Iran in World History - Richard Foltz

A well-written overview of the basic events and movements in the history of Iran.  Just enough detail.  Excellent for general interest.  From 3500 BC to the present.
It also provides some insight into the long-lasting underlying forces in Iranian politics and history - the rise of clerical power, the link between the landowner class and the clerical establishment, and their resistance to political and social change.

There is also an interesting mention of Mithraism and its influence on Jews living within the Sassanian empire leading to some central concepts in the emergence of Christianity.


To find:

Hushang Golshiri - modern novelist

1177 The Year Civilization Collapsed - Eric H. Cline

An attempt to get to the bottom of what happened in the early 12th c BC, which saw the collapse of every current major civilization in the eastern Mediterranean.  Cline begins with a thorough overview of the world of the late Bronze Age.  It is a fascinating picture, with every civilization built around a ruling political/religious elite that governed from a central palace temple complex.  Most of these political religious elites also ran the economy, both internally and external trade.   At least at the elite level, this was a very international, interconnected period, with lots of movement of both luxury goods and goods essential to the elites - such things as tin for weapon making, gold, as well as emergency food supplies to hand out to the populace in years of failed crops.  I picture the sailors of these ships from Crete, from Egypt, from Ugarit, from Greece sitting down for a few drinks in bars in the  big port towns of the time - that would have been really travelling!

Turns out the Sea People are a difficult group to pin down.  Their presence outside of the documented attacks on Egypt and probably Ugarit, is pretty difficult to determine.  Much of the destructions blamed on them seems to have been the result of earthquakes and local rebellions rather than warfare. It seems this area may have collapsed due to a series of natural disasters - earthquakes, prolonged droughts, climate shift - coupled with some external raiding, some migration pressures (perhaps caused by the natural disasters), some political upheaval, and a breakdown of a complex system of economic exchange.  The large political units  have evolved a complex system of interdependence and when that began to fray, it dragged most of the involved players down.  It may have been that the elites lost the wealth needed to maintain their position and either buy or enforce compliance from their subjects.

Like with the fall of the Roman Empire, the area seems to have slipped into a "Dark Age" - smaller, more local political units, loss of culture, building techniques and established art styles (and writing in the case of Mycenean Greece), falling off of trade and long-distance exchange, idealization of the preceding Golden Age.

It is so long ago, it may never be possible to determine the exact causes and sequence of events at that time.

River of the Dead - Barbara Nadel

Another Barbara Nadel mystery set in Turkey.  While a lot of the book takes place in Istanbul as usual, a good part of the plot unfolds in the southeast of Turkey - Antep, Mardin and places in between.  The plot is centred on the drug transit trade through Turkey from points further east, and it's  a tight, convoluted plot as usual.  Better written than some of her earlier work.

This book is well-researched as usual, and brings up some interesting cultural elements peculiar to the south-east.  It highlights the complex cultural mix of Kurds, Turks, Suriani, Jews and Armenians that once existed there - mainly through observations about architecture and history - sounds like this area would be an interesting place to visit from that point of view.
There is also a glimpse into the clan and family structure that seems to dominate society there, with identifying tattoos for each clan.
Then there is this whole snake goddess cult thing called the Shameran, which apparently crosses ethnic and religious lines.  On Wikipedia, this cult is traced back to ancient Crete, where the earliest images of a goddess holding two snakes in her hand were found.   This suggests both an unusual cultural affinity and ancient historical continuity worth exploring further.

Al Jazeera means "the Island" and for some groups in the area, this is what they call the great Syrian Plain.  Another name for this area is "the ocean".

Ancient Wine - P. E. McGovern

Not a particularly great read - too much arcane methodology discussion.

Some interesting facts, though:

- wine seems to have first appeared around 5500 BCE, which is remarkable; almost contemporaneous with the appearance of farming - wine and cheese, some of our earliest foods

- first records are in the Zagros mountains above the plains of Babylon - also along the highlands in Turkey above the Syrian plain and in the Caucasus - basically the edges of the fertile crescent where elevations created slightly cooler, wetter growing conditions

- the method of fermenting wine in clay containers buried in the ground is one of the earliest methods, and is still practised in Georgia

- flavoured wines were very common in early period - spices and other flavourings helped preserve the wine from turning to vinegar - retsina (or pine resin) is only one of the additives - frankincense myrrh, a selection of herbs and spices were also used - oaking wine is a very ancient practice; it is basically adding the flavour/chemical substance in oak to the wine by storing it in barrels, and served to preserve as well as mellow the wine by interacting with some of the chemicals in the wine

- Christianity is so deeply rooted in the preceding mythology and ancient culture of the middle east, not only in its Old Testament mythology and stories, but also in its cult of wine - wine has been an integral part of religious rites and offerings since its first appearance in the Middle East

- makes wine all the more fascinating and enjoyable...

Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilizaton - Pau Kriwaczek

A well-written overview of the rise of Mesopotamia and its permutations as Babylon and Assyria.

Lots of interesting bits of information jump out:
- how early we developed many of our current staples of diet: bread, cheese, beer, wine
- how early the basic structures of commerce and finance emerged
- the transformation from religious, egalitarian society to kings/dictators when conflict first arises between the various cities in the Mesopotamian basin
- that the Assyrians were the first to develop segregation of women, veiling, and the notion of inferior status, cultural trends that were later adopted by Judaism, Islam and the Byzantines/Greeks
- Babylonians were the first to develop the notion of one godhead; the concept of transcendent god as opposed to immanent god, or god in forces of nature - also the idea of god being above nature and, by extension, man being above nature as he is made in the image of god (again, especially influential on the Old Testament)

For further reading in this area, a great source for Bibliography, links etc.

In particular:
Early Mesopotamia:  Society and Economy at the Dawn of History - J. N. Postgate

A History of the Ancient Near East - Marc van de Mieroop

The Might that was Assyria - Henry W. F. Sagg