History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria in the Light of Recent

King, L. W. (Leonard William), 1869-1919Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.8
Word count
662K words
Chapters
67

Tags

English Originals World History AssyriologyArchaeological DiscoveryNear Eastern HistoryHistorical ResearchAcademic StudyEclectic ReadingAncient CivilizationCradle of Civilization

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria in the Light of RecentAuthor: King, L. W. (Leonard William), 1869-1919,Language: English, Class: DS: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Asia, Release Date: Jul 8, 2006

Editor's review

This book is Leonard William King's history of the ancient Near East written in light of newly unearthed materials of his time, covering Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria—a writing approach that uses new discoveries to illuminate old history. The author held a post in a relevant department of the British Museum, and his use of cuneiform tablets and archaeological materials reflects the state of Assyriology and Egyptology in the early twentieth century. For today's readers its value is twofold: first, it systematically outlines the political and religious trajectories of civilizations in the Tigris-Euphrates and Nile valleys; second, as a text in the history of scholarship, it shows how scholars a century ago reconstructed the ancient world from inscriptions and excavated sites. It is best read as a synthesis of its time rather than as the latest conclusions, with attention to distinguishing evidential statements from the author's inferences. Suitable for readers with a budding interest in ancient Near Eastern civilizations who are willing to read critically, and also useful as supplementary material for understanding the evolution of the discipline.

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Reading tips

  1. Begin with the table of contents and introduction to clarify the division of regional chapters, then choose topics of interest for close reading.
  2. While reading, compare with modern histories of the Near East and note claims that later discoveries have required correcting.
  3. Keep an ancient Near Eastern chronology and a map at hand to help locate place names, dynasties, and sites.
  4. Read the book as material in the history of scholarship, recording the author's methods for using inscriptions and archaeological evidence.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
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  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
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  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67

FAQ

Is the content of this book still accurate today? The book reflects the scholarly situation of the early twentieth century; some chronological frameworks, ethnic interpretations, and readings of inscriptions have been revised by later research. It is better read as a history of scholarship and as a synthesis—to understand how scholars of the time reconstructed the ancient Near East from newly unearthed materials—rather than used as the latest conclusions.
Can I understand it without a background in Near Eastern history? Yes, but you will need support. The book contains many place names, dynasties, and deities; it is advisable to first read an introductory general history or chronology of the ancient Near East and to read alongside a map. The English narrative is academic and the sentences are long; beginners may slow down and proceed chapter by chapter, region by region.
How should the title phrase “in the Light of Recent” be understood? Here “Recent” refers to the new discoveries of the author's time, mainly inscriptions and site materials unearthed since the nineteenth century. The author intends to use this new evidence to re-examine the history of Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, and other regions. Readers should understand it as “new” at that time, not as “latest” today.
Is the Gutenberg edition suitable for research citation? The Gutenberg edition is a free public-domain electronic text, convenient for reading and searching, but it usually lacks page numbers, notes, and illustrations, and provides limited version information. For formal research citation, it is advisable to check the print or other scholarly editions and to cite the original publication information, rather than relying solely on the electronic text for source references.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

King, L. W. (Leonard William), 1869-1919 Author

L. W. King (Leonard William King, 1869–1919) was a British Assyriologist and archaeologist. Publicly available information about him is limited, and the details of his life are difficult to set out at length, yet the four works held in this collection make his scholarly focus clear: the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, together with Egypt and Syria. He wrote general histories such as A History of Sumer and Akkad and A History of Babylon, as well as Legends of Babylon and Egypt in Relation to Hebrew Tradition, and contributed to the multi-volume History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria. His writing draws on both textual and archaeological evidence, is clearly organized, and seeks to read excavated inscriptions within their historical context, serving both educated general readers and specialists. These works have long been regarded as introductory references for the ancient Near East and have had some influence on the popularization of Assyriology in the English-speaking world.