Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization

Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization

Author: Guillermo Algaze

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2009-05-15

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 0226013782

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The alluvial lowlands of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in southern Mesopotamia are widely known as the “cradle of civilization,” owing to the scale of the processes of urbanization that took place in the area by the second half of the fourth millennium BCE. In Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization, Guillermo Algaze draws on the work of modern economic geographers to explore how the unique river-based ecology and geography of the Tigris-Euphrates alluvium affected the development of urban civilization in southern Mesopotamia. He argues that these natural conditions granted southern polities significant competitive advantages over their landlocked rivals elsewhere in Southwest Asia, most importantly the ability to easily transport commodities. In due course, this resulted in increased trade and economic activity and higher population densities in the south than were possible elsewhere. As southern polities grew in scale and complexity throughout the fourth millennium, revolutionary new forms of labor organization and record keeping were created, and it is these socially created innovations, Algaze argues, that ultimately account for why fully developed city-states emerged earlier in southern Mesopotamia than elsewhere in Southwest Asia or the world.


Life in Ancient Mesopotamia

Life in Ancient Mesopotamia

Author: Shilpa Mehta-Jones

Publisher: Crabtree Publishing Company

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 36

ISBN-13: 9780778720362

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In between the fertile banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, in what was called the cradle of civilization, the first known civilization on earth evolved. Life in Ancient Mesopotamia describes the lives of ancient Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians, and explores the gifts they brought to the world, including the wheel, plow, and sailboat. Great lawmakers such as Hammurabi, the architectural beauty of ziggurats and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, along with the invention of cuneiform writing are also featured.


Ancient Mesopotamia

Ancient Mesopotamia

Author: A. Leo Oppenheim

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2013-01-31

Total Pages: 494

ISBN-13: 022617767X

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"This splendid work of scholarship . . . sums up with economy and power all that the written record so far deciphered has to tell about the ancient and complementary civilizations of Babylon and Assyria."—Edward B. Garside, New York Times Book Review Ancient Mesopotamia—the area now called Iraq—has received less attention than ancient Egypt and other long-extinct and more spectacular civilizations. But numerous small clay tablets buried in the desert soil for thousands of years make it possible for us to know more about the people of ancient Mesopotamia than any other land in the early Near East. Professor Oppenheim, who studied these tablets for more than thirty years, used his intimate knowledge of long-dead languages to put together a distinctively personal picture of the Mesopotamians of some three thousand years ago. Following Oppenheim's death, Erica Reiner used the author's outline to complete the revisions he had begun. "To any serious student of Mesopotamian civilization, this is one of the most valuable books ever written."—Leonard Cottrell, Book Week "Leo Oppenheim has made a bold, brave, pioneering attempt to present a synthesis of the vast mass of philological and archaeological data that have accumulated over the past hundred years in the field of Assyriological research."—Samuel Noah Kramer, Archaeology A. Leo Oppenheim, one of the most distinguished Assyriologists of our time, was editor in charge of the Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute and John A. Wilson Professor of Oriental Studies at the University of Chicago.


Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia

Author: Britannica Educational Publishing

Publisher: Britannica Educational Publishing

Published: 2010-04-01

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 1615302085

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Celebrated for numerous developments in the areas of law, writing, religion, and mathematics, Mesopotamia has been immortalized as the cradle of civilization. Its fabled cities, including Babylon and Nineveh, spawned new cultures, traditions, and innovations in art and architecture, some of which can still be seen in present-day Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey. Readers will be captivated by this ancient culture’s rich history and breadth of accomplishment, as they marvel at images of the magnificent temples and artifacts left behind.


Ancient Mesopotamia Speaks

Ancient Mesopotamia Speaks

Author: Agnete W. Lassen

Publisher: Peabody Museum (YUP)

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781933789378

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A stunning guide to the treasures housed within the Yale Babylonian Collection, presenting new perspectives on the society and culture of the ancient Near East The Yale Babylonian Collection houses virtually every genre, type, and period of ancient Mesopotamian writing, ranging from about 3000 B.C.E. to the early Christian Era. Among its treasures are tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh and other narratives, the world's oldest recipes, a large corpus of magic spells and mathematical texts, stunning miniature art carved on seals, and poetry by the first named author in world history, the princess Enheduanna. This unique volume, the companion book to an exhibition at Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History, celebrates the Yale Babylonian Collection and its formal affiliation with the museum. Included are essays by world-renowned experts on the exhibition themes, photographs and illustrations, and a catalog of artifacts in the collection that present the ancient Near East in the light of present-day discussion of lived experiences, focusing on family life and love, education and scholarship, identity, crime and transgression, demons, and sickness. EXHIBITION SCHEDULE Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History (04/06/2019--06/30/2020) Distributed for the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History


The Sumerians

The Sumerians

Author: Samuel Noah Kramer

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2010-09-17

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 0226452328

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“A readable and up-to-date introduction to a most fascinating culture” from a world-renowned Sumerian scholar (American Journal of Archaeology). The Sumerians, the pragmatic and gifted people who preceded the Semites in the land first known as Sumer and later as Babylonia, created what was probably the first high civilization in the history of man, spanning the fifth to the second millenniums B.C. This book is an unparalleled compendium of what is known about them. Professor Kramer communicates his enthusiasm for his subject as he outlines the history of the Sumerian civilization and describes their cities, religion, literature, education, scientific achievements, social structure, and psychology. Finally, he considers the legacy of Sumer to the ancient and modern world. “An uncontested authority on the civilization of Sumer, Professor Kramer writes with grace and urbanity.” —Library Journal


Mesopotamia, Iraq in Ancient Times

Mesopotamia, Iraq in Ancient Times

Author: Peter Chrisp

Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 42

ISBN-13: 9781592700240

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An amply illustrated book fascinates by explaining what ancient artifacts tell us about the origins of Iraq.


Ancient Mesopotamia

Ancient Mesopotamia

Author: Susan Pollock

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1999-05-20

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9780521575683

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Innovative study of the early state and urban societies in Mesopotamia, c. 5000 to 2100 BC.


The Ancient Near East: A Very Short Introduction

The Ancient Near East: A Very Short Introduction

Author: Amanda H. Podany

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 0195377990

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This book explores the lands of the ancient Near East from around 3200 BCE to 539 BCE. The earth-shaking changes that marked this era include such fundamental inventions as the wheel and the plow and intellectual feats such as the inventions of astronomy, law, and diplomacy.