Particularly valuable to students of archaeology in the ancient Near East are the old accounts of cities uncovered by archaeologists and historians of the nineteenth century. Meyer offers as comprehensive a history of Gaza as the material of his time would allow. This ambitious account covers what was known of Gaza in Palestine from the earliest records up through the nineteenth century. Meyer divides his treatment into two parts: the first looking at the population and historical periods of the city; the second concerned with concepts and physical remains: cults; deities; the Gaza calendar;...

One of the perennial touchstones in the field of archaeology in the ancient Near East, Albright's work has been endlessly utilized. With a freshness apposite to its position among the pioneering works of a new discipline, this contribution laid the groundwork for countless future studies. Albright deftly describes how ancient Palestine was discovered, his famous excavation of Tell Beit Mirsim, and the relevance of archaeology for understanding the Bible. In setting the stage for what follows in the archaeological drama in Israel and throughout the Middle East, this work justly deserves a...

Indeed a classic of accessible archaeological writing, Burrows' study of ancient Crete was one of the main contributors to the commencement of modern understanding of the Minoans. The earliest traces of the Minoan civilization are sketched out before he turns to the historical periods when Minos flourished. The sack of Knossos and the end of the Bronze Age are narrated against the archaeological background. Aware of the cultural continuity of classical stories from the island, he introduces the topic of the minotaur and the famed labyrinth of Knossos. For anyone interested in the roots of...

This important summary of Garstang's travels and studies in Anatolia (present-day Turkey) is fully illustrated with nearly 100 photographs as well as maps and plans. This account details the marvels revealed by archaeology in ancient western Asia. The study begins with documentation of the geography of the region, giving the reader a sense of the world as seen by the Hittites of antiquity. Garstang outlines the history of the Hittite period before detailing the monumental architecture of this people. Garstang's treatment concludes with a substantial history of the Hittites, people referred to...

The site of Tell Halaf was located by Baron von Oppenheim while on a mission to survey the land for the Baghdad Railway. The Baron returned some years later to excavate the mound, and this monograph is his considered statement of the site's importance. Setting the stage with a narrative of the discovery of the tell, von Oppenheim proceeds to describe the structures, monumental statuary and smaller objects recovered from the dig. Lavishly illustrated with over 85 illustrations and maps, this volume contains a storehouse of knowledge on ancient Syria, at that time part of the cultural continuum...

This volume features the tablets of the Akkadian text of Gilgamesh, reproduced as a cuneiform text with German captions.

Report of the 1900 excavations of Abydos, which discovered some of the oldest Egyptian artwork

Although written before the modern discoveries that define Ancient Near Eastern studies today, Paton’s historic foray into the history of Syria and Palestine served to start a continuing discussion that remains active today. Covering the Babylonian, Aramaean, Egyptian, Hittite, and Assyrian empires, Paton demonstrates what was known of the history of the region with the limited resources of nineteenth-century explorations.