books.google.com
Freedom as a value is older than Greece, as evidence from the Ancient Near East shows us through this book. Snell first looks at words for freedom in the Ancient Near East. Then he examines archival texts to see how runaways expressed their interest in freedom in Mesopotamian history.
He next examines what elites said about flight and freedom in edicts, legal collections, and treaties. He devotes a chapter to flight in literature and story. He studies freedom in Israel by looking at Biblical terminology and then practice in narratives and legal collections.
In a final chapter Snell traces the descent of ideas about freedom among Jews, Greeks and Christians, and Muslims, concluding that the devotion to freedom may be nearly a human universal.
***
His work has received support from a number of fellowship granting agencies, including the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Humanities Center, the Oregon Humanities Center, and two international foundations, the Humanities Research Centre at Canberra and the Institute for Advanced Research in the Humanities at Edinburgh.
He is currently at work on a study tentatively titled Religions of the Ancient Near East that will cover the years from roughly 6000 BCE to 332 BCE. Professor Snell teaches courses at all levels on subjects ranging from the history of ancient Israel to a course on ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt to an offering on slavery in world history. Recently, he offered a course titled Religions of the Ancient Near East. Snell received his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1975.
He next examines what elites said about flight and freedom in edicts, legal collections, and treaties. He devotes a chapter to flight in literature and story. He studies freedom in Israel by looking at Biblical terminology and then practice in narratives and legal collections.
In a final chapter Snell traces the descent of ideas about freedom among Jews, Greeks and Christians, and Muslims, concluding that the devotion to freedom may be nearly a human universal.
***
Professor Snell was named the L.J. Semrod Presidential Professor in 2001 and is the author of many books, book chapters, and articles. He is an Assyriologist, Ancient Economic Historian, and Biblical Scholar who writes both technical articles and accessible works like his History Book Club selection, Life in the Ancient Near East, 3100-332 B.C. and his recent edited volume, A Companion to the Ancient Near East.
His work has received support from a number of fellowship granting agencies, including the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Humanities Center, the Oregon Humanities Center, and two international foundations, the Humanities Research Centre at Canberra and the Institute for Advanced Research in the Humanities at Edinburgh.
He is currently at work on a study tentatively titled Religions of the Ancient Near East that will cover the years from roughly 6000 BCE to 332 BCE. Professor Snell teaches courses at all levels on subjects ranging from the history of ancient Israel to a course on ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt to an offering on slavery in world history. Recently, he offered a course titled Religions of the Ancient Near East. Snell received his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1975.
Daniel C. Snell,
Presidential Professor, Ancient History
History Department at the University of Oklahoma
Presidential Professor, Ancient History
History Department at the University of Oklahoma
