The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East Volume IV

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Abstract This groundbreaking, five-volume series offers a comprehensive, fully illustrated history of Egypt and Western Asia (the Levant, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Iran), from the emergence of complex states to the conquest of Alexander the Great. Written by a highly diverse, international team of leading scholars, the volumes in this series focus firmly on the political and social histories of the states and communities of the ancient Near East. The fourth volume covers the period from ca. 1100–600 bc, with fifteen chapters presenting the history of the Near East during “The Age of Assyria,” from the formative period of the Assyrian Empire in the aftermath of the great migrations marking the end of the Late Bronze Age to this influential state’s disintegration. In Egypt, this corresponds to the so-called Third Intermediate Period, when the lands on the Nile were frequently under the control of external rulers, most importantly from Napata in modern Sudan. The volume covers Babylonia, the Iranian polities of Elam, Mannea and the Medes, the Anatolian kingdoms of Phrygia and Urartu, as well as the dozens of small states positioning themselves as the heirs of the Hittite Empire, the biblical kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and the city-states of the Phoenician coast. All were affected by the expansion of the Assyrian Empire and its collapse at the hands of the armies of Babylon and Media. Key topics include the ever-growing networks of political, economic, and intellectual relationships that bound together communities inhabiting diverse environments from western Iran to northeastern Africa.