This volume examines how emotions were conceived, experienced, and expressed within the vast literary and material remains of the ancient Near East from 3300 to 539 BCE. An invaluable and accessible resource for students and scholars in Near Eastern Studies and adjacent fields.

Introduction: Emotions in the Ancient Near East: Foundations for a Developing Field of Study, Karen Sonik and Ulrike Steinert; Part I: Theoretical and Thematic Approaches and Methods; I. Emotions and History; 1. The Emotions of Dead Civilizations: "Come, Tell Me How You Lived", Karen Sonik; 2. Emotion and the Body: Embodiment, Conceptual Metaphor, and Linguistic Encoding of Emotions in Akkadian, Ulrike Steinert; 3. Digital Approaches to Analyzing and Translating Emotion: What is Love?, Tero Alstola, Heidi Jauhiainen, Saana Svärd, Aleksi Sahala, and Krister Lindén; II. Defining the Terms; 4. Sumerian Emotion Terms, Margaret Jaques; 5. Akkadian Emotion Terms, Janine Wende; 6. Hittite Emotion Terms, Gary Beckman; 7. Ugaritic Emotion Terms, Andrew R. Burlingame; III. Materialization and Material Remains; 8. Emotions and Archaeology in Ancient Mesopotamia, Susan Pollock; 9. Emotions and Musical Performance, Dahlia Shehata; 10. Emotions and Body Language: The Expression of Emotions in Visual Art, Karen Sonik; IV. Kings and the State; 11. Emotions and Assyrian Kingship, Johannes Bach; 12. Emotions and Hittite Kingship: Feeling Like a King, Amir Gilan and Romina Della Casa; 13. Emotions and the Brotherhood of Kings: Affection in the Amarna Letters, Amanda H. Podany; V. Engaging the Gods; 14. Emotions and Emesal Laments: Motivations, Performance, and Management, Uri Gabbay; 15. Emotions and Ritual Laments: The Affective Function of Beer in Mesopotamia, Gösta Gabriel; 16. Emotions and Religion: Ritual Performance in Mesopotamia, Beate Pongratz-Leisten; 17. Emotions and Hittite Prayers, Lidewij van de Peut; Part II: Corpus-Based Approaches; I. Happiness and Joy; 18. Joy and Happiness in Mesopotamian Royal Inscriptions, Nathan Morello; 19. Joy and Happiness in Hittite Texts, Alice Mouton; II. Fear, Terror, and Awe; 20. Awe as Entangled Emotion: Prosociality, Collective Action, and Aesthetics in the Sumerian Gilgamesh Narratives, Karen Sonik; 21. Fear and Terror in Assyrian Palace Reliefs, Dominik Bonatz; III. Sadness, Grief, and Depression; 22. Grief and Sadness in the Sumerian Gilgamesh Narratives, Alhena Gadotti; 23. Grief and Sadness in Akkadian Texts, Irene Sibbing-Plantholt; 24. Grief and Sadness in Ugaritic Texts, Joseph Lam, IV. Contempt, Disgust, and Shame; 25. Contempt and Related Emotions in Hittite and Akkadian Literary Texts, Ilan Peled; 26. Shaming the Enemy in Assyrian Palace Reliefs and Royal Inscriptions, Davide Nadali; V. Anger and Hate; 27. Anger and Hatred in Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Royal Inscriptions, Hanspeter Schaudig; 28. Anger and Hatred in Hittite Texts, Sylvie Vanséveren; VI. Envy and Jealousy; 29. Envy and Jealousy in Magico-Medical Texts, Elyze Zomer; VII. Love, Affection, and Admiration; 30. Love and Desire in Sumerian Texts, M. Erica Couto-Ferreira; 31. Love and Kindness in the Assyrian State, Frederick Mario Fales; 32. Love and Affection in Hittite Texts, Birgit Christiansen; VIII. Pity, Empathy, and Compassion; 33. Compassion, Pity, and Empathy in Sumerian Sources, Dina Katz; 34. Pity and Suffering in Old Babylonian Akkadian Sources, Nele Ziegler.