The Middle East: The Cradle of Civilization

This authoritative and detailed, yet accessible book chronicles the Middle East's transformation from Neolithic beginnings to the Arab conquest, revealing how this crucial region nurtured humanity's first permanent settlements and gave birth to the complex societies that would define civilization.

These cultures produced the earliest agriculture, metalworking and writing systems, as well as the earliest centralised governments and legal systems, priesthoods and kings, and large-scale organised warfare. The Middle East: The Cradle of Civilization synthesizes the latest research and information from a range of disciplines to tell this fascinating account of how a group of linguistically disparate, nomadic tribes responded to specific social, economic and environmental factors to form the world’s first complex societies. Discussing the rise and fall of ancient Middle Eastern societies including Sumeria, Babylonia, Anatolia, the Levant, Assyria and Persia - and the lasting impact that these cultures have had on the modern world.

This book is the creation of an international team of academics from the archaeological, ancient historical, near eastern and linguistic fields. Divided into six easily navigable parts arranged chronologically, and then into chapters exploring the history, religion, political and social organization, art, science and architecture of the peoples of the region. The text is illustrated with more than 500 superb full colour images – artifacts, artworks, statues, reliefs, buildings and landscapes – as well as six detailed maps, which bring the region’s dramatic past vividly to life. A generously illustrated historical survey of a fascinating region, now available in a new format.

Dr Stephen Bourke is Research Associate at the University of Sydney. He currently directs Sydney University excavations at Pella in Jordan, and has written or contributed to over 70 archaeological publications over the last 35 years.

Other contributors to this book include:

Maree Browne, Professor Mark W. Chavalas, Dr Kate da Costa, Dr Peter Edwell, Dr Yosef Garfinkel, Dr Leore Grosman, Dr Lloyd Llewelyn-Jones, Dr Kevin M. McGeough, Dr Karen Radner, Dr Seth Richardson, Dr Sandra Scham, Dr Gonen Sharon, Dr Matt Waters.