Heilbrunn Timeline (Metropolitan Museum - NY)
Writing
Languages
Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia by
The ancient world of Mesopotamia (from Sumer to the subsequent division into Babylonia and Assyria) vividly comes alive in this portrayal of the time period from 3100 bce to the fall of Assyria (612 bce) and Babylon (539 bce). Readers will discover fascinating details about the lives of these people from the society where writing began--taken from the ancients' own quotations and descriptions. A wealth of information is provided on such varied topics as: education; literature; mathematics and science; city vs. country life; family life; and religion. Similarities between daily life in ancient Mesopotamia and modern-day Iraq are also discussed. Beautifully illustrated, this easy-to-use reference contains a timeline and an historical overview to aid student research.
Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia by
Ancient Mesopotamia was the home of not one but a succession of glorious civilizations that together flourished more than three millennia. It was Sumerian mathematicians who devised the sixty-minute hour. It was Babylonian architects who designed the fabled Tower of Babel and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World." And it was Assyrian kings and generals who conducted some of the most ruthless military campaigns in recorded history.
Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia presents the glory and splendor of an area that was host to some of the world's greatest civilizations and their struggles to create civilized life in a fertile land racked by brutal conquest. This volume focuses on the civilizations of Mesopotamia that invented agriculture, cities, writing, law, and even beer. Known as the "Fertile Crescent," Mesopotamia is now the heart of modern-day Iraq, a war-torn land where people still struggle to eke out their daily lives as did their ancestors thousands of years ago.
Organized in the classic Handbook to Life format, this comprehensive reference examines the everyday routines of Sumerian, Babylonian, and Assyrian life from about 3500 to 500 BCE by gathering in one comprehensive volume all that modern-day archaeologists and historians have unearthed about Mesopotamia's foods, homes, literature, arts, laws, wars, religions, political systems, class structures, economy, and more. A separate chapter explores the influence of Mesopotamia on the sacred scriptures of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Coverage includes:
Geography, Archaeology, and History of Mesopotamia
The land, dating the past, ancient narratives, and key rulers of Mesopotamia
Government, Society, Religion, and Myth
The structure of civilization, biographies of political leaders, and personal piety
Language, Literature, Architecture, and Engineering
Major languages, writing, techniques of construction, ziggurats, and city planning
Sculpture, Arts, and Sacred Scripture
The role of artists, pottery, painting, the Old Testament, and Mesopotamia and the Koran
Economy, Transportation, and Trade
Professions, wages and prices, transportation by water, trade, and weights and measures
Military Affairs, Everyday Life, and More
Weapons and equipment, the art of war, work, slavery, music, sports, and education.
Life and Thought in the Ancient Near East by
Intended for readers seeking insight into the day-to-day life of some of the world's most ancient peoples, Life and Thought in the Ancient Near East presents brief, fascinating explorations of key aspects of the civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Palestine, Asia Minor, and Iran. With vignettes on agriculture, architecture, crafts and industries, literature, religion, topography, and history, Orlin has created something refreshingly unique: a modern guidebook to an ancient world. The book also reaches out to students of the Ancient Near Eastern World with essays on decipherments, comparative cultural developments between Egypt and Mesopotamia, and language and literature. In addition to general readers, the book will be useful in the classroom as a text supplementing a more conventional introduction to Near Eastern Studies. "Well-written and accessible, Life and Thought in the Ancient Near East deftly connects the past with present experience by drawing out the differences between, for instance, modern churches and ancient temples, and frequently employing biblical references. This simplicity together with connecting contemporary to ancient experience makes the text ideal for freshmen and general readers." ---Marc Cooper, Professor of History, Missouri State University Now Professor Emeritus, Louis L. Orlin taught in the department of Ancient Near Eastern History and Literature at the University of Michigan for more than thirty years. He is the author and editor of several books, including Assyrian Colonies in Cappadocia and Ancient Near Eastern Literature: A Bibliography of One Thousand Items on the Cuneiform Literatures of the Ancient World.
A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient near East by
A comprehensive and authoritative overview of ancient material culture from the late Pleistocene to Late Antiquity Features up-to-date surveys and the latest information from major new excavations such as Qatna (Syria), Göbekli Tepe (Turkey) Includes a diverse range of perspectives by senior, mid-career and junior scholars in Europe, USA, Britain, Australia, and the Middle East for a truly international group Includes major reviews of the origins of agriculture, animal domestication, and archaeological landscapes Includes chapters dealing with periods after the coming of Alexander the Great, including studies of the Seleucid, Arsacid, Sasanian, Roman and Byzantine empires in the Near East, as well as early Christianity in both the Levant and Mesopotamia Fills a gap in literature of the Ancient Near East, dealing with topics often overlooked, including ethical and legal issues in antiquities markets and international scholarship
The Archaeology of Mesopotamia by 
The Ancient East by
A fascinating look at ancient Eastern history, from the Babylonian Empire to the conquest of the East by Alexander, written by British archaeologist and scholar David George Hogarth of Oxford's Ashmolean Museum.
A Companion to the Ancient near East by
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. Covers the civilizations of the Sumerians, Hittites, Babylonians, Assyrians, Israelites and Persians Places particular emphasis on social and cultural history Covers the legacy of the Ancient Near East in the medieval and modern worlds Provides a useful bibliographical guide to this field of study
Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times by
Covering the time span from the Paleolithic period to the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., the eminent Egyptologist Donald Redford explores three thousand years of uninterrupted contact between Egypt and Western Asia across the Sinai land-bridge. In the vivid and lucid style that we expect from the author of the popular Akhenaten , Redford presents a sweeping narrative of the love-hate relationship between the peoples of ancient Israel/Palestine and Egypt.
Historical Dictionary of Mesopotamia by
The Greek name Mesopotamia means 'land between the rivers.' The Romans used this term for an area that they controlled only briefly (between 115 and 117 A.D.): the land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, from the south Anatolian mountains ranges to the Persian Gulf. It comprises the civilizations of Sumer and Akkad (third millennium B.C.) as well as the later Babylonian and Assyrian empires of the second and first millennium. Although the 'history' of Mesopotamia in the strict sense of the term only begins with the inscriptions of Sumerian rulers around the 27th century B.C., the foundations for Mesopotamian civilization, especially the beginnings of irrigation and the emergence of large permanent settlements, were laid much earlier, in the fifth and fourth millennium. The second edition of the Historical Dictionary of Mesopotamia defines concepts, customs, and notions peculiar to the civilization of ancient Mesopotamia, from adult adoption to ziggurats. This is accomplished through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, appendixes, and hundreds of cross-reference dictionary entries on religion, economy, society, geography, and important kings and rulers.
Letters from Early Mesopotamia by 
Mesopotamia by
Our ancestors, the Mesopotamians, invented writing and with it a new way of looking at the world. In this collection of essays, the French scholar Jean Bottero attempts to go back to the moment which marks the very beginning of history.
To give the reader some sense of how Mesopotamian civilization has been mediated and interpreted in its transmission through time, Bottero begins with an account of Assyriology, the discipline devoted to the ancient culture. This transmission, compounded with countless discoveries, would not have been possible without the surprising decipherment of the cuneiform writing system. Bottero also focuses on divination in the ancient world, contending that certain modes of worship in Mesopotamia, in their application of causality and proof, prefigure the "scientific mind."
Prehistory of Asia Minor by
In this book, Bleda Düring offers an archaeological analysis of Asia Minor, the area equated with much of modern-day Turkey, from 20,000 to 2,000 BC. During this period human societies moved from small-scale hunter-gatherer groups to complex and hierarchical communities with economies based on agriculture and industry. Dr Düring traces the spread of the Neolithic way of life, which ultimately reached across Eurasia, and the emergence of key human developments, including the domestication of animals, metallurgy, fortified towns and long-distance trading networks. Situated at the junction between Europe and Asia, Asia Minor has often been perceived as a bridge for the movement of technologies and ideas. By contrast, this book argues that cultural developments followed a distinctive trajectory in Asia Minor from as early as 9,000 BC.
What Makes Civilization? by
The targeted destruction of ancient sites and monuments in the Middle East provokes widespread outrage in the West. But what is our connection to the ancient Near East? In this updated edition of What Makes Civilization? archaeologist David Wengrow investigates the origins of farming, writing, and cities in ancient Mesopotamia (Iraq) and Egypt, and explores the connections between these two civilizations. It is the story of how people first created kingdomsand monuments to the gods and, just as importantly, how they pioneered everyday practices that we might now take for granted, such as familiar ways of cooking food and keeping the house and body clean. Wengrow asks why these ancient cultures, where so many features of modern life originated, have come tosymbolize the remote and the exotic.Today, perhaps more than ever, he argues, the beleaguered cultural heritage of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia stands as a warning for the future. A warning of the sacrifices people will tolerate to preserve their chosen form of life; of the potential for unfettered expansion that exists within any cultural tradition; and of blood perhaps yet to be spilled, on the altar of a misguided notion of civilization.
Oxford Bible Atlas by
This new edition of the Oxford Bible Atlas, now with full-colour maps and illustrations, has been thoroughly revised to bring it up to date with regard both to biblical scholarship and to archaeology and topography. The Atlas will help readers of the Bible understand the contexts in which its stories are set and to appreciate the world from which it emerged and which formed its background. Maps show the geographical setting of the Bible's storiesand reflect the successive stages of the Bible's accounts, while specially chosen full-colour illustrations bring the countries and their peoples to life. The accompanying text describes the land of Palestine, and its wider ancient Near Eastern and east Mediterranean settings. It outlines clearly the successivehistorical periods, and describes the major civilizations with which Israelites, Jews, and early Christians came into contact. There is also an illustrated survey of the relevance of archaeology for the study of the Bible. The Atlas provides a superb guide to the geography of the Holy Land throughout biblical history, from the Exodus period through to New Testament times.
Art and Empire: Treasures from Assyria by
A catalog, from two exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, that describes and illustrates the British Museum's extraordinary collection of Assyrian carved reliefs from the palaces of the Assyrian kings at Nimrud and Nineveh in northern Mesopotamia, which date from the ninth to the seventh centuries B.C. Numerous small objects provide a broader picture of life in Assyria. Includes 224 illustrations, 200 in color. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
Art of the Ancient Near and Middle East by The art of the ancient Near East by The Arts of Assyria by 
Critical Approaches to Ancient near Eastern Art by
This volume assembles more than 30 articles focusing on the visual, material, and environmental arts of the Ancient Near East. Specific case studies range temporally from the fourth millennium up to the Hellenistic period and geographically from Iran to the eastern Mediterranean. Contributions apply innovative theoretical and methodological approaches to archaeological evidence and critically examine the historiography of the discipline itself. Not intended to be comprehensive, the volume instead captures a cross-section of the field of Ancient Near Eastern art history as its stands in the second decade of the twenty-first century. The volume will be of value to scholars working in the Ancient Near East as well as others interested in newer art historical and anthropological approaches to visual culture.
The Lost Treasure Persian Art by
Housed in the Hermitage Museum along with other institutes, libraries, and museums in Russia and the republics of the former Soviet Union are some of the most magnificent treasures of Persian Art. For the most part, many of these works have been lost, but have been catalogued and published here for the first time with an unsurpassed selection of colour plates. In a comprehensive introduction, Vladimir Lukonin, Director of the Oriental Art section of the Hermitage Museum, and his colleague Anatoli Ivanov have broadly documented the major developments of Persian Art: from the first signs of civilisation on the plains of Iran around the 10thcentury BCE through the early 20th century. In the second part of the book they have catalogued Persian Art giving locations, origins, descriptions, and artist biographies where available. Persian Art demonstrates a common theme which runs through the art of the region over the past three millennia. Despite many religious and political upheavals, Persian Art whether in its architecture, sculpture, frescoes, miniatures, porcelain, fabrics, or rugs; whether in the work of the humble craftsmen or the high art of court painters displays the delicate touch and subtle refinement which has had a profound influence on art throughout the world.
Persepolis - the Archaeology of Persa, Seat of the Persian Kings by
Parsa (to its Aryan builders) or Persepolis (to contemporary Greeks) was the national and spiritual sanctuary of the Achaemenid empire that stretched from Greece into India. Nine major structures were spread over an extensive levelled stone platform. Work was undertaken by Darius I about 515BC and carried forward by his son Xerxes I. Burned by Alexander the Great in 330BC, the masses of flaming debris melted the brick walls of the structures and, along with the wind-blown sand, actually preserved the stone columns, gates, and bas-reliefs from desecration during the ensuing centuries. Archaeological excavations have been carried on for many years and have uncovered royal treasures and some 30,000 cuneiform tablets in three ancient languages. The reliefs display 3,000 human figures, including the ruler as hero-king worshipped by his people and by delegates from the twenty-four lands of the empire bearing their distinctive tributes. Parsa still remains one of the marvels of the ancient world. Aside from the scarce and unwieldy reports of the excavations, this lavishly illustrated volume is the only comprehensive account of the site and its history. And Dr Wilber solves the great mystery of the site: Standing in majesty for many centuries, why is there no evidence of human occupation?
The Royal City of Susa by
The ancient city of Susa (biblical Shushan), settled about 4000 B.C., lay at the edge of the Iranian plateau, not far from Mesopotamia. This book presents more than 200 objects found at Susa, many of them undisputed masterpieces, now in the collection of the Louvre, Paris.
Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur by
This stunning catalogue includes color photographs of more than 230 objects, excavated in the 1930s by renowned British archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley, from the third-millennium-B.C. Sumerian city of Ur. Learn the fascinating story of the excavation and preservation of these magnificent artifacts.
Many of the objects are published in color and fully described for the first time--jewelry of gold and semiprecious stones, engraved seal stones, spectacular gold and lapis lazuli statuettes and musical instruments; and vessels of gold, silver, and alabaster. Curator Richard Zettler sets the stage with a history of Ur in the third millennium and the details of the actual excavations. Art historians Donald Hansen and Holly Pittman discuss the historical importance and significance of the many motifs on the most spectacular finds from the tombs.
