Handbook to Life in Ancient MesopotamiaModern-day archaeological discoveries in the Near East continue to illuminate our understanding of the ancient world, including the many contributions made by the people of Mesopotamia to literature, art, government, and urban life The Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia describes the culture, history, and people of this land, as well as their struggle for survival and happiness, from about 3500 to 500 BCE. Mesopotamia was the home of a succession of glorious civilizations—Sumeria, Babylonia, and Assyria—which flourished together for more than three millennia. Sumerian mathematicians devised the sixty-minute hour that still rules our lives; Babylonian architects designed the famed Tower of Babel and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon; Assyrian kings and generals, in the name of imperialism, conducted some of the shrewdest military campaigns in recorded history. Readers will identify with the literary works of these civilizations, such as the Code of Hammurabi and the Epic of Gilgamesh, as they are carried across centuries to a period in time intimately entwined with the story of the Bible. Maps and line drawings provide examples of Mesopotamian geography, while other chapters present the Mesopotamian struggle to create civilized life in a fertile land racked by brutal conquest. |
Contents
2 ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY | 39 |
3 GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY | 61 |
4 RELIGION AND MYTH | 113 |
5 LANGUAGE WRITING AND LITERATURE | 137 |
6 ARCHITECTURE AND ENGINEERING | 185 |
7 SCULPTURE AND OTHER ARTS | 213 |
8 ECONOMY | 243 |
9 TRANSPORTATION AND TRADE | 251 |
10 MILITARY AFFAIRS | 261 |
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Common terms and phrases
Akkad Akkadian ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA Ancient Near East Archaeology Ashur Ashurbanipal Assyrian Assyrian king Babylon Babylonia and Assyria Babylonian became Bible biblical Bilgames brick British Museum century B.C.E. city's civilization clay Code cultural cuneiform cylinder seals death deity divine Dynasty E. M. Meyers Eastern edited by J. M. Egypt Empire Encyclopedia of Archaeology Enkidu Enlil Epic Ereshkigal Eshnunna Euphrates excavations father flood Gilgamesh goddess gods Greek Hammurabi HANDBOOK Herodotus human Hurrian Inanna inscriptions Iraq Ishtar Isin J. M. Sasson Kassite Kramer Lagash land language Larsa later Layard literature London Marduk military myth Nabu netherworld Nimrud Nineveh Ninurta Nippur Oxford Encyclopedia Oxford University Press palace Persian priests reign river Roman royal ruins ruler Sargon scribes Scribner's sculpture Semitic Shamash society statues stone story Sumer Sumerian survive Syria tablets Tell temple texts third millennium B.C.E. throne tion Uruk walls writing York ziggurat