The Myceneans (The Early Greeks, SOTW ch. 19)

We are reaching the point in history where sources will be numerous and finding information won't be so hard as narrow the choices down. There is, for instance, an overwhelming number of translations and retellings, with and without illustrations, of the Iliad. Some that narrow in on just one part of the story, others that summarize, still others that make the book accessible while trying to keep the flavor of the original, and of course the original in a vast range of modernizations.

In learning about the Mycenaeans we spent some time talking about how they lived, and definitely quite some time looking at where they lived, but we also spent some time marking their time in history. I thought it important to draw a distinction between the ancient Greece of the Mycenaeans and the Classical Greece of Homer, so we talked here again about finding truth in myth and vice versa. In particular there are some wonderful books and videos (Michael Wood anyone?) that look at mythical or legendary tellings, like the Minotaur and The Trojan War, and link them to evidence of historical events. An excellent exercises.

Ancient Aegean (DVD, Schlessinger Media, 1998). A comparison look at the cultures of the ancient Minoans and Mycenaeans, and a quest for truth behind myths such as the Minotaur and the Trojan War. We enjoyed this as a short video to reinforce some things we'd already learned. We also watched it a couple of weeks ago when we were looking more closely at the Minoans.

In Search of the Trojan War (BBC Video, Michael Wood, 1985). We are big fans of Michael Wood, so much so that we actually broke down and bought this series on DVD, and we were not disappointed. Here he is at his 1980s finest, taking viewers on an historical tour with stops in Germany, Turkey, England, Greece and more, in search of the truth, or fanciful hopes, regarding the Trojan war. Not only an excellent series on the historicity of Homer's Iliad, but also on the history of archaeology itself, and the sites included.

Digging for Troy: From Homer to Hisarlik (Jill Rubalcaba and Eric Cline, 2011). Beginning with a nod to the Troy of modern culture, following with a summary of the classical story, then commencing with an historical account of the archaeologists and their excavations of the site over the years. This book provides a lot of information in a very accessible way. It's a wonderful resource not only for the study of Troy, but also archaeology itself, and the concept of a living, changing historical understanding. We really only used the portion of the book on the archaeologists.

Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of the Iliad (Rosemary Sutcliff, 1993). Sutcliff's re-telling of the Iliad was originally published in serially in the magazine Cricket, before being published after her death with illustrations by Alan Lee. It has since been published in other forms and I believe Lee's illustrated version is out of print, but the book, which is excellently retold, would not be the same without the illustrations. We got it from our library and Calvin absolutely loves it. We also have the Sutcliff/Lee version of the Odyssey on loan (The Wanderings of Odysseus, 1995), and he'll probably read that this week.

The Celts (history off the beaten path)

Halloween week had us reading up on the Celts, coloring, and taking in a couple of interesting videos. It was a short detour form our march through the Story of the World, but temporally it's a legitimate sidestep. Bauer doesn't get to any of the Celts until the Romans do, quite a ways down the line, but they were there and they were building, and I'm glad we spent the time to give that culture it's place on our history timeline.

Stonehenge Decoded is a National Geographic video that looks at some newer theories and speculations about the meaning and history of that famous stone monument. A true documentary, but as usual we really enjoyed it.

Stonehenge, by Cynthia Kennedy Henzel is part of a series titled Troubled Treasures: World Heritage Sites, and part of the book is dedicated to discussing the ways in which this monument is threatened and the reasons why preserving it should be a priority. Calvin enjoyed the pictures and short paragraphs of factoids present with each.

This book, The Mystery of Stonehenge, by Franklyn Branley, is an old one. That's probably why I like it. Written in the 60s, the book is lacking the loud, attention getting images and fonts of newer non-fiction youth books, and it has the enjoyable feel of a book well written and well made. Mostly text, the images that are present are sketches with limited color. There is one particular sketch, a birds-eye-view, that Calvin has studied repeatedly and really enjoyed. Thumbs-up.

Read-Aloud Celtic Myths and Legends, because we can't look at any culture without also looking for all their good stories. We didn't spend any real time looking at these, just reading them, so I don't know how authentic they are, but we'll do that when we return to the Celts at a later date.

I love the Dover coloring books. They make a coloring book for just about every occasion, Stonehenge included.

The Minoans (SOTW ch. 18)

Back to the sea. We're on the door of the ancient Greeks now, and from there it's just a hop, skip, and a jump to the classical Greeks. Of all the ancient civilizations they might be my favorite, although I might be known to say the same about every civilization at the onset of each study. My only disappointment with this topic was the dearth of good books for children. We actually got most of the good information from the two videos we watched.

This version of Theseus and the Minotaur, by Warwick Hutton, combines beautiful illustrations with an accessible version of the Classical Greek myth about the Minoans and their Greek neighbors.

The Ancient Aegean, by Schlessinger Media. These videos tend to be just on the cusp of cheesy versus useful. But while this one definitely still suffered from a healthy cheese factor, it felt toned down to me. Most of the video is spent looking at the civilizations and delving into the myths, and the information is good. We definitely enjoyed this quick look at the Minoans and the myth of the Minotaur, plus, with a short overview of the Iliad and the truth behind Troy it turned out to be a good segue into our study for next week.

Secrets of the Dead is an ongoing PBS show. The episode that we viewed Sinking Atlantis, is from 2008. We rented it through Amazon Prime video streaming. Historians uncover evidence of what happened to the Minoan civilization in the centuries before it was ultimately conquered and absorbed by the Mycenaean culture. We watched this video twice and enjoyed it both times immensely.

Back in the Middle East (SOTW chs. 16 and 17)

This week (two weeks) in history...a lot of review. We left Mesopotamia behind awhile ago to spend time in Egypt and around the Mediterranean, so when we finally returned to the Middle East we had to spend a little time reviewing names like Gilgamesh, Sargon, and Shamshi-Adad. We also picked up a few books on the Library at Nineveh and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. It wasn't a thrilling couple of weeks, but since we were still absorbing info on the Phoenicians (Hanno and Hannibal in particular, even if they were later), that was okay. Plus we were on vacation. Sometimes it's good to have a week of mundane history.

Seven Wonders of the Ancient Middle East, by Michael Woods (not to be confused with Michael Wood, my very favorite historian ever), is a reference-style look at exactly what it says. Beautiful pictures and rich textual evidence brings the sites alive for the reader. The entry we were after was on The Library of Nineveh.

Famous Figures of Ancient Times is simply a fun bit of distraction. Cut out and create pose-able paper doll figures of twenty different famous figures from ancient times. I just came across this at a specialty used book store and fell in love with it. I'm a geek that way. So, apparently, is my son.

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, by Michael Woods. Like its brother book on the wonders of the ancient Middle East. We used this volume for its entry on The Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

The Babylonians, by Martha Rustad, is a fascinating look at the life and times of the Neo-Babylonians, including religion, science, and day-to-day activities.

Ancient Babylon, by Karen Gibson, is packed with information interspersed with photographs and imaginative renderings of the ancient cities of Babylon. A little dry, and somewhat fantastical, relying on unsubstantiated sources, but the illustrations are greatly enjoyable.

Egypt's New Kingdom (SOTW Ch. 13)

Moving on to the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, we used many of the same resources. The new ones we added that I liked are listed below, plus two videos that we absolutely love.

Tut’s Mummy—Lost...and Found (Judy Donnelly, 1988). Easy reading level, fun information. Calvin, our fellow Tut lover, read and re-read this one.

Look What Came from Egypt (Miles Harvey, 1999). A decent look at what things the Egyptians had and what they did with them, but it's pretty limited in scope (mainly forgetful of the many other thriving civilizations of the time) and offers no sources for factual statements.

Tutankhamun (Gill Harvey, 2006). A good biography. Calvin also read and re-read this one, but the reading level was more appropriate for his capability.

Engineering an Empire (The History Channel, 2006, via Netflix). A really great look at a few of the engineering marvels that came out of Ancient Egypt, from each of the three kingdoms. Information is giving about the reigning Pharaohs along with information on the architecture of the time.

Egypt's Golden Empire (PBS, 2005, via Netflix). From the end of Middle Kingdom or beginning of the New Kingdom onward, a look at the rising and falling of the Egyptian Empire and the remarkable Pharaohs that ruled during that time. Focuses mainly on the 18th and some of the 19th dynasties. Though violent for brief moments, reenactments give add an interesting appeal and bring the history to life.