This book traces the transformation of the belief systems that shaped life in ancient Near Eastern communities.
This book traces the transformation of the belief systems that shaped life in ancient Near Eastern communities, from prehistoric times until the advent of religious monotheism in the Levant during the first millennium BCE. It offers new insights into the symbolic value embodied in the religious materiality produced in the ancient Near East.
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Summary
This book traces the transformation of the belief systems that shaped life in ancient Near Eastern communities.
This book traces the transformation of the belief systems that shaped life in ancient Near Eastern communities, from prehistoric times until the advent of religious monotheism in the Levant during the first millennium BCE. It offers new insights into the symbolic value embodied in the religious materiality produced in the ancient Near East.
Description
Human belief systems and practices can be traced to ca. 10,000 BCE in the Ancient Near East, where the earliest evidence of ritual structures and objects can be found. Religious architecture, the relics of human skeletons, animal symbolism, statues, and icons all contributed to a complex network into which the spiritual essence of the divine was materially present. In this book, Nicola Laneri traces the transformation of the belief systems that shaped life in ancient Near Eastern communities, from prehistoric times until the advent of religious monotheism in the Levant during the first millennium BCE. Considering a range of evidence, from stone ceremonial enclosures, such as as Göbleki Tepe, to the construction of the first temples and icons of Mesopotamian polytheistic beliefs, to the Temple of Jerusalem, the iconic center of Israelite monotheism, Laneri offers new insights into the symbolic value embodied in the religious materiality produced in the ancient Near East.
Critic Reviews
'Well written, well illustrated, and well documented, this volume will be of great interest to both students and scholars of ancient religion … Highly recommended.' W. Kotter, CHOICE
About the Author
Nicola Laneri is professor of Near Eastern Archaeology at the University of Catania, Director of the School of Religious Studies, and has been Fulbright Research Scholar in the Department of Anthropology at Columbia University. He has directed archaeological work at sites in Turkey, Azarbaijan, Iran, and Iraq.
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