Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Preface xi
4. Opening Remarks: Greetings xv
5. Part I Historical and Political Landscape: The Levant and Beyond
6. Palace Economies in the Late Bronze Age and The Dark Age That Never Was (Iron Age I)
7. Islands in the Sea: Aegean Polities as Levantine Neighbors 1
8. The Case of Ugarit and Carchemish: A Contrast 17
9. Greece and Anatolia in the Early Iron Age: 23
10. The Mediterranean Economy: 37
11. The Dynamics of Statehood (Iron Age II)
12. The Patrimonial Kingdom of Solomon 63
13. City-States to States: Polity Dynamics in the 10th–9th Centuries B.C.E. 75
14. Remarks on Biblical Traditions and Archaeological Evidence concerning Early Israel 85
15. Assyria’s Expansion in the 8th and 7th Centuries and Its Long-Term Repercussions in the West 99
16. Egyptian Interventions in the Levant in Iron Age II 113
17. Imperial Interventions (The Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Periods)
18. Early Achaemenid Iran: New Considerations 133
19. Palestine among the Empires from the 4th to the 1st Century B.C.E.: Impact and Reaction 145
20. Part II Religion and Distinction
21. Shadow-Boxing the Canaanites (The Late Bronze Age)
22. Temple or “Bêt Marzea” 155
23. Amarna and Later: Aspects of Social History 169
24. Emerging Forms and Practices (Iron Age I)
25. The Aegean and the Orient: Cultic Interactions 189
26. The Cult of Astarte in Cyprus 215
27. False Dichotomies in Descriptions of Israelite Religion: 223
28. The Formative Period of State Religion (Iron Age II)
29. Mesopotamian Imperialism and Israelite Religion: 237
30. When the Heavens Darkened: Yahweh, El, and the Divine Astral Family in Iron Age II Judah 265
31. Israelite and Philistine Cult and the Archaeological Record in Iron Age II: The “Smoking Gun” Phenomenon 279
32. Cult—Coast and Interior (The Persian Period)
33. Phoenician Cult Expressions in the Persian Period 297
34. The Phoenician Source of Palestinian Cults at the End of the Iron Age 309
35. Late Israelite Astronomies and the Early Greeks 323
36. Romans, Jews, and Christians
37. The Jewish World and the Coming of Rome 353
38. Helios and the Zodiac Cycle in Ancient Palestinian Synagogues 363
39. Part III The History of the Family: Continuity and Change
40. Units and Cultural Unities (Iron Age I)
41. Nine Months among the Peasants in the Palestinian Highlands: An Anthropological Perspective on Local Religion in the Early Iron Age 393
42. Building Identity: 411
43. Household Economy (Iron Age II)
44. Material Remains and Social Relations: 425
45. The Clan-Based Economy of Biblical Israel 445
46. At Home with the Goddess 455
47. Families, Houses, and Homes (The Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Periods)
48. The Family in Persian Period Judah: Some Textual Reflections 469
49. Roman-Period Houses from the Galilee: 487
50. Apocryphal Women: From Fiction to (Arti)fact 501
51. Part IV Closing Remarks
52. Syro-Palestinian and Biblical Archaeology: Into the Next Millennium 513
53. Special Public Lecture
54. Jerusalem as a Royal and Cultic Center in the 10th–8th Centuries B.C.E. 529
55. Discussions
56. Part I. Historical and Political Landscape: The Levant and Beyond 539
57. Part II. Religion and Distinction 544
58. Part III. The History of the Family: Continuity and Change 555
59. Special Public Lectures 564
60. Appendix I
61. Opening of the Israel Museum Exhibit Thundering on High: 569
62. Appendix II
63. Greetings Presented at the Israel Exploration Society Reception on Behalf of the Archaeological Institutions in Israel Held at the Israel Museum 571
64. Indexes
65. Index of Authors 577
66. Index of Scripture 586
67. Index of Ancient Texts 593