Full Text Review(s)
"This set of volumes, containing 249 articles and targeted at grades 5 and above, provides a solid presentation of ancient civilizations, permitting the young investigator to learn not only about the peoples and cultures of the ancient Near East and the Classical world but also a very wide variety of others, both prehistoric and early historic, from every continent of the world. It is heavily illustrated with color plates and line drawings, good maps, and timelines. To assist the reader, the table of contents not only lists the contents of each volume but also presents thematic contents as follows: cross-cultural entries; civilizations and peoples; biographies of people, legendary figures, and deities; places; philosophy, religion, and mythology; and writings. In addition, each article has a see also note at the end, thus helping the young researcher comprehend that one encyclopedia article does not provide all the information that is needed in learning about a topic. The set concludes with an eleventh volume that contains a comprehensive index, bringing together the indexes included in each individual volume; a set of timelines, which allows the reader to see the changes in each civilization against the other contemporaneous peoples; and a comprehensive glossary, again bringing together the helpful glossaries from the end of each individual volume; an annotated list of museums, both in the United States and abroad; a list of Internet resources (correct as of July 2003); and several other sets of resources, such as books, magazine and journals, CD-ROMs, and videos, including a special list of resources for younger readers. Finally, it provides an index of maps and sites to be found within the text and a thematic index to complement the comprehensive index.

Overall, this set of volumes belongs in every public library and in larger elementary and middle school libraries. Its comprehensiveness and approach will help students learn about the ancient history from all parts of the world, not just those thought to affect western civilization directly. It will represent a solid investment in learning possibilities for all."

"This nicely-illustrated encyclopedia for grades five and above contains 249 articles on ancient civilizations, legendary figures and deities, places, philosophy, religion, mythology, and writings and general topics such as art, education, and technology. The articles span the period of time from approximately 6500BCE to 500CE. Each volume is color coded by geographical region (with a separate color for cross-cultural articles), and each includes its own glossary and index. The final volume contains a timeline, a comprehensive glossary, resources for further study, Internet resources, a map list and index, a group of thematic indexes, and a comprehensive index."