Women In The Ancient Near East

Women in the Ancient Near East provides a collection of primary sources for the lives of women from a broad range of Near Eastern civilizations, from the earliest historical and literary texts (c. 2700 BC) to the latest Hellenistic historians who comment on Near Eastern history (e.g., Berossus, c.205 BC). Women in the Ancient Near East provides a collection of primary sources that further our understanding of women from Mesopotamian and Near Eastern civilizations, from the earliest historical and literary texts in the third millennium BC to the end of Mesopotamian political autonomy in the sixth century BC. This book is a valuable resource for historians of the Near East and for those studying women in the ancient world. It moves beyond simply identifying women in the Near East to attempting to place them in historical and literary context, following the latest research. A number of literary genres are represented, including myths and epics, proverbs, medical texts, law collections, letters, treaties, as well as building, dedicatory, and funerary inscriptions.