Ancient Near East
From ArchaeoWiki
The Ancient Near East is the conventional term applied within the fields of Ancient History, Near Eastern Archaeology and Egyptology to the ancient lands and civilisations of the Near and Middle East and North Africa.
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Geography
Core areas for consideration under this description are those regions bordering the East Mediterreanean Sea (Egypt, Cyprus and the Levant), Asia Minor and Anatolia, Syria, Mesopotamia and the Iranian Plateau—the so-called "Fertile Crescent" and its immediate margins.
By geographical extension and cultural association, additional areas that have been included within the scope of the Ancient Near East include territories surrounding the Aegean and Black Seas, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Afghanistan, the Indus Valley, the Sudan and the Arabian Peninsula.
Some scholars would exclude Egypt from the Ancient Near East as a geographically and culturally distinct area. On account of Egypt's interaction and influence within the region, however, such exclusion is rare.
Chronology
The study of the Ancient Near East is generally considered to start with the development of human prehistory and the rise of early cultures and civilisations.
The terminus of the Ancient Near East is more uncertain, with opinion including:
- the advent of Hellenistic Civilisation across much of the region after the conquests of Alexander in the late 4th century BCE and the subsequent establishment of Greek kingdoms
- the gradual conquest of the region by the Roman Empire from the West—mostly complete by the 1st century BCE—and the Parthian Empire from the East
- the Arab / Muslim Conquests of the 7th century CE
NB: It is the latter that is employed by this website as a convenient terminus.
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Bibliography
General / Textbooks
- Chavalas, Mark W. (ed.) [2006], The Ancient Near East: Historical Sources in Translation, [Blackwell Sourcebooks in Ancient History], Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2006. ISBN 0631235817. BMCR review (Luis Robert Siddall)
- Contributors: B. T. Arnold, R. Averbeck, G. Beckman, M. W. Chavalas, Y. Cohen, J. Cooley, E. von Dassow, P. Goedegebuure, K. Greenwood, J. Hazenbos, H. A. Hoffner, Jr., T. van den Hout, F. van Koppen, G. Magid, S. C. Melville, P. Michalowski, K. Mineck, C. Morgan, S. Noegel, B. B. Schmidt, B. A. Strawn, and B. Studevent-Hickman
- Van de Mieroop, Marc [2004], A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000-323 BC, Oxford: Blackwell, 2004. ISBN 0631225528 BMCR review (P. Magee)
- [2007], A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000-323 BC, 2nd edition, Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2007. ISBN 9781405149112 BMCR Review (P. Magee)
External links
- Ancient Near East .net - an information and content portal for the archaeology, ancient history and culture of the Ancient Near East and Egypt
- ETANA - website hosted by a consortium of universities in the interests of providing digitized resources and relevant web links
