Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Charts
xi
ListofBoxes
xiii
Preface to the Second Edition
xiv
xvi
Preface to the First Edition
xvii
Acknowledgments
xx
Author's Note
xxi
Introductory Concerne
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
What is the Ancient N e a r East?
T h e Sources
Geography
Prehistoric Developments
Part I City-States
2
x
List of Maps
List of Documents
1
viii
Origine: T h e U r u k Phenomenon
1
1
4
7
10
17
19
2.1
T h e Origins of Cities
20
2.2
2.3
2.4
T h e Development o f W r i t i n g and Administration
T h e "Uruk Expansion"
U r u k ' s Aftermath
28
35
39
3
Competing City-States: The E a r l y Dynastic Period
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
4
Politicai Centralization in the Late T h i r d Millennium
4.1
4.2
5
The Kings of Akkad
T h e T h i r d Dynasty o f U r
T h e Near East in the E a r l y Second Millennium
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
6
T h e W r i t t e n Sources and their Historical Uses
Politicai Developments i n Southern Mesopotamia
T h e W i d e r N e a r East
Early Dynastic Society
Scribal C u l t u r e
N o m a d s and Sedentary People
Babylonia
Assyria and the East
M a r i and the West
The Growth of Territorial States in the Early
Second M i l l e n n i u m
6.1
6.2
6.3
6.4
Shamshi-Adad and the K i n g d o m o f U p p e r Mesopotamia
Hammurabi's Babylon
T h e O l d Hittite K i n g d o m
The "Dark Age"
Part II Territorial States
7
8
T h e C l u b of the Great Powers
42
45
51
55
59
63
64
73
85
86
90
94
103
106
107
111
119
122
127
129
7.1
T h e Politicai System
130
7.2
7.3
7.4
Politicai Interactions: D i p l o m a c y and T r a d e
Regional Competition: Warfare
Shared Ideologies and Social Organizations
134
143
144
T h e Western States of the Late Second M i l l e n n i u m
149
8.1
8.2
8.3
9
41
Mittani
T h e Hittite N e w K i n g d o m
Syria-Palestine
Kassites, Assyrians, and Elamites
9.1
9.2
9.3
Babylonia
Assyria
T h e M i d d l e Elamite K i n g d o m
150
156
163
171
172
179
185
10
The Collapse of the Regional System and its Aftermath
190
10.1
10.2
10.3
192
197
201
Part III
11
12
13
14
15
T h e Events
Interpretation
T h e Aftermath
Empires
207
The Near East at the Start of the First M i l l e n n i u m
209
11.1
11.2
211
218
T h e Eastern States
T h e West
The Rise of Assyria
229
12.1
12.2
12.3
12.4
230
236
238
244
Patterns o f Assyrian Imperialism
T h e Historical R e c o r d
N i n t h - C e n t u r y Expansion
Internai Assyrian Decline
Assyria's W o r l d Domination
247
13.1
13.2
13.3
13.4
13.5
248
252
258
260
266
T h e Creation o f an Imperiai Structure
T h e Defeat o f the Great Rivals
T h e Administration and Ideology o f the E m p i r e
Assyrian Culture
Assyria's F a l l
The Medes and Babylonians
270
14.1
14.2
272
276
T h e Medes and the Anatolian States
T h e N e o - B a b y l o n i a n Dynasty
The Persian E m p i r e
286
15.1
15.2
15.3
15.4
T h e Rise of Persia and its Expansion
Politicai Developments
Organization of the E m p i r e
Alexander of M a c e d o n
287
290
293
299
King Lists
302
Guide to Further Reading
318
Index
328