What do you think?
Ancient Civilizations
Ancient Mesopotamia
The legacy of past civilizations is still with us today. In Ancient Mesopotamia, readers discover the history and impressive accomplishments of the ancient Mesopotamians, including their extraordinary cultural achievements and technological wonders. Engaging text provides details on the civilization's history, development, daily life, culture, art, technology, warfare, social organization, and more. Well-chosen maps and images of artifacts bring the past to life. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards.Essential Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.
- GenresNonfiction
112 pages, Library Binding
First published December 12, 2014
About the author
Tom Head
46 books65 followersAuthor of It's Your World So Change It (Que/Pearson), Civil Liberties A Beginner's Guide (Oneworld UK), and 22 other nonfiction books on a wide range of topics; About.com guide to civil liberties.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 20, 2020
أتممتُ اليوم قراءة كتاب صغير ومصوّر عن بلاد النهرين بقلم الباحث الأميركي توم هيد. الكتاب يضم نبذة لطيفة وغير متعمقة – ولكنها جيدة للمبتدئين – عن بلاد النهرين وانجازاتها الكثيرة: أول المدن والملاحم الشعرية (كلكامش) والأعمال الأدبية باسم شاعر محدد (الشاعرة أنخيدوانا) وأول كتابة ومشاريع إرواء وقوانين ودين مؤسساتي وأول إمبراطورية وغيرها الكثير.
الكتاب لطيف ويمكن قراءته بسرعة وهو مناسب لتقديمه لطلاب المدارس والثانويات برأيي. مع سعة إطلاعي على تاريخ بلاد النهرين، أضاف لي الكتاب القليل من المعلومات الجديدة أيضًا وسيضيف الكثير بالنسبة لشخص لم يقرأ عن تاريخ هذه البلاد.
Quotes:
- Although historians can only approximate the year in which the ancient Mesopotamian civilization began, it is easy to say when it ended: on October 29, 539 BCE. On that date, Cyrus the Great of Persia entered the city of Babylon and declared himself king.
- Some European scholars of the 1800s suggested the Gutians were European, citing the fact that they were sometimes described by Akkadians as namrum, meaning “fair-haired” or “fair-skinned.” However, this theory has never been well supported by the available evidence.
- Lullaby of Shulgi-simti
Historians don’t know much about Shulgi-simti, not even her name; Shulgi-simti simply means “wife of Shulgi.” Shulgi was the Sumerian king of Ur from approximately 1955 BCE until 1907 BCE. Still, Shulgi-simti is widely known as the author of the world’s oldest lullaby: In my song of joy—he will grow stout, In my song of joy—he will grow big, Like the irina-tree he will grow stout of root, Like the šakir-plant he will grow broad of crown. . . My son, sleep is about to overtake you, Sleep is about to settle on you.2 Future verses promise that her son will have a long life. This was a very real concern at a time in history when approximately one in three infants did not survive.
- Priesthood also offered sanctuary for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Mesopotamians. Homosexuality in general was not socially unacceptable in ancient Mesopotamia. No Sumerian, Akkadian, or Babylonian legal code condemns it, and even Gilgamesh and Hammurabi were said to have had sexual relationships with other men. Still, the householder’s life presumed marriage and a family. The priesthood was an alternative in which lesbian are not happy about it and have to be supplicated with offerings or they will cause trouble.
- There had been temples, housing, and agriculture before Eridu. But putting all of these elements together in the same city, surrounding it with walls, and filling it with streets, markets, public accommodations, and written records are what created the first city—and with it the first recognizable civilization.
- The innovations of ancient Sumer included helmets, personal body armor, war axes, primitive chariots, and the first professional warriors. An enormous amount of evidence for the early history of warfare comes from a monument erected in 2525 BCE. It is known as the Stela of the Vultures.
Jane McIntosh argues the contributions of these civilizations were absolutely critical to the modern world: [Ancient Mesopotamia] and more particularly Sumer, its southern part, first saw the emergence of many of the developments that transformed the world into the urban society of today. Intensive agriculture, industrial production, state-controlled religion, complex stratified society, and the city itself had their beginnings here, as did many key innovations— including writing, without which we could neither share nor preserve our cultural and technological heritage.
- One of the most remarkable things about ancient Mesopotamia was that so many of these innovations happened in the same time and place. Developments such as writing, permanent cities, and farming are the underpinning of our modern society. In many ways, the people of ancient Mesopotamia, including the Sumerians, the Akkadians, and the Babylonians, invented the human world as we know it.
#GilgameshNabeel
#كلكامش_نبيل
الكتاب لطيف ويمكن قراءته بسرعة وهو مناسب لتقديمه لطلاب المدارس والثانويات برأيي. مع سعة إطلاعي على تاريخ بلاد النهرين، أضاف لي الكتاب القليل من المعلومات الجديدة أيضًا وسيضيف الكثير بالنسبة لشخص لم يقرأ عن تاريخ هذه البلاد.
Quotes:
- Although historians can only approximate the year in which the ancient Mesopotamian civilization began, it is easy to say when it ended: on October 29, 539 BCE. On that date, Cyrus the Great of Persia entered the city of Babylon and declared himself king.
- Some European scholars of the 1800s suggested the Gutians were European, citing the fact that they were sometimes described by Akkadians as namrum, meaning “fair-haired” or “fair-skinned.” However, this theory has never been well supported by the available evidence.
- Lullaby of Shulgi-simti
Historians don’t know much about Shulgi-simti, not even her name; Shulgi-simti simply means “wife of Shulgi.” Shulgi was the Sumerian king of Ur from approximately 1955 BCE until 1907 BCE. Still, Shulgi-simti is widely known as the author of the world’s oldest lullaby: In my song of joy—he will grow stout, In my song of joy—he will grow big, Like the irina-tree he will grow stout of root, Like the šakir-plant he will grow broad of crown. . . My son, sleep is about to overtake you, Sleep is about to settle on you.2 Future verses promise that her son will have a long life. This was a very real concern at a time in history when approximately one in three infants did not survive.
- Priesthood also offered sanctuary for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Mesopotamians. Homosexuality in general was not socially unacceptable in ancient Mesopotamia. No Sumerian, Akkadian, or Babylonian legal code condemns it, and even Gilgamesh and Hammurabi were said to have had sexual relationships with other men. Still, the householder’s life presumed marriage and a family. The priesthood was an alternative in which lesbian are not happy about it and have to be supplicated with offerings or they will cause trouble.
- There had been temples, housing, and agriculture before Eridu. But putting all of these elements together in the same city, surrounding it with walls, and filling it with streets, markets, public accommodations, and written records are what created the first city—and with it the first recognizable civilization.
- The innovations of ancient Sumer included helmets, personal body armor, war axes, primitive chariots, and the first professional warriors. An enormous amount of evidence for the early history of warfare comes from a monument erected in 2525 BCE. It is known as the Stela of the Vultures.
Jane McIntosh argues the contributions of these civilizations were absolutely critical to the modern world: [Ancient Mesopotamia] and more particularly Sumer, its southern part, first saw the emergence of many of the developments that transformed the world into the urban society of today. Intensive agriculture, industrial production, state-controlled religion, complex stratified society, and the city itself had their beginnings here, as did many key innovations— including writing, without which we could neither share nor preserve our cultural and technological heritage.
- One of the most remarkable things about ancient Mesopotamia was that so many of these innovations happened in the same time and place. Developments such as writing, permanent cities, and farming are the underpinning of our modern society. In many ways, the people of ancient Mesopotamia, including the Sumerians, the Akkadians, and the Babylonians, invented the human world as we know it.
#GilgameshNabeel
#كلكامش_نبيل
January 1, 2025
I needed a YA non-fiction book for my 2024 reading challenge. What a surprise to find the book I chose because it was the shortest on the shelf to be so interesting and well organized! As an educator, I really appreciated how each chapter built on the chapters before and the small vignettes fit in with the overall story. I wish I could buy the whole series for my classroom!
July 6, 2025
As someone who knew nothing of the Ancient Mesopotamian culture, this book felt like a great introduction to start digging deep into its history and discover new treasures (you see what I did there? No? Oh, okay…)
It’s brief in its topic sections and jumps timelines in a way that that can be confusing at times, BUT it’s mentioning of key cities in the region and how they interacted with one another over a period of thousand of years gives foundation of where to further my research.
Do I want to explore the subject of the missing city of Akkad? Maybe I want to know more about Babylon and how it became such a center of influence and then dissension for many empires that came after (especially with its lost Hanging Gardens that used to be a Wonder of the ancient world)?
Either way, this was a good read that I would recommend to any looking for a start!
It’s brief in its topic sections and jumps timelines in a way that that can be confusing at times, BUT it’s mentioning of key cities in the region and how they interacted with one another over a period of thousand of years gives foundation of where to further my research.
Do I want to explore the subject of the missing city of Akkad? Maybe I want to know more about Babylon and how it became such a center of influence and then dissension for many empires that came after (especially with its lost Hanging Gardens that used to be a Wonder of the ancient world)?
Either way, this was a good read that I would recommend to any looking for a start!
February 15, 2018
Too much jumping around.
February 20, 2026
Good book.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews