5 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
American ancient historian at Cal Poly Pomona who wrote Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East — offering a social history of ancient Mesopotamia, Syria, and Egypt focused on ordinary people rather than kings.
Eckart Frahm's 2023 comprehensive popular history of the Assyrian Empire — from its origins in the 3rd millennium BC through its conquests of Israel, Egypt, and Babylon to its sudden collapse in 612 BC — the most accessible account of the world's first great empire.
German Assyriologist at Yale who wrote Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World's First Empire — providing the most comprehensive accessible account of the Assyrian Empire for a popular audience.
The ancient Mesopotamian epic — the oldest surviving substantial literary work — following the demigod king Gilgamesh and his companion Enkidu through friendship, death, and the search for immortality — the first great meditation on mortality.
Amanda Podany's 2022 social history of the ancient Near East — covering 3500–500 BC — focusing on ordinary people (weavers, scribes, merchants, farmers) rather than kings, using cuneiform archive evidence.