This anthology contains the contributions of the 11th Melammu Symposium, which took place in April 2017 in Beirut. The 21 contributions, authored by Assyriologists, Classicists and Archaeologists, focus on the interaction between East and West. A large part of the articles deals with the history of the Levant, an area where different cultural spheres met and whose population, especially in the famous trading cities of Tyros and Byblos, knew how to use this position and played a significant role in international trade. The articles in the volume evaluate both texts and archaeological data to provide insight into this exchange between East and West. In addition to contributions on funerary rites, textiles, and seafaring numerous contributions approach the question of how to put the sources from East and West into dialogue.
This volume contains the proceedings of the 11th Melammu Symposium "Evidence Combined: Eastern and Western Sources in Dialogue", which took place in April 2017 in Beirut. The 21 articles of the volume, authored by Assyriologists, Classicists and Archaeologists, focus on the interaction between East and West. A substantial part of them deals with the history of the Levant, an area where different cultural spheres overlapped and interacted and where the local people, most famously the Phoenicians of Tyre and Byblos, took advantage of this position and played an important part in international trade. Based on an analysis of textual and archaeological evidence the articles give insight in the various ways of interactions between East and West. Funerary rites, textiles, seafaring and questions of the methodological approach to borders and interconnections are discussed besides more text-focused contributions which make a combined use of Eastern and Western sources in order to improve our understanding of events described in the texts of classical authors.
Raija Mattila
is retired Director of the Finnish Institute in the Middle East
Hellenic History Astrology Phoenicians Eastern Mediterranean Textiles Archaeology Melammu Symposia Alte Geschichte Raija Mattila Sebastian Fink Sanae Ito