(P/B) THE AGE OF EMPIRES - MESOPOTAMIA IN THE FIRST MILLENNIUM

Παρουσίαση

This is a concise introduction to the history of the ancient Near East during the last millennium bc: Phoenicia, Palestine, the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires, the Persian Achaemenid empire, the empire of Alexander, and the vast Persian Seleucid empire founded by Seleucus around 300 bc and defeated by Pompey for Rome in 64 bc. The book focuses on political history, on the sources and shifts of power and the individuals who wielded it. It also introduces the student to the principal aspects of the religious, social and economic history of the region.
The narrative is succinct, backed up by summary tables and maps, and enlivened by lengthy quotations from contemporary documents. The latter are frequently used to illustrate specific case studies. The book ends with a chronology and glossary, as well as an adapted further reading list. (From the publisher)

Περιεχόμενα

Introduction
The world of the peoples of Mesopotamia
Places and peoples
The rediscovery of the 'Assyrians'
The evolution of Mesopotamian historiography
Political history of the Assyrian empire (934-610 BC)
The first expansion (934-827)
Crisis and refoundation (823-727)
The Sargonid empire (721-610)
Document
One of Ashurnasirpal's campaigns in the east of Anatolia in 865
Control of the imperial territory
Military organisation
At the hub of the empire
The provinces
Document
Extract from the Census of Harran
The centre of Assyrian government
The king of Assyria
The exercise of royal power
Where the power lay
Documents
The king of Assyria and his servitors: letter from the exorcist Adad-in the neo-Babylonian period
Social and economic strata
Economic activities
Management of the large organisations
Documents
The life of Babylonian notables: Lurindu's marriage
Land management: leasing contract
Religion and culture in Babylonia in the first millennium BC
The pantheon and religious concepts
How religion was organised
Babylon, cultural capital
Document
An extract from the IVth tablet of the Epic of Erra
Achaemenid Babylonia (539-331 BC)
A central province of the Persian empire
A reserve of soldiers
Tribute and intermediaries
Document
Financial activities in the Achaemenid era: leasing a royal tax
From the Seleucids to the Parthians (331 BC - AD 75)
The evolution of the satrapy of Babylonia
Socio-economic realities
The slow end of a civilisation
Document
Religious activities in the Seleucid period: renting a prebend
Conclusion
Political chronology
Glossary
Bibliography
Sources of texts quoted
Index