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Oxford History of the Ancient Near East
The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East: Volume I: From the Beginnings to Old Kingdom Egypt and the Dynasty of Akkad
This groundbreaking, five-volume series offers a comprehensive, fully illustrated history of Egypt and Western Asia (the Levant, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Iran), from the emergence of complex states to the conquest of Alexander the Great. Written by a highly diverse, international team of leading scholars, whose expertise brings to life the people, places, and times of the remote past, the volumes in this series focus firmly on the political and social histories of the states and communities of the ancient Near East. Individual chapters present the key textual and material sources underpinning the historical reconstruction, paying particular attention to the most recent archaeological finds and their impact on our historical understanding of the periods surveyed.
Commencing with the domestication of plants and animals, and the foundation of the first permanent settlements in the region, Volume I contains ten chapters that provide a masterful survey of the earliest dynasties and territorial states in the ancient Near East, concluding with the rise of the Old Kingdom in Egypt and the Dynasty of Akkad in Mesopotamia. Politics, ideology, religion, art, crafts, economy, military developments, and the built environment are all examined. Uniquely, emphasis is placed upon elucidating both the internal dynamics of these states and communities, as well as their external relationships with their neighbors in the wider region. The result is a thoughtful, critical, and robust survey of the populations that laid the foundation for all future developments in the ancient Near East.
Commencing with the domestication of plants and animals, and the foundation of the first permanent settlements in the region, Volume I contains ten chapters that provide a masterful survey of the earliest dynasties and territorial states in the ancient Near East, concluding with the rise of the Old Kingdom in Egypt and the Dynasty of Akkad in Mesopotamia. Politics, ideology, religion, art, crafts, economy, military developments, and the built environment are all examined. Uniquely, emphasis is placed upon elucidating both the internal dynamics of these states and communities, as well as their external relationships with their neighbors in the wider region. The result is a thoughtful, critical, and robust survey of the populations that laid the foundation for all future developments in the ancient Near East.
804 pages, Hardcover
Published August 4, 2020
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About the author
Karen Radner
32 books9 followersKaren Radner is Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Ancient History of the Near and Middle East at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
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January 25, 2026This is the fifth book in my 2026 reading project on Ancient Egypt.
I first read The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. Then read The DK Definitive Illustrated History of Ancient Egypt, which was a great way to become familiar with all the major topics. The third book, From Egypt to Babylon showed the exciting world of the Bronze Age 1500-500 BCE. This helped me to understand the dynamic relationships between the superpowers and how states rose and fell usually because of militarism. Learned about the Mitanni, Nubians, Libyans, Sea Peoples, and all the fun trading and gift exchanges between the kings.
Now the fifth, sixth, & seventh books will be from this new Oxford series on the Ancient Near East. But I plan to read Pharaohs of the Sun: Akhenaten, Nefertiti, & Tutankhamen, & Akhenaten, the Heretic King by Donald B. Reford; I read this decades ago so it's going to be fun rereading what was for then a fascinating account. I will probably read these while the Oxford section presents this period of the New Kingdom.
The last two volumes of the Oxford series focus on Assyria & Persia, but these will include these nations' interactions, defeats & conquests of Egypt.
I already read some time ago The Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt by John Baines & Jaromir Malek so I won't reread this. This leaves the final book in my massive project on Ancient Egypt will be Ancient Egypt: An illustrated reference to the myths, religions, pyramids, and temples of the land of the pharaohs by Lorna Oakes and Lucia Gahlin, Barnes & Noble 2003.
In 1980 I aced a class at Penn State on Ancient Egyptian Art History and Architecture, and this led to a life-long interest in Ancient Egypt.
I first read The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. Then read The DK Definitive Illustrated History of Ancient Egypt, which was a great way to become familiar with all the major topics. The third book, From Egypt to Babylon showed the exciting world of the Bronze Age 1500-500 BCE. This helped me to understand the dynamic relationships between the superpowers and how states rose and fell usually because of militarism. Learned about the Mitanni, Nubians, Libyans, Sea Peoples, and all the fun trading and gift exchanges between the kings.
Now the fifth, sixth, & seventh books will be from this new Oxford series on the Ancient Near East. But I plan to read Pharaohs of the Sun: Akhenaten, Nefertiti, & Tutankhamen, & Akhenaten, the Heretic King by Donald B. Reford; I read this decades ago so it's going to be fun rereading what was for then a fascinating account. I will probably read these while the Oxford section presents this period of the New Kingdom.
The last two volumes of the Oxford series focus on Assyria & Persia, but these will include these nations' interactions, defeats & conquests of Egypt.
I already read some time ago The Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt by John Baines & Jaromir Malek so I won't reread this. This leaves the final book in my massive project on Ancient Egypt will be Ancient Egypt: An illustrated reference to the myths, religions, pyramids, and temples of the land of the pharaohs by Lorna Oakes and Lucia Gahlin, Barnes & Noble 2003.
In 1980 I aced a class at Penn State on Ancient Egyptian Art History and Architecture, and this led to a life-long interest in Ancient Egypt.
September 16, 2024
I wish I could review this book without rating it, as to me it was a 4 star reading experience but I’m not a historian nor a formal student of history so I feel unqualified to say confidently that it doesn’t deserve 5 stars.
This was one of my first forays out of the world of “pop history” / “fast-casual history” and into the world of rigorous academic history and pre-history. There was a ton about this book that I enjoyed, it covers the time frame from the first Neolithic proto-cities all the way through to what is arguably the first true empire in Mesopotamia with Sargon of Akkad and two generations thereafter, and it covers it in plenty of detail and with a level of nuance and depth that you just don’t get in pop history books.
One thing of note for those who have not formally studied academic history before is the amount of time spent in this book discussing sources - quantity of sources, reliability of sources, controversy over sources, disagreeing sources, etc, etc. This makes sense from an academic pov where you’re trying to build credibility for a specific storyline or trying to accurately convey disagreements between different scholars, but if you’re not coming from an academic background it can be a bit jarring or even a bit boring. I understand the importance but it’s just not the type of thing that I personally get a lot of value learning about, and I ended up skimming or entirely skipping those sections.
Some sections of this book seemed quite scattered and without a strong overarching cohesive narrative or structure to events. I know that history is complex and multifaceted and doesn’t look like the clean fictional stories we get in pop culture, that’s not what I was looking for, but rather wanted facts and dates and names and places to fit into some sort of ordered description, but that wasn’t always the case. The chapter on the Uruk Period was all over the place and seemed to introduce new information without much structure or context.
Still, much of the book was beautifully written and the authors often did a great job of tying together context from different sections, building on the findings from certain archaeological sites and connecting disparate sources together to build up coherent and well-attested descriptions of peoples and places. I found myself getting lost in imagery of what life must have been like as a scribe in the temples, a farmer in the sunbaked fields, a person clearing the canals of reeds, a priest depositing an offering in a temple, or a captured soldier being dragged across the desert in chains. I really loved the introductory chapters on pre-history of the area (Chatal Huyuk, Gobekli Tepe, etc) and on the final few chapters on the Early Dynastic period and the dynasty of Akkad.
Will definitely continue the series and maybe get a little better at reading academic history along the way. One other complaint I have it - the pictures in the book provide amazing context, often showing archaeological digs or art from the referenced eras, but the pictures don’t actually turn out that nice in the book and the quality of the print/bindings/cover overall aren’t that nice for a $170 book. Would have paid more for a slightly nicer build and spec.
This was one of my first forays out of the world of “pop history” / “fast-casual history” and into the world of rigorous academic history and pre-history. There was a ton about this book that I enjoyed, it covers the time frame from the first Neolithic proto-cities all the way through to what is arguably the first true empire in Mesopotamia with Sargon of Akkad and two generations thereafter, and it covers it in plenty of detail and with a level of nuance and depth that you just don’t get in pop history books.
One thing of note for those who have not formally studied academic history before is the amount of time spent in this book discussing sources - quantity of sources, reliability of sources, controversy over sources, disagreeing sources, etc, etc. This makes sense from an academic pov where you’re trying to build credibility for a specific storyline or trying to accurately convey disagreements between different scholars, but if you’re not coming from an academic background it can be a bit jarring or even a bit boring. I understand the importance but it’s just not the type of thing that I personally get a lot of value learning about, and I ended up skimming or entirely skipping those sections.
Some sections of this book seemed quite scattered and without a strong overarching cohesive narrative or structure to events. I know that history is complex and multifaceted and doesn’t look like the clean fictional stories we get in pop culture, that’s not what I was looking for, but rather wanted facts and dates and names and places to fit into some sort of ordered description, but that wasn’t always the case. The chapter on the Uruk Period was all over the place and seemed to introduce new information without much structure or context.
Still, much of the book was beautifully written and the authors often did a great job of tying together context from different sections, building on the findings from certain archaeological sites and connecting disparate sources together to build up coherent and well-attested descriptions of peoples and places. I found myself getting lost in imagery of what life must have been like as a scribe in the temples, a farmer in the sunbaked fields, a person clearing the canals of reeds, a priest depositing an offering in a temple, or a captured soldier being dragged across the desert in chains. I really loved the introductory chapters on pre-history of the area (Chatal Huyuk, Gobekli Tepe, etc) and on the final few chapters on the Early Dynastic period and the dynasty of Akkad.
Will definitely continue the series and maybe get a little better at reading academic history along the way. One other complaint I have it - the pictures in the book provide amazing context, often showing archaeological digs or art from the referenced eras, but the pictures don’t actually turn out that nice in the book and the quality of the print/bindings/cover overall aren’t that nice for a $170 book. Would have paid more for a slightly nicer build and spec.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews