This volume provides a ready introduction and practical guide to the Chechen people, including chapters on history, religion, politics, economy, culture, literature and media.

The Hurrians were one of Ute principal contributors to ancient Near Eastern civilisation and yet we know fer less about their language, history and culture than we do about the Sumerians, Assyrians or Hittites. In this book, Professor Wilhelm has gathered the scattered threads from a great range of sources between 2500 and 500 BC, to give the first ever survey of the Hurrians. Professor Wilhelm is one of the world's principal authorities on Hurrian language and history, and the book is therefore highly authoritative, although written for the general reader. The text has been specially brought up to date by the author for this edition, and an extra chapter on the archaeology, with additional illustrations, has been contributed by Dr Diana Stein. The Hurrians is essential to everyone studying the ancient Near East, and provide a starting point for future research into this important civilisation. For a full list of books available in our Ancient Near East Series, you are cordially invited to contact the publishers

This academic research publication series seeks to examine the question of identity and its relation to society, promoting creative new approaches to thinking about identity as well as a combination of traditional academic methodologies.

Presents an introduction to the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, from the earliest rise of the Sumerians to the seventh century C.E. Sasanian period, discussing the history, government, literature, religion, art, and architecture of each era.

A twentieth-anniversary reprint of the landmark book that launched the current explosion of social-scientific studies in the biblical field. It sets forth a cultural-material methodology for reconstructing the origins of ancient Israel and offers the hypothesis that Israel emerged as an indigenous social revolutionary peasant movement. In a new preface, written for this edition, Gottwald takes account of the 'sea change' in biblical studies since 1979 as he reviews the impact of his work on church and academy, assesses its merits and limitations, indicates his present thinking on the subject, and points toward future directions in the social-critical study of ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible.

The only book available that covers this subject, Warfare in the Ancient Near East is a groundbreaking and fascinating study of ancient near Eastern military history from the Neolithic era to the middle Bronze Ages. Drawing on an extensive range of textual, artistic and archaeological data, William J. Hamblin synthesizes current knowledge and offers a detailed analysis of the military technology, ideology and practices of Near Eastern warfare. Paying particular attention to the earliest known examples of holy war ideaology in Mesopotamia and Egypt, Hamblin focuses on: * recruitment and training of the infantry * the logistics and weaponry of warfare * the shift from stone to metal weapons * the role played by magic * narratives of combat and artistic representations of battle * the origins and development of the chariot as military transportation * fortifications and siegecraft *developments in naval warfare. Beautifully illustrated, including maps of the region, this book is essential for experts and non-specialists alike.