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Books > Humanities > Archaeology > Archaeology by period / region > Middle & Near Eastern archaeology
The ancient city of Hatra is located 80 km southwest of the modern
city of Mosul. The site reached its apogee during the 2nd and 3rd
centuries AD, arriving at the striking dimensions of c. 300
hectares and into a new role as the capital of a significant buffer
state between the Parthian and Roman empires. This volume is
devoted to the study of the landscape surrounding Hatra and of the
development of this important city, drawing on published
information gathered by Iraqi and foreign expeditions, as well as
unpublished data garnered from over fifteen years of fieldwork at
the site by the Italian Archaeological Expedition. The study of the
landscape comprehends the morphology, hydrology and geology of the
region and offers new proposals regarding the exploitation of
natural resources and the development of regional and local routes
through the territory under Hatra's political and military control
during the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. The analysis of Hatra as an
urban centre consists of a detailed study of the city's hydrology,
street network and urban areas, with the purpose of detecting the
principles behind the planning and development of the city. The
main elements of the urban space are treated in this book: the
Temenos area and the Small Shrines, the Necropoles, the
Fortifications, the Houses, and the Palaces. Due to the
cross-referencing of archaeological, historical and epigraphic
data, new ideas have been proposed regarding the chronological
phases of urbanism at Hatra, from its foundation up to the
destruction of the city by the Sasanian army in AD 241. | La citta
di Hatra si trova nella Jazira irachena a circa 80 km a sud-ovest
di Mosul. Il centro raggiunse il suo apogeo durante il II-III sec.
d.C., toccando l'impressionante estensione di quasi 300 ettari e
divenendo la capitale di un influente stato cuscinetto, collocato
tra l'impero partico e l'impero romano. Questo volume e dedicato
allo studio del territorio e dell'urbanistica di questo importante
sito antico, impiegando contestualmente informazioni edite,
raccolte dalle varie missioni irachene e straniere che si sono
avvicendate sul terreno, e inedite, provenienti dal vasto Archivio
della Missione Archeologica Italiana a Hatra in piu di quindici
anni di ricerche sul campo. Lo studio del territorio definisce un
quadro dettagliato della morfologia, idrologia e geologia della
regione e dell'area prossima al centro, oltre a proporre alcune
nuove ipotesi interpretative sullo sfruttamento delle risorse
ambientali, sull'articolazione della rete viaria periurbana e
regionale e sull'estensione del territorio sottoposto al controllo
politico e militare della citta durante il II e III sec. d.C.
L'analisi urbanistica comprende uno studio approfondito
dell'idrologia cittadina, della rete stradale e delle aree urbane,
allo scopo di individuarne le principali caratteristiche ed
eventuali regole nella pianificazione e nello sviluppo della citta.
Nel libro sono inoltre analizzati i principali elementi che
compongono il tessuto urbano: il Temenos e i templi minori, le
necropoli, le difese cittadine, le case e i palazzi. Grazie
all'utilizzo contestuale del dato archeologico, storico ed
epigrafico, e stato inoltre possibile formulare nuove ipotesi sulle
fasi urbanistiche e sulla cronologia di Hatra dalla fondazione alla
sua distruzione, avvenuta per mano sasanide nel 241 d.C.
Recording Village Life presents a close study of over 140 Coptic
texts written between 724-756 CE by a single scribe, Aristophanes
son of Johannes, of the village Djeme in western Thebes. These
texts, which focus primarily on taxation and property concerns,
yield a wealth of knowledge about social and economic changes
happening at both the community and country-wide levels during the
early years of Islamic rule in Egypt. Additionally, they offer a
fascinating picture of the scribe's role within this world,
illuminating both the practical aspects of his work and the social
and professional connections with clients for whom he wrote legal
documents. Papyrological analysis of Aristophanes' documents,
within the context of the textual record of the village, shows a
new and divergent scribal practice that reflects broader trends
among his contemporaries: Aristophanes was part of a larger,
national system of administrative changes, enacted by the country's
Arab rulers in order to better control administrative practices and
fiscal policies within the country. Yet Aristophanes' dossier shows
him not just as an administrator, revealing details about his life,
his role in the community, and the elite networks within which he
operated. This unique perspective provides new insights into both
the micro-history of an individual's experience of eighth-century
Theban village life, and its reflection in the macro social,
economic, and political trends in Egypt at this time. This book
will prove valuable to scholars of late antique studies,
papyrology, philology, early Islamic history, social and economic
history, and Egyptology.
Egyptomania,"" the West's obsession with the strange and
magnificent world of Ancient Egypt, has for centuries been
reflected in architecture, literature and the performing arts. But
the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922, by a sensation-hungry
world newly united by mass media, created a wave of fascination
unlike anything before. They called it ""Tutmania"" and its
influence was felt everywhere from fashion to home decor to popular
music - and notably in the new medium of film. This study traces
the origins of 20th century cinema's obsession with Ancient Egypt
through previous eras and relates its recurring themes and ideas to
the historical reality of the land of the Pharaohs.
The Artuqids were one of the successor dynasties that rose to power
in the aftermath of the eleventh-twelfth century invasion of
Western and Central Asia by the Seljuq Turks. While the political
power of the Artuqids was limited to the Diyar Bakr, a small region
in northern Jazira corresponding to Southeastern Turkey, their
artistic legacy is noteworthy. The many surviving Artuqid
monuments, built over three hundred years (early 12th - early 15th
century), and their decoration exemplify the mastery of stone
carving which is reflected in intricate designs and motifs. Mardin,
alongside other Artuqid centers such as Amid, Mayyafariqin and Hisn
Kayfa, was set within a larger zone of diverse Christian and
Islamic artistic traditions. This book defines Mardin's artistic
context in relation to the other Artuqid centers, as well as the
neighboring zones that encompass Anatolia, the Caucasus, Iran,
Iraq, Syria and Egypt. During the Artuqid period an original style
developed in Mardin and the Diyar Bakr, which itself was rooted in
a well-established local school of stone carving. Connected with
Christian traditions found in the Syriac Tur 'Abdin and in Late
Antique Syria, the decoration also compares with that of monuments
in Armenia and Georgia, and resonates with artistic practices seen
in areas controlled by the regional Muslim powers of the time: the
Zangids, Ayyubids, Mameluks, Great and Anatolian Seljuqs and the
Ilkhanids. The Artuqid buildings reflect the spirit of the time,
when the Jazira served as an artistic platform, fostering the
circulation of ideas that led to new inspiration, and open-minded
rulers and patrons, curious and receptive to new creations,
stimulated the creative efforts of architects, stone carvers and
craftsmen. The decorated monuments also attest to the existence of
significant economic wealth and the need to commission
sophisticated buildings that magnified the political and social
status of the ruling elite's.
L'ouvrage se propose de presenter la question essentielle de la
consommation alimentaire dans le Proche-Orient ancien, notamment
entre le IVe et le Ier millenaire av. J.-C. Grace aux decouvertes
archeologiques et surtout grace a une abondante documentation
textuelle, les historiens disposent aujourd'hui de sources fiables
decrivant les approvisionnements des cites de Mesopotamie. Ainsi
voit-on mieux la variete des produits disponibles, celle-ci etait
largement plus grande que ce que l'on pouvait imaginer il y a peu.
La transformation des ingredients fait aussi apparaitre des
techniques insoupconnees a une epoque preindustrielle. La
codification en recettes culinaires elaborees pour l'usage des
temples reflete egalement un haut developpement. Les rituels
religieux s'appuyaient sur un code alimentaire structure, dont les
interdits et les tabous ne forment que l'une des facettes. Certains
aspects de la vie quotidienne sont presentes sous un jour nouveau.
Au premier chef le banquet qui est envisage comme une veritable
institution modelant des comportements urbains. De fait, la
representation des festins et des banquets dans les temples et les
palais constituent des themes classiques de l'art et de la
litterature antique. Comprendre l'importance du repas comme rite de
cohesion sociale permet incidemment de mieux envisager des
evenements qui se derouleront des siecles plus tard.
This publication provides the most updated information on the
ceramic production (amphorae, cooking and coarse wares, ceramic
building materials) of Salakta and the Ksour Essef district, in the
Sahel region of Tunisia, from the 3rd century BC to the 7th century
AD. This book deals with the history and the archaeology of
Sullecthum/Salakta, the typology of the ceramic production (mainly
amphorae), the chronology and the location of the workshops, the
amphora stamps and contents, the distribution in the Mediterranean,
and the organisation of production and trade. The author is
Lecturer at the Institut Superieur des Etudes Appliquees en
Humanites de Mahdia (University of Monastir, Tunisia). French text
with English abstract.
Soil and water management is a major stake for the current
Mediterranean countries. It was also an important challenge for
past societies, especially since the Neolithic and the early
well-established farming communities. the mastery of these vital
resources accompanied the complexification of social organization.
It also widely contributed, if not to impulse it, at least to
structure it. This volume presents the results of the CEDRE
multidisciplinary project NAHR IBRAHIM that was led on the Lebanese
mountain centered around the Nahr Ibrahim valley (the famous Adonis
valley in Antiquity), in the hinterland of the ancient city of
Byblos. the mountain has been under-researched by archaeology and
history due to the attractiveness of the prestigious coastal
phoenician cities. The history of settlement patterns and the
construction of agricultural mountainous landscapes since the Early
Bronze Age is examined with comparisons from other regions
surrounding the Mediterranean Basin.
This is the catalogue of the exhibition Abusir, held at the
Naprstek Museum in 2005. The catalogue presents for the first time
a complex overview of the archaeological work and its results at
Abusir, showing the activities of Czech and German archaeological
teams. The site offers a unique insight into several millennia of
Egyptian history. The richness of finds and their infinite variety
are richly illustrated with many colour and black and white
photographs.
Ancient Israel did not emerge within a vacuum but rather came to
exist alongside various peoples, including Canaanites, Egyptians,
and Philistines. Indeed, Israel's very proximity to these groups
has made it difficult-until now-to distinguish the archaeological
traces of early Israel and other contemporary groups. Through an
analysis of the results from recent excavations in light of
relevant historical and later biblical texts, this book proposes
that it is possible to identify these peoples and trace culturally
or ethnically defined boundaries in the archaeological record.
Features of late second-millennium B.C.E. culture are critically
examined in their historical and biblical contexts in order to
define the complex social boundaries of the early Iron Age and
reconstruct the diverse material world of these four peoples. Of
particular value to scholars, archaeologists, and historians, this
volume will also be a standard reference and resource for students
and other readers interested in the emergence of early Israel.
"Paperback edition is available from the Society of Biblical
Literature (www.sbl-site.org)"
The small town of Pathyris, modern Gebelein, is located south of
Thebes. After a huge revolt suppressed in 186 B.C., a Ptolemaic
military camp was built in this town, where local people could
serve as soldiers-serving-for-pay. The Government took several
initiatives to Hellenize the town, resulting in a bilingual
society. The town produced hundreds of papyri and ostraka,
discovered during legal excavations and illegal diggings at the end
of the 19th century and in the 20th century. Katelijn Vandorpe and
Sofie Waebens describe the history of the town and reconstruct the
bilingual archives by using, among other things, prosopographical
data and the method of museum archaeology.
An assemblage of stone vessels and stone statues belongs to the
extensive archaeological material brought to light during the
excavations conducted by the Czech Institute of Egyptology in the
mortuary complex of king Neferre (5th Dynasty) at Abusir. Neferres'
assemblage represents a unique archaeological complex where the
artefacts are complemented with their recorded archaeological
context (structure, site, etc). The monograph includes not only the
analysis of the stone vessels assemblage by its material
characteristics, but also a separate chapter on certain aspects of
the stone statues found in Neferre's mortuary complex.
by Fred Wendorf and Romuald Schild The Eastern Sahara is a
fascinating place to study structures. These larger, more complex
sites are almost prehistory. Confronted with the stark reality of a
hyper always in the lower parts of large basins, most of which arid
environment that receives no measurable rainfall, were formed by
deflation during the Late Pleistocene lacks vegetation, and is
seemingly without life, it would hyper-arid interval between about
65,000 and 13,000 seem to be an unlikely place to find a rich and
complex years ago. Their location near the floor of these basins
mosaic of archaeological remains documenting past was influenced
primarily by one factor - water. During human presence. Despite
this impression of a hostile wet phases, runoff from extensive
catchment areas environment, there is widespread and abundant
caused the development of large, deep, seasonal lakes,
archaeological evidence. or playas, in the lowermost parts of these
basins. This It is obvious that this area was not always a lifeless
surface water would last for several weeks or months desert. Faunal
and plant remains found in the excavations after the seasonal
rains, and by digging wells after the at Holocene-age settlements,
dating between 9500 and playa became dry, water could still be
obtained during 5000 radiocarbon years ago, indicate that rainfall
during most, if not all, of the dry season.
This work presents the most recent views on a subject of primordial
importance for all students of history: the understanding of
humankind's process of becoming, viewed through the study of the
beginnings of pottery in the late forager, and early farmer
societies of Europe. It is a collection of essays, by some of the
prominent European scholars and young dynamic archaeologists whose
works focus on the early European and Middle Eastern pottery,
intended to present a new perspective on the rise of a new
technology in prehistory. With the breadth, variety and novelty of
the approaches presented, Early farmers, late foragers and ceramic
traditions. On the beginning of pottery in Europe is a fascinating
read for scholars, as well as for the public at large.
Issue 61 contains articles on various aspects of Ancient Egypt:
spirituality and sexuality, varying characteristics in Egyptian
art, and Egypt's attitude to its neighbours. There is also an
important article - significantly by an Egyptian scholar - on a
late Egyptian verbal construction, still used in Egyptian
colloquial Arabic today. Also contains many reviews. Oxbow Books
2005)
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