The Pax Assyriaca: The Historical Evolution of Civilisations and Archaeology of Empires

Benjamin Toro has a BA in History from the University of Chile and an MA in Classical Studies from the Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación (UMCE). He has completed Postgraduate Studies at the Institute of Archaeology and the Rothberg School at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has gained an MPhil in Cuneiform Studies and a DPhil in Ancient Near Eastern Studies from the University of Birmingham. He is Assistant Professor of Ancient Near Eastern History and First Civilizations at the University of Concepción.

Introduction ;


The concept of civilisation ;


The historical evolution of civilisations ;


First aim of this study: the Central Civilisation and the Mesopotamian / Egyptian merger ;


Second aim of this study: the methodological approach to the archaeological knowledge of the Ancient Near East ;


Third aim of this study: an approach to World Systems Theory and archaeology ;



Chapter 1: The Historical Evolution of the Ancient Near East and the Rise of the Assyrian Phenomenon ;


The Ancient Near East as geopolitical entity ;


The Land of Mesopotamia as the Cradle of Civilisation ;


The Mesopotamian symbiosis ;


The Assyrian phenomenon ;


The Ancient Near East and the ‘catastrophe’ at the end of the Bronze Age ;



Chapter 2: The Neo-Assyrian Empire and the Pax Assyriaca ;


The archaeology of empires: theories, approaches and problems ;


The meaning of ‘empire’ and its principal dimensions ;


The Neo-Assyrian expansion and the peripheral polities under its domination ;


The Neo-Assyrian hierarchy of its imperial core ;


The Neo-Assyrian order and its global context ;



Chapter 3: Ancient Egypt and the Pax Assyriaca ;


General introduction to the Egyptian civilisation ;


Ancient Egypt, the Neo-Assyrian expansion and its peripheral polities of domination ;


Ancient Egypt and the Neo-Assyrian imperial core ;


Ancient Egypt and the Neo-Assyrian order in its global context ;



Chapter 4: The Collapse of the Pax Assyriaca ;


The collapse of the Neo-Assyrian Empire ;


Ancient Egypt and the collapse of the Neo-Assyrian Empire ;



Conclusion ;



Bibliography