Great Ancient Civilizations of Asia Minor is rated 4.5 out of 5 by 83 .

Rated 4 out of 5 by Thankful2Study from Learned a lot more about Asia Minor This has been in my digital library for a while now and I finally got around to listening to it. Prof Harl is easily one of the best history teachers. His knowledge and his dry sense of humor really make it a joy to listen. I did not think much of Asia Minor or Turkey as we know it today. But after listening to this course I now come to a better appreciation for the area. Indeed, one of the first civilizations of Catal Hyuk was built here and succession of empires has made it their home. I feel that this is something I want to study more about now.

Rated 3 out of 5 by Suzaie from Great ancient civilizations of Asia Minor I have been listening to this course and trying to follow the information. The lecturer reads his notes and has so much information crammed into each lecture that it becomes difficult to follow.

Rated 5 out of 5 by NickPS from Excellent instructor and content. Adding seventeen more

Rated 5 out of 5 by Bob 55 from Asia Min, North Am, Holy land and Native People I have 4 Great Courses. I turned 65 and and retired 2019. I have time, I enjoy history, Any kind of history. I set aside time for 2 Courses a day. I follow the Professors Barnhart, Harl, Magness and Cobb. I try and put myself in the sky watching as story is unfolding. When the hour is done, WOW. Thank you.

Rated 5 out of 5 by Jack B from Harl really brings the history to life! I was fascinated and learned a lot. This put so much of what I thought I knew into context. Thank you.

Rated 5 out of 5 by MimB from Enjoyable course. Not as good as some of the others, but well worth listening to. I like Dr Harl's turn of phrase & humour, but he says um (or variations of it) a lot. Can grate after a while

Rated 5 out of 5 by Gharmjo from A GOOD PLACE TO START THE HARL SERIES BUT WHAT ABOUT ORIGINS of GREAT CIVS?: The 12 lecture "Origins" post-dates this course by 4 years but is a general background course covering the western understanding of the recorded world up to only about 500 B.C. "Great Ancient Civs of Asia Minor" (2001) covers some of the same ground up through L11 but specifically uses Asia Minor (Harl's area of primary expertise) as its fulcrum. This seems warranted because so many of today's cultural issues have passed through or near Asia Minor: the Hittites, the Greeks, Alexander, Rome, Jews and Christians, Byzantines, Crusaders, Islam and the Ottomans. Harl later courses expand this basic course like branches from a tree in 9 of his other courses. Information builds on information. The introductory Scope is here a very useful prep for the course and L1 sets the geographical, soil, resources & weather-related parameters. L2: the early colonists and as a sidebar describes Catal Huyuk a city that Tuck well describes in "Cities of the Ancient World" as providing revolutionary insight into early city foundation. GEMS: Harl is known for gems. Why should we fear a national $22T debt & a world with a debt:GDP ratio of 3:1 See L3: debt & the mighty Hittite. Why should the fulcrum be Anatolia? See L3 cultural and religious rewrites in the classical, Roman, Byzantine & Muslim eras. The real origin of the mysterious Sea Peoples: L5. Why could possibly cause civilization to migrate away from the fertile valleys? See L7. What were the Greeks famous for inventing? The surprising answer ends L7. Another gem is seen in L8 & L13-17 which, carefully read, watches the progress of politics from early disorganization to the Homeric rule by force of personality changing to aristocratic cavalry to hoplite phalanx communal virtue to democratic Greek Polis city-states to "lords" (ie: tyrants) who broke the aristocracies by exploiting political rights and ethnic divisions (sound contemporary?). Rome continued political development through the indirect rule of political crony states and "patronage" where the rich ran civic gov't. Even the gods of the time were recast in Hellenistic garb linked to secular civic worship and finally the cult of the emperor. GREAT STORIES: The March of the 10,000 (L11); How Alexander monetized markets (L13). There is a nice story (L17) of how Jewish populations continued to adapt across all cultural boundaries. Harl describes in detail how the small society of Christians greatly improved their infrastructure even as they were forced to become "invisible" until the 4 edicts of toleration by Galerius, Constantine, Licinius and Maximinus II. Finally, given the recent tendency to view the Crusades as barbaric unilateral aggressions, Harl's factual comments in L20 & 22 are of interest. As Harl had stated (L2 of "The Ottoman Empire"): "Constantinople was...destined to be captured as foretold in the Quran". That Harl is correct is amplified in the Prophet's written threat to Heraclius, the Eastern Roman Emperor (Bukhari, v4, book 56, no.2941) according to Robert Spencer. L20 covers the armies of Islam by both the Orthodox and Umayyad caliphs raiding throughout Anatolia and twice besieging Constantinople. Weakened by the bankruptcy of Justinian's wars (L19), the Persian War (L20) and the Iconoclastic Controversy (L20), besieged Anatolian cities became martial societies. A failed counteroffensive (Manzikert) led the desperate Alexius I to request Crusader aid. L22 describes the initial attempts to help, but Alexius' inflexibility led to distrust. The next two Crusades concentrated on the foe and less on Byzantine wishes. When desperately poor Alexius reneged on his re-supply promises to the massive, stalled, hungry, well-armed 4th Crusade on his doorstep, the predictable happened. The Crusades as barbaric unilateral aggression seems unsupported. SUMMARY: Harl's lectures are a bastion against shallow historical revisionism. The more often one re-listens to Harl, the more one understands people patterns, politics, the past and its reflection: our future.