Cross-cultural studies in near eastern history and literature

The contributions of this volume were born out of gatherings of the “Intellectual Heritage of the Ancient Near East” (IHANE) project, based at the University of Helsinki (2010–2015). The aim of the IHANE project was to examine the cultural, linguistic and literary relationships between the Near East and the West, and the interaction between the Near East and Ancient Greece in particular. Over the course of the project, several workshops and conferences were organized. The articles edited in this volume showcase some of the presentations delivered there, and they include papers from collaborators in the IHANE project as well. The various contributions aim at bringing together the narrow disciplines of Assyriology, Egyptology, Greco-Roman history and early Arabic and Islamic studies (with all of their subfields and related fields) into an interconnected whole. The volume exhibits an awareness of the need to move from separate specializations when researching the history and literature of the Ancient and Medieval Near East, in order to study these issues as an integral part of the world’s history. This holds true for the study of Mesopotamian, Classical and Arabic sources.