Ancient Near East

Now a fixture in Sumerian studies, Nesbit’s initial publication of thirty tablets from Drehem is deceptively pedestrian at first glance. As the author demonstrates, a close look at these texts reveals invaluable information on the religious and social life of everyday Sumerians.

Although the name of "Sidon" is familiar to readers of the Bible, few know much about it. In this seminal study of the city of Sidon the reader is taken through what can be known of the political history and cultural influence, ancient and present, of this important city.

Trumbull’s tome was among the first to explore how looking at the Bible from the perspective of those in Palestine might influence the outlook of Western readers. In this volume Trumbull examines the social customs, religious practices, and basic concepts of those living in nineteenth-century Palestine to demonstrate how they bear upon modern understandings of the Bible.

The historic first attempt to provide a succinct account of the reign of the founder of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Anspacher’s monograph has stood the test of time. Written in accessible form, this brief account of a king, notorious by biblical standards, will be welcomed by all who are interested in the history of the Middle East.

This detailed study of the physical layout and traditions of the Holy Land and Syria contains an enormous amount of detailed information. For readers who wish to correct their vision of the actual physical geography of Syro-Palestine, this work remains a recommended source.

As an introduction to the ancient history of Iraq, Goodspeed’s book has stood the test of time. The reader is given a detailed rendition of the history of the Old Babylonian, Assyrian, and Neo-Babylonian Empires. Although out of print for many years, the book is consistently cited as a helpful introduction to the subject.

This monograph, in its second, hard-to-locate edition, proposes a connection between prehistoric monumental European sites and those of the Pyramid Age in Egypt. Using ethnicity as a basis, Smith ties the ancient peoples of Egypt to those of Syria and discusses how Egyptian culture spread from its point of origin.

Rogers, in a series of five lectures, explores the religion of ancient Mesopotamia by initially recounting the discovery of that lost religion. He then studies the gods, cosmologies, and sacred texts of the people of ancient Iraq. His work concludes with an examination of their formative myths and epics.

This important summary of Garstang’s travels and studies in Anatolia (present-day Turkey) is fully illustrated with nearly 100 photographs as well as maps and plans. This account details the marvels revealed by archaeology in ancient western Asia. The study begins with documentation of the geography of the region, giving the reader a sense of the world as seen by the Hittites of antiquity. Garstang outlines the history of the Hittite period before detailing the monumental architecture of this people. Garstang’s treatment concludes with a substantial history of the Hittites, people referred to in the Bible and in the historical records of other ancient Near Eastern civilizations.

In this formidable study, Jastrow compares several aspects of the religious life of the Israelites and ancient Babylonias by comparison of their written texts. Among the topics examined are the creation and flood accounts, the concept of the Sabbath, and the ethics of both cultures.

Vanderburgh’s noted study of the Sumerian hymns to Bel, Sin, Adad, and Tammuz in the British Museum is an excellent example of one of the early attempts to grapple with the difficulties of the Sumerian language. Each hymn is presented in transliteration and translation, and these are accompanied by the author’s own commentary.

Considering both the Assyrian and biblical sources for the description of Sennacherib’s devastating invasion on Palestine, Honor tests the records to see if he can develop an historical account. He makes use of the Annals of Sennacherib and the biblical books of 2 Kings, 2 Chronicle, and Isaiah.

Lau’s study focuses on a set of Babylonian temple texts in the library of Columbia University. These tablets are mostly administrative receipts, giving insight into the revenue and offering accounting in the temple. The texts are presented in transcription, English translation, and with line drawings.

The site of Tell Halaf was located by Baron von Oppenheim while on a mission to survey the land for the Baghdad Railway. The Baron returned some years later to excavate the mound, and this monograph is his considered statement of the site’s importance. Setting the stage with a narrative of the discovery of the tell, von Oppenheim proceeds to describe the structures, monumental statuary and smaller objects recovered from the dig. Lavishly illustrated with over 85 illustrations and maps, this volume contains a storehouse of knowledge on ancient Syria, at that time part of the cultural continuum of Mesopotamia.

Rawlinson’s study of ancient Egypt surveys the land and people of Egypt before taking the development of the nation through historic chapters. Told in a level of detail to rival Breasted’s classic work on Egypt, this earlier study makes fascinating reading.

One of the perennial touchstones in the field of archaeology in the ancient Near East, Albright’s work has been endlessly utilized. With a freshness apposite to its position among the pioneering works of a new discipline, this contribution laid the groundwork for countless future studies. Albright deftly describes how ancient Palestine was discovered, his famous excavation of Tell Beit Mirsim, and the relevance of archaeology for understanding the Bible. In setting the stage for what follows in the archaeological drama in Israel and throughout the Middle East, this work justly deserves a place in the Gorgias Classic Archaeological Reprints.

Particularly valuable to students of archaeology in the ancient Near East are the old accounts of cities uncovered by archaeologists and historians of the nineteenth century. Meyer offers as comprehensive a history of Gaza as the material of his time would allow. This ambitious account covers what was known of Gaza in Palestine from the earliest records up through the nineteenth century. Meyer divides his treatment into two parts: the first looks at the population and historical periods of the city; the second is concerned with concepts and physical remains: cults; deities; the Gaza calendar; inscriptions; coins; and other artifacts.

The Beth Alpha synagogue mosaic is one of the most striking examples of ancient Jewish art ever uncovered. Excavated in 1929 by E. L. Sukenik on behalf of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, this mosaic provoked an immediate sensation among scholars and lay people throughout Jewish Palestine, Europe and America. Located in Israel’s Jezreel Valley, this remarkable mosaic preserves images of the Binding of Isaac (Genesis 22), of a zodiac wheel flanked by personifications of the seasons that was labeled in Hebrew, and of a Torah shrine flanked by menorahs and lions.

This volume is a collection of selected essays on specific themes in Ugaritic literature. Included are eight unique contributions to understanding the religious life and thought of Ugarit, including detailed studies and essays covering broader issues for grasping the worldview of ancient Syria.

Until now this first insider-history of Tur Abdin has been unavailable to non-Semitic readers. Written by Patriarch Ignatius Aphram Barsoum in Syriac, this history of the mountainous region in southeastern Asia Minor called Tur Abdin has not found wide readership because of language barriers. This new edition produced by Gorgias Press is a trilingual edition: the original Syriac, Arabic, and English translations.

Asherah is one of the most popular goddesses known from the ancient world. In this second edition of the author’s 1993 monograph on the goddess, further articles and bibliography have been added to bring this expanding field of study more up-to-date. To date, this monograph contains the only full-length treatment of the Ugaritic material on Asherah in addition to a comprehensive examination of the textual sources from the Hebrew Bible, ancient Mesopotamia, Epigraphic South Arabian and Hittite sources, as well as the intriguing Hebrew inscriptions that perhaps mention the goddess.

Textual evidence regarding the ancient Near Eastern goddess Ishtar is carefully cataloged, transliterated and translated. This is a great resource for anyone interested in the languages and religions of the ancient Near East or Biblical Literature.

Oppenheim’s foundational study on dreams and their interpretation in the Ancient Near East has long been a standard text for those interested in the role of dreams in the ancient world. With a new introduction by Scott Noegel, this edition presents the complete original study along with its photographs, as well as insights concerning how the book has fared over the past fifty years.

Originally published as the Hibbert Lectures of 1887, this series of essays covers more than the title suggests. The work of an early explorer of Assyriology, this book traces many of the more familiar motifs and themes from ancient religion back to the ancient Babylonians.

Copiously illustrated, this set of three lectures on the Hittites of southern Anatolia is a valuable introduction to the sites of Zenjirli, Sakjegeuzi, and Carchemish. Chosen because of the importance of southern Anatolia to the biblical record, these locations are explained from an archaeologist’s viewpoint and presented in an easily readable format.