| |
| |
| List of Tables, Figures, Maps, and Documents | |
| |
| |
| Preface | |
| |
| |
| Acknowledgments | |
| |
| |
| |
| Introduction | |
| |
| |
| Studying the Ancient Near East | |
| |
| |
| What Is the "Near East"? | |
| |
| |
| The Nature of Historical Study | |
| |
| |
| Antiquity's "Clues" | |
| |
| |
| Creating a Chronology for the Ancient Near East | |
| |
| |
| A Note on Chronological Terminology: B.C.E./C.E. vs. B.C./A.D. | |
| |
| |
| Absolute and Relative Chronology | |
| |
| |
| Sources for Ancient Near Eastern Chronology | |
| |
| |
| Prelude: Near Eastern Prehistory | |
| |
| |
| The Origins of Sedentary Life (c. 10,500-8300 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| Early Agricultural Communities in Southwest Asia (c. 8300-6000 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| The Development of Complex Societies in Southwest Asia (c. 6000-3700 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| Early Cultures of the Nile Valley (c. 8000-3500 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| Major Social, Economic, and Political Developments of the Neolithic Age | |
| |
| |
| |
| The Dawn of Civilization in Western Asia | |
| |
| |
| The Emergence of Mesopotamian Civilization (c. 3700-3000 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| The Urban Revolution | |
| |
| |
| The Development of Cuneiform Writing | |
| |
| |
| The People of Mesopotamia | |
| |
| |
| The Origins of Elam | |
| |
| |
| The Mesopotamian Early Dynastic Period (c. 3000-2330 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| An Era of Independent City States | |
| |
| |
| The "Royal Tombs" of Ur | |
| |
| |
| Mesopotamian Culture During the Early Dynastic Era | |
| |
| |
| Religion and World View | |
| |
| |
| The Development of Kingship | |
| |
| |
| Economy and Society | |
| |
| |
| Education, Literature, and the Arts | |
| |
| |
| Science, Technology, and Warfare | |
| |
| |
| Urbanization in Other Areas of Western Asia (c. 3300-2300 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| Early Bronze Age Syria and Palestine | |
| |
| |
| Early Bronze Age Anatolia and Iran | |
| |
| |
| |
| The First Mesopotamian Empires | |
| |
| |
| The Akkadian Empire (c. 2334-2193 B.C.E) | |
| |
| |
| Sargon of Agade (c. 2334-2279 B.C.E) | |
| |
| |
| Divine Kingship | |
| |
| |
| Administration of the Empire | |
| |
| |
| The Empire's Collapse | |
| |
| |
| The Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2112-2004 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| Ur's Rise to Power | |
| |
| |
| Shulgi's Reforms | |
| |
| |
| The Fall of Ur | |
| |
| |
| Persian Gulf and Central Asian Civilizations | |
| |
| |
| Dilmun, Magan, and Meluhha | |
| |
| |
| The Oxus Civilization | |
| |
| |
| The Old Babylonian Period (c. 2000-1595 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| The "Interregnum" After the Fall of Ur | |
| |
| |
| Hammurabi and His Rivals | |
| |
| |
| Old Babylonian Cultural Developments | |
| |
| |
| The End of Hammurabi's Dynasty and the Rise of the Hittites | |
| |
| |
| The Emergence of New Peoples | |
| |
| |
| Indo-Europeans | |
| |
| |
| Hurrians and the Mitanni | |
| |
| |
| Kassites | |
| |
| |
| |
| Egypt to the End of the Old Kingdom | |
| |
| |
| The Late Predynastic Era (c. 3500-3000 B.C.E) | |
| |
| |
| The Geography of Egypt and Nubia | |
| |
| |
| The People of the Nile Valley | |
| |
| |
| Prelude to Civilization: The Naqada II Period | |
| |
| |
| The Formation of the Egyptian State (c. 3050-2686 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| The Process of Unification | |
| |
| |
| The Development of Egyptian Writing | |
| |
| |
| The Early Dynastic Period (Dynasties 1 and 2) | |
| |
| |
| Major Elements of Egyptian Culture | |
| |
| |
| Mat'at | |
| |
| |
| Divine Kingship | |
| |
| |
| Burial and the Afterlife | |
| |
| |
| Religion and Ritual | |
| |
| |
| The Old Kingdom (Dynasties 3-6, c. 2686-2180 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| Djoser and the First Pyramid | |
| |
| |
| The Zenith of Royal Power: The Fourth Dynasty (c. 2613-2498 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| The Latter Part of the Old Kingdom: Dynasties 5 and 6 (c. 2498-2180 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| Early Egyptian Society and Culture | |
| |
| |
| |
| The Rise and Fall of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom | |
| |
| |
| The First Intermediate Period: Dynasties 7-11a (c. 2180-2040 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| Where is Ma'at? | |
| |
| |
| The Intermediate Period's Effects | |
| |
| |
| The Middle Kingdom: Dynasties 11b-13a (c. 2040-1720 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| The Establishment of the Middle Kingdom | |
| |
| |
| The Impressive Twelfth Dynasty | |
| |
| |
| Cultural Developments During the Middle Kingdom | |
| |
| |
| The Second Intermediate Period: Dynasties 13b-17 (c. 1720-1540 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| The Onset of the Second Intermediate Period | |
| |
| |
| The Kingdom of Kush (Upper Nubia) | |
| |
| |
| Hyksos Rule and the Dynasty at Thebes: Dynasties 15 and 17 (c. 1650-1540 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| Hyksos Relations with the Levant | |
| |
| |
| Egyptian and Levantine Contacts with the Minoan Culture of Crete | |
| |
| |
| |
| The Era of Egyptian Greatness | |
| |
| |
| The Beginning of the Egyptian New Kingdom (c. 1550-1479 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| The Early Eighteenth Dynasty | |
| |
| |
| The "Royal Heiress" Theory | |
| |
| |
| Hatshepsut and Thutmose III (c. 1479-1425 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| Hatshepsut's Seizure of Power | |
| |
| |
| The Sole Rule of Thutmose III | |
| |
| |
| The Egyptian Empire at Its Height (c. 1425-1350 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| The Reigns of Amenhotep II and Thutmose IV | |
| |
| |
| Amenhotep III, "The Magnificent" | |
| |
| |
| The New Egyptian Army | |
| |
| |
| Late Bronze Age Canaan (Palestine and Coastal Syria) | |
| |
| |
| Relations with the Aegean Kingdoms | |
| |
| |
| Akhenaton and the Amarna Period (c. 1350-1334 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| Controversies of the Amarna Age | |
| |
| |
| Did Akhenaton Have a Co-Regency With His Father? | |
| |
| |
| The Beginning of Amenhotep IV's Reign | |
| |
| |
| Akhenaton's Religion | |
| |
| |
| The Revolution's Denouement | |
| |
| |
| The End of the Eighteenth Dynasty (c. 1334-1293 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| Tutankhamun and the Restoration of Amun | |
| |
| |
| The Reigns of Ay and Horemheb, (c. 1325-1293 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| |
| The End of the Bronze Age | |
| |
| |
| The Zenith of Hittite Power (c. 1344-1180 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| Revival and Extension of the Hittite Empire | |
| |
| |
| Hatti's Showdown With Egypt | |
| |
| |
| Achaeans and Trojans in Hittite Texts? | |
| |
| |
| Hittite Culture | |
| |
| |
| Economy, Society, and Government | |
| |
| |
| Religion | |
| |
| |
| Languages and Literature | |
| |
| |
| The Twilight of the Egyptian Empire (c.1293-1150 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| The Empire's Final Flash of Greatness | |
| |
| |
| Invasions of the Sea Peoples | |
| |
| |
| The Collapse of Bronze Age Societies in the Eastern Mediterranean | |
| |
| |
| The Mycenaean Kingdoms | |
| |
| |
| The Demise of the Hittite Empire | |
| |
| |
| The End of Egyptian Power | |
| |
| |
| The Decline of Assyria and Babylonia | |
| |
| |
| What Caused the Collapse? | |
| |
| |
| |
| Recovery and Transformation (C. 1100-745 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| Mesopotamia and Egypt | |
| |
| |
| Assyria and Babylonia | |
| |
| |
| The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt | |
| |
| |
| Anatolia | |
| |
| |
| The Kingdom of Urartu | |
| |
| |
| The Phrygian and Neo-Hittite Kingdoms | |
| |
| |
| Syria | |
| |
| |
| The Aramaeans | |
| |
| |
| The Phoenicians | |
| |
| |
| Early Israel | |
| |
| |
| The Emergence of Israel | |
| |
| |
| The Formation of the Israelite State (The United Monarchy) | |
| |
| |
| The Kingdoms of Israel and Judah | |
| |
| |
| Other Small States of the Southern Levant | |
| |
| |
| The Philistines | |
| |
| |
| Ammon, Moab, and Edom | |
| |
| |
| Small Kingdoms and Confederations in Arabia | |
| |
| |
| |
| Mesopotamian Suremacy | |
| |
| |
| The Height of Assyrian Dominion (744-627 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| Reestablishment and Expansion of Assyrian Power (744-681 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| The Empire at Its Zenith (680-627 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| Neo-Assyrian Society and Culture | |
| |
| |
| The King, Crown Prince, and Queen | |
| |
| |
| Non-Royal Social Classes | |
| |
| |
| The Army | |
| |
| |
| Administration of the Empire | |
| |
| |
| Art, Literature, and Science | |
| |
| |
| The Neo-Babylonian (or Chaldean) Empire (625-560 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| Destruction of Assyria (627-605 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| Formation of the Neo-Babylonian and Median Empires | |
| |
| |
| Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon | |
| |
| |
| The End of the Neo-Babylonian Empire | |
| |
| |
| The Emergence of Biblical Monotheism | |
| |
| |
| The Triumph of the Reform Movement | |
| |
| |
| The Babylonian Exile | |
| |
| |
| |
| The Persian Empire | |
| |
| |
| The Origins and Growth of the Achaemenid Empire | |
| |
| |
| The Fluorescence of the Lydian Kingdom (c. 685-547 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| The Creation of the Persian Empire | |
| |
| |
| The Persian Empire at Its Height | |
| |
| |
| Crisis and Restoration | |
| |
| |
| Reorganization of the Empire | |
| |
| |
| Wars With the Greeks | |
| |
| |
| Persian Culture | |
| |
| |
| The King and Court | |
| |
| |
| The Persian Army | |
| |
| |
| The Religion of Zoroaster | |
| |
| |
| Persian Architecture and Art | |
| |
| |
| Judah During the Persian Period | |
| |
| |
| The Restoration of Judah | |
| |
| |
| Religious Developments During the Persian Era | |
| |
| |
| The End of the Achaemenid Persian Empire | |
| |
| |
| Decline of the Empire (424-330 B.C.E.) | |
| |
| |
| Conquest by Alexander the Great | |
| |
| |
| |
| The Legacy of the Ancient Near East | |
| |
| |
| Food, Drink, and Animals | |
| |
| |
| Mathematics and Science | |
| |
| |
| Language and Literature | |
| |
| |
| Music, Art, and Architecture | |
| |
| |
| Religion and Speculative Thought | |
| |
| |
| Glossary | |
| |
| |
| Chronological Chart | |
| |
| |
| Index | |