A Companion to the Ancient Near East

Daniel C. Snell9780631232933, 0-631-23293-1

A Companion to the Ancient Near East offers students and general readers a comprehensive overview of Near Eastern civilization from the Bronze Age to the conquests of Alexander the Great. Written by leading experts, the book examines all the major civilizations of the region, including the Sumerians, Hittites, Babylonians, Assyrians, Israelites, and Persians.
The Companion provides a survey of both the history of the Ancient Near East and the sources for studying the period. It places special emphasis on social and cultural history and also covers the legacy of the Ancient Near East in the medieval and modern worlds.

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Table of contents :
Contents……Page 6
Introduction……Page 19
Part I: The Shape of the Ancient Near East……Page 22
1. Historical Overview……Page 24
2. From Sedentism to States, 10,000–3000 BCE……Page 41
3. The Age of Empires, 3100–900 BCE……Page 55
4. World Hegemony, 900–300 BCE……Page 69
Part II: Discourses on Methods……Page 84
5. Archaeology and the Ancient Near East: Methods and Limits……Page 86
6. The Languages of the Ancient Near East……Page 100
7. The Historian’s Task……Page 116
Part III: Economy and Society……Page 128
8. The Degradation of the Ancient Near Eastern Environment……Page 130
9. Nomadism Through the Ages……Page 147
10. Mesopotamian Cities and Countryside……Page 162
11. Money and Trade……Page 176
12. Working……Page 190
13. Law and Practice……Page 204
14. Social Tensions in the Ancient Near East……Page 217
15. Gender Roles in Ancient Egypt……Page 232
16. Royal Women and the Exercise of Power in the Ancient Near East……Page 240
17. Warfare in Ancient Egypt……Page 250
Part IV: Culture……Page 264
18. Transmission of Knowledge……Page 266
19. Literature……Page 274
20. Ancient Near Eastern Architecture……Page 287
21. Mesopotamian Art……Page 302
22. Ancient Mesopotamian Medicine……Page 323
23. Mesopotamian Cosmology……Page 337
24. Divine and Non-Divine Kingship……Page 351
25. How Religion Was Done……Page 364
Part V: Heritage of the Ancient Near East……Page 376
26. The Invention of the Individual……Page 378
27. Ethnicity……Page 391
28. Public versus Private in the Ancient Near East……Page 405
29. Democracy and Freedom……Page 418
30 Monotheism and Ancient Israelite Religion……Page 429
31. The Decipherment of the Ancient Near East……Page 442
32. Legacies of the Ancient Near East……Page 451
References……Page 455
Index……Page 514