|
Frequently Asked Questions about The Story of the Ancient World
What time period of history does this book cover? The Story of the Ancient World covers history from Creation at 4004 BC through the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great at 300 BC. However, it does not address the history of Greece, or the life and conquests of Alexander the Great. He only appears in the narrative as the ender of the Persian Empire. The history of Greece as well as the life and conquests of Alexander the Great are addressed in detail in The Story of the Greeks, which should follow The Story of the Ancient World in the history curriculum. What stage / age of children is this book appropriate for? This book, like all the others in the Guerber history series, is meant for a child’s first introduction to the history of the ancient world. It was written with first graders in mind, which is the age we recommend it for at Classical Christian Homeschooling. It is too advanced for a first grader to read independently, but very appropriate for a history read-aloud to first graders, or any other children in the grammar stage. The content covers the events of ancient history and the Old Testament, and as such children will encounter sin, crime, betrayal, and rebellion against God, as well as repentance, faith in God, heroism, and many examples of God’s faithfulness to men. Although we encourage everyone to use the Guerber histories, including The Story of the Ancient World, with their children in the grammar stage, or first through sixth grades, we have heard from many parents whose teens read these histories with great enthusiasm. Why is there not more detail about some civilizations? This book was never meant to cover the ancient history of the Chinese, the Indians, or South America, for example. The Story of the Chosen People, upon which this book is based, is the story of the Old Testament retold. The book’s premise was to integrate the story of the Old Testament with the story of those civilizations which we encounter in the Old Testament: so the Sumerians, the Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Phoenicians, and the Persians, primarily, keeping in mind the audience that this book is intended for: first graders and grammar stage children. This process alone required significant changes to the text of The Story of the Chosen People: integrating the chronologies of the Bible with the ancient world required detail changes in nearly every chapter of Guerber’s book. In many cases chapter order also had to be redone, and some chapters had to be taken apart and recombined with parts of other chapters, or new chapters, to make the chronology and the narrative flow as a single, unbroken story as is Guerber’s hallmark. Then roughly 40% of the book is new material entirely, written to integrate ancient history with biblical history. Regarding the details of ancient history which are not found in Scripture, the experts themselves hardly agree on them. One school believes one civilization grew out of another, while another school thinks they arose simultaneously, and a third holds an entirely different opinion altogether. Many library books for school children hail Hammurabi as the first lawgiver, while academic works describe in detail the law codes of two or three other kings who were before Hammurabi, with Scripture itself contradicting that premise entirely. The experts are not agreed on order, dates, names, or details. I purposely kept the book from making claims which are in every likelihood to be disproved tomorrow, or in ten years. I was faced with a choice: to spend the book introducing the contradictory claims, and debunking the preconceived ideas, and false information, found in other books, or just tell the story with the clear information which was available. I chose the latter, as the most consistent with Guerber’s established style. Where perfectly good books existed which went into various details of ancient history, rather than rewrite their information, I included those books in the Recommended Reading section, keyed to the appropriate chapter, in the back of the book. Why write a chapter on Egyptian mummy making when Mummies Made in Egypt is in print? We recommend parents use the recommended reading list to enlarge on the events introduced in the book. So why The Story of the Ancient World? There is not another book out there for children, of which I am aware, which first of all, honors the Biblical history and chronology as accurate and includes details from Josephus and other ancient sources which illuminates the Biblical history. Secondly, it explains the rise of the various civilizations from the sons of Noah. Thirdly, it integrates their history with the history of the Hebrews at the proper places in the unfolding of that history: the Sumerians when we first meet with Abram in Ur, the Egyptians when Joseph is sold into slavery, the Phoenicians when David develops his friendship with Hiram of Tyre, or the Persians when Belshazzer is dethroned by them after Daniel's interpretation of the handwriting on the wall. Old Testament history and ancient history do not have to be taught separately anymore, with never the twain meeting. The events of Biblical history influenced the events of so-called secular ancient history and vice versa, and now the connection is clear. What chronology do you use for dating the events of ancient history? Biblical history has been taken as authoritative in all cases, and it has acted as the plumb line for the evidence left to us by archaeology and classical history. Looking at “secular” history through the lens of Biblical history has allowed a complete and unified picture of the ancient world to emerge, which makes sense of the monuments, and the often disjointed facts children encounter in library books about this period. However, even among Biblical scholars, there are many different, and sometimes conflicting, systems of chronology for dating the events of ancient history. The Story of the Ancient World followed Archbishop Ussher’s dates without exception, as being the most learned, and logical, and completely consistent with Scripture’s internal evidence. In your timeline, you don’t have 400 years between Joseph and the Exodus. Why not? In questions of chronology, we have followed Archbishop Ussher’s dates without exception, as being the most learned, and logical, and completely consistent with Scripture’s internal evidence. This question revolves around the Scripture in Exodus 12:40, which says in many modern versions, “The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years.” But the Authorized version (King James) has the most accurate translation from Hebrew into English: “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years,” which has a subtly different meaning. Most chronologers who begin from the worldview of inerrancy of Scripture, believe that the sojourning of the children of Israel began with Abram’s arrival in the Promised Land (Gen 12:4). Abram was a sojourner in a land that was not his. From that date to the Exodus was 430 years. This is the conclusion which Ussher drew from all Scripture, both the Old and New Testaments, which touched on this event, as well as the lifespan information included in Scripture of the patriarchs, but he mentions his conclusion without dwelling on it. Floyd Nolen Jones, author of Chronology of the Old Testament, goes into the Scripture on this question in great detail. I have summarized some of Dr. Jones’ research here. But I would suggest anyone really interested in this topic to study Dr. Jones’ extensive research on it, which should settle all questions. What painting is that on the cover? The cover painting is a detail from Sir Lawrence Alma-Tedema’s “The Finding of Moses.” Do you have questions about The Story of the Ancient World? Send us an e-mail, and we will post the answers here.
Order The Story of the Ancient WorldRead what others are saying about Guerber’s Histories!Guerber History Series NewsReturn to H. A. Guerber’s Histories |
|
Nothing New Press: The Story of the Ancient World by Christine Miller and H. A. Guerber
info@nothingnewpress.com
This page last revised March 2007
http://www.nothingnewpress.com/guerber/ancient-faq.html
Copyright © 2006-7
