Resilience and Rebirth: Lessons Learned from the Aftermath of the Late Bronze Age Collapse
April 2024 | Vol. 12.4 By Eric H. Cline Some thirty years ago, the respected sociologist Shmuel Eisenstadt said bluntly that “ancient states and civilizations do not collapse a
Migrations and Invasions: How Steppe Nomads Shaped the Near East
January 2024 | Vol. 12.1 By Kenneth W. Harl Nomadic peoples dwelling on the Eurasian steppes have historically played a major role in shaping the civilizations of the Near East. On
How Empires and Cities in the Ancient Near East Accelerated Wealth Inequality
October 2023 | Vol. 11.10 By Andrea Squitieri and Mark Altaweel The rise and economic development of mostly Western states from the 18th to 20th centuries resulted in increased ph
The Remarkable Rise of Assyria: A Reassessment
July 2023 | Vol. 11.7 By Bleda S. Düring Assyria is one of the most remarkable imperial states in global history, often celebrated as the first “world empire”. At its peak, du
The Book of Esther as a Source for Achaemenian History
June 2023 | Vol. 11.6 By Morteza Arabzadeh Sarbanani The Book of Esther (Fig. 1) is set in the Persian capital of Susa during the reign of Xerxes (Ahasuerus in Hebrew) and tells th
“Proto-Rams”: Piecing Together the Early History of Naval Ram Development
May 2023 | Vol. 11.5 By Stephen DeCasien The naval ram was the predominant weapon of navies throughout much of antiquity, playing a decisive role in many consequential confrontatio
“The Egyptian,” King of Moab
March 2023 | Vol. 11.3 By Mattias Karlsson The royal inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian kings Esarhaddon (680–669 BCE) and Ashurbanipal (668–631 BCE) mention a king of Moab named
Tree Rings, Drought, and the Collapse of the Hittite Empire
February 2023 | Vol. 11.2 By Eric Cline The recent Nature study about drought and the fall of the Hittite Empire doesn’t just make for good headlines, it adds to our knowledge
The Fall of the Bronze Age and the Destruction that Wasn’t
December 2022 | Vol. 10.12 By Jesse Millek In any telling of the end of the Late Bronze Age (LBA) in the Eastern Mediterranean, there is one key theme that emerges as an integral c
The History of Isaiah and the Age of Empires
October 2022 | Vol. 10.8 By Jacob Stromberg The prophet Isaiah stood at the beginning of an age of empires in the ancient Near East. In order, the age saw the rise of the neo-Assyr