Bauer - The Story of the World

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ALSO BY SUSAN WISE BAUER

The Story of the World

History for the Classical Child

(PEACE HILL PRESS)

Volume 2: The Middle Ages (2007)

(Revised Edition)

Volume 3: Early Modern Times (2004)

Volume 4: The Modern Age (2005)

The History of the Ancient World

From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome

(W.W. NORTON, 2007)

The History of the Medieval World

From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade

(W.W. NORTON, 2010)

The Complete Writer: Writing With Ease: Strong Fundamentals

(PEACE HILL PRESS, 2008)

The Well-Educated Mind

A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had

(W.W. NORTON, 2003)

Though the Darkness Hide Thee

(MULTNOMAH, 1998)

WITH JESSIE WISE

The Well-Trained Mind

A Guide to Classical Education at Home

(REVISED EDITION, W.W. NORTON, 2004)

www.susanwisebauer.com

Peace Hill Press, Charles City, VA 23030
2001, 2006 by Susan Wise Bauer
All rights reserved. First edition 2001. Second edition 2006.

Publishers Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bauer, Susan Wise.

The story of the world : history for the classical child.
Vol. 1, Ancient times : from the earliest nomads to the last Roman emperor /
by Susan Wise Bauer ; illustrated by Jeff West.2nd ed.

p. : ill. ; cm.

Includes index.

ISBN-10: 1-933339-01-2

ISBN-13: 978-1-93339-01-6

ISBN-10 (pbk.): 1-933339-00-4

ISBN-13 (pbk.): 978-1-93339-00-9

ISBN: 978-1-942-96800-9 (e-book)

1. History, AncientJuvenile literature.

2. GreeceHistoryJuvenile literature.

3. RomeHistoryJuvenile literature.

4. History, Ancient.

5. Civilization, Ancient.

6. GreeceHistory.

7. RomeHistory.

I. West, Jeff. II. Title.

D57 .B38 2006

930 2005909816

Printed in the United States by Bookmasters, Inc.
30 Amberwood Parkway, Ashland, OH 44805 M9181 December 2011

Cover design by AJ Buffington and Mike Fretto.
Book design by Charlie Park. Composed in Adobe Garamond Pro.
For more on illustrator Jeff West, visit jeffwestsart.com.

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.

www.peacehillpress.com

eBooks created by www.ebookconversion.com

INTRODUCTION

How Do We Know What Happened?

What Is History?

Do you know where you were born? Were you born at a hospital, or at home? How much did you weigh when you were born? What did you have to eat for your first birthday?

You dont remember being born, do you? And you probably dont remember your first birthday party! So how can you find the answers to these questions?

You can ask your parents. They can tell you about things that happened long ago, before you were old enough to remember. They can tell you stories about when you were a baby.

These stories are your history. Your history is the story of what happened to you from the moment you were born, all the way up to the present. You can learn this history by listening to your parents. They remember what happened when you were born. And they probably took pictures of you when you were a baby. You can learn even more about your history from these pictures. Did you have hair? Were you fat or thin? Are you smiling or frowning? What are you wearing? Do you remember those clothes?

You have a historyand so do your parents. Where were they born? Were they born at home, or at a hospital? Where did they go to school? What did they like to eat? Who were their best friends? How can you find the answers to these questions? You can ask your parents. And if they dont remember, you can ask their parentsyour grandparents.

Now lets ask a harder question. Your grandmother was once a little girl. What is her history like? How much did she weigh when she was born? Did she cry a lot? When did she cut her first tooth? What was her favorite thing to eat?

You would have to ask her motheryour great-grandmother. And you could look at baby pictures of your grandmother. But what if you cant talk to your great-grandmother, and what if you dont have any baby pictures of your grandmother? Is there another way you could find out about your grandmothers history?

There might be. Perhaps your grandmothers mother wrote a letter to a friend when she was born. Dear Elizabeth, she might write. My baby was born at home on September 13. She weighed seven pounds, and she has a lot of fuzzy black hair. She certainly cries a lot! I hope shell sleep through the night soon.

Now, suppose you find this letter, years later. Even though you cant talk to your great-grandmother, you can learn the history of your grandmother from her letter. You could also learn history if your great-grandmother kept a diary or a journal, where she wrote about things that happened to her long ago.

In this book, were going to learn about the history of people who lived a long time ago, in all different countries around the world. Were going to learn about the stories they told, the battles they fought, and the way they livedeven what they ate and drank, and what they wore.

How do we know these things about people who lived many, many years in the past? After all, we cant ask them.

We learn about the history of long-ago people in two different ways. The first way is through the letters, journals, and other written records that they left behind. Suppose a woman who lived in ancient times wrote a letter to a friend who lived in another village. She might say, There hasnt been very much rain here recently! All our crops are dying. The wheat is especially bad. If it doesnt rain soon, well have to move to another village!

Hundreds of years later, we find this letter. What can we learn about the history of ancient times from this letter? We can learn that people in ancient times grew wheat for food. They depended on rain to keep the wheat healthy. And if it didnt rain enough, they moved somewhere else.

Other kinds of written records tell us about what kings and armies did in ancient times. When a king won a great victory, he often ordered a monument built. On the monument, he would have the story of his victory engraved in stone letters. Or a king might order someone in his court to write down the story of his reign, so that everyone would know what an important and powerful king he was. Thousands of years later, we can read the stone letters or the stories and learn more about the king.