The Levant: History and Archaeology in the Eastern Mediterranean Book

	Preface	6
	Foreword	7
	Introduction	8
	The Bronze Age 3100-1200 B.C.	12
	The first cities	14
	The Early Bronze Age--The emergence of the first city-states	15
	Habuba Kabira--The influence of powerful neighbors	18
	A local development	18
	The first historical evidence--The relationship with the empires in the east	19
	A densely populated settlement	20
	Ebla--The rediscovery of a capital	20
	Mari--A city on the banks of the Euphrates	23
	Byblos--Between Egypt and the Lebanon mountains	26
	The Middle Bronze Age	28
	The life of a city seen through the archives of Mari	32
	The reconstruction of Ebla	34
	Byblos--Royal tombs and temples of the gods	36
	The Late Bronze Age--A period of change	40
	Ugarit--An independent kingdom	42
	Byblos and Beirut are threatened	44
	The Phoenicians 1200-330 B.C.	46
	Phoenicia facing the great powers	48
	A lasting peace	48
	Ugarit--A Paleo-Phoenician trading partner	50
	The other trading partners on the Syrian coast	51
	The trading centers on the Phoenician coast	52
	The "Dark Age"	54
	The kingdom of Amurru	54
	The island of Arvud	55
	Who controlled the southern plain of Akkara?	55
	Byblos--If I command with a loud voice in the Lebanon...	56
	Brilliant Sidon	57
	Tyre crowned	58
	Relations with Israel	59
	Accession of the Priest-King	59
	The "Golden Age"	63
	The threat from Assyria	64
	Art in the "Golden Age"	65
	The end of Phoenician power	69
	Egypt pushes for greater control	70
	The Persian age	74
	The Greco-Roman Era 323 B.C.-337 A.D.	80
	The ancient world--A merging of cultures	82
	The Hellenistic era	83
	Urbanization and the influence of Hellenism following Alexander's conquest	84
	Old cities, new buildings	85
	The end of the Seleucids	86
	Pax Romana	88
	The uneven pace of Hellenization	90
	The organization of the region	90
	The crisis	92
	The blossoming of urban life	94
	Education and culture--Writers and philosophers	94
	The monumental nature of city design	96
	Factors underlying economic success	106
	Artistic diversity--Palmyran styles of dress	108
	External cultural influences	109
	Onomastics and the language of the Roman Levant	110
	The strength of native traditions outside the cities	112
	The role of agriculture	112
	Necropoli and temples	114
	Necropoli--Mirrors of society	116
	Characteristic features of Levantine temple complexes	120
	Religious diversity--The gods of the Levant	126
	The great temple complexes of Palmyra and Gerasa	128
	The temple complex at Baalbek	130
	Tradition and progress	138
	The World of the Nabataeans 312 B.C.-106 A.D.	140
	The age of the Nabataean kings	142
	Uncertain origins	143
	Wars with the Diadochi--The account of Diodorus Siculus	144
	The first kings of Nabataea	146
	The Nabataeans and Hasmoneans	146
	A settled existence?	147
	Roman hegemony and the Battle of Actium	148
	From the campaign of Aelius Gallus to the reign of Aretas IV	148
	Malichus II and Rabel II	150
	Petra and the Nabataeans after their incorporation into the Roman Empire	151
	Religion and the shrines of the Nabataeans	154
	The betyls	155
	The triclinia	156
	Sacrificial sites	157
	Group of niches	158
	The "chapels"	158
	The temples	160
	The gods of the Nabataeans	163
	The male divinities	164
	Cultic rites	166
	The world of the dead	167
	Typology of tombs in Petra	168
	Burial rites	176
	Dwellings	179
	Arts and crafts	180
	Sculptures	180
	Pottery	182
	Terracotta statuettes	184
	Nabataean culture--A tribute	184
	The Levant during the early Byzantine era 4.th-7th. A.D.	186
	Christianity asserts itself in the eastern empire	188
	The geography of power	190
	The hierarchy of power	194
	War and peace	196
	From Justinian to the Persian conquests	198
	Population and settlements	200
	Population structure and numbers	201
	A period of growth	202
	The development of villages	203
	Travelers and pilgrims	204
	The economy--The importance of agriculture	206
	Craftsmen and merchants	207
	Domestic and foreign trade	208
	The economic crisis	208
	Christianity--Conquest and division	210
	The struggle against Paganism	212
	The status of Jews and Samaritans	214
	Divisions among Christians	216
	The power of the bishops	219
	Monks and ascetics, or the integration of a subculture	220
	Christian saints	222
	Pilgrimages and relics	224
	The continued survival of urban life	226
	Religious and secular buildings	230
	In the country	232
	Notable buildings	233
	Urban and rural churches	236
	Decoration	239
	The end of the early Byzantine period	240
	Islam and the Crusades 621-1291 A.D.	242
	The state of research	244
	The Islamic conquest of the Levant	245
	The acquisition of the pre-Islamic legacy by the Umayyad caliphate in Syria	246
	The Dome of the rock	248
	The mosque	249
	The Umayyad mosque in Damascus	250
	Secular architecture	254
	The glory of the Abbasids	263
	The decline of Abbasid power	267
	Fatimids and Seljuks	268
	The establishment of Crusader states	270
	The mobilization of Islam against the threat from Europe	276
	Fortress architecture	282
	Jerusalem	286
	The triumph of Islam	290
	A time of peace	294
	St. Louis and the end of the Crusades	298
	Synoptic chronology	300
	Glossary	304
	Select bibliography	310
	Indexes	312
	About the authors About the photographs	318
	Acknowledgements	319
	Picture credits and abbreviations	319
	Copyright and publication information	320