The best way to finish my reading year. Using archaeological sources, mainly texts from cuneiform clay tablets, this book relates stories of people in Ancient Mesopotamia. Starting in 3500 BCE Mesopotamia, from the Sumerian civilisation and Akkadian dominion to the raise and fall of many Mesopotamian city states, from old and Neo Assyria, to old and Neo Babylonian empires. Each chapter deals with a place and a time frame, highlighting the main historical events, kings and gods. Chapters also include one or more stories of common people: traders, barbers, priestesses, scribes, Ashipus (physician-exorcists) whose lives we know about thanks to tablets found with their names and references to legal or business activities or sometimes incantations. The author reconstructs their lives vividly, transforming those clay tablets into real people who lived 3, 4, 5 thousand years ago.
I loved this book because of all the history that I learned. Kings like Sargon, Ur-namma, and Hammurabi, as well as Sargon II, Sennasherib and Nebuchadnezzar. Priestesses like Enheduana and Adad-Guppi. Wars, conquers, defeats, and deportations. But on top of this knowledge, the stories told about common people gave me a new perspective, a deeper understanding of how people lived and felt in ancient Mesopotamia. Those people are more real to me now. In a way, their lives were no different than ours.
Something else I found very helpful was the extras. In addition to the usual Index, Bibliography and Notes, I liked the Cast of Main Characters - with names, professions, dates and chapters of all people mentioned in the stories and historical accounts (there are so many, and the ancient names are so different from ours) and the Timeline with important people and events, from 3500 BCE to 330 BCE.
Recommend.
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