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الحياة اليومية في بلاد بابل وآشور
M. Contenau has chosen to survey the period between 700 and 530 B. C. out of the whole 2600 years of Mesopotamian civilization for two reasons: it is the most representative and more is known about it than any other time in the history of this culture. During these years the Near East was dominated first by the Assyrians and then by the Babylonians, who were to be subdued by the Persians. The everyday life of these people has been reconstructed from a wealth of evidence, both written records of many kinds preserved on clay tablets and the evidence of monuments excavated at such sites as Khorsabad and Nineveh, Nimrud and Asher, Babylon and Susa. Perhaps the main impression. . .that we carry away from this survey is that the life of an inhabitant of Babylonia in about 600 B. C. must have closely resembled that of any inhabitant of the Orient up to about fifty years ago, writes M. Contenau. This account of Mesopotamian life is, therefore, pertinent not only to an understanding of the age of Assyria and Babylonia but also to all the civilizations that have succeeded it in that part of the world."
566 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1950
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 28, 2022
In dit boek probeert de auteur ons zo veel mogelijk te vertellen over de Assyriërs en de Babyloniërs, vooral ten tijde van Nebukadnezar.
Het meeste van zijn informatie heeft hij gehaald uit de enorme hoeveelheid kleitabletten met spijkerschrift die gevonden zijn.
Maar de hoop gegevens is zo immens, dat alles eigenlijk niet past in een boek van 300 bladzijden, denk ik.
Ik vind dat veel dingen veel te beknopt beschreven zijn, zodat de lezer op elke bladzijde zoveel informatie te verwerken krijgt, dat het niet gemakkelijk te bevatten is. Het is zeker geen boek waarin je kan doorlezen.
Er is weinig plaats voor anecdotes.
Een voorbeeld van hoe het boek geschreven is:
Als de auteur het heeft over de verschillende tempels die gevonden zijn, begint hij ze op te noemen; elke tempel wordt genoemd bij naam, de plaats waar hij staat, hoe lang en breed en hoog hij is, waar de poort is, het voorhof, de volgende poort, het heiligdom, de bijhorende toren die er meestal naast staat.
Dit wordt per tempel genoemd in een vijf- tot zevental regels, en dan wordt de volgende tempel op dezelfde wijze beschreven. Ongeveer 12 tempels na elkaar, op deze manier.
Dat kan ik echt niet onthouden....
En zo gaat het met veel van zijn onderwerpen, de goden (waarvan er heel veel zijn), beknopte beschriijvingen van mythes en legendes, allemaal direct na elkaar, enzovoort.
Daarom vond ik dit nogal een moeilijk boek, alhoewel het op zich best wel interessant was.
Ik vind dit eigenlijk meer een naslagwerk dan een boeiend geschiedenisboek.
Het meeste van zijn informatie heeft hij gehaald uit de enorme hoeveelheid kleitabletten met spijkerschrift die gevonden zijn.
Maar de hoop gegevens is zo immens, dat alles eigenlijk niet past in een boek van 300 bladzijden, denk ik.
Ik vind dat veel dingen veel te beknopt beschreven zijn, zodat de lezer op elke bladzijde zoveel informatie te verwerken krijgt, dat het niet gemakkelijk te bevatten is. Het is zeker geen boek waarin je kan doorlezen.
Er is weinig plaats voor anecdotes.
Een voorbeeld van hoe het boek geschreven is:
Als de auteur het heeft over de verschillende tempels die gevonden zijn, begint hij ze op te noemen; elke tempel wordt genoemd bij naam, de plaats waar hij staat, hoe lang en breed en hoog hij is, waar de poort is, het voorhof, de volgende poort, het heiligdom, de bijhorende toren die er meestal naast staat.
Dit wordt per tempel genoemd in een vijf- tot zevental regels, en dan wordt de volgende tempel op dezelfde wijze beschreven. Ongeveer 12 tempels na elkaar, op deze manier.
Dat kan ik echt niet onthouden....
En zo gaat het met veel van zijn onderwerpen, de goden (waarvan er heel veel zijn), beknopte beschriijvingen van mythes en legendes, allemaal direct na elkaar, enzovoort.
Daarom vond ik dit nogal een moeilijk boek, alhoewel het op zich best wel interessant was.
Ik vind dit eigenlijk meer een naslagwerk dan een boeiend geschiedenisboek.
July 25, 2022
It is an amazing book. I have left it unfinished for a while. I resumed reading it. While it is old, it is still so precious to have a look on the lives of ancient Mesopotamians.
August 5, 2016
Of course there have been many archaeological discoveries since this book was written, but it is still a very valuable and thought provoking contribution to the subject. I particularly liked the treatment of Babylonian religion, and how the author shows that it was a rather pessimistic and gloomy belief system. Perhaps, but at least they enjoyed drinking wine. There is a wealth of well chosen detail and many judicious illustrations. A fascinating and atmospheric evocation of a very different time and place.
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January 30, 2013Just didn't contain the information I was looking for.
February 12, 2025
Page 154 Tribute was a matter of business for the Assyrians. Plunder was revenue (These days wars pay differently.)
Page 156 Quote: My soldiers entered their sacred groves where no man might pass and which no stranger ever entered, and laid bare their mysteries and burned them. The tombs of their kings, from the most ancient to the most recent, kings who had not venerated Ashur and Ishtar my lords, and who had mocked at my royal ancestors, them have I destroyed, made desolate and laid open to the sun. Their bones I have carried off to Assyria, leaving their ghosts forever without repose, without funeral offerings of food and water.
Page 214 Quote: Complete historical reliance cannot be placed on these documents. They certainly guilty of exaggerating certain victories, but it is remarkable further that they never mention an Assyrian defeat. Does the Assyrian monarch vainly pursue a defeated enemy? The latter ‘like a bird hath gained a retreat where he cannot be reached.’ Do the royal armies retreat in battle? They are making a planned withdrawal to the capital. It we want an earlier example, we can find one in the account of the battle of Kadesh between Rameses II and the Hittites, each of whose written records claims it as victory.
Page 236 Gilgamesh the Assyrian Hercules, could fight a lion
Page 302 Little-g gods who were violent and swift to wrath, relentless in the demands which they exacted from mankind, entangling every action of daily life in a web of pitiless obligations:
An imagination which peopled the world with demons and monsters ravening after their prey; nature hostile and at every point full of warnings, at every moment offering an opportunity for some unsuspected sin of omission or commission; an after life even more wretched than earthly existence, where all must lament being cut off from the light of earth and half engulfed in the dust of the Orient, the horror of which has to be experienced before it can be believed—this is the impression of unrelieved misery left by the pitiless religion to which the inhabitants of Babylon were prisoner. Everyone was a hostage at the mercy of the priests, the slave of the complexities of a crushing ritual.
The man of Mesopotamia was a stranger to laughter: never, it seems, did he learn to relax. His efforts created a brilliant civilization, no less powerful than that of Egypt and of greater renown in Western Europe, which lies so deep in its debt, than the culture which flourished on the banks of the Nile.
Page 156 Quote: My soldiers entered their sacred groves where no man might pass and which no stranger ever entered, and laid bare their mysteries and burned them. The tombs of their kings, from the most ancient to the most recent, kings who had not venerated Ashur and Ishtar my lords, and who had mocked at my royal ancestors, them have I destroyed, made desolate and laid open to the sun. Their bones I have carried off to Assyria, leaving their ghosts forever without repose, without funeral offerings of food and water.
Page 214 Quote: Complete historical reliance cannot be placed on these documents. They certainly guilty of exaggerating certain victories, but it is remarkable further that they never mention an Assyrian defeat. Does the Assyrian monarch vainly pursue a defeated enemy? The latter ‘like a bird hath gained a retreat where he cannot be reached.’ Do the royal armies retreat in battle? They are making a planned withdrawal to the capital. It we want an earlier example, we can find one in the account of the battle of Kadesh between Rameses II and the Hittites, each of whose written records claims it as victory.
Page 236 Gilgamesh the Assyrian Hercules, could fight a lion
Page 302 Little-g gods who were violent and swift to wrath, relentless in the demands which they exacted from mankind, entangling every action of daily life in a web of pitiless obligations:
An imagination which peopled the world with demons and monsters ravening after their prey; nature hostile and at every point full of warnings, at every moment offering an opportunity for some unsuspected sin of omission or commission; an after life even more wretched than earthly existence, where all must lament being cut off from the light of earth and half engulfed in the dust of the Orient, the horror of which has to be experienced before it can be believed—this is the impression of unrelieved misery left by the pitiless religion to which the inhabitants of Babylon were prisoner. Everyone was a hostage at the mercy of the priests, the slave of the complexities of a crushing ritual.
The man of Mesopotamia was a stranger to laughter: never, it seems, did he learn to relax. His efforts created a brilliant civilization, no less powerful than that of Egypt and of greater renown in Western Europe, which lies so deep in its debt, than the culture which flourished on the banks of the Nile.
September 4, 2024
A superb literature encompassing the minute and grand aspects of ancient Mesopotamia. The elaborate detail and research presented truly do encourage the reader to immerse themselves in the life of an Assyrian or Babylonian in these distant times. The factual basis in this book is strengthened by the cited works, precise language, and expert neutrality maintained throughout the work. A high-quality source of genuine human history written in a scholarly manner, this book is perfect for uncovering truth and information.
March 19, 2018
A sociological history of the period 700 – 530 BC, but drawing evidence also from the two millennia before that. Absolutely fascinating. And it just gets more so as you read on. I realise that Assyriology has come on a bit in the last seventy years and some contemporary interpretations must have changed. Couldn't tell you exactly how though as this is the first book on the subject that I've read. This covers everything from donkeys to divination. Very well ordered. I'd be surprised if there's a more recent book of the same scope that's as good.
October 11, 2016
الغريب ان الكاتب يؤكد ان الحياة في بلاد الرافدين لم تختلف عما كانت عليه من ايام قبل الميلاد الى دخول الماكينة
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December 18, 2017تفصيلي للغاية
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews