Analysis of the birth, rise and fall of the empires that dominated the scene during the Iron Age in the Ancient Orient, in the interpretation of a great archaeologist.
[The First Empires and the Iron Age Principates. 1600-700 BC] In this third volume of the prestigious work on the Ancient Orient, Paolo Matthiae provides analysis of the birth, rise and fall of the empires that dominated the scene during the Iron Age, from 1500 to 700 BC.
The flourishing and meeting of the empires of Egypt, the Mitannians, the Hittites and the Assyrians in the cosmopolitan civilization of the late Bronze Age, the rise of the nations of the Phoenicians, the Arameans and the Hebrews in the face of the unstoppable rise of the late Assyrian Empire: these are the fundamental themes of the volume which, like its predecessor, begins with an essay outlining the historical and artistic profile of the period examined. Other essays then provide more detailed analysis of the architecture, sculpture, painting and “minor arts” of each of the civilizations covered.