Description:Animals have always been an integral part of human existence. In the ancient Near East, this is evident in the record of excavated assemblages of faunal remains, iconography and – for the later historical periods – texts. Animals have predominantly been examined as part of consumption and economy, and while these are important aspects of society in the ancient Near East, the relationships between humans and animals were extremely varied and complex.Domesticated animals had great impact on social, political and economic structures – for example cattle in agriculture and diet, or donkeys and horses in transport, trade and war. Fantastic mythological beasts such as lion-headed eagles or Anzu-birds in Mesopotamia or Egyptian deities such as the falcon-headed god Horus were part of religious beliefs and myths, while exotic creatures such as lions were part of elite symbolling from the fourth millennium bc onward. In some cases, animals also intruded on human lives in unwanted ways by scavenging or entering the household; this especially applies to small or wild animals. But animals were also attributed agency with the ability to solve problems; the distinction between humans and other animals often blurs in ritual, personal and place names, fables and royal ideology. They were helpers, pets and companions in life and death, peace and war. An association with cult and mortuary practices involves sacrifice and feasting, while some animals held special symbolic significance.This volume is a tribute to the animals of the ancient Near East (including Mesopotamia, Anatolia, the Levant and Egypt), from the fourth through first millennia bc, and their complex relationship with the environment and other human and nonhuman animals. Offering faunal, textual and iconographic studies, the contributions present a fascinating array of the many ways in which animals influence human life and death, and explore new perspectives in the exciting field of human-animal studies as applied to this part of the world.Laerke Recht is Professor of Early Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology at the University of Graz, Austria, and a former Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge. She is particularly interested in and has published on human–animal relations in the ancient Near East, Cyprus and Aegean.Christina Tsouparopoulou is Assistant Professor in Near Eastern Archaeology at the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland, Senior Research Associate and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research and Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge. She specializes in the material and textual culture of the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean in the third and second millennia bc.We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with Fierce lions, angry mice and fat-tailed sheep: animal encounters in the ancient Near East. To get started finding Fierce lions, angry mice and fat-tailed sheep: animal encounters in the ancient Near East, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed. Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.
Pages
289
Format
PDF, EPUB & Kindle Edition
Publisher
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research
Release
2023
ISBN
1913344053
Fierce lions, angry mice and fat-tailed sheep: animal encounters in the ancient Near East
Description: Animals have always been an integral part of human existence. In the ancient Near East, this is evident in the record of excavated assemblages of faunal remains, iconography and – for the later historical periods – texts. Animals have predominantly been examined as part of consumption and economy, and while these are important aspects of society in the ancient Near East, the relationships between humans and animals were extremely varied and complex.Domesticated animals had great impact on social, political and economic structures – for example cattle in agriculture and diet, or donkeys and horses in transport, trade and war. Fantastic mythological beasts such as lion-headed eagles or Anzu-birds in Mesopotamia or Egyptian deities such as the falcon-headed god Horus were part of religious beliefs and myths, while exotic creatures such as lions were part of elite symbolling from the fourth millennium bc onward. In some cases, animals also intruded on human lives in unwanted ways by scavenging or entering the household; this especially applies to small or wild animals. But animals were also attributed agency with the ability to solve problems; the distinction between humans and other animals often blurs in ritual, personal and place names, fables and royal ideology. They were helpers, pets and companions in life and death, peace and war. An association with cult and mortuary practices involves sacrifice and feasting, while some animals held special symbolic significance.This volume is a tribute to the animals of the ancient Near East (including Mesopotamia, Anatolia, the Levant and Egypt), from the fourth through first millennia bc, and their complex relationship with the environment and other human and nonhuman animals. Offering faunal, textual and iconographic studies, the contributions present a fascinating array of the many ways in which animals influence human life and death, and explore new perspectives in the exciting field of human-animal studies as applied to this part of the world.Laerke Recht is Professor of Early Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology at the University of Graz, Austria, and a former Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge. She is particularly interested in and has published on human–animal relations in the ancient Near East, Cyprus and Aegean.Christina Tsouparopoulou is Assistant Professor in Near Eastern Archaeology at the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland, Senior Research Associate and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research and Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge. She specializes in the material and textual culture of the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean in the third and second millennia bc.We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with Fierce lions, angry mice and fat-tailed sheep: animal encounters in the ancient Near East. To get started finding Fierce lions, angry mice and fat-tailed sheep: animal encounters in the ancient Near East, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed. Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.