The Routledge Handbook of Emotions in the Ancient Near East

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.