ABSTRACT
Southwest Asia, more commonly called the Middle East (and in archaeological circles termed the Near East), stretches from Iran to the Mediterranean, and from the southern shores of the Black Sea to the Persian Gulf It is the birthplace of many religions, including three that are practiced by more than half of the worlds population today: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. The cultures and beliefs of ancient Mesopotamia (Figure 16.1) played an important role in the shaping of early Israelite religion, later known as Judaism, which emerged in the Levant several millennia later. These earliest Near Eastern religions are explored here.
