The book begins with the role of history and archaeology in understanding the past, and continues with the origins of agriculture and the formation of the Sumerian city-states in Mesopotamia. Three subsequent chapters concentrate on Assyrian and Babylonian history and culture. The second half of the book focuses on Egypt, begining with the physical environment of the Nile, the formation of the Egyptian state and the Old Kingdom. Subsequent chapters discuss the Middle Kingdom, the Hyksos period,and the 18th Dynasty, with space devoted to Hatshepsut, Akhenaten, the Ramesside period. The text ends with the Persian conquest of Mesopotamia and Egypt.

Preface viii
Acknowledgements ix
List of illustrations

Part I: Introduction

1 History and archaeology as tools for understanding the past
2 Agriculture and the origins of civilization

Part II: Mesopotamia

3 The Early Dynastic period and the formation of the first city-states
4 The Akkadians and the Ur III Dynasty
5 Mesopotamia in the second millennium BC: the Babylonians and the Kassites
(2000-1600 BC)
6 The Assyrians
7 The Last Babylonian Dynasty

Part III: Religion, science and medicine

8 Mythology and religion in Mesopotamia: the story of Gilgamesh and Enkidu
9 Science and technology: astronomy and medicine in Mesopotamia and Egypt

Part IV: Egypt

10 Egypt: the Black Land
11 The Old Kingdom or the Pyramid Age (2575-2134 BC)
12 Funerary practices, rituals and mummification
13 The Hyksos period and the New Kingdom
14 Akhenaten and the Amarna period
15 The 19th Dynasty and the Ramesside kings
16 Egypt in the late second and first millenniums BC

Part V: Mesopotamia and Egypt under Persian rule

17 The Persians
Epilogue: The twilight of the first civilizations

Notes
Bibliography
Index