Encyclopedia of Society and Culture in the Ancient World

by a number of settlements scattered across a moderately fer- tile plain. Exchange among these settlements and Rome was frequent ...

to growth, Rome’s demand for taxes from the provinces may have meant that provincial economies were obligated to grow or suff er ...

eastward, suggesting both population diff usion and ex- change systems. Because distances were oft en great and contact infreque ...

established by law, lying at the inner end of a bay that runs in toward the south. Before the harbor lies the so-called Mountain ...

FURTHER READING Edward Bleiberg, “Th e Economy of Ancient Egypt,” in Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, ed. Jack M. Sasson ...

domestication of the horse presented problems that ancient peoples did not fully overcome. Although oxen have big, prom- inent s ...

and some could have been used for moving large amounts of stones or other items. Elephants also could have been used to help pul ...

Although many boats on the Nile were conducting of- fi cial government business, apparently there were other craft operating for ...

maneuvering diffi cult, but it still allowed two or more ani- mals to pull together as a team and thus to haul much heavier load ...

rivers, carrying goods and people. Sometimes oceangoing ships sailed up the rivers, transporting goods from the east. Smaller bo ...

gave a rider greater stability and greater control of his mount. In about 380 b.c.e. the Chinese made a stirrup of metal rather ...

by oxen and only later by horses. Th e wheels were solid and heavy, typically constructed out of three joined pieces of wood. Th ...

of his choice to travel overland between Troezen in the Pelo- ponnese and Athens (a relatively short journey). In historical tim ...

Cities were designed to favor pedestrians. Th ere were sidewalks, and cities oft en had laws requiring people who owned property ...

THE AMERICAS BY MICHAEL J. O’NEAL Horses, donkeys, and oxen were not introduced to the Ameri- cas until the time of European con ...

1121  ▶ war and conquest introduction In general, historians writing about the ancient world tend to defi ne war as a military ...

classic example comes from ancient Sumer, where warriors used stone clubs to bash in heads, so people made metal hel- mets to ab ...

farmers became too much. Apparently, raiders using chariots swept out of the northern Sahara and drove the farmers out. Th e Gre ...

two parts, one to intercept Tefnakhte’s fl eet before it reached Th ebes and the other to take Hermopolis from Tefnakhte. While ...

had the superior military organization of troops on the bat- tlefi eld that was necessary for victory in the Iron Age world, as ...