A History of Ancient Project Management: From Mesopotamia to the Roman Empire

In his first book, An Introduction to the History of Project Management: From the Earliest Times to AD 1900, the author took an investigative journey through the history of project management of Western history that represented a timeline of over 5,000 years. The study placed contemporary project management into historical perspective and enabled it to be compared with the earlier practices. The conclusions of the study also contributed to the body of knowledge of project management that are absent from today’s science. The author suggested further research to increase the precision and value of the historical understandings of project management. He recommended four separate research studies of the history of project management in the four broad eras of Western history, namely, ancient civilisations, medieval period, modern era and contemporary period. This book is the author’s second research study into the history of the project management. It is an attempt to investigate project management in the ancient civilisations in more detail. The significance is that it adds insight to the existing body of knowledge concerning ancient project management prior to the fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth century AD. Project management applies knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities in order to achieve defined requirements. It is the very deliberate orchestration of areas of expertise to complete a specific project. Investigating the history of project management enables us to reach a comprehensive view of both the historical development of relevant areas of expertise and their application to project activities. As with his previous book, this book is intended for project management professionals who would like to explore the significance of the history of project management.

Y.C. Chiu is an architect and project management consultant. He has over 25 years of architecture and project management experience gained internationally including England, Australia, Japan and Southeast Asian countries in all phases of architectural design projects. He is currently in his consulting career advising on the architectural feasibility of the historic preservation and the adaptive re-use of the cultural heritage building projects in the Southeast Asian region. This is Chiu's second book on the history of project management. His previous book An Introduction to the History of Project Management: From the Earliest Times to A.D.1900 has also been published by Eburon Academic Publishers.