Sports and Games in the Ancient Near East
Essays on Leisurely and Cultic Competition
By (author) Shane M. Thompson By (author) Raleigh Heth
Paperback (Published)
(May 2026)
ISBN: 9781805832676
6.85 x 9.69 inches
Price: $49.00
On back order
Collected essays from specialists in the fields of archaeology, iconography, and textual studies highlight ways in which sports and games were present within the cultic and mythological aspects of life in the ancient Near East. As importantly, they also call attention to the role that sports and games played in ancient societies.
The essays in this collection highlight several ways in which sports and games were present within the cultic and mythological aspects of life in the ancient Near East. As importantly, they also call attention to the role that sports and games played in ancient societies. The volume transcends the disciplinary boundaries dividing the various subfields of ancient Near East studies, highlighting the areas of similarity persisting across geographic and temporal divides, with contributions from specialists in the fields of archaeology, iconography, and textual studies.
List of Figures
Abbreviations
Introduction – Shane M. Thompson and Raleigh Heth
Part One – Sports
Racing Through the Streets: The Old Babylonian lismu and Athletic Competition – Raleigh Heth
Bearing the Good News: The Neo-Assyrian lismu as Cultic Run – T. E. Kelley
Sport and Speed on Horse and Chariot in Ancient Egypt – Heidi Köpp-Junk
The Role of Sports Medicine in the Social Construction of the Competitive Athlete Body: An Examination in Antiquity and The Modern Era – Kaitlin Pericak
Beyond the Marathon: Long-distance Running in the Ancient World – R. Jesse Pruett
Reinvestigating the Evidence for a Mesopotamian Ballgame – Shane M. Thompson
Part Two - Games
Common Ludic Ground in Bronze Age West Asia and Northeast Africa – Walter Crist
Graffiti Board Games in Archaeology: Scratching New Histories – Alex de Voogt
Board Games in the Iconography of Ancient Western Asia – Anne Dunn-Vaturi
Board Games, Gamers, and Gaming Networks in Middle Bronze Age Anatolia and Nubia – Carl Walsh
Shane M. Thompson (Ph.D., Brown University) is Associate Professor of Bible and the Ancient Near East in the Religious Studies Program at North Carolina Wesleyan University. His current research focuses on leisure activities, performance, and power relationships in the ancient Near East. He is the author of Displays of Cultural Hegemony and Counter-Hegemony in the Late Bronze and Iron Age Levant: The Public Presence of Foreign Powers and Local Resistance (Routledge, 2023).
Raleigh Heth (PhD, Notre Dame) is an Assistant Teaching Professor in Purdue University’s Cornerstone Integrated Liberal Arts program. He has published on matters dealing with ancient Near Eastern languages and history, including co-authoring A Student’s Vocabulary of Akkadian in Assyrian Royal Inscriptions (Eisenbrauns, 2025). His individual work deals primarily with the reception of the religious and cultural heritage of Mesopotamia in Biblical literature, focusing particularly on ancient Near Eastern mythic texts.
- By (author) Shane M. Thompson
- By (author) Raleigh Heth
Other Titles in this Series
New Research on Old Collections in Southwest Asian Archaeology
Proceedings of the Workshop Held at the British Museum, London, 31 July – 2 August, 2023
Composite Artefacts in the Ancient Near East
Exhibiting an imaginative materiality, showing a genealogical nature
Penser l’espace en Mésopotamie : contributions à la compréhension spatiale à travers les aménagements
Scripta memoriae Jean-Claude Margueron dedicata
Par la bêche et le stylet! Cultures et sociétés syro-mésopotamiennes
Mélanges offerts à Olivier Rouault
Too Much Writing, Too Few Scribes: Extra-Scribal Writing in the Late Bronze Age Mediterranean (1650-1100 BCE)
Mortals, Deities and Divine Symbols: Rethinking Ancient Images from the Levant to Mesopotamia
Studies Offered to Tallay Ornan
Stone Tools in the Ancient Near East and Egypt
Ground stone tools, rock-cut installations and stone vessels from Prehistory to Late Antiquity
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