Cultural ​Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East

53 ​maps; 468 illustrations, 342 in color

Quite rightly, Mesopotamia has been called the “cradle of civilization”. Lying between the rivers Tigris and Eufrates (Mesopotamia means “between the rivers”) and occupying parts of what are today Iraq and Syria, this ancient word laid the foundation for social development and human progress. The transitions from hunter-gatherer to farmer, and from villages to urban life, first occurred in or around Mesopotamia. It was also there and in the neighboring Near East that the first empires grew up during the Bronze Age and the first written language was developed.

Beginning with the description of the of the physical changes that occurred in the region following the last Ice Age, and their influence on patterns of settlement, the atlas tells the story of the cultural, technological, political and economic achievements of the different peoples, races and tribes who occupied the area in the course of nearly 12,000 years. From the early nomads, it charts the growth of the warring city-states, through the rise of Babylonia and Assyria, and culminating in the mighty Persian empire of Darius and its destruction by Alexander the Great in 330 BC.

As most of what is known about the period is based on archeological finds these are covered in some detail. Among the many uncovered artifacts that have proved of great interest are beveled-rim bowls from the Mediterranian to the Iranian plateau (evidence of the remarkable spread of the Late Uruk culture in the 4th millennium BC), the stone reliefs of the Assyrian palaces (testifying to the power of Assyrian rule and customs of the time) and semiprecious stones carnelian and lapis lazuli used as decoration throughout the region (showing trading links that stretched to Afghanistan and the Indus Valley even as early as 3000 BC).

A lucid text, aimed at the nonspacialist, is accompanied by copious explanatory maps and illustrations in full color. All the major sites that form part of the story are featured, with site plans, drawings and photographs to guide the rader. A wide variety of important topics, including the Royal Cemetery at Ur (discovered by Sir Leonard Wooley), ziggurats (the famous Mesopotamian temple towers) and the Babylonain’s contrinutions to science and mathematics, are presented as special features.

The book includes a Glossary of technical and other terms and contain valuable reference aids in the form of a Chornological Table, Bibliography, and Gazetteer as well as an Index.