Before and After Babel: Writing as Resistance in Ancient Near Eastern Empires

by Marc Van de Mieroop

"The Lord confused the language of all the earth," so the Tower of Babel story in the Hebrew Bible's book of Genesis tells us to explain why the world's people communicate in countless languages while previously they all spoke only one. This book argues that the biblical confusion really happened in the ancient Near East, not in speech, however, but in writing. It examines the millennia-long history of writing in the region and shows a radical change...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0197634664
• ISBN13: 9780197634660
• Release Date: December 2022
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 358 Pages
• Weight: 1.39 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.3"