Ancient Near East History Books

ANCIENT PERSIA
by John Curtis, Curator, Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities, British Museum. Beautiful color photos with B&W photos, maps, and drawings. Condition: PLEASE READ / UNREAD, but not perfect, 1990 Harvard soft cover, no printing given. Problem: fading to blue cover borders. Interior perfect. Tiny edge wear. Content: Persia (ancient Iran) occupies an important place among the great civilizations of the ancient world. The many splendid achievements of the early inhabitants of Iran range from the imaginatively painted pottery of the prehistoric period to the magnificent silver vessels of Sasanian times, and include the Luristan bronzes and the spectacular sculptures of Persepolis. Civilization began early in Iran, as it did elsewhere in the Ancient Near East, and the author traces the history, archaeology and art from the growth of settled communities in about 6000 BC through to the beginning of the Islamic period in the seventh century AD. This introduction is illustrated throughout with many examples drawn from the rich collection of Iranian antiquities in the British Museum. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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CHIEFTAINS OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS: A History of Israel in the 12th and 11th Centuries B.C.
by Robert D. Miller II, S.F.O. B&W maps. Condition: NEW 2005 Eerdmans Trade Paperback, first printing. Content: An illuminating social history of ancient Israel, "Chieftains of the Highland Clans" offers an unusually thorough and original reconstruction of Israelite society prior to the rise of the monarchy around 1000 B.C. Using the latest archaeological research and anthropological theory, Robert Miller presents an intriguing picture of what life was like in early Israel. Ethnographic evidence from diverse cultures suggests the "complex chiefdom" model as the most appropriate for the archaeology of twelfth- and eleventh-century highland Palestine. This model details the economic and political realities of pre-state societies with ascribed rank and hierarchical political control. As he applies and fine-tunes the complex chiefdom model, Miller illustrates areas of potential correspondence and contradiction between his reconstruction and the biblical text. Students of archaeology, Palestine, and the Hebrew Bible will not want to miss Miller’s fresh and fascinating conclusions about the sociopolitical nature of early Israel. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH (Revised & Updated Edition)
by N. K. Sanders. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, c, 1980 Penguin Classics Trade Paperback, 30th printing. Revised & updated edition. Name on loose end page. Content: This edition provides a prose rendering of The Epic of Gilgamesh, the cycle of poems preserved on clay tablets surviving from ancient Mesopotamia of the third mi llennium B.C. One of the best and most important pieces of epic poetry from human history, predating even Homer's Iliad by roughly 1,500 years, the Gilgamesh epic tells of the various adventures of that hero-king, including his quest for immortality, and an account of a great flood similar in many details to the Old Testament's story of Noah. The translator also provides an interesting and useful introduction explaining much about the historical context of the poem and the archeological discovery of th e tablets. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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A FORGOTTEN KINGDOM
by Sir Leonard Woolley. B&W maps, drawings illustrate. Condition: UNREAD 1953 Pelican paperback edition, no printing given. Tiny edgewear. No tanning that I can see. Content: The subtitle of this book gives all the information needed: "a record of the results obtained from the recent important excavation of two mounds, Atchana and al Mina, in the Turkish Hatay." While a bit dated, of course, still a fascinating history of the original dig. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 2.89 + $ 2.94 media shipping.

GILGAMESH: A Verse Narrative
by Herbert Mason. Afterword by John Marks. Condition: UNREAD 1972 Mentor paperback edition, 24th printing. Tiny shelf wear. Light tanning to page edges. Content: Mason's best-selling Gilgamesh is the most widely read and enduring interpretation of this ancient Babylonian epic. One of the oldest and most universal stories known in literature, the epic of Gilgamesh presents the grand, timeless themes of love and death, loss and reparations within the stirring tale of a hero-king and his doomed friend. A finalist for the National Book Award, Mason's retelling is at once a triumph of scholarship, a masterpiece of style, and a labor of love that grew out of the poet's long affinity with the original. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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IN SEARCH OF THE TROJAN WAR
by Michael Wood. 112 B&W photos, floor plans, & maps with 34 full color photos. Condition: Gently pre-read (it was my book) 1987 Plume large soft cover, first printing. Light crease front cover fore edge (poor shelving). Content: Written to complement a BBC-TV series scheduled to begin on PBS this month, Wood's book is essentially an investigation of the historical reality, if any, behind the legend of Troy and the Trojan War. Though not a professional archaeologist, Wood shows a fine grasp of the various problems presented by the Homeric epics, and writes well about sometimes complicated archaeological, linguistic, and historical matters. At times his presentation is a bit repetitious, but those interested in the attempts of individuals such as Schliemann, Dorpfeld, Blegen, and Evans to explore sites thought to be those connected by Homer with the Trojan War will find a lively and sometimes speculative account based on current scholarship. While much has been written on the Trojan War since this book was published, it is worth the read for the history of Troy's archaeology and Homer's epic. Showing now on either the History Channel or Discovery is an excellent program using a computer simulation of the battles of the Trojan War. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 3.49 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

MESOPOTAMIA (British Museum)
by Julian Reade. 50 B&W photos, floor plans, & maps with 40 full color photos. Condition: UNREAD 1992 British Museum Press soft cover, no printing given. Light edge wear to front cover fore edge top corner. Content: The foundations of westerrn civilization were laid by the ancient socieities which flourished in Mesopotamia, a land known as the "fertile crescent" through which flow the Tigris and Euphrates rivrs. The area saw some of the earliest experiments in agriculture and irrigation, the invention of writing, the birth of mathematics and the development of urban life. An attractively illustrated account of the history of Mesopotamia from the prehistoric times to the rise of Babylon, up to 1500 B.C. Drawing on archaeology and ancient texts, [Julian Reade] describes the central position of Mesopotamia in early Western civilization. It was one of the leading centers of literacy in the world, and the development of agriculture, mathematics, and cities is often traced to this Fertile Crescent. Different cultures lived and clashed in the region, in cycles of 'alternating consolidation and disintegration.' Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST
by Fred Gladstone Skinner. B&W maps & charts illustrate. Condition: UNREAD 1998 Barnes & Noble hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Content: The mythology, legends, and religion of the Ancients: Sumero-Akkadian, Ancient Egyptian, Ugaritic-Canaaniye & Hittite. Questions welcome. [2 copies available]
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ON ALEXANDER'S TRACK TO THE INDUS: Personal Narrative of Explorations on the North-West Frontier of India
by Aurel Stein. Two B&W photo sections & maps. Condition: NEW 2004 CastleBookS hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), reprint edition. First published in 1929. Content: This book is Aurel Stein's account of the expeditions he mounted following in the footsteps of Alexander the Great during the triumphant invasion that, interestingly, left not a trace in Indian literature or tradition. Stein's account has justifiably achieved cult status for the dangers and hardships encountered during his own expeditions; for the light it sheds on Alexander's invasions, and the wonders of Stein's discoveries (such as Alexander's Aornos); the illumination it offers on all fields of interest from archaeology to Indian literary culture, Graeco-Buddhist art and the spread of Buddhism right across Asia. (1 copy available)
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THE ROAD TO UBAR: Finding the Atlantis of the Sands
by Nicholas Clapp. B&W photos, maps, and drawings illustrate. Maps of the area form the decorated end pages. Condition: NEW 1998 Houghton Mifflin haradcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. B&W photos, maps, and drawings illustrate. Tiny impression top front DJ and back DJ panel - but not through to the boards. Content: For centuries, the city of Ubar was the object of legend, quests and uncertainty. An ancient trading outpost in Arabia, it had, according to the Koran, sunk into the desert sands as a result of God's wrath upon its sinful population. In the 1980s, Clapp, a documentary filmmaker, undertook to find the city. After exhaustive research that took him from ancient texts to satellite photos, he eventually led an expedition that finally located Ubar in what is now Oman. Clapp first learned of the then-chimerical city in the early 1980s, when working on a film about the oryx (a tough and graceful desert antelope). His interest was piqued further as he read of 19th-century British expeditions, which he synopsizes along with other relevant tales. Like Indiana Jones, Clapp is as comfortable in the library as in reconnaissance helicopters or on the sands, and his efforts to separate myth from possible reality make for a gripping intellectual adventure. Clapp's team, including his wife and expedition manager, Kay, and a host affable experts, weren't sure what they'd found in a giant sinkhole until they spent weeks digging and putting pieces of pottery together with knowledge of the ancient trade in frankincense. What they found was not only Ubar but also a fitting resolution to Clapp's engaging story of the excitement of discovery, of a mystery solved and of the spirit of adventure. (1 copy available)
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TWENTY CENTURIES OF JEWISH LIFE IN THE HOLY LAND: The Forgotten Generations
edited by Dan Bahat. B&W maps, photos, & charts illustrate. Condition: UNREAD 1976 Israel Economist soft cover, second edition. Very very light shelf wear. Content: Wonderful history of Israel from the 1st century to the 19th century - showing that Jews have been in the Holy Land "forever." Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 13.49 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

WHO'S WHO IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST
by Gwendolyn Leick. B&W maps illustrate. Condition: NEW 1999 Routledge hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first edition. Content: This is a unique work that covers the peoples of Mesopotamia and the surrounding areas from the earliest historic documents in the 1st Dynasty of Kish up to the end of the Seleucid period. Filled with the most influential characters who shaped the history of the area, this invaluable resource offers over 300 entries, an easy-to-use a-z layout, and maps and chronologies of the Ancient Near East. The political rulers, officials, royal consorts, merchants, bankers, military leaders, priests and scholars included are cross-referenced throughout, with a full index and bibliographic references. [1 copy available]
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