ABSTRACT
This in-depth exploration of emotions in the ancient Near East illuminates the rich and complex worlds of feelings encompassed within the literary and material remains of this remarkable region, home to many of the world’s earliest cities and empires, and lays critical foundations for future study.
Thirty-four chapters by leading international scholars, including philologists, art historians, and archaeologists, examine the ways in which emotions were conceived, experienced, and expressed by the peoples of the ancient Near East, with particular attention to Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and the kingdom of Ugarit, from the Late Uruk through to the Neo-Babylonian Period (ca. 3300–539 BCE). The volume is divided into two parts: the first addressing theoretical and methodological issues through thematic analyses and the second encompassing corpus-based approaches to specific emotions. Part I addresses emotions and history, defining the terms, materialization and material remains, kings and the state, and engaging the gods. Part II explores happiness and joy; fear, terror, and awe; sadness, grief, and depression; contempt, disgust, and shame; anger and hate; envy and jealousy; love, affection, and admiration; and pity, empathy, and compassion. Numerous sub-themes threading through the volume explore such topics as emotional expression and suppression in relation to social status, gender, the body, and particular social and spatial conditions or material contexts.
The Routledge Handbook of Emotions in the Ancient Near East is an invaluable and accessible resource for Near Eastern studies and adjacent fields, including Classical, Biblical, and medieval studies, and a must-read for scholars, students, and others interested in the history and cross-cultural study of emotions.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter |24 pages
Introduction
part I|428 pages
Theoretical and Thematic Approaches and Methods
part I|92 pages
Emotions and History
chapter 2|37 pages
Emotion and the Body
part II|111 pages
Defining the Terms
part III|97 pages
Materialization and Material Remains
part IV|68 pages
Kings and the State
part V|58 pages
Engaging the Gods
part II|315 pages
Corpus-Based Approaches
part I|32 pages
Happiness and Joy
part II|59 pages
Fear, Terror, and Awe
chapter 20|38 pages
Awe as Entangled Emotion
part III|50 pages
Fear, Terror, and Awe
part IV|33 pages
Contempt, Disgust, and Shame
part V|32 pages
V. Anger and Hate
part VI|15 pages
Envy and Jealousy
part VII|62 pages
Love, Affection, and Admiration
part VIII|29 pages
Pity, Empathy, and Compassion