Download or read book Early Mesopotamia written by Nicholas Postgate and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-07-05 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The roots of our modern world lie in the civilization of Mesopotamia, which saw the development of the first urban society and the invention of writing. The cuneiform texts reveal the technological and social innovations of Sumer and Babylonia as surprisingly modern, and the influence of this fascinating culture was felt throughout the Near East. Early Mesopotamia gives an entirely new account, integrating the archaeology with historical data which until now have been largely scattered in specialist literature.
Download or read book The Early Prehistory of Mesopotamia written by Roger Matthews and published by Brepols Publishers. This book was released on 2000 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The early prehistory of Mesopotamia provides a uniquely rich and significant contribution to the study of the human past. Within the geographic bounds of Mesopotamia many major developments took place. Early forms of hominid, probably Homo erectus and definitely Neandertal, passed countless millennia here, to be succeeded by anatomically modern humans. After the end of the last Ice Age the pace of human activity increased. Settled communities appeared for the first time, followed by the extensive and intensive exploitation and domestication of plants and animals. By 4,500 bc settled human communities were practising a full spectrum of agricultural techniques, cultivating a range of crops and husbanding domesticated animals for a variety of purposes, while maintaining an involvement in traditional hunting strategies. Firmly based on site by site examination, this volume contains detailed analyses of all evidence relevant to these and other major concerns of the early Mesopotamian past.
Download or read book Ancient Mesopotamia written by Susan Pollock and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1999-05-20 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Innovative study of the early state and urban societies in Mesopotamia, c. 5000 to 2100 BC.
Download or read book Ancient Mesopotamia written by A. Leo Oppenheim and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013-01-31 with total page 494 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "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.
Download or read book Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization written by Guillermo Algaze and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2009-05-15 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Mesopotamia written by Ariane Thomas and published by Getty Publications. This book was released on 2020 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mesopotamia, in modern-day Iraq, was home to the remarkable ancient civilizations of Sumer, Akkad, Babylonia, and Assyria. From the rise of the first cities around 3500 BCE, through the mighty empires of Nineveh and Babylon, to the demise of its native culture around 100 CE, Mesopotamia produced some of the most powerful and captivating art of antiquity and led the world in astronomy, mathematics, and other sciences—a legacy that lives on today. Mesopotamia: Civilization Begins presents a rich panorama of ancient Mesopotamia’s history, from its earliest prehistoric cultures to its conquest by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE. This catalogue records the beauty and variety of the objects on display, on loan from the Louvre’s unparalleled collection of ancient Near Eastern antiquities: cylinder seals, monumental sculptures, cuneiform tablets, jewelry, glazed bricks, paintings, figurines, and more. Essays by international experts explore a range of topics, from the earliest French excavations to Mesopotamia’s economy, religion, cities, cuneiform writing, rulers, and history—as well as its enduring presence in the contemporary imagination.
Download or read book Early Stages in the Evolution of Mesopotamian Civilization written by Norman Yoffee and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between 1969 and 1980, Soviet archaeologists conducted excavations of Mesopotamian villages occupied from preagricultural times through the beginnings of early civilization. The results of their work were published primarily in Soviet journals and in the English-language journals Sumer and Iraq. This volume brings together translations of these Russian articles along with newly commissioned work to make the results of this research accessible for the first time to the Western world. In addition to eight articles available here for the first time in English, a concluding chapter by Norman Yoffee offers new insights on cultural interaction based on the research at hand. The research conducted by the Soviets helped transform our knowledge of the early post-Paleolithic prehistory of Mesopotamia.
Download or read book Everyday Life in Ancient Mesopotamia written by Jean Bottéro and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2001-09-05 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Described by the editor as unpretentious roamings on the odd little byways of the history of ancient Mesopotamia, these 15 articles were originally published in the French journal L'Histoire and are designed to serve as an introductory sampling of the historical research on the lost civilization. Chapters explore cuisine, sexuality, women's rights, architecture, magic and medicine, myth, legend, and other aspects of Mesopotamian life. Originally published as Initiation a l'Orient ancien . Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Download or read book The Ancient Mesopotamian City written by Marc Van De Mieroop and published by Clarendon Press. This book was released on 1997-11-13 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Urban history starts in ancient Mesopotamia. In this volume Marc Van De Mieroop examines the evolution of the very earliest cities which, for millennia, inspired the rest of the ancient world. The city determined every aspect of Mesopotamian civilization, and the political and social structure, economy, literature, and arts of Mesopotamian culture cannot be understood without acknowledging their urban background. - ;Urban history starts in ancient Mesopotamia: the earliest known cities developed there as the result of long indigenous processes, and, for millennia, the city determined every aspect of Mesopotamian civilization. Marc Van De Mieroop examines urban life in the historical period, investigating urban topography, the role of cities as centres of culture, their political and social structures, economy, literature, and the arts. He draws on material from the entirety of Mesopotamian history, from c. 3000 to 300 BC, and from both Babylonia and Assyria, arguing that the Mesopotamian city can be regarded as a prototype that inspired the rest of the ancient world and shared characteristics with the European cities of antiquity. -
Download or read book Mesopotamia written by Kathleen Kuiper Manager, Arts and Culture and published by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. This book was released on 2010-08-15 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents an introduction to the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, from the earliest rise of the Sumerians to the seventh century C.E. Sasanian period, discussing the history, government, literature, religion, art, and architecture of each era.
Download or read book Early Mesopotamian Law written by Russ VerSteeg and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book synthesizes law in ancient Mesopotamia from its beginnings (roughly 3000 BC) to about 1600 BC. Author Russ VerSteeg explains Mesopotamian law using modern legal categories as points of reference in order to make the subject more accessible to the reader. Early Mesopotamian Law is the first book of its kind, filling a void of information left by most ancient law books, which discuss the law of Ancient Greece and Rome. It brings together information from many books on Mesopotamian history; translations of ancient law collections and documents; as well as monographs, journal articles, and unpublished papers dealing with specialized aspects of Mesopotamian law. This book will be of interest to scholars of Near Eastern studies who wish to have a single volume covering the basics of early Mesopotamian law as well as to law students and lawyers who are interested in legal history. Topics covered include: Part 1: Overview, Justice, Organization and Procedure -- the law collections ("codes"); justice and jurisprudence (the role of law); legal organization and personnel and legal procedure; Part 2: Substantive Law -- personal status; the family; inheritance and succession; criminal law; torts; property; and trade, contracts and business law.
Download or read book Early Mesopotamia written by Nicholas Postgate and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-05 with total page 721 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The roots of our modern world lie in the civilization of Mesopotamia, which saw the development of the first urban society and the invention of writing. The cuneiform texts reveal the technological and social innovations of Sumer and Babylonia as surprisingly modern, and the influence of this fascinating culture was felt throughout the Near East. Early Mesopotamia gives an entirely new account, integrating the archaeology with historical data which until now have been largely scattered in specialist literature.
Download or read book Royal Statuary of Early Dynastic Mesopotamia written by Gianni Marchesi and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The corpus of Early Dynastic figurative monuments from ancient Mesopotamia is substantial. For many years, establishing the chronological sequence and development of these artifacts has been a complicated and problematic task. In this volume--first published in Italian in 2006 and here translated, revised, and updated--Gianni Marchesi and Nicolò Marchetti provide a complete relative chronology for these remarkable objects. Having established the chronological sequence through an examination of the archaeological contexts of the excavated pieces and the analysis of their inscriptions, the authors then consider the significance of the changes, over time, in the subject matter of figurative arts, noting a gradual shift from a stage in which the entire officialdom of early polities was celebrated to a stage in which the figure of the king alone becomes the main and then almost the only object of celebration. Near the end of the Early Dynastic period, which was a time of continual political upheaval, new iconographic details were introduced in order to characterize the royal figure, and a distinctive royal iconography began to be developed. Starting from these observations, the authors proceed to investigate the ideology of early polities in Mesopotamia and the role and functions of the king. Along with a new chronology of Early Dynastic rulers and an outline of Early Dynastic history, discussions of significant monuments and inscriptions are offered. In addition, all known inscriptions on royal statues are edited and provided with detailed commentaries. First published in 2006 as La statuaria regale nella Mesopotamica Protodinastica (Rome: Bardi Editore).
Download or read book Ancient Mesopotamia written by Don Nardo and published by Greenhaven Publishing LLC. This book was released on 2009-03-17 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the subjects of adoption to Zoroastrianism, this encyclopedia treats readers to numerous entries on the life and times of ancient Mesopotamia. Readers will learn important terms, read biographies of central figures, and analyze brief narratives of pivotal events that transformed Mesopotamia.
Download or read book Materiality of Writing in Early Mesopotamia written by Thomas E. Balke and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2016-10-24 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents recent research on the relationship between the material format of text-bearing artefacts, the texts they carry, and their genre. The essays cover a vast period, from the counting stones of the late 4th millennium BCE to the time of the Great Hittite Kingdom in the 2nd millennium BCE. The breadth of substantive focus allows new insights of relevance to scholars in both Ancient Middle Eastern studies and the humanities.
Download or read book Mesopotamia written by Gwendolyn Leick and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2002-08-29 with total page 513 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Situated in an area roughly corresponding to present-day Iraq, Mesopotamia is one of the great, ancient civilizations, though it is still relatively unknown. Yet, over 7,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, the very first cities were created. This is the first book to reveal how life was lived in ten Mesopotamian cities: from Eridu, the Mesopotamian Eden, to that potent symbol of decadence, Babylon - the first true metropolis: multicultural, multi-ethnic, the last centre of a dying civilization.
Download or read book First Civilizations written by Robert Chadwick and published by Equinox Publishing Ltd.. This book was released on 2005 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First Civilizations is the second edition of a popular student text first published in 1996 in Montreal by Les Editions Champ Fleury. This much updated and expanded edition provides an introductory overview of the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. It was conceived primarily for students who have little or no knowledge of ancient history or archaeology. The book begins with the role of history and archaeology in understanding the past, and continues with the origins of agriculture and the formation of the Sumerian city-states in Mesopotamia. Three subsequent chapters concentrate on Assyrian and Babylonian history and culture. The second half of the book focuses on Egypt, begining with the physical environment of the Nile, the formation of the Egyptian state and the Old Kingdom. Subsequent chapters discuss the Middle Kingdom, the Hyksos period, and the 18th Dynasty, with space devoted to Hatshepsut, Akhenaten, the Ramesside period. The text ends with the Persian conquest of Mesopotamia and Egypt. First Civilizations also contains sections on astronomy, medicine, architecture, eschatology, religion, burial practices and mummification, and discusses the myths of Gilgamesh, Isis and Osiris. Each chapter has a basic bibliography which emphasizes English language encyclopedias, books and journals specializing in the ancient Near East.
