Despite the political decentralization of the period, the early Iron Age in North Syria (ca. 1200-900 BCE) was also an era of cultural and social innovation. One index of this creativity was the development of a distinctive urban monumental style in North Syria combining large architecture with carved and decorated stone slabs. The ruling elites of these city-states created an environment for the display of ideologies that both influenced and were influenced by the region's new social, cultural, economic, and political realities. This monumental urbanism provided the setting for the development of new regional identities and also had a large influence on the public face of the cities of the Neo-Assyrian empire.

Chapter 1 is an overview of the history of the region, history of research, and the main issues to be investigated. Chapter 2 describes the theories and methodologies guiding the analysis of the data. This framework draws upon perspectives developed for the analysis of signification in general (semiotics), ideology, ethnicity, and architecture. Chapter 3 presents arguments indicating how the reliefs and the meaning-rich urban architecture (such as gates, palaces, and temples), as permanent orientating points on the landscape, played an important part in forming identity groups. References to religion and, especially, ancestors were major components in the discourses involved in molding social identities. Chapter 4 considers the relationship between North Syria and Assyria. While Assyria was influenced to a substantial degree by North Syria's urbanism, it did not “borrow” the specific elements in a rote manner but rather adapted and transformed them to meet its imperial requirements. North Syrian adoption of Assyrian styles and forms may be described as emulation, but evidence exists that this process was not entirely subservient but could incorporate expressions of resistance.

The Catalogue contains the data forming the basis for the analyses in Chapters 3 and 4. In it I look closely at three aspects of the Iron Age North Syrian cities on a site-by-site basis: the overall urban morphologies, the monumental architecture, and the accompanying reliefs. I also propose chronologies by site using the available archaeological, art historical, and inscriptional evidence.