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This book devises an innovative way to analyse Babylonian commodity price data in its historical context using formal statistical analysis.
This volume breaks new ground in approaching the Ancient Economy by bringing together documentary sources from Mesopotamia and the Greco-Roman world. Addressing textual corpora that have traditionally been studied separately, the collected papers overturn the conventional view of a fundamental divide between the economic institutions of these two regions. The premise is that, while controlling for differences, texts from either cultural setting can be brought to bear on the other and can shed light, through their use as proxy data, on such questions as economic mentalities and market development. The book also presents innovative approaches to the quantitative study of large corpora of ancie...
Editing and examining source-critically for the first time the Late Babylonian ritual texts dealing with the New Year Festival, this book proposes an incisive re-interpretation of the most frequently discussed of all Mesopotamian rituals. The festival’s twelve-day paradigm is dissolved in favor of a more historically dynamic model, with the ritual texts being firmly anchored in the Hellenistic period. As part of a larger group of texts constituting what can be called Late Babylonian Priestly Literature, they reflect the Babylonian priesthoods’ fears and aspirations of that time much more than an actual ritual reality.
This volume examines revolts and resistance to the successor states, formed after Alexander the Great's conquest of the Persian empire, as a transregional phenomenon. Featuring specialists in Judaea, Egypt, Babylonia, Central Asia, and Asia Minor, in an effort to trace comparisons and connections between episodes and modes of resistance.
Few studies focus on the modes of knowledge transmission (or concealment), or the trends of continuity or change from the Ancient to the Late Antique worlds. In Antiquity, knowledge was cherished as a scarce good, cultivated through the close teacher-student relationship and often preserved in the closed circle of the initated. From Assyrian and Babylonian cuneiform texts to a Shi'ite Islamic tradition, this volume explores how and why knowledge was shared or concealed by diverse communities in a range of Ancient and Late Antique cultural contexts. From caves by the Dead Sea to Alexandria, both normative and heterodox approaches to knowledge in Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities are explored. Biblical and qur'anic passages, as well as gnostic, rabbinic and esoteric Islamic approaches are discussed. In this volume, a range of scholars from Assyrian studies to Jewish, Christian and Islamic studies examine diverse approaches to, and modes of, knowledge transmission and concealment, shedding new light on both the interconnectedness, as well as the unique aspects, of the monotheistic faiths, and their relationship to the ancient civilisations of the Fertile Crescent.
An assessment of the economic success of Imperial Rome, consisting of eleven previously published papers by the historian W. V. Harris, with additional comments to bring them up to date. Harris also includes a new study of poverty and destitution, and a substantial introduction which ties the collection together.
The first of three volumes offering a detailed presentation of a set of letters associated with Arsāma, satrap in Egypt in the later fifth century BC and the bullae that sealed them. This volume provides text and translation of the letters, along with appendices detailing Egyptiak and Akkadian documents that refer to Arsāma.
This volume offers detailed insights into both familiar and overlooked aspects of how humans engage with sanctity and the divine in various cultures of Mesopotamia, the Mediterranean, and Beyond. Each chapter is dedicated to a specific theme—whether a region or phenomenon—from Prehistoric times to the Modern era, exposing readers to a whirlwind of impressions presented by individuals who have studied or been captivated by particular subjects. Framing the individual case studies are broader presentations by the editors, who highlight key issues with the aim of reviving a multidisciplinary dialogue and encouraging reader participation.
Markets emerge in recent historical research as important spheres of economic interaction in ancient societies. In the case of ancient Egypt, traditional models imagined an all-encompassing centralized, bureaucratic economy that left practically no place for market transactions, as many surviving documents only described the activities of the royal palace and of huge institutions, mainly temples. Yet scattered references in the sources reveal that markets and traders were crucial actors in the economic life of ancient Egypt. In this perspective, this volume aims to discuss the role of markets, traders and economic interaction (not necessarily organized through markets) and the use of “mone...
Drawing on the expertise of archaeologists, historians, biblical scholars, and social-science interpreters who have devoted a significant amount of time and energy in the research of ancient Galilee, this accessible volume includes modern general studies of Galilee and of Galilean history, as well as specialized studies on taxation, ethnicity, religious practices, road systems, trade and markets, education, health, village life, houses, and the urban-rural divide. This resource includes a rich selection of images, figures, charts, and maps.