A general introduction to the classical world from its roots to the fall of the Roman Empire. The book focuses on questions about how we know classical civilization from archaeology and history. It deals with the Mycenaean age and the world of myth and epic in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. It provides a summary of Greek history in the 5th and 4th centuries BC, examines social life in Greece and the alternative model of Sparta, and analyzes the achievements of the Greeks in art and architecture, as well as in tragedy and comedy. Regarding Rome, it deals with Roman history, the Roman epic tradition, the interesting features of Roman social life, analyzes Roman satire, explores the urban environment in Pompeii and Herculaneum, and concludes with the fall of Rome.