The Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East

by Michael Roaf

Surveys the history and development of Mesopotamian and Near Eastern civilization, describing the cultural, technological, political, and economic achievements of the different peoples living there

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Archaeology, Art, Historical, Middle East, Atlases

238 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1990

Reviews

[Christian S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wanted to get a better understanding of "the cradle of civilisation". A lot of very interesting facts and pics and maps etc - covering the entire relevant time period from Ur to Alex' the Great. But I realise I don't like this "atlas" format - it's way too disconnected a storyline and the reading flow is always broken by sepearate charts/pics and text boxes. Also the overall writing style reminds of a not-so-interesting history class in middle school - which may have to do with the fact that this book came out more than 35 years ago. Most likely there are better generalist books on this absolutley incredible story of Mesopotamia.

[Lloyd Downey · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a series of these books and I have a number of them but this is the first one that I have tried to read cover-to-cover. And I think it was worth the effort. I like their layout and the insertion of " boxes"...actually a couple of pages....devoted to special subjects like "Writing" or "Nineveh". There is mention ...but only in passing.....of the ancient cities of the Indus; Harrapan and Mohenjo Daro. So it doesn't really cover this area. But it broadly covers the fertile Crescent, ...extending into Egypt, the Zagros Mountains and some of Modern Iran and extends into Turkey ....though very rarely to the Ionian Coast. It also covers a huge sweep of history from around 7,000 BC (they say 12,000 BC) to Alexander the Great around 330 BC. Yes there is a lot of coverage of kings disposing of other kings and carrying their gods back to base but there is also quite an interesting and extensive coverage of such things as writing, governance and religion, and the archeology of these ancient sites....including ceramics, art, warfare, etc.
I've read quite a bit about this area and this period of history but still I learned a lot. The maps ....lots of them, are really helpful in getting a visual impression of the sweep of the various empires and smaller political units. Sometimes, the history of this region seems to be captured by the bible or the koran but I didn't observe this bias from the current work. Generally it seemed to be objective and reliable. Happy to give it 5 stars. I quite enjoyed reading it.

[Juan · Rating 4 out of 5]

En realidad es la reseña para el segundo tomo de Atlas Culturales del Mundo:; supongo que este contiene ese segundo tomo, así que aquí va. Más o menos por la mitad se dividió el libro, y lo que cabe en este parte más o menos del principio del primer milenio, después de que el colapso de la Edad del Bronce acabara con los hititas y reorganizara todo el Oriente Medio, con nuevos imperios y reinos y viejas rencillas. Aquí los asirios se enfrentan los babilonios, los elamitas con todos ellos y los egipcios depende.
Aparte de la historia, como buenos atlas que son, los mapas son detallados y bastante ilustrativos. E incluso resultan útiles para estudiar el periodo: mapas de rutas comerciales, de producción, de recomposición de ciertos reinos, son bastante ilustrativos; y los cuadros ilustrativos e imágenes están bien escogidas y reproducidas. En resumen, una buena compra que no he podido apreciar hasta ahora.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I used this book as a source for a research paper. I read maybe one hundred pages of it, but what I did read I enjoyed. I thought it was well-written in a concise manner. The three chapters I used had plenty of information I could use, and the author also had interesting 'tangential' information included as well. In addition to the primary text, there were additional sections to expand on different aspects of whatever culture or nation was being discussed as well as more generalized points. There were also numerous maps and pictures in the book, which helped the reader get a better idea of the area covered by either a given kingdom or empire as well as artifacts used by people in different time periods. It had a nice flow to it that kept the reader engaged. I could easily see myself finishing this book at some point in time in the future.

[Edward Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!

Informative yet entertaining walk through the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia from the hunter/ gathering stage (16,000 BC) through the Sumerians, Hittites, Assyrians, Babylonians and everything in between till the coming of Alexander the Great around 330 BC.

Book is a colorful coffee table style book with great pics and maps that serve to highlight the text moving through time from when the residents of the Fertile Valley began to expand their gathering to more farm like structures and then on to villages, cities and great dynasty's.

This book was used as the Backbone of a college level class focused on the birth of civilizations.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Currently using as reference for QGIS and supplemental reading for QGIS, wonderful wonderful wonderful. The English original is much more topical and precise than the German translation, it seems as if the translator was not working without a particularly deep understanding of certain geographical / archaeological terms and concepts.

[Philip · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully illustrated book on the ancient near east from the late neolithic times until Alexander's conquest of Persia.

[Gavin White · Rating 4 out of 5]

I primarily use this book as a visual source as it has so many excellent colour photos, illustrations and maps.
The book is set out in a chronological manner and then various 'special features' are added about specific subjects like the principal cities of the region, the writing system, cylinder seals, ziggurats, etc etc.
As another reviewer has stated the historical sections do get bogged down in a mass of detail. I have come to use Marc van de Mieroop's History of the ANE as my prime historical reference and tend to use the Cultural Atlas to get more detail and a more visual perspective. As such I have found the Atlas to be an excellent reference work that I keep on returning to.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing and useful book. Provides an overview of Mesopotamia from the period of the Sumerians, until the fall of the Persian Empire. Contains many excellent photos of monuments, places, and detailed maps. Due to the nature of the history of these empires, and the lack of much information beyond the names of rulers for some time periods, it can become confusing because of the long lists of names. Reading this book concurrently with a general history of the area is helpful, to reinforce each other. I found, and still find, this book to be a marvelous resource to dip into, and is one of the most beautiful history books I have purchased.

[Maja - BibliophiliaDK ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

To begin with I found this book very informative. It was nicely constructed in a strictly chronological order that makes it easy to go from a to b. But just like the Mesopotamien society the book also soon got more and more complex. Suddenly I couldn't follow anymore, I couldn't understand half of what I was reading. There were too many names and places that were never even described or explained. I didn't feel like it was made for a 'new reader' like myself.

[Gökhan]

anythink

[Crystal Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and well-designed overview of subject matter, with a wealth of photographs and maps.

[Bodour AlQudah]

first time to read.

[Matthew Kent]

What a great book on the life and culture of Mesopotamia.