The Origins of Cities in Dry-farming Syria and Mesopotamia in the Third Millennium B.C.

The Origins of Cities in Dry-farming Syria and Mesopotamia in the Third Millennium B.C.
Author: Harvey Weiss
Publisher:
Total Pages: 184
Release: 1986
Genre: History
ISBN:

The mid-third millennium is marked by unprecedented urban growth from Egypt and the Levantine coast to the Iranian plateau and the Indus valley. Although urbanization in the southern Mesopotamian alluvium is reasonably well understood, details of the emergence of cities in other regions remain sketchy. When did cities first appear on the dry-farming plains of Syria and Mesopotamia and what accounts for their development? How might northern urbanization be a response to or in what ways might urbanization in the two regions reflect independent social and economic processes? Recent excavations provide new data that force reconsideration of ancient urbanization within the dry-farming zone along the interior of the Zagros-Taurus arc in Syria and Iraq. The essays in this volume, which grew out of a symposium hosted by the American Schools of Oriental Research in Chicago in December 1984, specifically treat third-millennium urbanization in the dry-farming zones of Syria and Iraq. The contrast of north and south informs each essay, and this focus points to additional issues and problems likely to dominate future archaeological research agendas.

The Cambridge World History: Volume 3, Early Cities in Comparative Perspective, 4000 BCE–1200 CE

The Cambridge World History: Volume 3, Early Cities in Comparative Perspective, 4000 BCE–1200 CE
Author: Norman Yoffee
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 597
Release: 2015-03-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 1316297748

From the fourth millennium BCE to the early second millennium CE the world became a world of cities. This volume explores this critical transformation, from the appearance of the earliest cities in Mesopotamia and Egypt to the rise of cities in Asia and the Mediterranean world, Africa, and the Americas. Through case studies and comparative accounts of key cities across the world, leading scholars chart the ways in which these cities grew as nodal points of pilgrimages and ceremonies, exchange, storage and redistribution, and centres for defence and warfare. They show how in these cities, along with their associated and restructured countrysides, new rituals and ceremonies connected leaders with citizens and the gods, new identities as citizens were created, and new forms of power and sovereignty emerged. They also examine how this unprecedented concentration of people led to disease, violence, slavery and subjugations of unprecedented kinds and scales.

Mesopotamia and the Bible

Mesopotamia and the Bible
Author: Mark W. Chavalas
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 404
Release: 2003-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780567082312

The study of Syro-Mesopotamian civilization has greatly advanced in the past twenty-five years. In particular the renewed interest in Eastern (or Mesopotamian) Syria has radically altered our understanding of not only the ancient Near East, but of the Bible as well. With Syria east of the Euphrates becoming one of the most active areas of archaeological investigation in the entire Near East, the need for a synthesis of this research and its integration with the Hebrew Bible has greatly increased.This volume charts the state of our knowledge, following a general chronological flow, and will appeal not only to scholars of the ancient Near East but also to Biblical specialists interested in the historical and religious backgrounds to the Israelite and Judahite kingdoms.

Archaeozoology of the Near East

Archaeozoology of the Near East
Author: Marjan Mashkour
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Total Pages: 869
Release: 2017-02-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 1782978453

This two part volume brings together over 60 specialists to present 31 papers on the latest research into archaeozoology of the Near East. The papers are wide-ranging in terms of period and geographical coverage: from Palaeolithic rock shelter assemblages in Syria to Byzantine remains in Palestine and from the Caucasus to Cyprus. Papers are grouped into thematic sections examining patterns of Palaeolithic and Neolithic subsistence in northern Mesopotamia, Anatolia and the Iranian plateau; Palaeolithic to Neolithic faunal remains from Armenia; animal exploitation in Bronze Age urban sites; new evidence concerning pastoralism, nomadism and mobility; aspects of domestication and animal exploitation in the Arabian peninsula; several case studies on ritual animal deposits; and specific analyses of patterns of animal exploitation at urban sites in Turkey, Palestine and Jordan. This important collection of significant new work builds on the well-established foundation of previous ICAZ publications to present the very latest results of archaeozoological research in the prehistory of this formative region in the development of animal exploitation.

Ritual, Performance, and Politics in the Ancient Near East

Ritual, Performance, and Politics in the Ancient Near East
Author: Lauren Ristvet
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 333
Release: 2015
Genre: Gardening
ISBN: 1107065216

In this book, Lauren Ristvet rethinks the narratives of state formation by investigating the interconnections between ritual, performance, and politics in the ancient Near East. She draws on a wide range of archaeological, iconographic, and cuneiform sources to show how ritual performance was not set apart from the real practice of politics; it was politics. Rituals provided an opportunity for elites and ordinary people to negotiate political authority. Descriptions of rituals from three periods explore the networks of signification that informed different societies. From circa 2600 to 2200 BC, pilgrimage made kingdoms out of previously isolated villages. Similarly, from circa 1900 to 1700 BC, commemorative ceremonies legitimated new political dynasties by connecting them to a shared past. Finally, in the Hellenistic period, the traditional Babylonian Akitu festival was an occasion for Greek-speaking kings to show that they were Babylonian and for Babylonian priests to gain significant power.

The Origins and Ancient History of Wine

The Origins and Ancient History of Wine
Author: Patrick E. McGovern
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 651
Release: 2003-09-02
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1135300941

This volume presents contemporary evidence scientific, archaeological, botanical, textual, and historical for major revisions in our understanding of winemaking in antiquity. Among the subjects covered are the domestication of the Vinifera grape, the wine trade, the iconography of ancient wine, and the analytical and archaeological challenges posed by ancient wines. The essayists argue that wine existed as long ago as 3500 BC, almost half a millennium earlier than experts believed. Discover named these findings among the most important in 1991. Featuring the work of 23 internationally known scholars and writers, the book offers the first wide ranging treatment of wine in the early history of western Asia and the Mediterranean. Comprehensive and accessible while providing full documentation, it is sure to serve as a catalyst for future research.

Urbanism in Antiquity

Urbanism in Antiquity
Author: Walter E. Aufrecht
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 297
Release: 1997-08-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0567269884

The origin and growth of cities in antiquity. The origin and growth of cities forms one of the most important chapters in human history. In this volume, 17 researchers present archaeological, epigraphic and textual data on the rise of urbanism in the ancient Near Eastern world, Cyprus to Mesopotamia and from Crete to Egypt. Topics addressed include the influence of agriculture intensification, of trade, of craft specialization and of writing on the rise of cities. The roles of cultural elites, of ideologies and of relations between proximal urban centres are also examined. The contributors to this volume include such well-known scholars as William Dever and Donald Redford.

Connectivity in Antiquity

Connectivity in Antiquity
Author: Oystein S. LaBianca
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2016-04-08
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 113494635X

Today's politicians argue that the more 'connected' societies are the less danger they pose to global stability. But is this a 'new' idea or one as old as history itself? Trade routes as far back as prehistory were responsible for the exchange of ideas as well as goods, leading to the rapid expansion of states and empires. 'Connectivity in Antiquity' brings together a team of influential scholars to examine the process of globalization in antiquity. The essays examine metallurgy, social evolution, economic growth and the impact of religious pilgrimage, and range across the eastern Mediterranean, Syria, the Transjordan, south Yemen, and Egypt. 'Connectivity in Antiquity' will be of value to all those interested in the relationship between antiquity and modern globalisation.

The Face of Old Testament Studies

The Face of Old Testament Studies
Author: David W. Baker
Publisher: Baker Academic
Total Pages: 512
Release: 2004-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 080102871X

Leading scholars provide an overview of current issues in Old Testament studies.

Economy and Settlement in the Near East

Economy and Settlement in the Near East
Author: Naomi F. Miller
Publisher: UPenn Museum of Archaeology
Total Pages: 92
Release: 1990-01-29
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780924171987

Archaeological interpretations are built on many types of evidence. While no one method or analysis can fully reveal an extinct economic system, the papers in this volume are each focused on a single category of data to elucidate different aspects of ancient economy and settlement: settlement pattern (Khurban plains), trace elements in sealing clays (Tepe Gawra), seeds and charcoal (Tepe Hissar, Malyan, Kurban Hoyuk), economic texts (Nippur). MASCA Vol. 7, Supplement