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
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