A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000 - 323 BC

by Van De Mieroop, Marc

• ISBN13: 9781405149112
• ISBN10: 1405149116
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-10-06
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This revised edition of A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000-323 BC integrates new research from the rapidly developing field of ancient Near Eastern history and greatly expands the guide to further reading from the first edition. The book presents a clear, concise history of the extraordinary multicultural civilizations of the ancient Near East, their political and military events, and their cultures and societies. Beginning with the emergence of writing around 3000 BC, the narrative ranges from the origins of the first cities in Mesopotamia, through the growth of the Babylonian and Hittite kingdoms, to the Assyrian and Persian empires. It ends with the transformation of the ancient Near East by the conquests of Alexander the Great.This accessible text is accompanied by numerous maps and illustrations, and contains a rich selection of Near Eastern texts in translation. Each chapter also includes key research questions or additional text references, such as passages on the use of the Bible as a historical source, excerpts from the Epic of Gilgamesh, or the Assyrian royal annals, intended to add an additional element of comprehension to the text.

Author Biography

Marc Van De Mieroop has taught ancient Near Eastern studies at Columbia University, New York and now also teaches at the University of Oxford. He has written numerous books and articles including King Hammurabi of Babylon: A Biography (Blackwell, 2004).

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	viii
List of Charts	x
List of Maps	xi
List of Boxes	xiii
List of Documents	xiv
Preface to the Second Edition	xvi
Preface to the First Edition	xvii
Acknowledgments	xx
Author's Note	xxi
1 Introductory Concerns	1	(16)
1.1 What is the Ancient Near East?	1	(3)
1.2 The Sources	4	(3)
1.3 Geography	7	(3)
1.4 Prehistoric Developments	10	(7)
Part I City-States	17	(110)
2 Origins: The Uruk Phenomenon	19	(22)
2.1 The Origins of Cities	20	(8)
2.2 The Development of Writing and Administration	28	(7)
2.3 The "Uruk Expansion"	35	(4)
2.4 Uruk's Aftermath	39	(2)
3 Competing City-States: The Early Dynastic Period	41	(22)
3.1 The Written Sources and their Historical Uses	42	(3)
3.2 Political Developments in Southern Mesopotamia	45	(6)
3.3 The Wider Near East	51	(4)
3.4 Early Dynastic Society	55	(4)
3.5 Scribal Culture	59	(4)
4 Political Centralization in the Late Third Millennium	63	(22)
4.1 The Kings of Akkad	64	(9)
4.2 The Third Dynasty of Ur	73	(12)
5 The Near East in the Early Second Millennium	85	(21)
5.1 Nomads and Sedentary People	86	(4)
5.2 Babylonia	90	(4)
5.3 Assyria and the East	94	(9)
5.4 Mari and the West	103	(3)
6 The Growth of Territorial States in the Early Second Millennium	106	(23)
6.1 Shamshi-Adad and the Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia	107	(4)
6.2 Hammurabi's Babylon	111	(8)
6.3 The Old Hittite Kingdom	119	(3)
6.4 The "Dark Age"	122	(5)
Part II Territorial States	127	(80)
7 The Club of the Great Powers	129	(20)
7.1 The Political System	130	(4)
7.2 Political Interactions: Diplomacy and Trade	134	(9)
7.3 Regional Competition: Warfare	143	(1)
7.4 Shared Ideologies and Social Organizations	144	(5)
8 The Western States of the Late Second Millennium	149	(22)
8.1 Mittani	150	(6)
8.2 The Hittite New Kingdom	156	(7)
8.3 Syria-Palestine	163	(8)
9 Kassites, Assyrians, and Elamites	171	(19)
9.1 Babylonia	172	(7)
9.2 Assyria	179	(6)
9.3 The Middle Elamite Kingdom	185	(5)
10 The Collapse of the Regional System and its Aftermath	190	(17)
10.1 The Events	192	(5)
10.2 Interpretation	197	(4)
10.3 The Aftermath	201	(6)
Part III Empires	207	(95)
11 The Near East at the Start of the First Millennium	209	(20)
11.1 The Eastern States	211	(7)
11.2 The West	218	(11)
12 The Rise of Assyria	229	(18)
12.1 Patterns of Assyrian Imperialism	230	(6)
12.2 The Historical Record	236	(2)
12.3 Ninth-Century Expansion	238	(6)
12.4 Internal Assyrian Decline	244	(3)
13 Assyria's World Domination	247	(23)
13.1 The Creation of an Imperial Structure	248	(4)
13.2 The Defeat of the Great Rivals	252	(6)
13.3 The Administration and Ideology of the Empire	258	(2)
13.4 Assyrian Culture	260	(6)
13.5 Assyria's Fall	266	(4)
14 The Medes and Babylonians	270	(16)
14.1 The Medes and the Anatolian States	272	(4)
14.2 The Neo-Babylonian Dynasty	276	(10)
15 The Persian Empire	286	(16)
15.1 The Rise of Persia and its Expansion	287	(3)
15.2 Political Developments	290	(3)
15.3 Organization of the Empire	293	(6)
15.4 Alexander of Macedon	299	(3)
King Lists	302	(16)
Guide to Further Reading	318	(10)
Index	328