friendly read, but if you’re a history geek or studying in a related field, you might find it valuable and insightful.
Thank you to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately, this one wasn’t for me. I went in expecting a general introduction to ancient history, but this book is clearly written for those already immersed in academic fields like classics, anthropology, or history.
What I did appreciate:
The writing is good and thoroughly researched. Scheidel's main argument—that Western academia often centers Greek and Roman civilizations while neglecting other ancient cultures—is thought-provoking and important. However, as someone not deeply familiar with the subject matter, I found the book dense and difficult to follow. I was hoping to learn something new, but instead felt a bit lost.
Final thoughts:
This isn’t a beginner-friendly read, but if you’re a history geek or studying in a related field, you might find it valuable and insightful.
Thank you to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
May 9, 2025
I requested the audiobook because the title intrigued me. It posed a question I’ve never considered. I’m not an academic nor am I a huge history buff, but I am curious and enjoy learning new and different things. This is incredibly detailed but equally rewarding. Right from the outset, I found myself pausing play to consider what had just been narrated. The emphasis is on the fact that Ancient History is very much focussed on the Mediterranean area of Greece, Rome. It’s European and totally ignores other cultures who, to my mind, are equally important. This is a view which has prevailed and influenced for centuries and is self perpetuating as it’s the focus of university teaching the world over.
The book requires concentration, but I’m so pleased I chose it. It’s very well written and the arguments are persuasive, I’ve approached it in small chunks as the content requires consideration and reflection, but I’ve enjoyed every minute of this groundbreaking approach. My thanks to the publ and Netgalley for a review copy. The narration throughout is excellent and very easy to listen to.
The book requires concentration, but I’m so pleased I chose it. It’s very well written and the arguments are persuasive, I’ve approached it in small chunks as the content requires consideration and reflection, but I’ve enjoyed every minute of this groundbreaking approach. My thanks to the publ and Netgalley for a review copy. The narration throughout is excellent and very easy to listen to.
April 24, 2025
Scheidel makes an excellent point but in a rather ponderous fashion: "ancient history" in the Western framework is a narrow and rather Western-centric idea that excludes or at least demarcates other "ancient histories" for no good reason. Scheidel criticizes, and rightly so, the bedrock Greco-Roman "classics" that make up what Western thinkers decided ancient history should be all about. What kind of ancient history might we learn about without these phantom shackles? I was hoping for more of that and less of an argument utterly centred on the problem. Yet, it was a compelling account worthy of a read. And I love the potential that this will ruffle some Ivy League feathers.
The narration by Michael Langan was fantastic and kept my attention.
Thank you to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for the advance copy of the audiobook.
The narration by Michael Langan was fantastic and kept my attention.
Thank you to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for the advance copy of the audiobook.
May 31, 2025
DNF. reads like a graduate thesis
I agree with the premise, but just can't wade through the flood of jargon.
-History, the way it is taught is inaccurate, misleading, and tending toward white supremacy. Additionally the Ancient / medieval / modern partition of history is artificial and mostly useless even when only applied to the Mediterranean region. Non-white and pre-greek civilizations are down played, disparaged, or simply edited out of existence. Yup, that is hard to argue against.
...But, after the introduction this thing becomes a soup of taxonomical morphologies.
-This was not written for the casual reader.
I agree with the premise, but just can't wade through the flood of jargon.
-History, the way it is taught is inaccurate, misleading, and tending toward white supremacy. Additionally the Ancient / medieval / modern partition of history is artificial and mostly useless even when only applied to the Mediterranean region. Non-white and pre-greek civilizations are down played, disparaged, or simply edited out of existence. Yup, that is hard to argue against.
...But, after the introduction this thing becomes a soup of taxonomical morphologies.
-This was not written for the casual reader.
Read
December 14, 2025A challenge for us to re-think how we study what is often called "ancient history" but what this author would like us to re-formulate as "global foundational history." I'm no expert, so me saying this doesn't mean much: It felt like there were some elements of the approach to history he proposes that I'd want to read and think and talk about in a lot more depth before endorsing them, though I think I liked the broad strokes of how he wants to do things. But his critique of the current state of affairs seems spot on. Provocative, thoughtful, interesting.
April 26, 2025
This book invites us to consider what is ancient history, what should be included or not. Is it just Greek and Roman history or should other areas be included?
This is well written and well narrated (I listened to the audiobook). Well structured and very informative. Eplains many of the influences and history of what is taught or studied in academic circles.
This is well written and well narrated (I listened to the audiobook). Well structured and very informative. Eplains many of the influences and history of what is taught or studied in academic circles.
June 12, 2025
full of really compelling arguments & the imagination of an intellectual space i find really exciting. the feasibility of Scheidel’s vision is definitely questionable, but as he says in the conclusion, it isn’t something he expects to happen overnight, or even within our lifetimes.
January 6, 2026
I hear this author on a history podcast and thought the topic of a global ancient history sounded interesting. But I guess I expected a book about the topic rather than a book about the field of study. Chapter one gave me a glimpse of what I was looking for but the rest, not so much.
May 10, 2025
Thank you to RBmedia, the author and NetGalley for an audio ARC in return for an honest review
I tried a few times to listen to this book, but I just couldn't get into it and ended up skipping quite a lot. Unfortunately this happens with some books, luckily not very often. I have decided it wouldn't be fair on the author to post a review just yet. So I am putting it on a back burner for a while and will come back to it at a later date.
#WhatIsAncientHistory #NetGalley
I tried a few times to listen to this book, but I just couldn't get into it and ended up skipping quite a lot. Unfortunately this happens with some books, luckily not very often. I have decided it wouldn't be fair on the author to post a review just yet. So I am putting it on a back burner for a while and will come back to it at a later date.
#WhatIsAncientHistory #NetGalley
June 9, 2025
[DNF around 55%]
[2.5 stars rounded down]
What is Ancient History is Scheidel’s history of how Greece and Rome came to be the only civilizations that are included in discussions of and classes on “ancient history”, how universities have continuously divided and subdivided the humanities so far as to limit the study of ancient history, and his arguments as to what should be done about it. A concise, clearly written book that I had to struggle to remain interested in, which is strange because I enjoy all of the topics within it?
I think you would get a lot more out of this book if you are currently in or have been in the fields of classics, anthropology, ancient history, or any [location] studies/history courses, as the author discusses how these categories came to be over the last few centuries. The language is not at all overly-scholarly, his recounts of the history are thorough, his arguments are sound and easy to follow. It definitely seems like it would still be relevant and interesting whether you're just taking a few classes to fill your humanities credits or are deeper into the field.
I expected this book to be a look into what is missing from what the average person learns about ancient history in school as well as a showcasing of just how much that has limited the field. I agree that it is lazy and limiting to study ancient civilizations without acknowledging their neighbors beyond them. Once I got more into it to see what the book was more about, I was still hopeful that I would enjoy it.
I most enjoyed a lot of the second chapter and how he explains the reasons for Europe's/Germany’s obsession with finding a past to model on and choosing the Greeks rather than Egypt, the Biblical history, or anything else that they could have chosen. This specifically was designed to be a deep dive, down to mentioning specific papers and the journals they were published in by influential people in this development. There were some slow sections, but I enjoyed the information overall. It is a very interesting topic that I had no idea went back so far, and it is especially fun to compare some of the two-hundred-plus quotes he lists about Greece as the start of Western civilization to the same things I remember reading in my high school readings less than a decade ago.
For me, as someone who has never been in or ever had a deep-dive into any of these fields specifically, I really struggled to stay interested. There are only so many times I can hear his argument that “different institutions across Europe adopted the practice of separating Greece and Rome from other ancient cultures and putting them on a pedestal. This was a mistake.” before my eyes glazed over. It’s a shame, because I enjoy how Scheidel writes these accounts and appreciate the depth he goes into, but I felt like there was constant needless recounting of this, and other, arguments. As someone with little skin in the matter, it was like hearing about issues in a foreign country from a resident there. Like, yes I understand why what you are saying is good, is good, and why what you are saying is bad, is bad, but I lack any context to think beyond the surface of these arguments or build off of them. A me problem, yes 100%, but this is very different from what I was expecting going into the book and it hindered my enjoyment of it.
I don’t at all think that reading this book was a waste of time, despite my lack of enjoyment. I think that the arguments he makes are valid and that he leaves us on a good point. I also think that Scheidel is a great writer throughout this book and, to the right audience, this would be a favorite of theirs. But for me, the constant need to make his cases as well as the ceaseless repetition prevented any real enjoyment from me while reading.
[2.5 stars rounded down]
What is Ancient History is Scheidel’s history of how Greece and Rome came to be the only civilizations that are included in discussions of and classes on “ancient history”, how universities have continuously divided and subdivided the humanities so far as to limit the study of ancient history, and his arguments as to what should be done about it. A concise, clearly written book that I had to struggle to remain interested in, which is strange because I enjoy all of the topics within it?
I think you would get a lot more out of this book if you are currently in or have been in the fields of classics, anthropology, ancient history, or any [location] studies/history courses, as the author discusses how these categories came to be over the last few centuries. The language is not at all overly-scholarly, his recounts of the history are thorough, his arguments are sound and easy to follow. It definitely seems like it would still be relevant and interesting whether you're just taking a few classes to fill your humanities credits or are deeper into the field.
I expected this book to be a look into what is missing from what the average person learns about ancient history in school as well as a showcasing of just how much that has limited the field. I agree that it is lazy and limiting to study ancient civilizations without acknowledging their neighbors beyond them. Once I got more into it to see what the book was more about, I was still hopeful that I would enjoy it.
I most enjoyed a lot of the second chapter and how he explains the reasons for Europe's/Germany’s obsession with finding a past to model on and choosing the Greeks rather than Egypt, the Biblical history, or anything else that they could have chosen. This specifically was designed to be a deep dive, down to mentioning specific papers and the journals they were published in by influential people in this development. There were some slow sections, but I enjoyed the information overall. It is a very interesting topic that I had no idea went back so far, and it is especially fun to compare some of the two-hundred-plus quotes he lists about Greece as the start of Western civilization to the same things I remember reading in my high school readings less than a decade ago.
For me, as someone who has never been in or ever had a deep-dive into any of these fields specifically, I really struggled to stay interested. There are only so many times I can hear his argument that “different institutions across Europe adopted the practice of separating Greece and Rome from other ancient cultures and putting them on a pedestal. This was a mistake.” before my eyes glazed over. It’s a shame, because I enjoy how Scheidel writes these accounts and appreciate the depth he goes into, but I felt like there was constant needless recounting of this, and other, arguments. As someone with little skin in the matter, it was like hearing about issues in a foreign country from a resident there. Like, yes I understand why what you are saying is good, is good, and why what you are saying is bad, is bad, but I lack any context to think beyond the surface of these arguments or build off of them. A me problem, yes 100%, but this is very different from what I was expecting going into the book and it hindered my enjoyment of it.
I don’t at all think that reading this book was a waste of time, despite my lack of enjoyment. I think that the arguments he makes are valid and that he leaves us on a good point. I also think that Scheidel is a great writer throughout this book and, to the right audience, this would be a favorite of theirs. But for me, the constant need to make his cases as well as the ceaseless repetition prevented any real enjoyment from me while reading.
January 1, 2026
A huge thing that irks me? The fact that the world really only focuses on certain cultures of ancient history but talks about it like it's all encompassing. So this book was so much right up my alley, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and would highly recommend it to any one who is interested in history.
Thank you NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for this audiobook Arc.
Thank you NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for this audiobook Arc.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews