Widely regarded as one of the great achievements of human history, the Library of Alexandria in fact represents the impressive culmination of a long tradition of libraries in the ancient Near East. This volume is the first comprehensive study of this tradition, shedding light on the history and function of these libraries as centres of knowledge.
This book presents a detailed description of the political, cultural, and economic world of ancient Kanesh (present-day Kultepe, Turkey), a vibrant Bronze Age Anatolian trade outpost and the earliest attested commercial society in world history.
The Conquest of Assyria tells what must surely be one of the most romantic tales of archaeological endeavour. The great cities and ancient palaces of Mesopotamia had lain buried for over two millenia, and were all but forgotten, half remembered in the Hebrew Bible and Classical texts. This volume records the dramatic finds, the decipherment of the cuneiform system of writing and the rediscovery of a lost civilisation.