Drawings, photographs and analysis of hundreds of clay sealings from the Hellenistic period from ancient Mesopotamia. Includes graphic analyses, and discussion of archival and sealing practices.

Using the visual and tactile experience of small-scale figurines, Greeks and Babylonians negotiated a hybrid, cross-cultural society in Hellenistic Mesopotamia.

This study presents the famous city of Babylon in its latest phase of occupation: from the end of the Achaemenid period (second half of the fourth century B.C.), during the reign of Alexander, the Successors, the Seleucid and Arsacid dynasty until the very end of cuneiform literature and other historical sources (around third-fourth century AD). It contains first of all a survey of the available Classical and Oriental sources (chapter 1), a topography of the city (chapter 2), an overview of political events and Babylon's role in the Empire (chapter 3). Furthermore Babylon's institutions (chapter 4), its social and economic (chapter 5), religious (chapter 6) and cultural (chapter 7) life are discussed. Finally, Babylon's legacy and its significance for later cultures appears in chapter 8.

This volume publishes drawings of the impressions of stamp seals preserved on Babylonian and Assyrian cuneiform tablets, and other clay objects in the collections of The British Museum. The majority of these seals bears precise dates, ranging from the 9th to the 2nd centuries B.C.; represens the Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, Achaemenian and Hellenistic periods; and are set out in chronological order so that the changes in seal design can be clearly seen. Among the images from the Hellenistic period are representations of zodiacal signs. The volume also includes details of seal impressions on the handles of pottery jars from Palestine. Full bibliographical references to previous publications of the cuneiform texts are given, and the volume concludes with concordances and indices, including a pictorial index of all the seal images arranged typologically.

The Babylonian World presents an extensive, up-to-date and lavishly illustrated history of the ancient state Babylonia and its 'holy city', Babylon. Historicized by the New Testament as a centre of decadence and corruption, Babylon and its surrounding region was in fact a rich and complex civilization, responsible for the invention of the dictionary and laying the foundations of modern science. This book explores all key aspects of the development of this ancient culture, including the ecology of the region and its famously productive agriculture, its political and economic standing, its religious practices, and the achievements of its intelligentsia. Comprehensive and accessible, this book will be an indispensable resource for anyone studying the period.