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This chapter provides an overview of methodological approaches used in the book and briefly introduces the culture and history of ancient Israel. The methodology is both cross-cultural and interdisciplinary, and important to the study are verbal and nonverbal forms of cultural expression that feature portrayals of hair. Treatments of hair in African art provide an excellent model for the exploration of hair in ancient Near Eastern art, including works produced in Egypt, Assyria, Persia, and ancient Israel. The contributions of anthropologists, sociologists, art historians, and scholars of religion also frame the work, including Victor Turner’s observations about rites of passages, Gananath Obeyesekere’s emphasis on the emotional, personal, and psychological roots and dimensions of embodied symbols, and Nancy Scheper-Hughes and Margaret Lock’s examination of “the social body” and “the body politic.”

Scholars interested in the history of Israel often select for study relevant passages from Akkadian historical inscriptions, annals, and chronicles referring to biblical events. This process has become more sophisticated of late, particularly with the Texte aus der Umwelt der Alten Testaments series and COS, in which much more of Akkadian and even Sumerian literature is taken into account as directly or indirectly relevant to the Bible. However, the ‘scriptures in context’ approach often pays less attention to the nitty-gritty side of Assyriology, namely, the everyday contracts, administrative documents, lists, letters, receipts, and economic texts. There is a lot to learn from such material, which comprises the bulk of the thousands of Mesopotamian tablets. Biblical scholars tend to concentrate on those sections of the Kurkh and Black Obelisk inscriptions that mention Ahab and Jehu and the regional struggles against Assyria. The questions raised are valid, namely, how solid or fragile was the coalition of states fighting against the Assyrians, and at what point did the coalition break down?

In historical studies, one of the common models of periodization is the use of centuries. In the case of the history of Assyria, however, the ninth century does not accurately reflect periodization, even if long or short century designations are used. In the history of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, Shalmaneser III's reign serves as a bridge between two important periods, impacting the Omride and Jehuite periods through his 853 and 841 campaigns. The resistance offered by Ahab in conjunction with the western alliance that fought Shalmaneser at Qarqar in 853 gave way to the tribute gift of Jehu towards the conclusion of Shalmaneser's 841 campaign. While many years would pass before the Assyrians would accomplish the conquest of Israel, the initial contacts between Shalmaneser III and Ahab and Jehu demonstrate the two options that the Israelite kings would implement throughout the stormy relationship with the ‘Great King(s) of Assyria’ until the fall of Samaria and the land's incorporation into the Assyrian provincial system.

Fergus Millar has been a pioneer among Graeco-Roman historians in appreciating the huge importance of Near Eastern societies and cultures within the ancient world. A continuous interest within this field has been the evolution of Judah/Judaea, cradle of two of the great world religions. The difficulties inherent in the sources for studying its history have provoked intense debates, which show no sign of abating. When did the Judaean state come definitively into being? What were the forces that shaped the political landscape within which its unique traditions began to crystallise? A significant element in the development of Israelite historiography was Judah's encounter with the Assyrian Empire. This chapter argues that a crucial stage in the emergence of the state of Judah was also closely linked to contact with Assyria. It focuses on a famous episode in Judah's history, which may, when set into the wider historical and archaeological context of Near Eastern history, yield some possible answers.

The classical and medieval periods of 1800 BCE to 1500 CE were characterized by some limited technical innovation in agriculture, but little progress was made in crop improvement as global populations ceased their expansion, which had been occurring since the early Holocene. Babylonian and Assyrian imperial rulers established a much-copied precedent of introducing new crops from conquered regions and in producing manuals for agricultural management. From 500 to 50 BCE, Greek naturalists began systematically to study plant biology and publish their findings, but this first blooming of scientific methodology proved short lived. Later cultures tended to reinterpret old knowledge rather than create it anew. From 700 CE, the expanding Muslim empires introduced many improvements into Mediterranean farming from the Near East, most notably in their Iberian realm of Al Andalus. Medieval farming in Europe was relatively stagnant and declined further after 1320 CE during the Little Ice Age.

This chapter presents the historical circumstances that gave birth to the story of the Ten Lost Tribes in the 8th and 7th centuries BCE. The two most important elements in this chapter are the imperial deportations and the prophetic culture that “processed” them into a divine punishment understood to be an overall exile of an entire nation. The chapter tells how the rise of the Assyrian Empire to world dominance during the 8th century BCE resulted in the destruction of the Israelite kingdom in Northern ancient Palestine and the deportation of several tens of thousands of its subjects to the eastern provinces of the Empire. This was an uncommon occurrence in the ancient Near East as other small kingdom and nations were deported as well. However, this particular deportation was recorded in the Bible. The chapter then describes how prophets in Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judea‐most notably Hosea, Amos, and Isaiah turned the deportation into a divine punishment enacted by God through Assyria. Most crucially, Isaiah (and he was followed by other prophets such as Jeremiah and Ezekiel) promised that the tribes would return. When they did not, their search began.

According to biblical and prophetic tradition, God wills that there shall be empires and superpowers: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, and Persia are all, at different times, said to rule by God’s mandate, but also within the limits of God’s sovereignty. That sovereignty is concerned for the well-being of Israel, but also for justice and courtesy among all the nations. Empires that flout God’s sovereignty bring destruction upon themselves, for not even a superpower can long defy God. Where, however, there is acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty, there may (as in the case of Persia) be cooperation between Israel and Empire. Israel itself, as an imperial power (as it was under David and Solomon), is subject to the same conditions: the Israelite king may no more absolutize himself or his power than may a pagan emperor.

Biblical scholarship tends to focus on the reconstruction of the oracles of the eighth‐century prophet, Hosea ben Beeri, and the exilic or postexilic redaction of his book. Nevertheless, there is considerable evidence that the book was edited in the seventh century b.c.e. to support Josiah's reform. An analysis of the contents and structure of the book points to its concern to oppose Israel's relationship with Assyria and Egypt, key enemies of Judah in the time of Josiah, and to reunite Israel and Judah under the reign of a Davidic monarch.

This chapter deals with other Iron Age peoples and kingdoms who had varying degrees of interaction, sometimes peaceful, sometimes hostile, with the Neo-Hittite kingdoms. Of prime importance in this respect was the kingdom of Assyria. The chapter begins with an account of Assyrian history prior to the Iron Age, as a prelude to a more detailed study of Iron Age Assyria which is interwoven into the historical narrative of the following chapters. Other kingdoms with whom the Neo-Hittites were in contact include Babylon, Israel, Urartu, and the Phoenician city-states. Each of these is briefly treated in this chapter by way of introduction to their participation in the events which engulfed the Neo-Hittite world in the last three centuries of its existence. Elam too is briefly treated in this chapter. Though as far as we know it had no direct involvement with the Neo-Hittite kingdoms, its interaction with contemporary Near Eastern powers, notably the Assyrians and Babylonians, almost certainly had a significant influence on the overall course of Near Eastern history in this period, and thus indirectly affected the Neo-Hittite world.

Although he was a vigorous military campaigner before he occupied the throne as king of the Hittites, Hattusili emphasized diplomacy and conciliation during his own reign. Hattusili sought to ensure the security of his kingdom's subject territories by establishing formal diplomatic relations with foreign kings whose territories bordered his own. This chapter discusses the reign of Hattusili III as king of the Hittites, Hatti's international relations, treaty drawn up between Hattusili's son and successor Tudhaliya IV and a man called Kurunta, Hattusili's decision to designate Tudhaliya as his successor to the throne, Hattusili's treaty with Assyria and Egypt, relations between Hatti and Egypt following the treaty, the role of Hattusili's wife Puduhepa in Hatti's international affairs, Hattusili's military campaigns in Anatolia, and Hattusili's legacy as ruler of the Hittite kingdom.

In his early years, the prince Tudhaliya could have had little thought that he would one day become king. But he was installed by Hattusili ‘in kingship’, that is, Tudhaliya probably now assumed the role of crown prince. This chapter examines the career path which Hattusili had mapped out for Tudhaliya in preparation for his becoming king of the Hittites, Puduhepa's effort to arrange her daughter's marriage to Tudhaliya, problems and potential crises inherited by Tudhaliya from Muwattalli as Hittite ruler, political developments in western Anatolia during Tudhaliya's reign, the impact of establishment of a pro-Hittite regime in Milawata on Ahhiyawan enterprise in western Anatolia, political problems that arose from the marriage alliance contracted between the royal families of Ugarit and Amurru, Tudhaliya's war with Assyria, possible coup instigated by Kurunta to wrest the throne from his cousin Tudhaliya, Tudhaliya's conquest of Alasiya, and the achievements of Tudhaliya IV as ruler of the Hittite kingdom.

On the death of Tudhaliya, the succession to the throne as king of the Hittites passed to his son Arnuwanda (III). But the latter's death after perhaps only a year or so on the throne has left him as no more than a passing footnote in the history of the Hittite monarchy. There is evidence of unrest in Hatti during his brother's reign and problems over the succession following his death. This chapter chronicles Suppiluliuma's final military campaigns in western Anatolia as king of the Hittites, food shortages in Hatti, Suppiluliuma's sea battles off the coast of Alasiya, massive movements of peoples who swept through Anatolia, Syria, and Palestine, and across the eastern Mediterranean to the coast of Egypt early in the 12th century, and the collapse of the Hittite kingdom. The emergence of new kingdoms in Egypt and Assyria following the fall of the Hittite kingdom is also discussed, along with the Hittites' successors in Anatolia and biblical references to Hittites and Hittite kings.

Chapter 4 (‘Under the Empire: Settlement and Demography in the Southwestern Margins of the Assyrian Empire in the Seventh Century BCE’) describes the settlement and demography in the period of Assyrian control. Comparing the detailed information available from the region with that provided in Chapter 2 allows us to estimate what were the consequences of the imperial takeover. The evidence shows that the provinces in the north were mostly devastated, whereas the client kingdoms prospered and, moreover, for the first time in history the south flourished more than the north. The dramatic decline in the north is also exemplified by the large number of place names that were forgotten following the Assyrian conquests. The chapter ends with an appendix on the demographic significance of deportations.

The problem of the Sumerians' origin presents a remarkable special feature: it goes back to an era when absolutely nothing was known about them or about the civilisation that flourished in Lower Mesopotamia in the third millennium BC. By the 1850s, enough was known about inscriptions to be able to state that the great majority of them, coming from cities in Assyria as well as the still-unexplored ruins of Babylon and its environs, had been composed in Assyrian or Babylonian. In 1877, when Ernest de Sarzec commenced excavations at Tello in Sumer, the Sumerians suddenly became real, almost alive. Not only did they enter history, but it was soon learnt that they had ‘created’ it, being the authors of the oldest-known historical inscriptions. However, the problem of their origin was posed in new terms, because these people were immediately perceived as ‘foreign’ to Mesopotamia, where they were nevertheless firmly entrenched.

The chapter proposes that practicing a consistent style, distinct from the varied stylistic practices of the Levant, helped to bolster Assyrian state consolidation as a community of culturally conversant courtiers. It first articulates the traits that have defined an Assyrian state style, considering aspects of homogeneity across media, technique, scale, and context. Then a case study of images of booty and tribute highlights the oppositional nature of the Assyrian style that defines itself chiefly in contrast to others. The strong, coherent, and consistent style produced by the Assyrian state was part of an active strategy for maintaining a memory of conquest over the vanquished Other, at the same time neutralizing the Other so it could no longer threaten Assyria. Thus the rendering of otherness acted to establish norms of “being Assyrian” through a process of stylistic Assyrianization that emptied the Other of its own stylistic identity. The controlled and orderly nature of the Assyrian style further suggest an underlying allusion to cosmogonic myths of creation, in particular that of Enuma Elish, such that the creation of an Assyrian world through a pervasive style coextends with the divine world and cosmic order.

The kingdom of Kush rose to power and dominated Nubia in the eighth century BC, and then went on to conquer and rule Egypt as the 25^th Dynasty. Egyptian-Kushite commercial activity in the Levant brought them into conflict with the Assyrian empire, the dominant force in the near east at that time. Subsequent clashes between the Assyrians and the Egyptian-Kushite forces resulted in the Assyrians, led by Esarhaddon, invading and conquering Egypt. However, once the main Assyrian forces left Egypt the Kushites rebelled and took over Egypt once more. The Assyrians returned under Assurbanipal, the next Assyrian ruler, on two further occasions putting down revolts and finally drove the Kushites from Egypt in 663 BC. The Assyrians appointed local regional rulers to administer the country and Egypt became a province of the Assyrian Empire. In the Delta, the Kingdom of the West was controlled by Psamtek, following the death of his father Nekau I who had ruled the state during the Assyrian and Kushite confrontations.