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

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 110
Daniel C. Snell
Part III Economy and Society 123
8 The Degradation of the Ancient Near Eastern Environment 125
Carlos E. Cordova
9 Nomadism Through the Ages 142
Jorge Silva Castillo
10 Mesopotamian Cities and Countryside 157
Elizabeth C. Stone
11 Money and Trade 171
Christopher M. Monroe
12 Working 185
David A. Warburton
13 Law and Practice 199
Bruce Wells
14 Social Tensions in the Ancient Near East 212
John F. Robertson
15 Gender Roles in Ancient Egypt 227
Ann Macy Roth
16 Royal Women and the Exercise of Power in the Ancient Near East 235
Sarah C. Melville
17 Warfare in Ancient Egypt 245
Anthony J. Spalinger
Part IV Culture 259
18 Transmission of Knowledge 261
Benjamin R. Foster
19 Ancient Near Eastern Literature: Genres and Forms 269
Tawny L. Holm
20 Ancient Near Eastern Architecture 289
Sally Dunham
21 Mesopotamian Art 304
Marian H. Feldman
22 Ancient Mesopotamian Medicine 325
JoAnn Scurlock
23 Mesopotamian Cosmology 339
Francesca Rochberg
24 Divine and Non-Divine Kingship 353
Philip Jones
25 How Religion Was Done 366
Gary Beckman
Part V Heritage of the Ancient Near East 377
26 The Invention of the Individual 379
Daniel C. Snell
27 Ethnicity 392
Henri Limet
28 Public versus Private in the Ancient Near East 406
Steven J. Garfinkle
29 Democracy and Freedom 419
Matthew Martin III and Daniel C. Snell
30 Monotheism and Ancient Israelite Religion 430
S. David Sperling
31 The Decipherment of the Ancient Near East 443
Peter T. Daniels
32 Legacies of the Ancient Near East 454
Daniel C. Snell
References 458
Index 527