The Age of Empires Mesopotamia in the first millennium BC

by Joannès, Francis

• ISBN13: 9780748617562
• ISBN10: 0748617566
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-11-11
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Summary

This is a concise introduction to the history of the ancient Near East during the first millennium BC. It covers Phoenicia, Palestine, the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires, the Persian Achaemenid empire, the empire of Alexander, and the vast Persian Seleucid empire founded by Seleucus around 300 BC and defeated by Pompey for Rome in 64 BC.The book focuses on political history, the sources and shifts of power and the individuals who wielded it. It also introduces the student to the principal aspects of the religious, social and economic history of the region.The succinct narrative is backed up by summary tables and maps, and enlivened by informative quotations from contemporary documents. The latter are frequently used to illustrate specific case studies. There is also a chronology and glossary for further reading on the subject.

Table of Contents

Introduction	3	(4)
1 The world of the peoples of Mesopotamia	7	(20)
Places and peoples	7	(6)
The rediscovery of the 'Assyrians'	13	(8)
The evolution of Mesopotamian historiography	21	(6)
2 Political history of the Assyrian empire (934-610 BC)	27	(26)
The first expansion (934-827)	29	(5)
Crisis and refoundation (823-727)	34	(6)
The Sargonid empire (721-610)	40	(7)
Document
One of Ashurnasirpal II's campaigns in the east of Anatolia in 865	47	(6)
3 Control of the imperial territory	53	(25)
Military organisation	54	(7)
At the hub of the empire	61	(7)
The provinces	68	(5)
Document
Extract from the Census of Harran	73	(5)
4 The centre of Assyrian government	78	(34)
The king of Assyria	79	(4)
The exercise of royal power	83	(7)
Where the power lay	90	(11)
Documents
The king of Assyria and his servants: letter from the exorcist Adad-šum-usur	101	(5)
The setting for a royal life: Sargon II's palace at Dûr-Šarrukin	106	(6)
5 Babylonia: from kingdom to empire (900-539 Bc)	112	(31)
Babylonia from the ninth to the seventh centuries	114	(8)
The glory of Babylon	122	(7)
From the Babylonian to the Persian empire (561-539)	129	(9)
Document
The dreams of king Nabonidus	138	(5)
6 Society and economy in the neo-Babylonian period	143	(32)
Social and economic strata	144	(10)
Economic activities	154	(5)
Management of the large organisations	159	(6)
Documents
The life of Babylonian notables: Lurindu's marriage	165	(5)
Land management: leasing contract	170	(5)
7 Religion and culture in Babylonia in the first millennium BC	175	(28)
The pantheon and religious concepts	176	(5)
How religion was organised	181	(9)
Babylon, cultural capital	190	(9)
Document
An extract from the fourth tablet of the Epic of Erra	199	(4)
8 Achaemenid Babylonia (539-331 BC)	203	(23)
A central province of the Persian empire	204	(7)
A reserve of soldiers	211	(4)
Tribute and intermediaries	215	(7)
Document
Financial activities in the Achaemenid era: leasing a royal tax	222	(4)
9 From the Seleucids to the Parthians (331 BC to AD 75)	226	(35)
The evolution of the satrapy of Babylonia	227	(11)
Socio-economic realities	238	(11)
The slow end of a civilisation	249	(6)
Document
Religious activities in the Seleucid period: renting out a prebend	255	(6)
Conclusion	261	(3)
Political chronology	264	(4)
Glossary	268	(11)
Bibliography	279	(2)
Sources of the texts quoted	281	(3)
Index	284