Studying archaeological evidence from sites covering over 200 kilometres of the banks of the Euphrates River, Lisa Cooper's excellent monograph explores the growth and development of human settlement in the Euphrates River Valley of Northern Syria during the Early and Middle Bronze Ages from circa 2700 to 1550 BC.

Cooper focuses on the nature and development of the urban politics that existed in the area during these periods and highlights two principal inter-related characteristics of the Euphrates Valley:

• the study of specific aspects of Euphrates culture, such as...

The only book of its kind to cover both the Achaemenid period and the thousand years following Alexander's conquest, The Persians explores the period from the seventh century BC, to the seventh century AD, and presents a comprehensive introduction to ancient Persia.

Incorporating recent research, and translated sources from a wide range of corpus material, Maria Brosius explores the history of Persia, and brings a new understanding of Persian society and culture and the structures on which these empires were built: the king and his court; religion and culture; art...