State And Society In The Late Bronze Age

The word civilization is related to the Latin word, civitas ”city”. The term is used in several ways, generally denoting complex human cultural development. Some scholars restrict the use of the term to urbanized societies, in other words, cultures that have achieved a development that has allowed them to create large and permanent settlements... [continue reading]

The Bronze Age is the second part of the three-age system (Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age) for classifying and studying prehistoric societies, particularly the ancient societies of the Mediterranean and Near East. More broadly, the Bronze Age of any culture is the period during which the most advanced metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread... [continue reading]

The Kingdom of Mittani (known to the people of the land, and the Assyrians, as Hanigalbat and to the Egyptians as Naharin and Metani) once stretched from present-day northern Iraq, down through Syria and into Turkey and was once considered a great nation. Few records of the people themselves exist today but correspondence between kings of Mitanni and those... [continue reading]

An empire is a political construct in which one state dominates over another state, or a series of states. At its heart, an empire is ruled by an emperor, even though many states in history without an emperor at their head are called "empires". At its core, an empire is the domination of one state by another. This idea lies at the heart... [continue reading]

Bronze was significant to any culture that encountered it. It was one of the most innovative alloys of mankind. Tools, weapons, armour, and various building materials like decorative tiles made of bronze were harder and more durable than their stone and copper ("Chalcolithic") predecessors. Initially bronze was made out of copper and arsenic to... [continue reading]