Review: Great Battles of the Ancient World

This is a review of an Audio CD set on military history.  Why would our blog on the Bible, Theology, Apologetics and Christian worldview review such a resource?  I believe the more Christians know from auxiliary disciplines outside of theology and apologetics helps us better understand the Bible better (with discernment of course).  So here’s my review…

Garrett G. Fagan. Great Battles of the Ancient World. Chantilly, VA: The Teaching Company, 2005. 12 hours, 18 minutes.

4 out of 5

Purchase: Amazon

This is an audio history lecture produced by The Teaching Company.  It is the first one I listened to from them and because of the positive experience with this product I plan to listen to more lectures that The Teaching Company have made available.  This particular product feature lectures on history by Garrett G. Fagan a historian and professor that is well known for his research in Roman history.  Fagan here gives us twenty four lectures concerning great battles in the ancient world and largely focuses on the classical period and the ancient near east.

These are fascinating teachings for those who love history.  The beginning of the series looked at the Ancient Near East and the Egyptians.  The discussion about Homer and Troy was an early memorable lecture in this set.  I really appreciated the lecture on Jerusalem and Lachish as it touched on some aspect of Biblical history.  I learned a lot from these lectures.  The professor really knows his materials.  For instance I thought Fagan did a good job discussing about the Assyrian method of warfare which was very cruel; yet he also pointed out that there was a method to their cruelty and it was meant to discourage resistance and spare further bloodshed later on.  While we don’t necessarily have to accept their violence as morally acceptable nevertheless this historical study explains history with a little more nuance.  I thought it really picked up the pace when we arrive at the Classical period.  Yet I appreciated that this look at the Greco-Roman military methods was not in a vaccum but in consideration of the interaction with the Persians.  I learned a lot about the Greek hoplites, the Roman legion and also the phalanx in contrast to the Roman legion method of warfare.

Much more could be said but these lectures were fascinating and informative.