The Adventure of the Human Intellect

presents the latest scholarship on the beginnings of intellectual history on a broad scope, encompassing ten eminent ancient or early civilizations from both the Old and New Worlds.

Borrows themes from The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man (1946), updating an old topic with a new approach and up-to-date theoretical underpinning, evidence, and scholarship

Provides a broad scope of studies, including discussion of highly developed ancient or early civilizations in China, India, West Asia, the Mediterranean, and the Americas

Examines the world view of ten ancient or early societies, reconstructed from their own texts, concerning the place of human beings in society and state, in nature and cosmos, in space and time, in life and death, and in relation to those in power and the world of the divine

Considers a diversity of sources representing a wide array of particular responses to differing environments, circumstances, and intellectual challenges

Reflects a more inclusive and nuanced historiographical attitude with respect to non-elites, gender, and local variations

Brings together leading specialists in the field, and is edited by an internationally renowned scholar