LEADER 04373oam 2200601 a 450 001 9910962079903321 005 20260217215949.0 010 $a9798216000464 010 $a9780313000836 010 $a0313000832 024 7 $a10.5040/9798216000464 035 $a(CKB)111056485429184 035 $a(OCoLC)50099464 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebrary5004439 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000226433 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11187149 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000226433 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10257520 035 $a(PQKB)11626706 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3000150 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr5004439 035 $a(OCoLC)55092008 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3000150 035 $a(DLC)BP9798216000464BC 035 $a(Perlego)4202161 035 $a(EXLCZ)99111056485429184 100 $a19991020e20002024 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcn||||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 14$aThe pre-Islamic Middle East /$fMartin Sicker 205 $a1st ed. 210 1$aWestport, Conn. :$cPraeger,$d2000. 210 2$aLondon :$cBloomsbury Publishing,$d2024 215 $a1 online resource (239 p.) 300 $aBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph 311 08$a9780275968908 311 08$a0275968901 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [213]-219) and index. 327 $aMachine generated contents note: 1. The Middle East in Early Antiquity -- 2. Egypt and Asia -- 3. The Rise and Decline of Assyria -- 4. The Rise and Fall of Media -- 5. The Empire of the Achaemenids -- 6. The Persian-Greek Wars -- 7. The Macedonian Conquest -- 8. The Dissolution of Alexander's Empire -- 9. Reconfiguration of the Middle East -- 10. Rome Enters the Middle East -- 11. The Roman-Parthian Conflict -- 12. The Struggle over the Euphrates Frontier -- 13. The Roman-Persian Stalemate -- 14. The Era of Shapur II -- 15. The Struggle for Persia's Frontiers -- 16. End of the Sassanid Empire -- Afterword -- Bibliography -- Index. 330 8 $aSicker explores the political history of the Middle East from antiquity to the Arab conquest from a geopolitical perspective. He argues that there are a number of relatively constant environmental factors that have helped condition -not determine-the course of Middle Eastern political history from ancient times to the present. These factors, primarily, but not exclusively geography and topography, contributed heavily to establishing the patterns of state development and interstate relations in the Middle East that have remained remarkably consistent throughout the troubled history of the region. In addition to geography and topography, the implications of which are explored in depth, religion has also played a major political role in conditioning the pattern of Middle Eastern history. The Greeks first introduced the politicization of religious belief into the region in the form of pan-Hellenism, which essentially sought to impose Greek forms of popular religion and culture on the indigenous peoples of the region as a means of solidifying Greek political control. This ultimately led to religious persecution as a state policy. Subsequently, the Persian Sassanid Empire adopted Zoroastrianism as the state religion for the same purpose and with the same result. Later, when Armenia adopted Christianity as the state religion, followed soon after by the Roman Empire, religion and the intolerance it tended to breed became fundamental ingredients, in regional politics and have remained such ever since. Sicker shows that the political history of the pre-Islamic Middle East provides ample evidence that the geopolitical and religious factors conditioning political decision-making tended to promote military solutions to political problems, making conflict resolution through war the norm, with the peaceful settlement of disputes quite rare. A sweeping synthesis that will be of considerable interest to scholars, students, and others concerned with Middle East history and politics as well as international relations and ancient history. 607 $aMiddle East$xHistory$yTo 622 676 $a939/.4 700 $aSicker$b Martin$0296234 801 0$bDLC 801 1$bDLC 801 2$bDLC 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910962079903321 996 $aPre-islamic Middle East$91285815 997 $aUNINA