This study offers a concise survey of Western Civilisation from the Stone Age through the fall of the last Western Roman Emperor in AD 476. Three sections each chronicle a critical epoch in human history. Section I encompasses man’s ascent from barbarism to civilisation in the Ancient Near East; Section II witnesses the development of Western Civilisation in Ancient Greece; and Section III catalogues the failed attempt to build the West’s first ""nation-state"" in Ancient Rome. The focus of each section is on political and military history, but each concludes with a segment which concentrates on the cultural and scientific achievements of the era under study. Human foibles are abundantly portrayed but so too is the ascent of humankind. Scholarly and comprehensive in content, lively and informal in tone, The Ancient Near East, Greece and Rome: A Brief History will serve as a useful resource for college students and general readers alike.