MARC VAN DE MIEROOP is Professor of History at Columbia University and Director of Columbia’s Center for the Ancient Mediterranean. Previously, he taught at Yale University and the University of Oxford. He is Founding Editor of the Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History and the author of numerous books on the histories of the ancient Near East and Egypt, including A History of Ancient Egypt, King Hammurabi of Babylon, and The Eastern Mediterranean in the Age of Ramesses II.

"This marvelous book is a classic, and deservedly so. In his clear and fascinating narrative, Van De Mieroop lays out the political history of the ancient Near East, while also including extensive quotes from ancient sources, overviews of important scholarly debates, and well-chosen illustrations, charts, tables, and maps. This new edition brings the history up to date with revelations from newly published cuneiform tablets and recent archaeological excavations. My students always find much to discuss in the pages of this book, and it also receives high praise from general readers interested in the deep and influential past of the Middle East."—Amanda H. Podany, Professor of History, Cal Poly Pomona"An outstanding resource for studying the history of the ANE... It is remarkable to find a volume with this subject matter that is as clear and as engaging as what Van De Mieroop has offered here."—Kurtis Peters, RBECS

• List of Illustrations xList of Charts xiiiList of Maps xivList of Debates xvList of Boxes xviList of Documents xviiPreface xixAuthor’s Note xxii1 Introductory Concerns 11.1 What Is the Ancient Near East? 11.2 The Sources 41.3 Geography 51.4 Prehistoric Developments 9Part I City-States 192 Origins: The Uruk Phenomenon 212.1 The Origins of Cities 222.2 The Development of Writing and Administration 292.3 The “Uruk Expansion” 372.4 Uruk’s Aftermath 393 Competing City-States: The Early Dynastic Period 413.1 The Written Sources and Their Historical Uses 423.2 Political Developments in Southern Mesopotamia 453.3 Warfare and Political Centralization 483.4 The Wider Near East 523.5 Early Dynastic Society 553.6 Scribal Culture 584 Political Centralization in the Late Third Millennium 634.1 The Kings of Akkad 644.2 The Third Dynasty of Ur 745 The Near East in the Early Second Millennium 855.1 Nomads and Sedentary People 865.2 Babylonia 905.3 Assyria and the East 945.4 Mari and the West 1006 The Growth of Territorial States in the Early Second Millennium 1066.1 Shamshi-Adad and the Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia 1086.2 Hammurabi’s Babylon 1116.3 The Old Hittite Kingdom 1206.4 The “Dark Age” 123Part II Territorial States 1277 The Club of the Great Powers 1297.1 The Political System 1317.2 Political Interactions: Diplomacy and Trade 1347.3 Regional Competition: Warfare 1417.4 Shared Ideologies and Social Organizations 1438 The Western States of the Late Second Millennium 1498.1 Mittani 1508.2 The Hittite New Kingdom 1558.3 Syria-Palestine 1639 Kassites, Assyrians, and Elamites 1719.1 Babylonia 1729.2 Assyria 1789.3 The Middle Elamite Kingdom 18410 The Collapse of the Regional System and Its Aftermath 18910.1 The Events 19010.2 Interpretation 19610.3 The Aftermath 198Part III Empires 20711 The Near East at the Start of the First Millennium 20911.1 The Eastern States 21011.2 The West 21812 The Rise of Assyria 23012.1 Patterns of Assyrian Imperialism 23112.2 The Historical Record 23812.3 Ninth-Century Expansion 24012.4 Internal Assyrian Decline 24413 Assyria’s World Domination 24813.1 The Creation of an Imperial Structure 24913.2 The Defeat of the Great Rivals 25213.3 The Administration and Ideology of the Empire 25913.4 Assyrian Culture 26013.5 Assyria’s Fall 26514 The Medes and Babylonians 27014.1 The Medes and the Anatolian States 27114.2 The Neo-Babylonian Dynasty 27515 The Creation of a World Empire: Persia 28815.1 The Sources and Their Challenges 28915.2 The Rise of Persia and Its Expansion 29015.3 Governance of the Subject States 29515.4 The Creation of an Imperial Structure 29816 Governing a World Empire: Persia 30616.1 Political Developments 30616.2 Administration of the Empire 31016.3 Local Forms of Persian Administration 31316.4 The End of the Empire 319Epilogue 323King Lists 324Guide to Further Reading 339Bibliography 345Comprehensive Time Line 359Index 363

MARC VAN DE MIEROOP is Professor of History at Columbia University and Director of Columbia’s Center for the Ancient Mediterranean. Previously, he taught at Yale University and the University of Oxford. He is Founding Editor of the Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History and the author of numerous books on the histories of the ancient Near East and Egypt, including A History of Ancient Egypt, King Hammurabi of Babylon, and The Eastern Mediterranean in the Age of Ramesses II.

"This marvelous book is a classic, and deservedly so. In his clear and fascinating narrative, Van De Mieroop lays out the political history of the ancient Near East, while also including extensive quotes from ancient sources, overviews of important scholarly debates, and well-chosen illustrations, charts, tables, and maps. This new edition brings the history up to date with revelations from newly published cuneiform tablets and recent archaeological excavations. My students always find much to discuss in the pages of this book, and it also receives high praise from general readers interested in the deep and influential past of the Middle East."—Amanda H. Podany, Professor of History, Cal Poly Pomona"An outstanding resource for studying the history of the ANE... It is remarkable to find a volume with this subject matter that is as clear and as engaging as what Van De Mieroop has offered here."—Kurtis Peters, RBECS

• List of Illustrations xList of Charts xiiiList of Maps xivList of Debates xvList of Boxes xviList of Documents xviiPreface xixAuthor’s Note xxii1 Introductory Concerns 11.1 What Is the Ancient Near East? 11.2 The Sources 41.3 Geography 51.4 Prehistoric Developments 9Part I City-States 192 Origins: The Uruk Phenomenon 212.1 The Origins of Cities 222.2 The Development of Writing and Administration 292.3 The “Uruk Expansion” 372.4 Uruk’s Aftermath 393 Competing City-States: The Early Dynastic Period 413.1 The Written Sources and Their Historical Uses 423.2 Political Developments in Southern Mesopotamia 453.3 Warfare and Political Centralization 483.4 The Wider Near East 523.5 Early Dynastic Society 553.6 Scribal Culture 584 Political Centralization in the Late Third Millennium 634.1 The Kings of Akkad 644.2 The Third Dynasty of Ur 745 The Near East in the Early Second Millennium 855.1 Nomads and Sedentary People 865.2 Babylonia 905.3 Assyria and the East 945.4 Mari and the West 1006 The Growth of Territorial States in the Early Second Millennium 1066.1 Shamshi-Adad and the Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia 1086.2 Hammurabi’s Babylon 1116.3 The Old Hittite Kingdom 1206.4 The “Dark Age” 123Part II Territorial States 1277 The Club of the Great Powers 1297.1 The Political System 1317.2 Political Interactions: Diplomacy and Trade 1347.3 Regional Competition: Warfare 1417.4 Shared Ideologies and Social Organizations 1438 The Western States of the Late Second Millennium 1498.1 Mittani 1508.2 The Hittite New Kingdom 1558.3 Syria-Palestine 1639 Kassites, Assyrians, and Elamites 1719.1 Babylonia 1729.2 Assyria 1789.3 The Middle Elamite Kingdom 18410 The Collapse of the Regional System and Its Aftermath 18910.1 The Events 19010.2 Interpretation 19610.3 The Aftermath 198Part III Empires 20711 The Near East at the Start of the First Millennium 20911.1 The Eastern States 21011.2 The West 21812 The Rise of Assyria 23012.1 Patterns of Assyrian Imperialism 23112.2 The Historical Record 23812.3 Ninth-Century Expansion 24012.4 Internal Assyrian Decline 24413 Assyria’s World Domination 24813.1 The Creation of an Imperial Structure 24913.2 The Defeat of the Great Rivals 25213.3 The Administration and Ideology of the Empire 25913.4 Assyrian Culture 26013.5 Assyria’s Fall 26514 The Medes and Babylonians 27014.1 The Medes and the Anatolian States 27114.2 The Neo-Babylonian Dynasty 27515 The Creation of a World Empire: Persia 28815.1 The Sources and Their Challenges 28915.2 The Rise of Persia and Its Expansion 29015.3 Governance of the Subject States 29515.4 The Creation of an Imperial Structure 29816 Governing a World Empire: Persia 30616.1 Political Developments 30616.2 Administration of the Empire 31016.3 Local Forms of Persian Administration 31316.4 The End of the Empire 319Epilogue 323King Lists 324Guide to Further Reading 339Bibliography 345Comprehensive Time Line 359Index 363