Van De Mieroop M. A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000 - 323 BC

Second Edition. — Blackwell Publishing, 2007. — 341 pp. — (Blackwell History of the Ancient World). — ISBN: 978-1-4051-4910-5.If the history of the Near East has always seemed a little daunting and confusing, this book by one of the best known writers on the subject should show you the light at the end of the tunnel. Beginning c.3000 BC with the advent of the first writing system, Van De Mieroop traces the emergence and development of some of the greatest states and powers, stunning cities and major empires, including the Babylonian and Hittite kingdoms, the Assyrian and Persian Empires and the conquests of Alexander the Great. Van De Mieroop's revisions for the 2nd edition aim to make the text even more accessible, and include the very latest research.Introductory Concerns.
City-states.
Origins: The Uruk Phenomenon.
Competing City-states: The Early Dynastic Period.
Political Centralization in the Late Third Millennium.
The Near East in the Early Second Millennium.
The Growth of Territorial States in the Early Second Millennium.
Territorial States.
The Club of the Great Powers.
The Western States of the Late Second Millennium.
Kassites, Assyrians, and Elamites.
The Collapse of the Regional System and its Aftermath.
Empires.
The Near East at the Start of the First Millennium.
The Rise of Assyria.
Assyria's World Domination.
The Medes and Babylonians.
The Persian Empire.