Civilizations of Ancient Iraq

by Foster, Benjamin R.

• ISBN13: 9780691137223
• ISBN10: 0691137226
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-05-26
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

InCivilizations of Ancient Iraq, Benjamin and Karen Foster tell the fascinating story of ancient Mesopotamia from the earliest settlements ten thousand years ago to the Arab conquest in the seventh century. Accessible and concise, this is the most up-to-date and authoritative book on the subject. With illustrations of important works of art and architecture in every chapter, the narrative traces the rise and fall of successive civilizations and peoples in Iraq over the course of millennia--from the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians to the Persians, Seleucids, Parthians, and Sassanians.Ancient Iraq was home to remarkable achievements. One of the birthplaces of civilization, it saw the world's earliest cities and empires, writing and literature, science and mathematics, monumental art, and innumerable other innovations.Civilizations of Ancient Iraqgives special attention to these milestones, as well as to political, social, and economic history. And because archaeology is the source of almost everything we know about ancient Iraq, the book includes an epilogue on the discovery and fate of its antiquities. Compelling and timely,Civilizations of Ancient Iraqis an essential guide to understanding Mesopotamia's central role in the development of human culture.

Author Biography

Benjamin R. Foster is professor of Assyriology and curator of the Babylonian Collection at Yale University. He is the author of many books on the history and literature of ancient Iraq and is the translator and editor of "The Epic of Gilgamesh" (Norton). Karen Polinger Foster is lecturer in ancient Near Eastern and Aegean art at Yale and has written widely on Bronze Age art.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
In the Beginning
Of Tigris and Euphrates	p. 1
The First Villages	p. 7
From the Foothills to the Plains	p. 12
The Birthplace of Civilization
The First Cities	p. 15
From City to State	p. 27
Sumerians Abroad	p. 29
Setting Words on Clay	p. 30
The Uruk Phenomenon	p. 33
Early City-States
New Polities	p. 35
Ur and the Royal Graves	p. 36
When Kingship Came down from Heaven	p. 39
Shuruppak, City of Wisdom	p. 40
A Tale of Two Cities	p. 42
Kings of the Four Quarters of the World
The First Empire	p. 51
Naram-Sin: When Kingship Went up to Heaven	p. 55
A Golden Age of Sumerian Culture	p. 61
Management and Crisis	p. 67
The Age of Hammurabi
The Amorites	p. 71
Rim-Sin, King of Larsa	p. 73
Shamshi-Adad, King of Upper Mesopotamia	p. 74
Hammurabi, King of Babylon	p. 76
Arts of the Table and Bedroom	p. 81
The Epic of Gilgamesh	p. 83
The End of Amorite Rule	p. 85
Babylonia in the Family of Nations
The Kassites	p. 87
Kassite Statecraft and Society	p. 90
The Club of Great Powers	p. 93
Science and Literature	p. 94
The Hurrians	p. 99
The End of Kassite Rule	p. 100
The Assyrian Achievement
The Rise of Assur	p. 105
The Middle Assyrian Empire	p. 109
The Neo-Assyrian Empire	p. 113
Assurnasirpal II and Nimrud	p. 115
Sennacherib and Nineveh	p. 119
The Library of Assurbanipal	p. 123
The Fall of Assyria	p. 126
The Glory of Babylon
The Last Babylonian Empire	p. 129
Nabonidus, King of Babylon	p. 132
Learning and Memory in Babylonia	p. 134
Works and Days	p. 140
The Persian Empire	p. 142
Mesopotamia between Two Worlds
Alexander the Great and the Seleucids	p. 147
Antiochus I Soter, King of Asia	p. 149
The Realm and Its Economy	p. 152
The Culture of Hellenistic Babylonia	p. 154
The Rise of Parthia	p. 156
Mithridates I and the Reunification of Iraq	p. 158
Parthian Iraq	p. 160
Roman Armies in Iraq	p. 164
The End of Mesopotamian Civilization	p. 166
Sassanian Iraq
The Sassanian Empire and Religious Pluralism	p. 168
By the Waters of Babylon: Judaism in Iraq	p. 173
Christianity in Iraq	p. 176
Sassanian Society, Statecraft, and Economy	p. 178
Arab Settlement in Iraq	p. 180
Sassanian Art	p. 182
Shapur I and Shapur II	p. 184
The Sassanians and Byzantium	p. 187
Prelude to Conquest	p. 189
Epilogue Discovery and Destruction of Ancient Iraq
Exploration and Decipherment	p. 191
Archaeology Past and Present	p. 198
The Nation of Iraq and Cultural Heritage	p. 201
The Gulf War and Cultural Destruction	p. 205
The Iraq War and Cultural Devastation	p. 206
Notes	p. 211
Bibliography	p. 231
Index	p. 283
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