A history of the ancient Near East, ca. 3000-323 BC / Marc Van de Mieroop.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Van de Mieroop, Marc.

Series:

Blackwell history of the ancient world

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Middle East--History--To 622.

Middle East.

History.

Physical Description:

xix, 341 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm.

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

Malden, MA : Blackwell Pub., 2007.

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.

Contents:

List of Documents xiv

1 Introductory Concerns 1

1.1 What is the Ancient Near East? 1

1.3 Geography 7

1.4 Prehistoric Developments 10

Part I City-States 17

2 Origins: The Uruk Phenomenon 19

2.1 The Origins of Cities 20

2.2 The Development of Writing and Administration 28

2.3 The "Uruk Expansion" 35

2.4 Uruk's Aftermath 39

3 Competing City-States: The Early Dynastic Period 41

3.1 The Written Sources and their Historical Uses 42

3.2 Political Developments in Southern Mesopotamia 45

3.3 The Wider Near East 51

3.4 Early Dynastic Society 55

3.5 Scribal Culture 59

4 Political Centralization in the Late Third Millennium 63

4.1 The Kings of Akkad 64

4.2 The Third Dynasty of Ur 73

5 The Near East in the Early Second Millennium 85

5.1 Nomads and Sedentary People 86

5.2 Babylonia 90

5.3 Assyria and the East 94

5.4 Mari and the West 103

6 The Growth of Territorial States in the Early Second Millennium 106

6.1 Shamshi-Adad and the Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia 107

6.2 Hammurabi's Babylon 111

6.3 The Old Hittite Kingdom 119

6.4 The "Dark Age" 122

Part II Territorial States 127

7 The Club of the Great Powers 129

7.1 The Political System 130

7.2 Political Interactions: Diplomacy and Trade 134

7.3 Regional Competition: Warfare 143

7.4 Shared Ideologies and Social Organizations 144

8 The Western States of the Late Second Millennium 149

8.1 Mittani 150

8.2 The Hittite New Kingdom 156

8.3 Syria-Palestine 163

9 Kassites, Assyrians, and Elamites 171

9.1 Babylonia 172

9.2 Assyria 179

9.3 The Middle Elamite Kingdom 185

10 The Collapse of the Regional System and its Aftermath 190

10.1 The Events 192

10.2 Interpretation 197

10.3 The Aftermath 201

Part III Empires 207

11 The Near East at the Start of the First Millennium 209

11.1 The Eastern States 211

11.2 The West 218

12 The Rise of Assyria 229

12.1 Patterns of Assyrian Imperialism 230

12.2 The Historical Record 236

12.3 Ninth-Century Expansion 238

12.4 Internal Assyrian Decline 244

13 Assyria's World Domination 247

13.1 The Creation of an Imperial Structure 248

13.2 The Defeat of the Great Rivals 252

13.3 The Administration and Ideology of the Empire 258

13.4 Assyrian Culture 260

13.5 Assyria's Fall 266

14 The Medes and Babylonians 270

14.1 The Medes and the Anatolian States 272

14.2 The Neo-Babylonian Dynasty 276

15 The Persian Empire 286

15.1 The Rise of Persia and its Expansion 287

15.2 Political Developments 290

15.3 Organization of the Empire 293

15.4 Alexander of Macedon 299

King Lists 302.

Notes:

Previous ed.: 2004.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [318]-327) and index.

ISBN:

1405149108

1405149116

OCLC:

64390584

Publisher Number:

9781405149105

9781405149112