A Companion to the Ancient Near East [Paperback]

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• 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

List of Figures viii

List of Maps ix

Notes on Contributors x

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction xviii

Part I The Shape of the Ancient Near East 1

1 Historical Overview 3
Mario Liverani

2 From Sedentism to States, 10, 000–3000 BCE 20
Augusta McMahon

3 The Age of Empires, 3100–900 BCE 34
Mark Chavalas

4 World Hegemony, 900–300 BCE 48
Paul-Alain Beaulieu

Part II Discourses on Methods 63

5 Archaeology and the Ancient Near East: Methods and Limits 65
Marie-Henriette Gates

6 The Languages of the Ancient Near East 79
Gonzalo Rubio

7 The Historian’s Task 95
Daniel C. Snell

Part III Economy and Society 107

8 The Degradation of the Ancient Near Eastern Environment 109
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