Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East

This insightful history of life in the Ancient Near East from 3500 to 323 BCE is a human one, built around the stories of ordinary people. Drawing on clay tablet archives incised with cuneiform script and archaeological evidence, historian Amanda H. Podany gives her cast of characters a fully furnished presence in their homes and cities. The weavers—girls and women—played an important role in these societies, with the wool and linen textiles they produced creating both cultural and financial wealth. Boys could train as scribes, and it’s to them we owe the tablets documenting mathematical knowledge, proverbs, letters and literature recounting the exploits of powerful kings. Ending with Alexander the Great’s conquest of Persia, the book covers 3,000 years and ranges the East Mediterranean parts of Western Asia, North Africa and the Balkans. Throughout, Podany’s conversational prose is warm and welcoming, bringing ancient individuals to vivid and meaningful life.