Ancient Near East

This is a travel book of historic and literary research through transcaucasia and Northern Persia, with over 250 pictures depicting sites and daily life.

A study on all the social and historical aspects of Mari and Karana, this book provides an account of life in the nineteenth century BCE. Illustrations with photographs and drawings of objects uncovered during excavations provide a lively counterpart to the texts themselves, many of which are quoted in translation.

The book was written to give in a permanent form some account of the excavations undertaken in 1873 and 1874 on the site of Nineveh, and the principle discoveries which have resulted from these operations.

In this sequel to the author's Nineveh and Its Remains, and containing over 200 illustrations, Layard describes the second expedition he undertook to Nineveh. His words raise questions of cultural imperialism and epistemology central to modern critical debates.

Rhind's book on Thebes is unique in that unlike many other Egyptologists of his time, he gives a precise and detailed description of how he excavated the sites, in itself an immense value to the history of archaeology.

The book provides easy-to-use tables that translate the calendars of over sixty civilizations into the Julian and Gregorian calendars. An indispensable tool for scholars.

Layard relates fascinating tales of his adventures in Persia and Mesopotamia before the discovery of Nineveh.

The object of Tristram's expedition was a careful examination of the then-contemporary state of a country frequently referred to in the Old Testament, and intimately connected with Jewish history, but which had not been traversed at leisure by any explorer since the fall of the Roman empire.

This reference book makes the 3284 administrative and economic Ur III texts accessible to Sumerologists and scholars from related fields.

The companion volume to Nineveh and Its Remains. This large (11x17), handsome volume, carefully reproduced from the original edition of 1849-53, and bound in deluxe cloth, contains 170 drawings made by Layard of sculptures, bas-reliefs, and other objects discovered by him among the ruins of Nineveh.

The author presents the discoveries of Botta and Layard and applies them to the writings of the Bible. This third edition charts all the discoveries made in the 1800s with chronological tables. The volume contains 273 illustrations.

Through this comprehensive study of the Menorah, Carol Meyers demonstrates that its symbolic value comes to exceed its function as a source of light, for it symbolizes plant life, cosmic power, and ultimately the reality of the presence of the deity in the tabernacle.

This book provides the first major reinvestigation and reinterpretation of the history of centralization of worship in ancient Israel since de Wette and Wellhausen in the nineteenth century. Old Testament scholarship has thus far relied on the consensus that the book of Deuteronomy is the product of late monarchic Judah (7th century BC). Pitkanen places the biblical material in its archaeological and ancient Near Eastern context and pays special attention to rhetorical analysis. The author suggests that the book of Joshua, as well as its sources (such as Deuteronomy) may have originated as early as before the disaster of Aphek and the rejection of Shiloh.

The akītu festival is one of the oldest recorded religious festivals in the world, celebrated for several millennia throughout ancient Mesopotamia. Yet, the akītu was more than just a religious ceremony; it acted as a political device to ensure the supremacy of the king, the national god, and his capital city. Using tools of social anthropology and ritual analysis, this book presents a detailed reconstruction of the festival events and its attendant rituals to demonstrate how the festival became a propagandistic tool wielded by the monarchy and ruling classes. The akītu festival demonstrates the effectiveness of religion as a political tool.

This book is a historical sketch of archaeological explorations of the biblical lands of Assyria, Babylonia, Palestine, Egypt, Arabia and Hittite areas. It conceives the resurrection of the principal ancient nations of Western Asia and Egypt. Contains nearly 200 illustrations and four maps.

Gertrude Bell, the well-known explorer and archaeologist, began her extensive travels in the Near East in 1892. In her trips, she surveyed and photographed the areas which she visited and investigated archeological sites.

This work aims at explaining how the recension of the Ugaritic text--based on the Northwest Semitic Philological Data Bank--originated and how it is produced.

This book, the first study of its kind, contends that an authentic Phoenician solar theology existed, reaching back to at least the fifth or sixth century BCE. Through Azize’s examination, a portrait of a vibrant Phoenician tradition of spiritual thought emerges: a native tradition not dependent upon Hellenic thought, but related to other Semitic cultures of the ancient Near East, and, of course, to Egypt. In light of this analysis, it can be seen that Phoenician religion possessed a unique organizing power in which the sun, the sun god, life, death, and humanity, were linked in a profound system.

Molecular biologist Siro Trevisanato assembles data gleaned from a variety of ancient texts and a wide range of scientific disciplines to assist in a reconsideration of the ten plagues recorded in the Biblical book of Exodus.

This volume resurrects the forgotten history of early American involvement in biblical archaeology. Frederick Jones Bliss, an American from a prominent missionary family, is central to the story as he was the first of any nationality to scientifically excavate the tells of Palestine.

Impressions of Ancient Mesopotamia introduces children to ancient Mesopotamian culture through cylinder seals: their production, use, and art. Written for sixth grade readers, this book provides a historical introduction to Mesopotamia, discusses several ancient technologies, introduces Mesopotamian myths, and gives insight into distinctively Mesopotamian cultural characteristics, ideas, and institutions. Over fifty illustrations, a craft, several sidebars, and a section on further investigation complement the text.

This book is about attribute mathematics, in which nothing ever gets bigger or smaller. More specifically, it is about some of what attribute mathematics can do toward the full digitalization of thought and language. The matter is relevant not only directly to linguistics and philosophy but also indirectly to electrical engineering and neuroscience. The twenty-first century will be that of the brain. Human existence will gradually be turned inside out as tools such as genetics and Boolean algebra allow us to see ourselves function on the smallest scale while it is happening.

This multi-volume set is the catalogue for the famed Mingana Collection of Syriac and Arabic manuscripts. A principal resource for scholars of early Middle Eastern documents, this set describes and summarizes the documents that make up this collection.

This multi-volume set is the catalogue for the famed Mingana Collection of Syriac and Arabic manuscripts. A principal resource for scholars of early Middle Eastern documents, this set describes and summarizes the documents that make up this collection.

This multi-volume set is the catalogue for the famed Mingana Collection of Syriac and Arabic manuscripts. A principal resource for scholars of early Middle Eastern documents, this set describes and summarizes the documents that make up this collection.