Philip Matyszak - Vergeten Volkeren (Omniboek, 2021) ***

 It's interesting to understand the quirks of history. Why did some people and tribes continue to exist, and why did others vanish? And how did they vanish. In English the book is called "Forgotten Peoples of the Ancient World". It's furthermore a nice publication, that I could not resist to buy when I saw it in the bookstore. There are full-page maps for each tribe, with nice pictures of archeological finds and other visuals. 

The book covers a wide time span, from 2700 BCE to 550 CE, and includes overview of fourty different tribes, some of which are known, such as the Amorites, or Hethites, the Philistines or the Medes, some are less known, such as the Bactrians or the Catuvellauni. 

It's more a reference manual than a book you would actually read from A to Z even if I did that. The summary is short for each tribe, but well documented. Although I think it is bizarre that often the Bible is mentioned as the reference, without actually emphasising that the Bible is not a reliable source of historic information, as if it was one more factual source next to academic archeological or historical findings. 

That being said, it is instructive and broadens our perpsective on history.