Splendors of the Past Lost Cities

by John Carswell, Louis de la Haba, Seymour L. Fishbein

Beautifully illustrated coffee-table book featuring the lost cities of the ancient world.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Reference, Archaeology, World History, Ancient History, Art

296 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1981

Reviews

[Mallee Stanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I found the earlier chapters interesting, I bought this book specifically for the section on Sri Lanka. I felt disappointed that the author wrote of a monoculture as if the Tamils didn't exist beyond "invaders." What she failed to grasp, was that the Tamils originally inhabited the area around Anuradhapura while the Sinhalese were in the north. Over time this was reversed resulting in a lot of Sinhalese with Tamil blood and visa versa. Perhaps the invasions were because the Tamils were trying to repossess their original lands. Since the author only interviewed Sinhalese experts, it was a one sided view.

While there is no question that the Buddhist Anaradhapura and Polonnaruwa sites are spectacular and the photographs excellent, no mention was made of the Hindu treasures. The 1986 version of the book I possess obviously was not updated. The 1983 massacre of thousands of Tamils where the government did nothing to stop the ethnic cleansing for three days, should have triggered doubt into this one sided article.

Unfortunately, since 1983, the Sinhalese government has systematically bombed every ancient Hindu site so that there is no visible record of the Tamils ever inhabiting the island in the distant past. There was however, at the time of the author's research, a wonderful Tamil library with ancient records that she could have investigated. That too, was bombed and destroyed along with the ancient text.

Now we may never know who was on the island first. Was it the Sinhalese majority who came from Bengal, or the Tamils who journeyed the short distance across the Palk Straight?

[Galicius · Rating 3 out of 5]

The usual NG great photography an added bonus.

Splendors of the Past is about Archeological explorations of lost civilizations other than Greek and Roman. The Sumer of Mesopotamia is the first as they were first in inventing the wheel and writing some five millennia ago. Next chapter is about the search of David and Salomon’s temple and palaces. The Pompei was described to me in a way that revealed something completely new about which I only heard bits and pieces over the course of last 50 years. Then onto something even less familiar, the African kingdom of Kush, and the Hittite kingdom.
I was looking forward to learning about Khmer architecture and found out that the jungle did less damage than men did to our Western ruins.

This volume was excellent in showing history from a different angle, how people lived, their infrastructure achievement, canals, waterways, roads, essential ingredients of civilizations. The volume focused too on the peoples’ beliefs. In that respect it differed from traditional history, battles fought, assassination that classical history deals with, take Gibbons, for example.

[Dee Renee Chesnut · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of many from The National Geographic Society on my bookshelf that I promised to read when I retired. I enjoyed the photography before, and now I enjoy the text.
There are more than 250 photographs on its 295 pages. I had the good fortune to visit Pompeii to see even more than the writer discusses. The rest of the book is great for armchair traveling.

[Vincent · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like National Geographic magazine, you will like this book.
The book discusses the following "lost civilizations": Sumeria, Solomon's Kingdom, Kingdom of Kush, Pompeii, Anghor and Khmer, Hittites Empire and the ancient ruins of Sri Lanka. Of course, the pictorial spreads and maps are very helpful. My favorite chapters were on Pompeii and Khmer.

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a whole lot to say here. It was an interesting coffee table book from the 80s.