The JOURNAL OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS (JAC) is published annually in two fascicles by the Institute for the History of Ancient Civilizations (IHAC, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, Jilin Province, People’s Republic of China).

The aim of JAC is to provide a forum for the discussion of various aspects of the cultural and historical processes in the Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean world, encompassing studies of individual civilizations as well as common elements, contacts and interactions among them (e.g. in such traditional fields as Assyriology, Hittitology, Egyptology, Classics, and Sinology among others). Hence, we publish the work of international scholars while also providing a showcase for the finest Chinese scholarship, and so welcome articles dealing with history, philology, art, archaeology and linguistics that are intended to illuminate the material culture and society of the Ancient Near East, the Mediterranean region, and ancient China. Articles discussing other cultures will be considered for publication only if they are clearly relevant to the ancient Mediterranean world, the Near East and China. Information about new discoveries and current scholarly events is also welcome. Publishers are encouraged to send review copies of books in the relevant fields.

JAC is a double blind peer-reviewed journal. Articles must not have been published in, or submitted to, another publication at the time of submission. All submitted articles are first carefully read by at least two editors of JAC, who will give a feedback to the author. Articles (excluding book reviews or research reports) are afterwards reviewed anonymously by at least two referees in the specific field, appointed by the editorial board. The whole peer-review process as well as any judgment is based on the quality of the article and the research conducted therein only. In cases where the reviewers recommend changes in the manuscript, authors are requested to revise their articles. The final approval of articles is at the editorial board. Throughout the whole peer-review process, articles are treated confidentially. In case of (alleged or supposed) interest conflict, misconduct or plagiarism of any party involved the editor in chief and/or the chief executive director (or, if necessary, another member of the editorial board) will pursue the case and should the situation of taking action arise, will notify the respective party. From time to time, we will publish a list of the referees on our homepage (http://ihac.nenu.edu.cn/JAC.htm), to make the double blind peer-review process transparent and comprehensible.

The articles of this issue shed new light on long-discussed research questions. Michael Allen Stephens re-examines the classification of ancient Egyptian shiptypes and modifies the traditional categorization system (pp. 1–19). Katarina Nebelin argues for the importance of ritualized banquets for knowledge transfer between “East” and “West” and for the emergence of early Greek philosophy (pp. 21–37) while Peter John Rhodes, the eminent expert on the Athenian constitution, offers a detailed account of what we nowadays know about the Athenian assembly and council, and what is still under discussion (pp. 39–67). The second part of the survey of “Ancient Law” comprises discussions of recent research on Ancient Near Eastern (Daniel Justel; pp. 69–81), Egyptian (Sandra L. Lippert; pp. 83–111) and Byzantine (Li Qiang; pp. 113–124) legal cultures. It completes the picture sketched in the first part (JAC 33/2, pp. 181–282) and shows how vivid and fruitful the exchange between different fields and disciplines is if law is not regarded as an autopoietic and separated system but seen in its connection with dynamics in the respective societies.

All communications, manuscripts, disks and books for review should be sent to the Assistant Editor, Journal of Ancient Civilizations, Institute for the History of Ancient Civilizations, Northeast Normal University, 130024 Changchun, Jilin Province, People’s Republic of China (e-mail: jac@nenu.edu.cn), or to the Executive Editor in Chief, Prof. Dr. Sven Günther, M.A. (e-mail: svenguenther@nenu.edu.cn or sveneca@aol.com).