Forgotten Peoples of the Ancient World

Forgotten People of the Ancient World by Phillip Matyszak

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This is a fun book. It is not a particularly deep book, but it's not intended to be deep. Instead, the author, Phillip Matyszak, seems to be going for a popular appeal by making it succinct, light, occasionally humorous, and broad.

The book covers four broad sweeps of time: (a) the First Civilizations, (b) from Akkad to Alexander; (c) the peoples wiped out by Rome, and (d) the people who brought down Rome. So, with that inventory, the book starts in the Mid-East and gradually makes it way west until the final entry returns us to the Persian-Indian border with the White Huns, aka the Hephthalites.

As a history lover, I've often read these names in passing without giving them more thought than I would a background character in Shakespeare. This was an interesting “backgrounder” to situate these people in their historical context as individuals.

This book was a delight. If you've ever wondered about an ancient civilization scarcely mentioned while reading about the Greeks or Romans, this is the book you've been looking for. It's arranged in chronological order from ancient history past the fall of Rome. I loved the tie-ins with art history and the modern echos as well. It's also a great source for the myriad civilizations mentioned in the Bible who aren't the Israelites, such as the Philistines, Samaritans, etc.