Course: Superpowers of the Ancient World: the Near East

Dr. Magnus Widdell, lecturer in Assryiology at the University of Liverpool introduces Cuneiform script. Here he outlines that Cuneiform is actually a script that was utilised my a number of …

This week we focussed on the how Egyptians widened their sphere of influence in Syria-Palestine through the domination of smaller states. Dr Alex Mackenzie likens this to the comparatively modern …

Age of Empire Take a look at the image above. It illustrates the reach into Syro-Palestine of the first Egyptian rulers of Egypt’s 18th Dynasty: the first dynasty of the …

Now that we know a about the attraction of the Syria-Palestine area, Dr Bruce Routledge provides some more detail. In this video, he tells us about the organisation of Syria-Palestinian …

What’s so special about the ancient Near East? Why did the Egyptians see parts of it as important locations to control? The land itself holds the key to these questions. …

This interactive map will give you an overview of what happened where this week. It is designed to help you to consolidate your knowledge, so feel free to explore it …

The Orient, the Near East, the Middle East, Western Asia, the Levant, Canaan, Syria-Palestine… there are lots of terms used to describe this part of the world. Our first job …

This week in our contemporary history section Alex considers modern examples of the alliance system that existed between smaller city states and superpowers in the ancient Near East. In the …

Syria Palestine This week we are going to concentrate on Syria-Palestine. The region is not a superpower in its own right, but instead made up of city-states. It is very …

This week we have followed the fortunes of a new, invigorated Egypt. We have seen how they successfully campaigned into Syria-Palestine to defeat a coalition of city states. This expansionism, …

In the previous step, we saw how warfare gave way to peace between Mitanni and Egypt, with Tuthmosis IV marrying Artatama’s daughter to seal the deal. Egypt now entered an …

The Battle of Megiddo was only Tuthmosis III’s first campaign. After this pivotal encounter, he continued on a remarkable series of campaigns into the Near East to consolidate territory and …

Last week, we saw how Tuthmosis I faced a ‘foe’ in northern Syria. This week, we focus on that enemy: the Mitannians, and their rise to superpower status. Unlike Egypt, …

The Mitannians are perhaps one of the most enigmatic Near Eastern Superpowers. Despite their impressive empire, we know remarkably little about them, especially compared to the Egyptians or the Hittites. …

In the last step, we saw how linguistic enquiry helped us to better understand Mitanni’s status and power in the Near East. We saved the best till last, though. The …