Ancient Near East
The term Ancient Near East is a collection of cultures and civilizations that flourished from the Neolithic to the high antiquity in an area comprising in its most restricted at the Levant in the west of Mesopotamia to the east , the Anatolia to the north and Egypt to the southwest. One can also find the terms ancient Near East or Southwest Asia old.
This set, which is sometimes extended to the Arabian Peninsula , the Caucasus and the southern fringe of Central Asia , brings together people who, despite their heterogeneity, shared a similar historical process, with the Neolithic, the emergence of first cities, the early writings, and beliefs have been having a certain proximity.
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Terminology
The term "ancient Near East" has emerged since the early 1990s in the field studies of early civilizations of the Old World. But it still coexists with other covers the same (indeed somewhat fuzzy) or not. We also find the term "ancient Near East," the absence of the word "immediate" makes it even more vague. We note however that the meaning of the phrase " Middle East "adopted is broader than that used in the contemporary period, including the Middle East is only part of the ancient Near East.
The use of the term "Orient" has been criticized for its "Eurocentric" and its origin, since this concept was coined by the colonial ideology .
For years, the field studies on the ancient Near East was dominated by the study of the civilization that made him famous and was the first to be rediscovered (if we except the case studies Bible), Mesopotamia, and especially Babylonia and Assyria (sometimes grouped under the term "Assyrian-Babylonian). The significance of this region in Near Eastern Studies is still real despite its relativism in recent studies. But for the general public, "Mesopotamia" remains far more eloquent than "ancient Near East," and thus the word is still used, especially in books intended for a wide audience, although it often goes Beyond this single geographical and historical entity .
Outline geographical and chronological
The exact definition of the scope covered by the term "ancient Near East" remains unclear.
The minimum level is gathering the four regions that are the Levant , the Mesopotamia , the Anatolia and Iran . It may also include other areas, for archaeological studies: Cyprus , Caucasus , Persian Gulf (and the entire Arabian Peninsula ), Central Asia , more rarely the Indus civilization . This may depend on the period studied: Central Asia's southern end of the third millennium and early second millennium is closely linked to neighboring Near Eastern Civilizations ( Elam , Mesopotamia), while the links are drying up by the Then, temporarily, before a recovery under the Achaemenian. The Persian Gulf is in turn further pushed into contact with the same regions in antiquity, and thus its integration throughout the ancient Middle East is discussed less.
A big question is whether the integration of ancient Egypt in the ancient Near East. More and more synthetic works tend to integrate the two, especially the United States, as has long been the Journal of Near Eastern Studies . Lately this extension tends to end up in European publications . It is also the case in France recently, in some works of undergraduate students , where we can clearly distinguish the two sets. This does indeed pose problems because of the heterogeneity between Egypt and neighboring Asian civilizations, both historically and culturally, and it shows especially in art as in the writing system. Egyptology specialists remain in a field quite distinct, even if contacts exist. Although geographically close and in contact since the earliest times to the cultures and civilizations of Southwest Asia, the Egyptian civilization originated from a home located in the Neolithic Sudan today, therefore, specifically African. But as Egypt is gradually integrated into all neighboring Near Eastern civilizations, then the eastern Mediterranean, especially from the middle of the second millennium, consider the whole Middle East is no shortage ancient necessarily relevant . In general, Egyptology rest aside, and it shows in museums that distinguish Egypt's ancient ancient Near East.
The time frame is less volatile. Using the archaeological record, one starts from the early Neolithic , then to 12 000 BC. AD in terms of the Levant ( Natufian ), south-eastern Anatolia and northern Zagros. Adjacent regions is "nolithisent" gradually thereafter. For written materials, studies are available from the end of the fourth millennium.
The end of the ancient Near East is commonly marked by the beginnings of the Hellenistic period , so the end of the fourth century. But it can also be seen as a design Hellenic-centered or European-centered, because the cultural continuities and the presence of documentation cuneiform to the beginning of our era in Lower Mesopotamia mean that we can consider that this region out of context the Ancient Near East gradually during the second half of the first millennium. Similarly, the Seleucid Empire and its successors Parthian and Sassanian are many ways of Empire Heirs of the Ancient Near East. Department of Oriental Antiquities of the Louvre stops elsewhere in the seventh century with the arrival of Islam , as well as the Metropolitan Museum in New York , while the British Museum has a large department on the "Middle East" (Middle East), also including Islamic civilizations, but in one room well away from the ancient Near East, this group seems to consist .
Internal Links
Regions and Cultures
Periods
Neolithic
Fourth Millennium
Third Millennium
Second millennium
First Millennium
Bibliography
- (In) J. Sasson (ed.), Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, Scribner, 1995;
- P. Garelli et al. The Middle East Asian, 2 cups, Presses Universitaires de France, 2002;
- F. Joanna (ed.), Dictionary of the Mesopotamian civilization, Robert Laffont, 2001;
- (It) M. Liverani, Antico Oriente, Laterza, 2003;
- (In) D. Snell (ed.), A Companion to The Ancient Near East, Routledge , 2004;
- (In) M. Van de Mieroop, A History of the Ancient Near East, ca. 3000-323 BC, Blackwell Publishers, 2004;
- AD Margueron and L. Pfirsch, The Middle East and ancient Egypt, Hachette, 2005;
- P. Amiet, Introduction to Art History of Ancient Eastern Descle de Brouwer, 1989;
- A. Benoit, Art and Archaeology: the civilizations of the ancient Near East, Manuals Ecole du Louvre, 2003;
- J.-L. Huot, An Archaeology of the peoples of the Near East, 2 t., 2004
Notes
- The seminal work of this review is (in) E. Said , Orientalism, New York, 1978; translation French Orientalism: the East created by the West, Paris, 1980
- C. Grataloup, the invention of the continents, Paris, 2009
- This is the case, for example F. Joannes, Dictionary of the Mesopotamian civilization, Robert Laffont, 2001
- A. Benoit, Art and Archaeology: the civilizations of the ancient Near East, Manuals Ecole du Louvre, 2003
- J.-L. Huot, An Archaeology of the peoples of the Near East, 2 t., 2004
- The extensive summary (in) J. Sasson (ed.), Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, Scribner, 1995 includes Egypt
- For example () A. Kurth, The Ancient Near East C. 3000-330 BC, Routledge, 1997
- F. Joannes, Early civilizations of the Near East, Belin, 2006 includes Egypt, but it is the only one so far; AD Margueron and L. Pfirsch, The Middle East and ancient Egypt, Hachette, 2005
- See on this subject (in) M. Liverani, Prestige and Interest, International Relations In The Near East, 1600-1100 BC, Padua, 1990 which established contacts in the political conceptions Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Anatolian
- See the presentation of the department on the museum's website: [1]
- http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/ancient_near_eastern_art
- http://www.britishmuseum.org/the_museum/departments/middle_east.aspx
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