The peoples of the hills - Charles Burney

Archaeologist Charles Burney describes the environment and geographical features of the region and discusses the oldest prehistoric sites; the earliest Anatolian settlements, the remarkable culture of the third and second millennia BC and the impact of outside influences.The history of Urartu, rival of Assyria, is traced in detail from its origins to its downfall and the coming of the Armenians. Historian David Marshall Lang then takes up the story with a history of the region after the Persian Empire, into the Greek and Roman periods relating the epic story of Tigranes the Great and Mithradates Eupator and their struggle for freedom against Rome. Special sections are devoted to the ancient Christian civilizations of Armenia and Georgia and their contributions to art, architecture, literature and learning, ending with the onslaught of the Mongols in the 13th century.Illustrated with 64 pages of photographs and maps.