The ancient Orient : an introduction to the study of the ancient Near East

The Term "Ancient orient" and its demarcation

The Scene

Peoples and cultures in the ancient Orient : The Ancient Oriental cultures before 3000: The Sumerians ; The Semites in western Asia ; Northeast and North Semites ; The Northwest Semites: Canaanites and Arameans ; South Arabians and North Arabians ; Hurrians and Urartians ; Peoples and cultures in western Iran ; Elamites, Gutians, and Kassites ; Indo-Aryans, Medes, Cimmerians, and Persians ; Asia Minor: Proto-Hattians, Luwians, and Hittites ; The Coalescence of peoples

Writing and systems of writing : Sumerian writing and cuneiform ; The Hittite hieroglyphs (the Luwian pictograms) ; The Phoenician alphabetic script and its predecessors ; Scripts of the early second millennium in Syria-Palestine ; Phoenician and the other Semitic alphabets. Writing and systems of writing : Sumerian writing and cuneiform ; The Hittite hieroglyphs (the Luwian pictograms) ; The Phoenician alphabetic script and its predecessors ; Scripts of the early second millennium in Syria-Palestine ; Phoenician and the other Semitic alphabets

Alphabetic scripts in cuneiform : Ugaritic and the Old Persian script. The History of ancient western Asia: The Historical sources : Chronology: King lists, date lists, and eponym lists ; Sources for political history ; The early Sumerian period and early Dynastic period ; The Empire of Akkad and the Neo-Sumerian period ; The Beginnings of Assyria and its trade colonies ; The Old Babylonian period ; The Ancient Orient between 1530 and 1000 ; Western Asia from 1000 and 750 and the rise of the Assyrian empire ; The Neo-Assyrian empire: Its zenith and decline: Tiglath-Pileser III and the Sargonids ; The Neo-Babylonian Chaldean empire (626- 539) ; Persians, Macedonians, Greeks, and Parthians in western Asia. State and society : The Monarchy ; the Divinization of the monarch ; City, state, and administration ; Society and social groups ; Man, wife, marriage, family, and clan ; Free persons and slaves ; Sedentary and nonsedentary (Nomads and seminomads) ; The Great temples: Feudal tenure and feudalism ; The Army and warfare. Nutrition and agriculture : Fishing and fowling; Hunting ; Animal Husbandry ; Dogs, cats, and mongooses ; Equids and camels ; Cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs ; Poultry ; Farming and gardening ; Requirements ; Methods ; Types of grain: Flax, sesame, and peas ; Gardens and groves: Date palms, fruit trees, vegetables. Artisanry : The Term; Organization and instruction; The School ; Spinning, weaving, sewing, and embroidery ; The Preparation of hides: leather ; The Use of reeds; Basketry ; Woodwork: carpentry, joining, and furniture making ; Mud and Clay: Bricks, ceramics, and miniature sculpture

Stone for devices, monumental and miniature sculpture, and building ; The Smelting and refining of metals. Trade and commerce : Roads and highways ; Water routes ; Basic terms of trade: Buying and selling, money ; The Organization of trade: The Merchant ; The Merchandise

Law : Legal prescription and law codes ; Basic terminology and general aspects of law: Sumerian laws ; The Laws of Eshnunna and the code of Hammurabi: Legal edicts ; Laws in Asia Minor and Assyria ; Documents and other legal sources: Legal praxis ; Judges and the judiciary. Sumerian and Babylonian Science : The Sumerian science of lists as a science of order ; Bilingual lexical lists in Ebla and Babylonia: Tri- and quadrilingual lists in Asia Minor and Syria ; Further functions of Babylonian word and name lists: Inventory rolls and compilations of various sorts ; Lists of analogous verbal expressions ; The Babylonian science of omens ; Theology, historiography, and geography ; The Beginnings of natural sciences ; The Scientific study of humanity: Medicine and Pharmacology ; Mathematics and astronomy. Religion and magic : Basic problems ; The Gods of the Sumerians ; The Gods of the Babylonians and Assyrians ; Chief Gods of the ancient Semitic peoples: Gods of northern Babylonia in the Sumerian period ; Babylonian belief in the gods: Syncretistic theology ; Belief in the gods and political religion in Assyria ; God and mankind: Sin and ethics, theodicy, life after death ; Cults and offerings: Priests, temple servants, prophets ; Overview: Sources ; The Cults in the Sumerian period: The Sacred marriage ; Ceremonial worship in Babylonia ; Ceremonial worship in Assyria: Substitutive offerings and the ceremony of the substitute king ; Priests and cultic personnel: Cultic prophecy ; Purification in the cult and in magic ; Death and burial. Literature : Overview: Tablet series; Prose and poetry ; Royal inscription ; Myths and epics ; Some general questions: historical epics ; Myths of creation and the ordering of the world: The Deluge ; Clashes and struggles between gods ; Heroic Sumerian myths: Enmerkar, Lugalbanda, Gilgamesh ; Babylonian myths of those who searched for eternal life: Gilgamesh, Etana, Adapa ; Constructed myths ; Wisdom literature and humorous poetry ; The Literary term "Wisdom" ; Composition and collections of sayings ; Dialogic controversies and animal fables ; Humorous stories ; Hymns, prayers, laments, and incantations ; Difficulties in differentiating genres ; Sumerian hymns of gods and kings, laments, prayers, and letters to the gods ; Babylonian hymns and prayers ; Sumerian and Babylonian incantations ; Scientific literature. Building, art, and music : Cultic buildings and palaces: Form and decoration ; Sculpture and modeling, inlaid work, and miniature ; Music and musical instrument

Concluding observations and remarks

Map of the Near East up to the Persian period