Forgotten Empires: Civilizations That Vanished

By Sky Adler

From the Hittites of Anatolia to the Maya of Central America, human history is filled with great civilizations that once commanded immense power yet later vanished into the shadows of time. Their ruins stand as silent witnesses-palaces carved from desert cliffs, cities buried beneath sands, temples consumed by jungle-reminders of societies that rose, flourished, and disappeared.

Forgotten Empires: Civilizations That Vanished traces the arc of these lost powers across continents and millennia. Each chapter explores a different people: the warriors of Mycenae, the traders of Petra, the astronomers of the Maya, the kings of Kush, and the seafaring chiefdoms of Polynesia. In clear and compelling narrative, the book recounts how they harnessed innovation, faith, and ambition to build enduring legacies, and how they ultimately succumbed to war, environmental shifts, or absorption into greater empires.

Far from being mere curiosities, these civilizations shaped the world we know today. They pioneered technologies, inspired myths, and influenced cultures that outlasted them. Their stories reveal the fragile balance between human ingenuity and historical circumstance-and remind us that no power, however great, is immune to change.

For readers of history, archaeology, and world heritage, this is a journey into the vanished kingdoms that once defined entire regions, and into the lessons they still offer about the rise and fall of civilizations.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1923593218
• ISBN13: 9781923593213
• Release Date: August 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 260 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"