Lost Cities & Vanished Civilizations

by Robert Silverberg

Book by Silverberg, Robert

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Archaeology, Anthropology, Reference

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

There are many authors in the database with this name.

Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars for a short and easily digestible collection of popular science archeology and ancient history by a science fiction master.

This is the kind of paperback you’d find at the supermarket or drug store in another time, and for less than a dollar you could help feed your reading addiction every time you went for groceries. Those stores used to be chock full of books from dozens of genres.

This book is the perfect primer for anyone interested in lost civilizations and a starting point for those who might take that interest further. Silverberg’s concise descriptions of the civilizations featured and the archeological talent (to various degrees) of those who rediscovered the sites is entertaining and informative.

[Taveri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite this being sixty years old this was a pretty good read with interesting details about the discovery of the six sites (Pompeii, Troy, Knossos, Babylon, Chichen Itza and Angor) their significance and efforts to dechiper ancient scripts. There were nine ancient cities at Troy and the one from Homer's Illiad was third from the top. I do library presentations on the Maya and Chichen Itza and learned some about the tombs beneath the Kulkan pyramid. Of course more has been learned in the last six decades: that Maya cities (El Midador) were around 3,000 years ago (not just a thousand years ago) and Mayan heiroglyphics have been largely interpreted.

The first and last chapters were not as engaging as the other four or i would have given this five stars.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book in a box of books from a tag sale a while ago. I like Silverberg, but this was the first non-fiction book of his I read. Published in 1962(!), Silverberg tells a tale here of six 'vanished' civilizations utilizing a 'great man' of archeology approach; by this, I mean he devotes at least as much time to the 'discoverers' of the civilizations to the actual civilizations themselves. While the great man approach is definitely no longer the vogue in archeology (and has not been since I first studies archeology in college back in the 80s), it was still fun to read about the largely Europeans who first encountered these cities/civilizations and their trials/travails along with their motivations. The cities/civilizations he describes in six chapters include: Pompeii, Troy, The Mayas, Angkor Wat, Knossos, and Babylon.

LCAVC introduces each of these cities and civilizations as a puzzle-- who were they? What did they do for fun? How about their drama and poetry? Pompeii is fascinating as it really is a city that just stopped in time; Silverberg even describes the graffiti found on the walls! He also describes the various challenges each of these six sites pose-- from being buried in the jungle to being built over several times as the case in Troy. Also, ancient Sumeria built their cities with mudbrick, and time has largely erased their cities. If you have an interest in these areas, this is a fun little book, albeit heavily dated by modern scholarship. I found it to be a great bathroom reader! 2.5 stars rounding up!

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much like Isaac Asimov, Silverberg supported himself better for quite a while by writing popular science books than he was able to by only producing genre fiction. In those pre-internet days if one wanted to do some research or just indulge in random learning, one had to go to a library... believe it or not. This one first appeared in 1962 with a cool-looking H. Rider Haggard/Indiana Jones cover, though my 1974 edition is kind of blah. He explores the discovery and research of a half-dozen ancient communities in this one, and his clear and unadorned prose made for easy to read but fascinating fare. I don't remember it extremely well, but I remember enjoying it and feeling smarter for a while. In 1962 the attitudes about appropriation and colonialism were quite different but think of it as an example of history about history.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like Silverberg's writing style. The book itself is a quick read, and amusing, but out of date in many ways. Knowledge of the civilizations covered has been updated, and Silverberg repeats some inaccuracies that he should have known were untrue. (For instance, that Schliemann discovered Troy by himself, acting on 'intuition.')

[Courtney Malpass · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was originally published in 1962 and the writing is indicative of that time period. Male archaeologists are revered and put on a pedestal while the women that traveled with them are regarded as little more than ornamental pieces. Silverberg writes about men like Schliemann as if he were still to be considered one of the greatest archaeologists of all time. Although the author does acknowledge the mistakes made with Troy, Priam’s Treasure, and Agamennon’s mask, his language is still in awe of a man who destroyed and looted instead of preserved and honored an ancient civilization and contemporary country.

It is clear that the author values western history over the history of indigenous Central America and Southeast Asia. Silverberg gives the most attention to the lost cities and peoples of ancient Greece, Italy, Turkey, and Iraq while seeming to simply skim over the significance of the discoveries in the Yucatan and Cambodia. Even when discussing ancient Babylon, the civilization is reduced to language which was then connected to the ancient Mediterranean; Cambodia was the shortest chapter in the book with little more than basic information now found in the first paragraphs of a Wikipedia page.

The little saving grace for this book comes to me via the date of publication. I think as a research tool, this book could still have some merit for someone interested in the evolution of writing about archaeology and the evolution of the field itself. We’ve come a long way since 1962, but this text would still have some value in the research context.

Overall, I gave this book a 2-star rating. There is some information presented that is still valid today and the text itself could be used as a marker in a timeline for research purposes. But I would definitely not recommend Silverberg’s book for anyone with a simple curiosity about the topic of lost civilizations.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad for being sixty years old. Silverberg covers six cities and the archeologists who found them. It's a bit dated obviously, but the author was respectful of the people who originally build the cities. It's a quick, breezy overview. In the epilogue, Silverberg talks about how the work of archeologists is never done since there's always more to be explored. I got a kick out of his speculating that in forty years archeologists might be digging up civilizations on Mars.

[Karin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love these kinds of books...exploring how people used to explore. Yes it is awfully colonial and elitist. Yes the "discoverers" treated people deplorably, stole from and cheated governments and community leaders. Yes we need to take these people down from their pedestals and talk about the harm they caused. But I will only understand that harm if I read these accounts, so I'm gonna keep reading them.

[Thomas R · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book from the 1960s and even though it is dated, it was fun to read. This may be because Silverberg is mainly a Science Fiction author and writes in a style that is more like a story than like a dry text book. There are six civilizations or cities: Pompeii, Troy, Knossos of Crete, Babylon, Chichen Itza of the Mayas, and Angkor. For a first taste of archeology this would be a good place to start and to then follow up with more recent books and their discoveries.

[Dalibor Dado Ivanovic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nekako mi nije ovo Silverberg koji mi je drag...

[Wyatt Trunk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic stories of forgotten civilizations.

[Henry Kline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this back in Junior High and am now reading the sequel. When I checked to see if it was in Good Reads I did not find it.

[Angela Ferrari · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good light read that could have you wanting more

[Deedee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dewey 930.1

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book because I was going to visit the Mayan ruins in Central America. Very fascinating stuff. I would like to visit all of the sites listed in this book. History is more interesting now that I'm older!

[Roger Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first nonfiction book that I have read by Robert Silverberg and I think I like his science fiction better, but this was enjoyable too. It was simply a book of essays on the history of the archaeological work at six well known archaeological sites around the world. It concentrates on the archaeologists who pioneered the work and the mistakes and problems they made and went through. The focus was on the archaeologists themselves, but that could not be really done without teaching something about the discoveries that were made too and how they were made. The sites are Pompeii, Knossis, Babylon, Chichen Itza, Angkor and Troy. The book was published in 1962 so I expect that new things about the ancient cultures in question have been discovered since, but I was still able to learn from this book. It should be noted that it was written for the lay reader, but since I am a lay reader it suits me just fine. I don't know if it was written for young readers or not, but I was thinking through the whole thing that it would work fine for inclusion in a middle school library. It is around that time that people are trying to decide on their careers and lifetime interests and I think this could get some people of that age interested in archaeology.

[East Bay J · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this at the laundromat, thought it looked interesting and that I'd give it a read. The name, Robert Silverberg sounded very familiar but it wasn't until I did some research that I discovered this Robert Silverberg is a prolific writer of fantasy and science fiction. I also found that I had never read any of his books.

No matter. Lost Cities And Vanished Civilizations collects brief studies of six ancient cities; Pompeii, Troy, Knossos, Babylon, Chichen Itza and Angkor. I used to want very badly to be an archaeologist (much of the blame for which goes to Indiana Jones) and this sort of book is right up my ally. Silverberg does a fine job of touching on the key facts of who discovered these cities and how they did it, as well as the people that once lived there. In each case, I was left wanting to know more. He also inadvertently gives a rundown of the history of modern archaeology, from the early explorers who more or less destroyed the anthropological evidence they found down to the modern day scientists who bring the past to life.

Archaeology rules.

[Royce Ratterman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most books are rated related to their usefulness and contributions to my research.
Overall, a good book for the researcher and enthusiast.
Read for personal research
- found this book's contents helpful and inspiring - number rating relates to the book's contribution to my needs.

[Aaron Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative, historically insightful, and entertaining. Silverberg's perspective on archaeology is passionately accurate and creative. A must read for anyone interested in archaeology.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary introduction to six exciting archaeology sites of lost civilizations. Very humbling as I contemplate the rise and fall of great societies which succumbed to pride.

[Gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the start of my love of archeology.