The Ancient Orient: An Introduction to the Study of the Ancient Near East

This is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable.

This book represents the first comprehensive, interdisciplinary presentation of ancient Near Eastern civilization. Concentrating on Mesopotamia and North Syria and focusing particularly on the cultures of Sumer, Babylonia, and Assyria, von Soden covers the earliest times to Hellenization. His study of ancient "humanity in its wholeness" includes treatments of the history of language and systems of writing, the state and society, nutrition and agriculture, artisanry, economics, law, science, religion and magic, art, music, and more. A valuable background work for students of the Bible. Includes 18 black-and-white photographs.

""This long-awaited work by the most famous Assyriologist of recent times brings together into a single picture the history, languages, and cultures of the ancient Semitic and Indo-European near East. It embraces intellectual, artistic, economic, political, and social life and brings within the grasp of the nonspecialist the enormous advances that have been made in Assyriology in recent decades"." Philip R. Davies, University of Sheffield