Medieval Sugar Production in the Southern Levant: A Sweet Story
September 2022 | Vol. 10.9 By Richard Jones The arrival of sugar into the Near East is well known in outline: the technical ability to make a crude crystalline sweet from sugar can
A New Money Economy at the Dawn of the Iron Age
June 2022 | Vol. 10.6 By Elon Heymans Money attracts not only people, but also stories. For example, among his many digressions, the Greek historian Herodotus recounts the story of
A Half a Century of Studying Biblical Coins
Why revise a book on coins for fifty years and six editions? For one thing there are more data than ever. For another, old questions with big implications keep sticking around, lik
Aspects of Daily Life in Ancient Egyptian Letters
Ancient Egyptian art gives an idealized view of that world. In contrast, letters are personal and direct, as in what happens when a leased donkey isn’t returned on time.
Rethinking Slavery in the Ancient Near East
Our picture of slavery is often conditioned by images of the American South and other situations. But in the Ancient Near East slavery was far more complicated.
The Ancient Salt Industry on the Mediterranean Coast of Israel
The Exodus from Egypt was a foundational event for the Israelites. But where exactly did they cross the ‘Red Sea’? Scholars have debated this question for centuries, as have ma
Housewives, Weavers and Businesswomen: Assyrian Women from Assur and Kanesh
In the 19th century BCE men from Assur traveled a thousand kilometers to the northwest to conduct trade. But archives show that their wives kept the households together and were ke
Eggstraordinary Objects
February 2021 | Vol. 9.2 By Tamar Hodos In the interconnected world of the ancient Greeks, Phoenicians, Assyrians, and Egyptians, ostrich eggs were coveted by elites across the Med
Fish Sauces – The Food that Made Rome Great
January 2021 | Vol. 9.1 By Benedict Lowe Recent research has done much to stress the importance of fish in the ancient Roman diet. But there were many ways to consume fish. The mos