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Between the Rivers: The History of Ancient Mesopotamia Course No. 3180

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36 lectures, 30 minutes/lecture Taught by Alexis Q. Castor Franklin & Marshall College Ph.D., Bryn Mawr College Do we see the temples known as ziggurats, thrust toward the sky by stepped platforms that would bring worshippers closer to the gods they honored? Entire populations paralyzed by fear before a dreaded invader, their dreams haunted by images of their own severed heads held aloft? Priests making sacrifices to the gods who ruled over and protected their city? Or the fabled Hanging Gardens of Babylon, their terraces as shadowed by mystery as they are set alight by color? Any of these, of course, may come to mind. Perhaps all of them. And with the exception of Babylon's fabled gardens, whose existence has never actually been confirmed, they are all true—each a part of the legacy of a region from which our own culture has drawn so many essential aspects, including writing, the first code of law, the idea of cities, and even the first epic poem. All cultures lie in the shadow of Mesopotamia. A Visit to the Time of the First Cities Between the A History of Ancient Mesopotamia will illuminate that shadow, taking you back to a time when the first cities arose in Mesopotamia and kings created complex bureaucracies to rule expanding territories, thus fostering the invention of writing and other technologies. It is truly a remarkable journey and adventure, through a land where the real history is even more astounding than its legends. Your guide, Dr. Alexis Q. Castor, has twice been named Most Influential Professor by Franklin & Marshall's senior class. Experienced both in the classroom and on archaeological digs, she plunges you into the daily life of cultures such as Sumer and Akkad and animates peoples such as the Assyrians and Medes, weaving together her own evocation of Persian culture with the works of the great Greek historians, Herodotus and Thucydides.

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