From an Antique Land introduces the various cultures and literatures of the Ancient Near East, including literature originally written in Egyptian, Sumerian, Akkadian, Hittite, Ugaritic, Canaanite, Hebrew, and Aramaic. The timeframe extends from the invention of writing through the conquest of Alexander the Great. Each chapter includes an overview of the culture, a discussion of literary genres, and descriptions and short analyses of the major literary works.