The Neo-Assyrian empire — the first large empire of the ancient world — has attracted a great deal of public attention ever since the spectacular discoveries of its impressive remains in the 19th century. The southwestern part of this empire, located in the lands of the Bible, is archaeologically speaking the best known region in the world, and its history is described in a plethora of texts, including the Hebrew Bible. Using a bottom-up approach, Avraham Faust utilises this unparalleled information to reconstruct the outcomes of the Assyrian conquest of the region and how it impacted the diverse political units and ecological zones that comprised it. In doing so, he draws close attention to the transformations the imperial take-over brought in its wake. His analysis reveals the marginality of the annexed territories in the southwest as the empire focused its activities in small border areas facing its prospering clients. A comparison of this surprising picture to the information available from other parts of the empire suggests that the distance of these provinces from the imperial core is responsible for their fate. This sheds new light on factors influencing imperial expansion, the considerations leading to annexation, and the imperial methods of control, challenging old conventions about the development of the Assyrian empire and its rule. Faust also examines the Assyrian empire within the broader context of ancient Near Eastern imperialism to answer larger questions on the nature of Assyrian domination, the reasons for its harsh treatment of the distant provinces, and the factors influencing the limits of its reach. His findings highlight the historical development of imperial control in antiquity and the ways in which later empires were able to overcome similar limitations, paving the way to much larger and longer-lasting polities.

A Companion to Assyria is a collection of original essays on ancient Assyria written by key international scholars. These new scholarly contributions have substantially reshaped contemporary understanding of society and life in this ancient civilization. The only detailed up-to-date introduction providing a scholarly overview of ancient Assyria in English within the last fifty years Original essays written and edited by a team of respected Assyriology scholars from around the world An in-depth exploration of Assyrian society and life, including the latest thought on cities, art, religion, literature, economy, and technology, and political and military history

The purpose of the papers read at the meeting held in Helsinki, Finland, in 2014, and of the relevant proceedings forming this volume, was to discuss and update the historical methodologies adopted in the past and present study of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The title of the meeting and of this proceedings volume, "Writing Neo-Assyrian History", clearly indicates the aim of the organizers and of the participants: to submit to both specialized scholars and educated readers a comprehensive outline of the various studies about Neo-Assyrian history, and to thoroughly comment on all possible problems so as to offer a basic "manual" for further innovative studies. All this was conceived in the framework of the scientific mission of the International Research Project which produces the series State Archives of Assyria, aimed at publishing all available Neo-Assyrian texts according to a modern and commonly shared editing system. The importance of the meeting and of this volume is relevant not only because of the innovative character of most articles, but also because of the prospective methodological spin-off in other historical sectors, from Greek and Roman history to medieval, modern or even Oriental (e.g., Chinese, Japanese, Indian) history. The importance of the spin-off in other sectors of the history of Ancient Mesopotamia, and in general of the Ancient Near East, is self-evident. The volume offers a distinctive contribution to knowledge in history and historiography in general, but also in demonstrating and applying a tight connection between history, philology, archaeology and history of art, extending to the fields of ideology, politics, sociology, religion, economy and law. The sources discussed in the various articles extend from cuneiform texts of various kinds to monumental relics and archaeological findings of all kinds, studied according to the most updated Assyriological methodologies and the most advanced historical approaches.

Though the Neo-Assyrian Empire has largely been conceived of as the main actor in relations between its core and periphery, recent work on the empire’s peripheries has encouraged archaeologists and historians to consider dynamic models of interaction between Assyria and the polities surrounding it. Imperial Peripheries in the Neo-Assyrian Period focuses on the variability of imperial strategies and local responses to Assyrian power across time and space. An international team of archaeologists and historians draws upon both new and existing evidence from excavations, surveys, texts, and material culture to highlight the strategies that the Neo-Assyrian Empire applied to manage its diverse and widespread empire as well as the mixed reception of those strategies by subjects close to and far from the center. Case studies from around the ancient Near East illustrate a remarkable variety of responses to Assyrian aggression, economic policies, and cultural influences. As a whole, the volume demonstrates both the destructive and constructive roles of empire, including unintended effects of imperialism on socioeconomic and cultural change. Imperial Peripheries in the Neo-Assyrian Period aligns with the recent movement in imperial studies to replace global, top-down materialist models with theories of contingency, local agency, and bottom-up processes. Such approaches bring to the foreground the reality that the development and lifecycles of empires in general, and the Neo-Assyrian Empire in particular, cannot be completely explained by the activities of the core. The book will be welcomed by archaeologists of the Ancient Near East, Assyriologists, and scholars concerned with empires and imperial power in history. Contributors: Stephanie H. Brown, Anna Cannavò, Megan Cifarelli, Erin Darby, Bleda S. Düring, Avraham Faust, Guido Guarducci, Bradley J. Parker

This book brings together our present-day knowledge about textile terminology in the Akkadian language of the first-millennium BC. In fact, the progress in the study of the Assyrian dialect and its grammar and lexicon has shown the increasing importance of studying the language as well as cataloging and analysing the terminology of material culture in the documentation of the first world empire. The book analyses the terms for raw materials, textile procedures, and textile end products consumed in first-millennium BC Assyria. In addition, a new edition of a number of written records from Neo-Assyrian administrative archives completes the work. The book also contains a number of tables, a glossary with all the discussed terms, and a catalogue of illustrations. In light of the recent development of textile research in ancient languages, the book is aimed at providing scholars of Ancient Near Eastern studies and ancient textile studies with a comprehensive work on the Assyrian textiles.

On Human Bondage—a critical reexamination of Orlando Patterson’s groundbreaking Slavery and Social Death—assesses how his theories have stood the test of time and applies them to new case studies. Discusses the novel ideas of social death and natal alienation, as Patterson first presented them 35 years ago and as they are understood today Brings together exciting new work by a group of esteemed historians of slavery, as well as a final chapter by Patterson himself that responds to and expands upon the other contributions Provides insights into slave societies around the world and across time, from classical Greece and Rome to modern Brazil and the Caribbean, and from Han China and pre-colonial South Asia to early modern Europe and the New World Delves into a wide range of topics, including the reformation of social identity after slavery, the new historicist approach to slavery, rituals of enslavement and servitude, questions of honor and dishonor, and symbolic imagery of slavery

In numerous ambitious expeditions Shalmaneser III of Assyria (859-824) lay the foundation of the subsequent remarkable military advance to the West of the Neo-Assyrian empire. While systematically scrutinizing and analyzing all accounts of these western campaigns, Shigeo Yamada not only discusses the historiographical problems encountered, together with their impact on the jigsaw of ninth century Ancient Near East history, but also offers new results, and an original historical reconstruction. Ample attention is given to the campaigns’ economic and ideological aspects. The book will serve as a useful reference for all students interested in Assyrian historiography and the history of Assyria and Syria-Palestine. It includes an appendix on a new edition of the Kurkh Monolith, based on the author’s collation.