This book explores the world of “meeting etiquette” in the Middle East, from ancient Mesopotamia to the Ottoman period. It looks at the shared rules and expectations that shaped how people came together, whether meeting equals, addressing authority figures, or encountering the divine.

This volume focuses on how meeting etiquette has been understood, defined, and organized across time. Drawing on rich examples from different regions and periods, this book examines practices such as gestures, posture, gaze, physical contact, hygiene, clothing, polite speech, and hospitality. It also stands out for its collaborative approach, bringing together scholars from a range of disciplines and fields of expertise in ancient cultures. By tracing these practices over time, the book highlights both enduring traditions and significant changes, from antiquity to the early twentieth century.

Interdisciplinary in scope, the volume offers fresh perspectives by engaging with art history, archaeology, philology, anthropology, and sociology. It invites readers to rethink how meetings were not only conducted, but also experienced, in antiquity.

Ludovico Portuese is Associate Professor of Archaeology and Art History of Ancient Western Asia at the Università degli Studi di Messina, Italy. He is currently the director of the Italian archaeological mission at Tell al-Thahab, Diyala Governorate in Iraq.