The Indus Valley Civilization and Maurya Empire: The History and Legacy of Ancient India’s Most Influential Powers
Written by Charles River Editors
Narrated by Michelle Humphries
()
About this audiobook
India’s oldest civilization, known as the Indus Valley Civilization or the Harappan Civilization, was contemporary with ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt and had extensive contacts with the former, making it one of the most important early civilizations in the world. Spread out along the rivers of the Indus River Valley, hundreds of settlements began forming around 3300 BCE, eventually coalescing into a society that had all of the hallmarks of a true civilization, including writing, well-developed cities, a complex social structure, and long-distance trade.
During the last centuries of the first millennium BCE, most of the Mediterranean basin and the Near East were either directly or indirectly under the influence of Hellenism. The Greeks spread their ideas to Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Persia and attempted to unify all of the peoples of those regions under one government. Although some of the Hellenistic kingdoms proved to be powerful in their own rights – especially Ptolemaic Egypt and the Seleucid Empire, which encompassed all of Mesopotamia, most of the Levant, and much of Persia during its height – no single kingdom ever proved to be dominant. The Hellenic kingdoms battled each other for supremacy and even attempted to claim new lands, especially to the east, past the Indus River in lands that the Greeks referred to generally as India. But as the Hellenistic Greeks turned their eyes to the riches of India, a dynasty came to power that put most of the Indian subcontinent under the rule of one king. The dynasty that came to power in the late 4th century BCE is known today as the Mauryan Dynasty, and although the ruling family was short-lived and their power was ephemeral, its influence resonated for several subsequent centuries and spread as far east as China and into the Hellenistic west.
More audiobooks from Charles River Editors
Ur: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Sumerian Capital Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gnosticism: The History and Legacy of the Mysterious Ancient Religion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Legends of the West: Deadwood, South Dakota Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Project MK-Ultra: The History of the CIA’s Controversial Human Experimentation Program Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The East India Company: The History of the British Empire's Most Famous Mercantile Company Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rape of Nanking: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mysteries of the South: Ghosts, Legends, and Unexplained Phenomena in Dixie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nineveh: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Assyrian Capital Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5J. Robert Oppenheimer: The Life and Legacy of the Father of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Arnold Rothstein and Meyer Lansky: The Lives and Legacies of the Gangsters Who Reformed Organized Crime in America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mysterious Midwest: Mysteries, Legends, and Unexplained Phenomena in America's Heartland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mossad: The History and Legacy of Israel’s National Intelligence Agency Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Life and Trial of Lizzie Borden: The History of 19th Century America's Most Famous Murder Case Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Denisovans: The History of the Extinct Archaic Humans Who Spread Across Asia during the Paleolithic Era Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Vandals: The History and Legacy of Antiquity's Most Famous Barbarians Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cambrian Period: The History and Legacy of the Start of Complex Life on Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Patrice Lumumba: The Life and Legacy of the Pan-African Politician Who Became Congo's First Prime Minister Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Medieval England: The History of England from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Tudor Dynasty Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSigmund Freud and Carl Jung: The Pioneering Lives and Works of History’s Most Influential Psychologists Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to The Indus Valley Civilization and Maurya Empire
Related audiobooks
The Kushan Empire: The History and Legacy of the Powerful Ancient Dynasty in South Asia Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Kalibangan: The History of the Indus Valley Civilization’s Provincial Capital in Ancient India Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ancient Indus Valley Civilization’s Biggest Cities: The History and Legacy of Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, and Kalibangan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Islamic Empires of India: The History of the Muslim Dynasties that Ruled India Before the British Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Empires of India: The History of the Dynasties that Ruled India Before the British Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Avars: The History and Legacy of the Eurasian Nomads in Central Europe during the Middle Ages Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lakhmids: The History of the Ancient Arab Kingdom that Fought in the Roman-Persian Wars Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mughal Empire: The History of the Modern Dynasty that Ruled Much of India Before the British Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNineveh: History of the Ancient Assyrian City Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Numidians: The History of the Ancient Berbers Who Fought with Carthage against Rome Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Tatars: The History of the Tatar Ethnic Groups and Tatar Confederation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ancient Yamhad: The History and Legacy of Syria’s First Great Kingdom Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHarappa: The History of the Ancient Indus Valley Civilization’s Most Famous City Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ur and Uruk: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Sumerians’ Two Most Important Cities Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSumerians: Their History, Religion, and Inventions Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArzawa: The History and Legacy of a Forgotten Ancient Kingdom in Anatolia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsQatna: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Syrian Kingdom during the Bronze Age Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Varangian Guard: The History and Legacy of the Byzantine Empire’s Elite Mercenary Unit Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Battle of the Persian Gate: The History of the Achaemenid Persian Empire’s Last Stand against Alexander the Great Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Battle of the Granicus River: The History of Alexander the Great’s First Major Battle against the Achaemenid Persian Empire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Kingdom of Pontus: The History of the Ancient Anatolian Kingdom Before It Was Conquered by Rome Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Asian History For You
Legends of the Samurai Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the Ruins of Empire: The Japanese Surrender and the Battle for Postwar Asia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ancient Aliens®: The Official Companion Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chernobyl 01:23:40: The Incredible True Story of the World's Worst Nuclear Disaster Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Midnight in Chernobyl: The Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rape of Nanking: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ghosts of the Tsunami: Death and Life in Japan's Disaster Zone Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shogun: The Life and Times of Tokugawa Ieyasu: Japan's Greatest Ruler Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Japan's Infamous Unit 731: Firsthand Accounts of Japan's Wartime Human Experimentation Program Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ask a North Korean: Defectors Talk About Their Lives Inside the World's Most Secretive Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Code of the Samurai: A Modern Translation of the Bushido Shoshinshu of Taira Shigesuke Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Spy Who Knew Too Much: An Ex-CIA Officer’s Quest Through a Legacy of Betrayal Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Miyamoto Musashi: The Life and Legacy of Japan’s Most Legendary Samurai Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silk Road: A New History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Main Enemy: The Inside Story of the CIA's Final Showdown with the KGB Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5African Samurai: The True Story of Yasuke, a Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gulag: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Memoirs of a Wartime Interpreter: From the Battle for Moscow to Hitler's Bunker Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Story of China: The Epic History of a World Power from the Middle Kingdom to Mao and the China Dream Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Gulag Archipelago Volume 3: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Red Roulette: An Insider's Story of Wealth, Power, Corruption, and Vengeance in Today's China Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5No Beast So Fierce: The Terrifying True Story of the Champawat Tiger, the Deadliest Animal in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Short History of Russia: How the World's Largest Country Invented Itself, from the Pagans to Putin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dressed for a Dance in the Snow: Women's Voices from the Gulag Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Cold War: A New History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Indus Valley Civilization and Maurya Empire
0 ratings0 reviews