The Age of Empires: Edinburgh History of the Scottish Parliament

This is a concise introduction to the history of the ancient Near East during the first millennium BC. It covers Phoenicia, Palestine, the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires, the Persian Achaemenid empire, the empire of Alexander, and the vast Persian Seleucid empire founded by Seleucus around 300 BC and defeated by Pompey for Rome in 64 BC.

The book focuses on political history, the sources and shifts of power and the individuals who wielded it. It also introduces the student to the principal aspects of the religious, social and economic history of the region.

The succinct narrative is backed up by summary tables and maps, and enlivened by informative quotations from contemporary documents. The latter are frequently used to illustrate specific case studies. There is also a chronology and glossary for further reading on the subject.