This book presents a clear, concise history of the extraordinary multicultural civilizations of the ancient Near East. * Bestselling narrative of the complex history of the ancient Near East* Addresses political, social, and cultural developments* Contains in-depth discussion of key texts and sources, including the Bible and the Epic of Gilgamesh* Includes numerous maps, illustrations, and a selection of Near Eastern texts in translation* Integrates new research, and greatly expands the guides to further reading for this second edition

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations. List of Charts. List of Maps. List of Boxes. List of Documents. Preface to Second Edition. Preface to First Edition. Acknowledgments. Author's Note. 1. Introductory Concerns. 1.1 What is the Ancient Near East?. 1.2 The Sources. 1.3 Geography. 1.4 Prehistoric Developments. Part I: City-States:. 2. Origins: The Uruk Phenomenon. 2.1 The Origins of Cities. 2.2 The Development of Writing and Administration. 2.3 The "Uruk Expansion". 2.4 Uruk's Aftermath. 3. Competing City-States: The Early Dynastic Period. 3.1 The Written Sources and their Historical Uses. 3.2 Political Developments in Southern Mesopotamia. 3.3 The Wider Near East. 3.4 Early Dynastic Society. 3.5 Scribal Culture. 4. Political Centralization in the Late Third Millennium. 4.1 The Kings of Akkad. 4.2 The Third Dynasty of Ur. 5. The Near East in the Early Second Millennium. 5.1 Nomads and Sedentary People. 5.2 Babylonia. 5.3 Assyria and the East. 5.4 Mari and the West. 6. The Growth of Territorial States in the Early Second Millennium. 6.1 Shamshi-Adad and the Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia. 6.2 Hammurabi's Babylon. 6.3 The Old Hittite Kingdom. 6.4 The "Dark Age". Part II: Territorial States:. 7. The Club of the Great Powers. 7.1 The Political System. 7.2 Political Interactions: Diplomacy and Trade. 7.3 Regional Competition: Warfare. 7.4 Shared Ideologies and Social Organizations. 8. The Western States of the Late Second Millennium. 8.1 Mittani. 8.2 The Hittite New Kingdom. 8.3 Syria-Palestine. 9. Kassites, Assyrians, and Elamites. 9.1 Babylonia. 9.2 Assyria. 9.3 The Middle Elamite Kingdom. 10. The Collapse of the Regional System and its Aftermath. 10.1 The Events. 10.2 Interpretation. 10.3 The Aftermath. Part III: Empires:. 11. The Near East at the Start of the First Millennium. 11.1 The Eastern States. 11.2 The West. 12. The Rise of Assyria. 12.1 Patterns of Assyrian Imperialism. 12.2 The Historical Record. 12.3 Ninth-Century Expansion. 12.4 Internal Assyrian Decline. 13. Assyria's World Domination. 13.1 The Creation of an Imperial Structure. 13.2 The Defeat of the Great Rivals. 13.3 The Administration and Ideology of the Empire. 13.4 Assyrian Culture. 13.5 Assyria's Fall. 14. The Medes and Babylonians. 14.1 The Medes and the Anatolian States. 14.2 The Neo-Babylonian Dynasty. 15. The Persian Empire. 15.1 The Rise of Persia and its Expansion. 15.2 Political Developments. 15.3 Organization of the Empire. 15.4 Alexander of Macedon. King Lists. Guide to Further Reading. Index

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).