The History Book Club discussion

This is the Ancient Near East History thread.



This thread is about the following:

"The Ancient Near East refers to early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia (modern Iraq and northeastern Syria), ancient Egypt, ancient Iran (Elam, Media and Persia), Armenia, Anatolia (modern Turkey) and the Levant (modern Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and Cyprus).

As such, it is a term widely employed in the fields of Near Eastern archaeology and ancient history. It begins with the rise of Sumer in the 4th millennium BCE, though the date it ends varies: either covering the Bronze Age and the Iron Age in the region, until the conquest by the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BCE or Alexander the Great in the 4th century BCE, or until the conquest by the Islamic Caliphate in the 7th century CE.

The ancient Near East is considered the cradle of civilization. It was the first to practice intensive year-round agriculture, it gave the rest of the world the first writing system, invented the potter's wheel and then the vehicular- and mill wheel, created the first centralized governments, law codes and empires, as well as introducing social stratification, slavery and organized warfare, and it laid the foundation for the fields of astronomy and mathematics."

This thread deals with the following: Sumer · Akkad · Babylonia · Hittite Empire · Syro-Hittite states · Neo-Assyrian Empire · Urartu

Please feel free to add books, images pertaining to Ancient Near East History, and/or urls, etc that pertain to this subject area. No self promotion please.

Woooo

Great adds Kathy.

Here's a book I don't recommend (!!!). Babylon: Mesopotamia And The Birth Of Civilization. When I bought it, I thought it was about Babylon, since it's in huge print compared to the rest. Babylon is maybe 1/6 of the book. And the author kept making references to the world of today. Got annoying after a while.

Anyhoo, Paul Kriwaczek no photo

And while there isn't really a whole lot on Sumerians (I was curious mainly because of Ghostbusters(!!), but found there was no Gozer. Anyhoo, while Gozer wa fake, the Sumerians were real, and found The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character. It was an interesting and enlightening book, although a little choppy I thought, but I can't blame the author, so much had not survived the 1000's of years of warfare, desertification, conquering, and forgetting.

Samuel Noah Kramer no photo

Thanks for the posts.

Great posts Kathy.

1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed

I am a raving fan of Cline's book 1177 bc about the collapse of Late Bronze Age civilisations. He does a great tour d'horizon of the major civilisations, how they related to each other and some of the dynamics of trade and social interaction.

Obviously, the Sea Peoples feature, but the contenting theories of earthquake, social revolution, climate change (obviously) and trade collapse are very well covered in an easy writing style. It is great to read an expert in his field writing so clearly.

The facts of the collapses at the beginning of the second millennium BC are well summarise, and his conclusions are measured and well support by the facts.

This is a great way to cut through all the pulp fiction theories that float about the web. Recommended.

Synchronized Chronology: Rethinking Ancient History

by Roger Henry (no photo)

Synopsis :

A revolutionary perspective on the Egyptian dynasties allows for correlation with Biblical chronology and classical history - clearing up nagging discrepancies between the findings of archaeology and the assertions of history.

The Ancient History of the Near East from the Earliest Times to the Battle of Salamis

by Henry R. Hall (no photo)

Synopsis:

Of all regions of the earth probably the Near East has had and will have the greatest interest for us, for from it sprang our civilization. There took place the mingling of the Indo-European from the North with the Mediterranean of the South, which produced the culture, art, and law of the Greeks and Romans; and there, on the Semitic verge of Asia, the home of religious enthusiasms from the beginning, arose the Christian faith. And if the Near East has from the first seen the mingling of the ideas of the East and West, it has also seen their secular struggle for mastery.

The Kingdom of the Hittites

by Trevor Bryce (no photo)

Synopsis:

In the 14th century BC the Hittites became the supreme political and military power in the Near East. How did they achieve their supremacy? How successful were they in maintaining it? What brought about their collapse and disappearance? This comprehensive history of the Hittite kingdom seeks to answer these questions. It takes account of important recent advances in Hittite scholarship, including some major archaeological discoveries made in the last few years. It also features numerous translations from the original texts, so that on many issues the ancient Hittites are given the opportunity to speak to the modern reader for themselves. The revised edition contains a substantial amount of new material, as well as numerous other revisions to the first edition.

Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From?

by William G. Dever (no photo)

Synopsis:

In this study the author rejects both revisionists who insist that Biblical literature is no more than pious propaganda & conservatives who are afraid to question its factuality. Through investigation of archaeological evidence he seeks to approach the Biblical text & the external data with no preconceptions.

A book on perhaps the most forgotten ancient empire of the Crescent Fertile. I'll see if I can add more books on this topic this summer.

Constituent, Confederate, and Conquered Space: The Emergence of the Mittani State

by Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum (no photo)

Synopsis:

The Mittani empire is one of the most enigmatic political structures in Mesopotamian history. Reconstructing the emergence and the organisation of this state, whose territory encompassed Upper Mesopotamia touching the Levant and the piedmont plains of the Zagros, is exceedingly difficult. Cuneiform specialists, archeologists and historians discuss the Mittani state with regard to modes of spatial organisation co- and preexisting in the region.

The World of Achaemenid Persia: The Diversity of Ancient Iran

by John E. Curtis (no photo)

Synopsis:

Interest and fascination in Achaemenid Persia has burgeoned in recent years. It is time for a major new appraisal of the glorious civilization founded by Cyrus the Great and continued by his successors, the Great Kings Darius I, Xerxes and Artaxerxes I. This volume offers precisely that: a sustained and comprehensive overview of the field of Achaemenid studies by leading scholars and experts. It discusses all aspects of Achaemenid history and archaeology between 550 BCE and 330 BCE, and embraces the whole vast territory of the Persian Empire from North Africa to India and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf. Topics covered include aspects of Achaemenid religion, administration, material culture, ethnicity, gender and the survival of Achaemenid traditions. The publication of the book is an event: it represents a watershed not only in better appreciation and understanding of the rich and complex cultural heritage established by Cyrus, but also of the lasting significance of the Achaemenid kings and the impact that their remarkable civilization has had on wider Persian and Middle Eastern history.

The World of the Phoenicians

by Sabatino Moscati (no photo)

Synopsis:

This tells of the spread of Phoenician colonies into the Mediterranean, & describes the archeology & history of each area settled, tracing the development of Phoenician civilization down to the fall of the greatest of their colonies, Carthage.

Ritual and Cult at Ugarit

by Dennis Pardee (no photo)

Synopsis:

The Ugaritic ritual texts provide the only extensive documentary data for Late Bronze cultic practice in the greater Syro-Palestinian region. These texts, in a West-Semitic language that belongs to the same family as Hebrew and Aramaic, reflect the actual practice of a sacrificial cult in the city of Ugarit in the late twelfth-early eleventh centuries B.C.E. Based on new collations of the tablets, these texts and translations provide ready access to this direct witness to the form taken by one of the predecessors of the biblical sacrificial cult. In addition to the narrowly ritual texts, which were composed in prose and in a very laconic form of expression, a number of poetic texts are presented that reveal the ideological link that existed between cultic practice and the concept of royalty. While the prose ritual texts document a regular system of offerings to the great deities of the pantheon, related directly to the lunar cycle and less directly to the solar year, some of the poetic texts reveal the desire on the part of the kings of Ugarit to maintain ties with their departed ancestors. The kings saw their effective power as consisting of a continuum from the royal ancestors through to the reigning king and the passage of this power as being effected by ritual practice. More mundane concerns were also addressed ritually, such as protecting horses or other equids from snakebite, finding a cure for a sick child, or defending people from attack by sorcerers. The practice of divination at Ugarit is documented by other texts, both in the form of “manuals,” collections of omens from past practice, and in the form of accounts of real-world consultations of a divinatory priest by someone seeking guidance.

Another good thread, Jose Luis! Persia is the next stop on my summer reading tour. I'm starting with The Persian Empire, which covers the Achaemenian Empire.

by Lindsay H. Allen (no photo)

Thanks, Hana! Good luck on your tour! :)

Life and Society in the Hittite World

by Trevor Bryce (no photo)

Synopsis:

In dealing with a wide range of aspects of the life, activities, and customs of the Late Bronze Age Hittite world, this book complements the treatment of Hittite military and political history presented by the author in The Kingdom of the Hittites (OUP, 1998). Through quotations from the original sources and through the word pictures to which these give rise, the book aims at recreating, as far as is possible, the daily lives and experiences of a people who for a time became the supreme political and military power in the ancient Near East.

by Trevor Bryce (no photo)

The Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture

by Karen Radner (no photo)

Synopsis:

The cuneiform script, the writing system of ancient Mesopotamia, was witness to one of the world's oldest literate cultures. For over three millennia, it was the vehicle of communication from (at its greatest extent) Iran to the Mediterranean, Anatolia to Egypt. The Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture examines the Ancient Middle East through the lens of cuneiform writing. The contributors, a mix of scholars from across the disciplines, explore, define, and to some extent look beyond the boundaries of the written word, using Mesopotamia's clay tablets and stone inscriptions not just as 'texts' but also as material artefacts that offer much additional information about their creators, readers, users and owners.

The Code of Hammurabi

by Hammurabi

Synopsis:

The Code of Hammurabi is a well-preserved Babylonian law code, dating back to about 1772 BCE. It is one of the oldest deciphered writings of significant length in the world. The sixth Babylonian king, Hammurabi, enacted the code, and partial copies exist on a human-sized stone stele and various clay tablets. The Code consists of 282 laws, with scaled punishments, adjusting "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" as graded depending on social status, of slave versus free man. The Code was inscribed in the Akkadian language, using cuneiform script carved into various stele which have survived to the modern day. Hammurabi (died circa 1750 BCE) was the sixth king of Babylon (that is, of the First Babylonian Dynasty) from 1792 BCE to 1750 BCE. He became the first king of the Babylonian Empire following the abdication of his father, Sin-Muballit, he extended Babylon's control over Mesopotamia by winning a series of wars against neighboring kingdoms. Although his empire controlled all of Mesopotamia at the time of his death, his successors were unable to maintain his empire. Babylonia was an ancient Semitic nation state and cultural region based in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq). It emerged as an independent state in ca. 1894 BCE, the city of Babylon being its capital. Babylonia became the major power in the region after Hammurabi created an empire out of the territories of the former Akkadian Empire.

In the Shadow of Babylon
Note: A Novel

by John Schwartz no photo)

Synopsis:

Could an ancient scroll discovered in a vault beneath Baghdad’s Azzohour Palace provide the answer to Iraq’s current crisis? The scroll—pre-dating Hammurabi’s Code by more than 7000 years—details the life of a shepherd who became the founder of a country that existed and thrived in pre-history. It may be the most profound archeological find ever. Shortly after the first Gulf War, an ancient gold-paneled tomb is discovered in Baghdad. Dr. Elman Darshi, the world’s leading Sumerian language authority, is ordered by Saddam to translate the find. Warned of Saddam’s paranoia over ancient prophecies, the professor smuggles his translation to his daughter Alexandria, a doctoral student at University of California, Berkeley. Shortly after completing the translation, Dr. Darshi, his wife, and youngest daughter disappear. When Iraq is liberated and Saddam deposed, the secret tomb is rediscovered. Only Alexandria can read the esoteric writing inscribed on its walls. Together with Dr. Ibrahim Feroz, a young and handsome associate professor at University of Chicago, they present the ancient poem, called The Song of Ayuba, to the world on a global National Geographic TV special.
When the inscribed panels are removed from the underground crypt, a scroll incased in an urn is discovered. It is an autobiography of a warrior poet named Ayuba and proves to be the oldest writing in the world. Publication of the scroll reveals profound life lessons that foment fear and anger in radical Muslims and hope for the majority throughout the Middle East.
Ayuba’s message makes In the Shadow of Babylon hard to put down—each page reveals a new adventure brimming with danger. Ayuba’s message echoes through several millennium. A stanza of his epic poem inscribed on the gold panels now on display in the Museum of Ancient History located on the ruins of the storied city of Babylon sums up the vision of his life.

Sleep, and in the veil of night
Dream of valor in the light
When comes the awakening dawn
It is your dreams you act upon

In The Shadow of Babylon is a story about the modern world of Jihad, terror and suffering wrapped in an ancient message of bravery, wisdom and joy. The lessons learned by the warrior poet Ayuba as he transitions from an ignorant orphan held in captivity by a band of brutal nomads into a heroic leader of an ancient country are as critical to the 21st century as they were 10,000 years ago.

Not history, but a must read for ancient near east:

The Epic of Gilgamesh

by Anonymous (no photo)

Synopsis:

The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia. Dating from the Third Dynasty of Ur (circa 2100 BCE), it is often regarded as the earliest surviving great work of literature. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian poems about 'Bilgamesh' (Sumerian for 'Gilgamesh'), king of Uruk. These independent stories were later used as source material for a combined epic. The first surviving version of this combined epic, known as the "Old Babylonian" version, dates to the 18th century BCE and is titled after its incipit, Shūtur eli sharrī ("Surpassing All Other Kings"). Only a few tablets of it have survived. The later "Standard" version dates from the 13th to the 10th centuries BCE and bears the incipit Sha naqba īmuru ("He who Saw the Deep", in modern terms: "He who Sees the Unknown"). Approximately two thirds of this longer, twelve-tablet version have been recovered. Some of the best copies were discovered in the library ruins of the 7th-century BCE Assyrian king Ashurbanipal. (taken from Wikipedia)

The Epic:

A great king, strong as the stars in Heaven. Enkidu, a wild and mighty hero, is created by the gods to challenge the arrogant King Gilgamesh. But instead of killing each other, the two become friends. Travelling together to the Cedar Forest, they fight and slay the evil monster Humbaba. But when Enkidu is killed, his death haunts and breaks the mighty Gilgamesh. Terrified of mortality, he resolves to find the secret of eternal life.

Thank you, Michele!

José Luís wrote: "The World of Achaemenid Persia: The Diversity of Ancient Iran

by John E. Curtis (no photo)

Synop..."

Great book, sadly out of print for us compulsive owner-buyer-collectors

The Buried Book: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh

by David Damrosch

Synopsis:

Adventurers, explorers, kings, gods, and goddesses come to life in this riveting story of the first great epic--lost to the world for 2,000 years, and rediscovered in the nineteenth century

Composed by a poet and priest in Middle Babylonia around 1200 bce, The Epic of Gilgamesh foreshadowed later stories that would become as fundamental as any in human history, The Odyssey and the Bible. But in 600 bce, the clay tablets that bore the story were lost--buried beneath ashes and ruins when the library of the wild king Ashurbanipal was sacked in a raid.

The Buried Book begins with the rediscovery of the epic and its deciphering in 1872 by George Smith, a brilliant self-taught linguist who created a sensation when he discovered Gilgamesh among the thousands of tablets in the British Museum's collection. From there the story goes backward in time, all the way to Gilgamesh himself. Damrosch reveals the story as a literary bridge between East and West: a document lost in Babylonia, discovered by an Iraqi, decoded by an Englishman, and appropriated in novels by both Philip Roth and Saddam Hussein. This is an illuminating, fast-paced tale of history as it was written, stolen, lost, and--after 2,000 years, countless battles, fevered digs, conspiracies, and revelations--finally found.

Posted in Prehistory, as well.

What does the group think about Tim Holland's "Rubicon?" I am considering writing my own research in this sort of creative non-fiction and wonder what are readers' thoughts.

Rubicon was for non-fiction what HBO's Rome was for television series. It's a succesfully sexy way to steer the public at large through the sparsely-sourced shades of ancient history. By all means, the world needs more of this. It's the only way to digest the concensual facts distilled out of a 100 semi-archeological detail studies at once without the confusion of a 1000 probabilities.

Thank you Dmitri, good to hear from you. Best, Christie

Aššur Is King! Aššur Is King!: Religion in the Exercise of Power in the Neo-Assyrian Empire

by Steven W. Holloway (no photo)

Synopsis:

Steven Holloway's work is the first monograph devoted to Neo-Assyrian religious imperialism. Neo-Assyrian religious imperialism was expressed by punitive measures such as "godnapping," the violent deportation of a vanquished foe's divine images, but also, and this is a far less-studied facet of this topic, by the geographical focus and extent of the material support the Assyrians lavished on favored polities, in effect a Marshall Plan aimed at winning over the elite citizenry pivotal to maintaining economic and political equilibrium.

Thanks for responding to Christie, Dmitri. I would agree with you on that point. That is a book on my list that I hope to get to soon.

BTW - Dmitri, don't forget your citation for Rubicon. Thanks.

by Tom Holland

Myths and Legends: Babylonia and Assyria

by Lewis Spence

Synopsis:

The purpose of this book is to provide not only a popular account of the religion and mythology of ancient Babylonia and Assyria, but to extract and present to the reader the treasures of romance latent in the subject, the peculiar richness of which has been recognized since the early days of archaeological effort in Chaldea. Contents: Babylonia and Assyria in History and Legend; Babylonian Cosmogony; Early Babylonian Religion; Gilgamesh Epic; Later Pantheon of Babylonia; Great God Merodach and His Cult; Pantheon of Assyria; Babylonia Star-Worship; Priesthood, Cult, and Temples; Magic and Demonology of Babylonia and Assyria; Mythological Monsters and Animals of Chaldea; Tales of the Babylonian and Assyrian Kings; Comparative Value of the Babylonian and Assyrian Religions; Modern Excavation in Babylonia and Assyria; Twilight of the Goods; Glossary and Index.

The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria

by Morris Jastrow Jr.

Synopsis:

It requires no profound knowledge to reach the conclusion that the time has not yet come for an exhaustive treatise on the religion of Babylonia and A ssyria. But even if our knowledge of this religion were more advanced than it is, the utility of an exhaustive treatment might still be questioned. Exhaustive treatises are apt to be exhausting to both reader and author; and however exhaustive (or exhausting) such a treatise may be, it cannot be final except in the fond imagination of the writer. For as long as activity prevails in any branch of science, all results are provisional. Increasing knowledge leads necessarily to a change of perspective and to a readjustment of views. The chief reason for writing a book is to prepare the way for the next one on the same subject. In accordance with the general plan of thisS eries of Handbooks, it has been my chief aim to gather together in convenient arrangement and readable form what is at present known about the religion of theB abylonians and A ssyrians. The investigations of scholars are scattered through a large variety of periodicals and monographs. The time has come for focusing the results reached, for sifting the certain from the uncertain, and the uncertain from the false. This work of gathering the disjecta membra of Assyriological science is essential to future progress. If I have succeeded in my chief aim, I shall feel amply repaid for the labor involved.

Everyday Life in Ancient Mesopotamia

by Jean Bottéro

Synopsis:

Everyday Life in Ancient Mesopotamia, based on articles originally published in L'Histoire by Jean Bottéro, André Finet, Bertrand Lafont, and Georges Roux, presents new discoveries about this amazing Mesopotamian culture made during the past ten years. Features of everyday Meopotamian life highlight the new sections of this book. Both gourmet cuisine and popular cookery used fish, meats, fruits, vegetables, and grains, available fresh or preserved (through methods still used today), and served with beer and wine. While feelings toward love and sex are rarely found in personal writings or correspondence, myths, prayers, and accounts of an acceptance of a wide range of behaviors (despite monogamy, prostitution flourished) argue that both were considered natural and necessary for a happy existence.

Under law woman existed as a man's property, yet stories show that wives frequently used beauty and wits to keep husbands in hand, and a wife's financial holdings remained her property, reverting to her family at her death. Women were allowed to participate in activities that could increase this wealth and some, pledged to the gods and shut away in group homes, were nonetheless able to participate in lucrative business ventures. Also included are accounts of the exceptional life of the queen and the women of Mari, the story of the great Queen Semiramis, and chapters on magic, medicine, and astrology.

The concluding section offers a fascinating in-depth comparison of ancient Sumerian myths and stories similar to those found in the Hebrew bible. The new information found in Everyday Life in Ancient Mesopotamia makes a significant contribution, one that deepens our knowledge and understanding of this great, ancient civilization.

Civilizations of the Ancient Near East: 2 Volumes

by Jack M. Sasson

Synopsis:

Civilizations of the Ancient Near East brings together for the first time in one accessible resource scholarship that was previously scattered in hundreds of monographs and journal articles. One hundred and eighty-nine scholars from all over the world contributed their expertise to make this set the most appealing, original, and comprehensive reference on this fascinating area of study. All students, teachers, and scholars who seek to satisfy their curiosity about the ancient Near East's peoples and cultures will find within these volumes articles that intrigue and inform them.History begins in the ancient Near East. While earlier peoples left signs at Stonehenge, on the walls of caves in France it is in the Near East that we first find messages, evidence of the transmission of knowledge from one generation to another, and the organization of nomadic tribes into societies with distinctive class structures, religions, and governments. Ancient Near Eastern civilizations took a great many forms, from the city-states of Mesopotamia to the centralized monarchy of Egypt, and they generated vital traditions in art, architecture, and literature. Through constant interchange with other parts of the world, these cultures influenced the emergence of three of the world's great religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and the shape of human history into the Middle Ages and beyond. The vast expanses of desert in the region have preserved many ancient remains that scholars have recovered and analyzed. Spanning more than 4,000 years, from the Early Bronze Age to 325 BCE, this set explores all aspects of the emergence and development of the diverse cultures of the ancient NearEast.Civilizations of the Ancient Near East presents this enormously rich world from a variety of perspectives. It describes the physical world of the ancient Near East, evaluates the impact of ancient Near Eastern civilizations on succeeding cultures, and reconstructs its cultural contexts based on archaeological findings and the deciphering of documents. This two-volume edition contains the complete text of the original four-volume set, including 189 articles organized in eleven parts, enhanced by 46 maps and 612 photographs and line drawings.

The Ancient Near East, C. 3000-330 BC - Volume 1

by Amélie Kuhrt (no photo)

Synopsis:

The Ancient Near East embraces a vast geographical area, from the borders of Iran and Afghanistan in the east to the Levant and Anatolia, and from the Black Sea in the north to Egypt in the south. It was a region of enormous cultural, political and linguistic diversity.

In this authoritative new study, Amelie Kuhrt examines its history from the earliest written documents to the conquest of Alexander the Great, c.3000-330 BC. This work dispels many of the misapprehensions which have surrounded the study of the region. It provides a lucid, up-to-date narrative which takes into account the latest archaeological and textual discoveries and deals with the complex problems of interpretation and methodology.

The Ancient Near East is an essential text for all students of history of this region and a valuable introduction for students and scholars working in related subjects.

Winner of the AHO's 1997 James Henry Breasted Award."

ILL-GOTTEN GOODS
Koh-i-Noor Diamond



There are many claims to the Koh-i-Noor diamond.

The jewel may have passed through hands and nations for as many as 5000 years — some think ancient Mesopotamian texts make reference to the Koh-i-Noor as early as 3200 B.C. It may have once been a monstrous 793 carets, before a jeweler's maladroitness and a few subsequent refinements chopped it to the mere 109-caret chunk it is today. The Moguls possessed it in the 16th Century, only to lose it to the Iranians, who then lost it to the Afghans. It later went to the Sikhs and ended up with the British. And while the stone carried with it a warning that it would bring harm to its owner, Queen Victoria paid it no heed. It circulated through the British crown jewels until finding a home in the coronation crown of Elizabeth, Britain's most recent Queen Mother.

Current Status: Many lay claim to the Koh-i-Noor, including the Taliban, who trace its origin in India through Afghanistan in ancient days. Indian Sikhs have asked for the diamond back too, as they were the most recent holders before the British. For their part, the British are deaf to these claims, arguing since the diamond has passed through so many hands for so long, they have just as much right to the stone as anyone.

Source: Time

The Ancient Near East : A Very Short Introduction

by Amanda H. Podany (no photo)

Synopsis:

This book explores the lands of the ancient Near East from around 3200 BCE to 539 BCE. The earth-shaking changes that marked this era include such fundamental inventions as the wheel and the plow and intellectual feats such as the inventions of astronomy, law, and diplomacy.

My Notes

Book starts with the beginning of cities (3600 BCE). Goes though Early Dynastic Peroid , The Akkadian Empire, UR , Old Assyrian colonies, Old Babylonian Period, Late Broze Age, then onto the Neo-Assyrians and Neo-Babylonians ending in 539 BCE.

Ancient Assyria: A Very Short Introduction

by Karen Radner (no photo)

Synopsis:

Assyria was one of the most influential kingdoms of the Ancient Near East. In this Very Short Introduction, Karen Radner sketches the history of Assyria from city state to empire, from the early 2nd millennium BC to the end of the 7th century BC. Since the archaeological rediscovery of Assyria in the mid-19th century, its cities have been excavated extensively in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Israel, with further sites in Iran, Lebanon, and Jordan providing important information. The Assyrian Empire was one of the most geographically vast, socially diverse, multicultural, and multi-ethnic states of the early first millennium BC. Using archaeological records, Radner provides insights into the lives of the inhabitants of the kingdom, highlighting the diversity of human experiences in the Assyrian Empire.

What great adds Michelle - and you have the moderator format down.

Michele wrote: " Ancient Assyria: A Very Short Introduction

by Karen Radner (no photo)

Synopsis:

Assyria was one of the most inf..."

Fantastic, Michelle. This book definitely needs to go on my TBR List! — Regards, Andrea

Forgotten Peoples of the Ancient World

by Philip Matyszak

Synopsis:

The ancient world of the Mediterranean and the Near East saw the birth and collapse of great civilizations. While several of these are well known, for all those that have been recorded, many have been unjustly forgotten. Our history is overflowing with different cultures that have all evolved over time, sometimes dissolving or reforming, though ultimately shaping the way we continue to live. But for every culture that has been remembered, what have we forgotten?

This thorough guide explores those civilizations that have faded from the pages of our textbooks but played a significant role in the development of modern society. Forgotten Peoples of the Ancient World covers the Hyksos to the Hephthalites and everyone in between, providing a unique overview of humanity’s history from approximately 3000 BCE–550 CE. A wide range of illustrated artifacts and artworks, as well as specially drawn maps, help to tell the stories of forty lost peoples and allow readers to take a direct look into the past. Each entry exposes a diverse culture, highlighting their important contributions and committing their achievements to paper.

Note: Book starts in the Near East and move West later on.

Thank you for the add Michele.

An upcoming book:
Release date: June 1, 2022

Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: How the People of the Ancient Near East Changed the World

by Amanda H. Podany (no photo)

Synopsis:

In this sweeping history of the ancient Near East, Amanda Podany takes readers on a gripping journey from the creation of the world's first cities to the conquest of Alexander the Great. The book is built around the life stories of many ancient men and women, from kings, priestesses, and merchants to bricklayers, musicians, and weavers. Their habits of daily life, beliefs, triumphs, and crises, and the changes that they faced over time are explored through their own written words and the buildings, cities, and empires in which they lived.

Rather than chronicling three thousand years of kings and kingdoms, The Fertile Crescent instead creates a tapestry of life stories through which readers will come to know specific individuals from many walks of life, and to understand their places within the broad history of events and institutions
in the ancient Near East. These life stories are preserved on ancient tablets, which allow us to trace, for example, the career of a weaver as she advanced to became a supervisor of a workshop, listen to a king trying to persuade his generals to prepare for a siege, and feel the pain of a starving young couple who were driven to sell all four of their young children into slavery during a famine. What might seem at first glance to be a remote and inaccessible ancient culture proves to be a comprehensible world, one that bequeathed to us many of our institutions and beliefs, a truly fascinating place to visit.

Another:
Release date: October 1, 2022

Where War Began: A Military History of the Middle East from the Birth of Civilization to Alexander the Great and the Romans

by Arthur Cotterell

Synopsis:

Bloody fighting between rival tribes and clans has existed since the dawn of Homo sapiens, but war as we knew it began to take the more organized forms we recognize today in the ancient Near East, starting in the vital region near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (modern Iraq) and ultimately extending west to the Mediterranean Sea through what became the Holy Land of the Bible, a region eventually contested by Egypt, the Roman Empire, and others, and extending north and east into the mountains of Persia (modern Iran). In this informed and accessible history, Arthur Cotterell tells the story of how the story of the development of civilization is also the story of the development of organized warfare

This story begins around 4,000 to 3,000 BC with the Sumerians, one of the first dominant civilizations of fertile Mesopotamia, and their wars with their neighbors. The Sumerians eventually gave way to the Babylonians, whose period of dominance saw rudimentary “great power” rivalries begin to form with the likes of Egypt and the Hittites and the Battle of Kadesh (1274 BC). This period resolved with the fall of Babylon and the rise of other powers, ultimately the Persian Empire of Cyrus and Darius, one of the great ancient dynasties, which battled the Greeks directly (as chronicled in Herodotus) and indirectly as rival Persian factions battled each other (e.g., as chronicled in Xenophon’s account of the storied Ten Thousand).

In the period that followed, the Near East was dominated by Alexander the Great, whose legendary campaigns conquered Persia and ventured east into modern India. This era saw the refinement of the Greek hoplite tactics that remained standard for many hundreds of years. After Alexander the Great, and the rise of the Seleucids and Parthians where Persians once reigned, the Roman Empire began to exert its power in the region, especially at its colonies in Judea and Syria.

Spanning some 4,000 years and drawing anecdotes and quotations from ancient sources, Where War Began is a lively narrative of the origins of war in a region that is still afflicted by war and that still shapes global politics.

Thank you Jerome so much for your adds.