Preface
Chapter 1 Temples and Priests
1.1 Flood Stories
1.1.1 The Flood in The Epic of Gilgamesh
1.1.2 The Flood in Genesis
1.2 Divinity and its Limitations
1.3 The Gods in Their Temples: A Sacred Marriage Drama
1.4 Sacred Prostitution
1.5 Covenant and Consequences
1.5.1 Hear O Israel! The Shema
1.5.2 The Covenant as a Marriage Contract: Hosea
1.6 The Call of the Prophet
1.7 Prophets and Palaces: Jeremiah Confronts the King
1.8 “I Will be With Him in Trouble”: Personal Religion and Piety
1.9 Empire, Exile, and Monotheism
1.9.1 The Great Hymn to the Aten
1.9.2 Yahweh: The Lord of History
1.10 Tombs and Immortality
1.10.1 Book Writing: A New Form of Immortality
1.10.2 Caught in the Act: Ancient Egyptian Tomb Robbers
Chapter 2 Palaces and Kings
2.1 Loyalty to the King: The Egyptian Theory of Government
2.2 But if Pharaoh Fails . . . ?
2.3 Women in Power
2.3.1 Ku Baba
2.3.2 Zakutu, Wife of Sennacherib
2.3.3 Jezebel
2.3.4 Athaliah
2.4 A Critique of Kingship: The Negative View of Samuel
2.5 War and Warfare
2.5.1 Sumerian Intercity Wars: Umma versus Lagash
2.5.2 Sargon of Akkad: The Idea of Empire
2.5.3 Egyptian Imperialism and Terror
2.5.4 Assyrian Use of Terror
2.5.5 The Fall of Jerusalem
2.5.6 The Horrors of Siege
2.5.7 POWs and MIAs
2.6 “A Palace of Cedar, Cypress, Juniper . . . and Tamarisk”: Builders As Well As Destroyers
2.7 An Imperial Coup D’Etat: The Behistun Inscription of Darius I
2.8 “That the Strong Might Not Oppress the Weak, and That They Should Give Justice to Orphans and Widows”
2.8.1 Hammurapi’s Justice
2.8.2 “To Fill the Vast Land with a Plenitude of Food and Lasting Happiness: The Characteristics of a Perfect Kingship”
2.8.3 The Justice of the Pharaoh
2.8.4 “They Carry the Sheaves, but Still Go Hungry; They Tread the Winepresses, yet Suffer Thirst”
2.8.5 A Model Persian Governor: Cyrus the Younger (ca. 400 B.C.)
Chapter 3 Daily Life
3.1 Marriage and Property
3.2 Marriage and Children
3.3 Laws Regarding Sex
3.4 Disputes, Litigation, Punishment
3.4.1 Runaway Slaves
3.4.2 Crime and Punishment
3.4.3 Conducting Business
3.4.4 Negligence
3.4.5 Debt
3.5 Papyrus Lansing: A Bureaucrat’s View of Life
3.6 “Wash and Perfume Yourself and Put on Your Best Clothes”
Chapter 4 The Origin and Spread of the Polis System
4.1 A Greek Definition of the Polis
4.2 Greek Life in the Eighth Century B.C. 1: “The Shield of Achilles”
4.3 Greek Life in the Eighth Century B.C. 2: Hesiod’s Works and Days
4.4 Colonization and the Expansion of the Polis System: The Case of Cyrene
4.4.1 Herodotus’ Account
4.4.2 Oath of the Colonists
4.5 Greeks and Non-Greeks in the Greek Colonies: The Foundation of Lampsacus
4.6 Greeks and Scythians in the Black Sea: Coexistence and Interaction
Chapter 5 Warfare and the Polis
5.1 The Aristocratic Warrior
5.1.1 The Warrior Ideal
5.1.2 The Warrior and Society: The Drinking Song of Hybrias
5.2 The Hoplite Revolution and the Citizen Soldier
5.2.1 The Reality of Battle
5.2.2 A Good Citizen: Tellus of Athens
5.2.3 Only Farmers Can Be Good Citizens
5.3 The Hoplite Polis: Sparta
5.4 Heroic Athletics: The Chariot Race at Patroclus’ Funeral Games
5.5 An Athletic Dynasty: The Diagorids of Rhodes
5.6 Athletics and the Polis: A Philosophical Critique
Chapter 6 The Crisis of the Archaic Polis
6.1 Aspects of Aristocratic Life at its Peak
6.1.1 A Fine Symposium: Xenophanes
6.1.2 The Life of an Aristocrat: Alcaeus
6.1.3 When You Are “Repulsive to Boys and a Laughingstock to Women”: Mimnermus on Old Age
6.1.4 A Woman’s View of Aristocratic Life: Sappho’s “To Anactoria”
6.2 The Crisis of the Aristocracy 1: The Laments of Theognis
6.3 Portrait of a Vulgar Upstart: Anacreon
6.4 The Crisis of the Aristocracy 2: Corinth
6.5 The Crisis of the Aristocracy 3: Athens
Chapter 7 Husbands, Wives, and Slaves: The Domestic Foundations of the Polis
7.1 The Education of a Wife
7.2 The Short Sad Life of a God Woman: The Epitaph of Sokratea of Paros
7.3 If Only We Could Reproduce Without Women . . .!
7.4 Slaves: The Best and Most Necessary of Possessions
7.5 “We Have Mistresses for Our Pleasure”: Sex and Slavery in the Oikos
7.6 Freedom and Its Problems: The Life of Neaera
7.7 How to Become a Slave: Be in the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time
7.8 The Slave Trade: A Eunuch’s Revenge
Chapter 8 Empire and Democracy: The Classical Polis
8.1 The Golden