Ancient Near East

The Ancient Near East covers the first great urban and imperial cultures of Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Syria and the Levant. It includes Sumerian cities, Akkadian kingship, Babylonian law, Assyrian conquest, Hittite power and the smaller kingdoms caught between larger empires. This was a world of river valleys, temples, scribes, bronze and iron weapons, fortified cities and royal inscriptions.

Its importance lies in the formation of early states and imperial systems. Cities such as Ur, Babylon, Nineveh and Hattusa became centres of administration, religion, war and memory. The region also created the political pressure that shaped Egypt, Israel and Judah, Phoenicia, Persia and later Greek ideas about eastern monarchy.

Ancient Near Eastern fiction often appears through biblical novels, court stories, exile narratives and books about Egypt, Babylon, Assyria or Persia. Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent, Geraldine Brooks’s The Secret Chord, Gore Vidal’s Creation and some of Pauline Gedge’s Egyptian fiction all touch parts of this wider world. The setting works well for stories of scribes, queens, prophets, merchants, soldiers, prisoners and families living under expanding empires.