Сокровища тьмы: История месопотамской религии

by Thorkild Jacobsen, Торкильд Якобсен

Серия: По следам исчезнувших культур Востока

Книга известного американского шумеролога Торкильда Якобсена посвящена истории религии Месопотамии. Научную точность автор сочетает с живым, увлекательным изложением материала. Определив в начале работы типологию шумерской религии и ее место среди древних мировых религий, он в дальнейшем прослеживает эволюцию религиозных взглядов жителей Двуречья с IV по I тысячелетие до н. э.

Genres: History, Religion, Ancient History, Mythology, Nonfiction, Archaeology, Philosophy

294 pages, Paperback

First published September 10, 1976

About the author

Thorkild Jacobsen (7 June 1904 – 2 May 1993) was a renowned historian specializing in Assyriology and Sumerian literature. He was one of the foremost scholars on the ancient Near East.

Reviews

[Mesoscope · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I had to recommend just one book on Mesopotamian religious culture, there's no question that I'd advocate on behalf of this masterpiece. Jacobsen's overview of the evolution of religious thought, literature, and ritual in Mesopotamia from the fourth through the first millenium BCE sets a very high bar.

Jacobsen has a fine ear for the poetry of this material and is unerring in sounding its psychological depths. He does not lose sight of the historical realities that contextualize symbolic expressions of the Mesopotamian in the light of evolving political and technological developments. In short his presentation accounts for and accommodates the sacred and the profane aspects of religious literature.

His philological work is likewise excellent and his translations of source material are simply the best I've seen.

This book is of an entirely different order from the pioneering but awkward volumes that preceded it. Where Kramer and Chiera groped with fragments, Jacobsen lays before the reader extravagant riches.

[Elfie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jacobsen was a true scholar and the book is a must for anyone interested in Mesopotamian religion.
It contains some beautiful Sumerian etc. poetry. My favorite is the heart-breaking "Lament for Ur" by the city goddess Ningal (how she knew about, but could not avert the coming doom) and the appeal by the city god Nanna/Suen to his father Enlil, also in vain.
BTW Nanna/Suen is a moon GOD, which defies claims of a universal link between the moon and a female goddess.

[James F · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a history of ancient Mesopotamian religious beliefs and mythology, not religious practice; there is virtually nothing about the rites and rituals, priesthoods or temples. Although Jacobsen constantly quotes primary texts, which are interesting for the facts of what the Mesopotamians explicitly said they believed, his interpretations of the origins and development of the underlying ideas is very speculative; especially since the surviving texts are nearly all much later than the periods he is discussing. He begins with the concept of the Lutheran theologian Rudolf Otto in The Idea of the Holy (published in 1917), that religion is based on an experience of a mysterium tremendum et fascinosum, a sense of the numinous, of an unintelligible power beyond man, and that religious ideas, myths, and so forth are metaphors for this experience of the numinous. This more or less put me at a distance, as I have never been very impressed with the theories of Otto (or his better-known student, Mircea Eliade, not mentioned here.)

Jacobsen identifies three complexes of metaphor, the gods as providers (fourth millennium and earlier), the gods as rulers (third millennium), and the personal god as parent (second millennium). He considers the first millennium to be a time of degeneration and relegates it to a brief Epilogue.

He describes the original metaphor of the gods as being in a way identical with the internal powers of the vegetation, animal life and so forth -- some might say, in effect, as a development from pre-animism and animism, although he doesn't put it in those terms and derives it directly from an encounter with the numinous in the vegetation and so forth -- without any real personalities or activity beyond what is natural to those embodiments. He describes this as "intransitive", which seems like a strange use of the word. He suggests that the gods were originally conceived in inanimate or at least non-anthropomorphic shapes, which ultimately came to be considered as their "emblems." His example for this stage is the myth-complex of Dumuzi and Inanna, which he develops in much detail. He describes Inanna as having been the personification of the communal storehouse, and Dumuzi originally as the power of the date palm. The marriage of Dumuzi with Inanna represents the bringing of the date harvest into the storehouse. A bit later, as the villages of the date producers, farmers and herders joined together to form the first cities, their cults were merged so that Dumuzi became a more general fertility figure, representing other crops and dairy products as well as dates; this explains the myth of the death of Dumuzi (he "dies" when the crops are harvested) and the descent of Inanna (she goes into the underworld as the products in the storehouse are used up.) He uses these ideas to interpret the texts and it was quite interesting.

The second metaphor of the gods as rulers and protectors is of course more familiar, and he attributes it to the rise of the empires after Sargon. After a short summary, he then gives brief descriptions of all the major deities and their myths. The third metaphor, which he assigns to the second millennium, is that of personal gods who care for individuals as strict but loving parents. He considers this the "highest achievement" of Mesopotamian religion, undoubtedly because it is most similar to Christianity although he never says that. He follows this up with interpretations of the Enuma elish and the Epic of Gilgamesh which were very interesting; the book would be worth reading just for these two chapters alone. He finishes up with an epilogue about the first millennium, where in response to the constant warfare with the Arameans, the Assyrians, and the eastern tribes as well as among the cities themselves the ruler-aspect of the gods ceases to be that of protectors and becomes one of arbitrariness and hostility, and the religion degenerates into superstition.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

The granddaddy of Ancient Near Eastern studies. This man pretty much laid it all out for scholars to come and had a sense of humor to boot. Thorkild makes my heart happy.

[Giselle Odessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب عن حضارة ما بين النهرين للبروفسور جاكوبسين مع تقديم شروح وملاحظات وترجمة شاكر الحاج مخلف.

يتحدث عن تاريخ الديانة السومرية واساطيرها واشعارها ومحاولة شرح وفهم تاريخ السومريين من خلال النصوص التي تركوها خلفهم، مع عرض نصوص من أهم اساطيرهم كملحمة انوما إليش وملحمة جلجامش.

[Artur · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Treasures of Darkness, Jacobsen's magnum opus, is a literary tour de force of history of Mesopotamian religion. The author analyzes its hitorical connotations and changes throughout the millennia (4th-2nd), all in the most exemplary academic manner.

According to Jacobsen, basic to all religion is a unique experience of confrontation with a power not of this world, which Rudolph Otto called "Numinous", that is, a confrontation with a "Wholly Other" outside of normal experience and indescribable in its terms; at best, it may be possible to evoke the human psychological reaction to the experience by means of analogy, which may, in turn, serve as ideograms or metaphors for it. Thus, this confrontation is terrifying, ranging from sheer demonic dread through awe to sublime majesty; it's also fascinating, with irresistible attraction, demanding unconditional allegiance. At its very core, then, the power of religion can possibly be derived from man's choice to sacrifice their volition at the altar of ephemeral promises and dubious safety, since they're no longer responsible for their actions as they have surrendered to the ultimate instance.

Mesopotamians experienced the Numinous as immanent in some specific feature of the confrontation, rather than as all transcendent. They saw numinous power as a revelation of indwelling spirit; that power was at the center of something that caused it to be, thrive and flourish. In contrast, Christian religion is wholly transcendent in terms of the Numinous, as the supreme deity is completely distinct from its tools, e.g. the burning bush of the Old Testament is only a manifestation of the power, not the power in itself. Whereas the power speaking to Moses in the desert detaches itself from the bush, which only served its situational purposes, numinous power in Mesopotamian religion didn't detach itself from the locus; it was the nature incarnate.

What's striking about Mesopotamian deities is they didn't reach out beyond the specific situation or phenomenon. They made no demands, didn't act, merely came into existence, were, and ceased to exist, and with them their characteristic phenomena. This process (phenomenon), called intrasitiveness, can best be illustrated with an example of a deity Dumuzi, the power of fertility and new life in the spring. There was no instance in which the god acted, ordered, or demanded; he just was or wasn't. He came into being in the spring, was celebrated as a bridegroom in the cult rite of the sacred marriage, was killed by powers of the netherworld, and was lamented and searched for by his mother and young widow. The conclusion is, the Ancient Mesopotamians regarded their deities in purely functional terms of a means to a desired end, as each deity had to serve its purpose; when it did, it was no longer needed until it was.

To bring about god's presence, in the rite of cult dramas, man would literally re-present the god by acting him and presenting his external form, to, as a consequence, become the god, who would perform the acts that fulfill the divine will with all its beneficent results for the community. Other means to re-present gods included cult images, reliefs, wall paintings, poetry, and building temples.

As has already been mentioned, there was in the experience of the Numinous both dread and fascination, and dread seemed to predominate. Even the word god in Akkadian (ilu) is associated with the feeling of paralyzing fear. Jacobsen quotes Gilgamesh from the Gilgamesh Epic:
My friend, you did not call me,
why, then, am I awake?
You did not touch me, why am I startled?
No god went by, why are my muscles paralyzed?

The Treasures... also traces the subsequent changes in perception of religion by Mesopotamians: the trend to humanization as the extension from the narrow pattern of family, occupation, and individual life cycle, to the wider patterns of the community and the state with its internal and external political forms; from anthropomorphism and sociomorphism to politicomorphism. Another great change overturned gods as rulers into more personally-inclined deities.

[All in all, the book can be recommended to anyone interested in history, and the history of Mesopotamia in particular, but also to people with interest in theories of religion.]

[C. B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a supremely excellent book. It's certainly the best book I've read about ancient Mesopotamia thus far. Jacobsen presents such an appealing narrative of the evolution of Mesopotamian religion and gods; from intransitive embodiments of natural forces, to metaphors of the contemporary political hierarchy "projected back to mythical times and made universal" (p. 191). I also loved his emphasis on how we interpret the relationship between religious stories and artefacts and the ways in which people may have actually experienced divinity. This is a very rich book, and I hope that, as I delve further into this field, I find that Jacobsen's nuanced and sensitive suggestions have been built upon.

[Bryn Hammond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous old book that enters into the spirit of the distant past, famous for it. Has a way with words.

I only deduct a star due to dissatisfaction with his Gilgamesh discussion, that's his last segment & culmination. He changed his mind on Gilgamesh several times and has written differently elsewhere of the epic.

[Aaron Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have to say that by far I enjoy reading Samuel Noah Kramer's works more but this volume was interesting. The author explores over three thousand years of the religious impulse so to speak from Mesopotamia. He shows how roughly every millinium the religious stance has changed and gives plenty of textual evidence to back his points. From piety to bloodlust of the later millinium it almost reminds us of our own days where we have gone from simple and complete faith to a culture of bloodlust. Of course that is my observation. For those who are intrigued by Mesopotamian religion it is worth the reading, perhaps even a second one to absorb what he is saying.

[Seph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thorkild Jacobsen's The Treasures of Darkness is a unique book among the corpus of scholarly Mesopotamian literature in that it is the only work to deal extensively with the evolution of religious thought across the Sumerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian empires. Jacobsen proposes a series of religious ideas and philosophies, which developed hand-in-hand over the history of Mesopotamia, beginning with the fourth millennium BCE, and culminating at the end of the second millennium BCE. These ideas are, in brief:


• The Religious Metaphor, as experienced through the use of psychodrama in fertility cults. Jacobsen proposes that the religious metaphor gave rise to the Ruler Metaphor, wherein an individual, usually a King or High Priest/ess, would be elected to represent the Earthly avatar of some divine being. The God-King would then participate in religious psychdrama, often manifesting as seasonal rituals, in order to secure fertility and prosperity for the coming year.

• The Divine Assembly, a primitive form of democracy, where a council of the greatest gods and goddesses met to decide the fates and fortunes of the world and its inhabitants. Often this assembly contained 7 to 9 of the most prominent deities from across the Mesopotamian civilization. The most common grouping, often called the Anunnaki or Seven Who Decree Fate, consisted of An, Enki, Enlil, Inanna, Nanna, Ninḫursag̃a, and Utu.

• The Parent Metaphor, which saw the importance of the human being supersedes that of nature for the first time. Under this evolution the gods and goddesses of Mesopotamia evolved beyond their place as abstract natural forces, and became ancestral figures: mothers and fathers of Kings and commoners alike. Under the parent metaphor every living being was believed to be under the care of a unique god and goddess, who existed as his or her divine mother and father.

• The Monarch Metaphor, experienced almost exclusively in the epic Enûma Eliš, which details the rise of the supreme god, Marduk, whose elevation over the former council of gods signaled the dawn of a new era: that of Henotheism and early Monotheism. Under this new system control of the universe belonged to a single god, rather than the numerous divinities of the previous millenniums. The monarch metaphor eventually lead to internal conflict and the destruction of the civilization, due to hubris.

As Jacobsen guides the reader through each metaphor, he also explores the epic narratives which support his thesis including: epics of war like Lugal-e and Ninurta's Return to Nippur; fertility-cult love songs extolling the sexual nature of the relationship between Inanna (the storehouse) and Dumuzi (the harvest); epics explaining seasonal transitions, like The Descent of Inanna and The Death of Dumuzi; praise-songs and hymns expressing the evolving nature of the gods and goddesses; and human works like A Man and His God, which center on the importance of the human being alongside the gods.

Overall, a worthwhile study of Mesopotamian religion, and one which has influenced the thought of others, whose lesser contributions have only reinforced Jacobsen's grand vision. The only potential con I could find is that some of Jacobsen's translations of divine names were outdated, but, barring that, an excellent book from cover-to-cover, and the only one of its kind to explore Mesopotamian religion inside and out, across time and space.

[Mustafa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is This Your Kind of Book?

This book explores how religion and philosophical thought developed over the ancient centuries in Mesopotamia. It’s definitely not about rituals or cultural practices. It’s written in older, scholarly English, which I personally found challenging at times — especially since English is my second language.

Though it’s informative and nonfictional, it leans toward a speculative, thought-provoking style. I definitely recommend it to anyone interested in what I just described.

Also, while the book covers mythology and religion in depth, I still recommend reading a separate mythology book alongside it or maybe to be read before embarking on The Treasures of Darkness. My pick was Myths from Mesopotamia — and I found it really helpful (I have a full review of this book, if you want to check it out—definitely not doing any marketing).

"In our presentation, we shall consider..." the following:

1. My personal interest and relationship with the book.

2. The hardships I faced (including some self-mockery about my English), as well as the things I didn’t like about the book.

3. A few points that other readers have criticized, and my own friendly commentary on them.


Further reflections and a brief conclusion will be saved for the epilogue.

1- My personal interest and relationship with the book.

I picked it up out of sheer curiosity and a deep interest in the subject of religion. I've always questioned why different regions of the world developed such distinct beliefs—an issue clearly shaped by factors like geography, culture, historical contact...etc. While I'm still far from reaching satisfying answers, I hoped this book would give me some foundational insight.

I did expect some mention of rituals or religious practices, at least briefly. Instead, those aspects were mostly treated in an abstract way to discuss an insight/speculation—which I’ll explore further in part three.

2- Hardships and what I didn't like.

Although I might sound like a “thoughtful gentleman” with lots of curious questions, I honestly struggled with the language. Some parts were so dense that I had to rely on tools just to grasp what Jacobsen was saying. Then, I’d reread the same page—sometimes up to seven times—until it made sense. The first chapter, titled "Terms," was the toughest, but once I got through it, I found myself reading 30 pages a day with real joy. The effort pays off, I promise. Still, I never saw this as a problem with the book, but rather a byproduct of reading the English version—an intrusion I also came to enjoy.

What 'I didn’t like', however, was how limited the book felt in some areas. It was written in 1976, and Jacobsen simply didn’t have access to the kind of data we now have and will have in the future. I often wished Enlil would grant him immortality so he could return and finish what he started—with more evidence in hand. Still, as he beautifully quoted Traherne in the introduction: “Men do mightily wrong themselves when they refuse to be present in all ages and neglect to see the beauty of all kingdoms.” And Jacobsen certainly helped me see the beauty of the Mesopotamian one. But just as there was Jacobsen, there will be another to finish the work.

3- What others criticized and my own friendly commentary.

Thorkild Jacobsen was not just an Assyriologist — he was one of the brightest minds in the field. With 12 years as a professor at Harvard, his translations and interpretations of cuneiform texts are still considered foundational. His influence extends deeply into how modern scholars approach ancient Mesopotamian texts.

Yet, many readers — especially casual ones — criticized this book. Their concerns generally fall into three categories:

a) “He only speculates — there are no real facts!”

Some readers felt disappointed that Jacobsen didn’t deliver “facts” but rather philosophical interpretations and possibilities. But it’s important to understand what kind of material he was working with.

Cuneiform sources are fragmentary, poetic, and open to interpretation. Jacobsen never pretended his interpretations were final. In fact, he openly acknowledged the limitations of our knowledge. On the "ruler metaphor" of late Mesopotamian religion, for instance, he wrote:

> “Such change is not easily pinned down for it may have differed from person to person and from occasion to occasion. Any comments one might make are therefore bound to be highly subjective and tentative.”

This honesty, in my opinion, adds to the book’s credibility. Rather than pretend to know everything, he gives us a model of how a responsible scholar handles ambiguity. And for me as a reader, this gave me space to speculate and reflect freely. It felt like a conversation, not a lecture.

b) “The ideas are too repetitive.”

This is partially true — but not necessarily a flaw. Jacobsen often repeats his central themes across time periods. Why?

Because the subject is not only complex, but abstract. Many of the insights — like the nature of "religious insight" in a society — are hard to grasp and easy to forget. Jacobsen’s repetition, I believe, was a pedagogical tool. He brings up the same ideas in different contexts to make sure they sink in.

As a professor, he knows that repetition can help difficult concepts stick. And in a field where the textual sources are so unfamiliar to us, that’s a strength, not a flaw.

Moreover, in the Epilogue, he returned to some earlier themes—not to repeat for repetition's sake, but to underscore the absence of religious insights that could be credited to the late second millennium and the first millennium, except for "Quietistic piety".

c) “He unfairly called the first millennium BCE a 'dark age'.”

This critique is more ideological than academic. Some readers were uncomfortable with him referring to the first millennium as a “dark age.” But Jacobsen had a reason: he saw that period as insightfully poor — a time characterized more by political upheaval and repetition of past ideas than by innovation in religious thought.

It doesn’t mean there was no culture — but rather, that from a philosophical or religious standpoint, it lacked the creative vitality of earlier periods. It's a thesis, not a judgment — and I found it worth reflecting on.

Epilogue

As I’ve stated above, Jacobsen’s approach is largely speculative—but that should not be mistaken for a flaw or a waste of time. His tone is one of humility and philosophical caution, not weakness. It’s a method that recognizes the limits of certainty—especially in a field where definitive answers are rare and always subject to revision.

In that light, speaking with absolute certainty and declaring “facts” can sometimes be more superficial than insightful. It may offer the comfort of closure, but not the depth of understanding. Jacobsen, as a professor, naturally leans toward discussion, exploration, and the planting of ideas rather than the delivery of conclusions. He classifies eras and describes developments based on the interpretive tools of his discipline—not as gospel truths, but as thoughtful propositions.

Personally, I believe those who refrain from speaking in absolutes deserve more attention. Their caution is not a result of ignorance, but of wisdom—a recognition that no one among us holds the final answers to humanity’s endless questions.

I hope I didn't make the same mistake in the Epilogue.

[Gavin White · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this several years ago when I was starting to get interested in all things Mesopotamian. I really liked it as it mapped out, in very broad strokes, the history of the gods.
Since then I have found my own way in Mesopotamian studies and have come to have some second thoughts especially about the earliest periods which Jacobsen describes in terms of the fertility goddess Inanna and her semi-divine lover Dumuzi. I have come to think that the idea of the goddess marrying the king (in the guise of Dumuzi) is not an archaic myth but a transitional one whose first traces may be seen in the late 4th millennium (which is when the famous Uruk vase was made - see page 24).
Some clues to the age of the Sacred Marriage can be found in the Epic traditions. The Gilgamesh Epic recounts how Gilgamesh rejected the love of Inanna and the rites of the Sacred Marriage but one of his predecessors on the throne of Uruk, Enmerkar, was definitely regarded as being married to the goddess (see the Enmerkar poems on the ETCSL website). This, along with the Uruk vase, places the cult of divine union within the late 4th and early 3rd millennium and not any earlier.
In my own studies I have come to place a greater emphasis on artworks than I do on literature - the artistic record goes back to the Neolithic period while useful literate sources only start in the middle of the 3rd millennium. One thing that tends to confirm my suspicions is the almost total lack of images of Inanna and Dumuzi together in their blissful union. Then, of course, there is Dumuzi's name - as lover of Inanna it seems inexplicable that his name should mean the 'true or faithful child' (Sumerian DUMU-ZI). All this makes me think that the goddess and her child were the earliest religious type in Mesopotamia.
Other modern scholars such as Gwendolyn Leick and Piotr Steinkeller, although saying nothing of the child, certainly concur in thinking that the goddesses of fertility alone ruled the land of Iraq in the earliest times. The close assimilation of Dumuzi with the king in so many texts also tends to support such a thesis and it may well be the case that sorting out the early history of kingship and its relationship to the Sumerian ruler known as the EN will finally resolve this matter.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The basis of Jacobsen's thesis, as established in the first chapter, is that religion is the human response to confrontation with the numinous power within phenomena. Under this guiding principle, the book traces the chronological development of this response within Mesopotamian culture. Beginning in the 4th millennium BCE with the gods experienced as animating forces within the phenomena of greatest significance to agricultural and pastoral subsistence, the centralization of power through the 3rd and 2nd millennia sees the gods increasingly anthropomorphized and imagined as constituting a cosmic administrative apparatus. Finally, by the later 2nd millennium this trend toward humanizing the gods leads to devotees developing a sense of personal relationship with them, often regarding a particular patron deity in explicitly paternal or maternal terms. During this same period, texts such as the 'Enuma Elish' and 'Epic of Gilgamesh' appear to express a growing concern with questions of cosmogony and humankind's place in the cosmos.

Jacobsen illustrates his analysis with extensive use of the source texts - in both translated passages and succinct summaries - from which we know what we do of ancient Mesopotamian religion, including cultic hymns, royal inscriptions, and literary works. Overall, this volume offers an interesting, coherent explanation for the historical development of the religion evident in those texts, as well as substantial details of the more prominent gods and myths which it comprises.

[Emre Sevinç · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unlike Kramer's "The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character", this book is a slow burner and a more difficult read, demanding more patience at least in the first half of the book. No matter how fascinating the history of ancient Sumer is, and no matter how much Jacobsen tried to compose this book for the non-specialist, we're still faced with a demanding text dedicated to only a subtopic of Sumer from one of the top-notch scholars in the field.

After the warning above, I have to say that I found the last few chapters much more motivating and exciting. Starting from the "Rise of Personal Religion", continuing with "Enûma Elish", and reaching its peak with the most famous Gilgamesh epic, Jacobsen's analysis is a tour de force of connecting today's understanding with the world view of 4000 years ago, as well as their connections to other cultures such as ancient Greek literature, Judaism, and Christianity.

It is not easy to take such ancient material, values and ideas barely visible from the traces on clay tablets, and bring them to life in such a lively manner, providing the reader with enough context to support the mind opening analyses. The author succeeded in this, and I can recommend this book after Kramer's book, if only for its second part.

[C.R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an essential read for anyone who is interested in ancient history. Not only on Sumerian Mesopotamia but also on those later cultures (many-practically all) that inherited their lore from the Sumerian scribes.

The first two chapters are a must for study. Jacobsen's interpretations of cuneiform texts and his interpretation of their metaphorical meaning have proven to be very precise, and were essential in my own research. His is ground-breaking work in that particular field, and is the primary reference in many of the later books on Mesopotamian lore.

The words "Mesopotamian Religion" may be somewhat of a misnomer since what is discussed in the second chapter is more like agrarian metaphorical lore rather than religious. The evolution of that lore into a religion occurs later. One of his comments, that 'the fourth millennium in Mesopotamian archaeology is conspicuous by absence' turned out to be very precise.

[r0b · Rating 4 out of 5]

I most enjoyed the last 100 pages. And I thought it was pretty cool that he brought in Harry Stack Sullivan, quoting his The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry.

[Michael Joosten · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a textbook more than light reading, The Treasures of Darkness should be expected to be tough going, but Jacobsen rises at times, especially as the book goes on, to something closer to popular non-fiction, and the fact that the book starts further away from this and arrives there unevenly makes it a little bit frustrating.

Or, perhaps, that's not quite fair--maybe it would be better to say that the text starts with very general historical facts, in a mythology quite unanchored from history, and becomes more historical as the millennia pass.

At the start, Jacobsen emphasises the foreignness of Mesopotamia civilisation: to study it is like studying Chinese civilisation. To be western (i.e. to be Judaeo-Christian) is to share a mindset that sees the world quite differently from the ancient Mesopotamian, and it is illustrative for us to see what the dominant world-view in the ancient Near East was when the Jewish revolution in thinking began (and how it was paralleled and perhaps part of smaller shifts within the Mesopotamian mindset at the same time).

The best part of the book--at least as a literature person--is the Gilgamesh chapter, since this tracks an epic comparable to Homer or Beowulf and far, far older. It is easiest to see the shared humanity of the ancient inhabitants of Ur and Uruk here, for the concerns of the author(s) expressed in Gilgamesh are concerns still: death and its place in the human experience.

[Dan McCollum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thorkild Jacobsen was one of the preminent scholars of the ancient Near East during a career of many decades. Born in Denmark, he woul go on to teach at Harvard and publish a number of works related to Mesopotamian literature and history. Despite his, perhaps intimidating credentials, The Treasures of Darkness is a very accessible work which seems to be aimed at both scholars and a popular audience alike. Each chapter is built around a common theme, and these themes are exxplored chronologically. Jacobsen relies heavily upon literature in his his analysis, with many chapters being long exposes of individual myths and the information we can gleam from them - of these, the best in my opinion was his analysis of the Epic of Gilgamesh, which was lively, entertaining and informative. Despite this, the subtitle "A History of mesopotamian Religion" seems to offer more than what is delivered - speaking personally, I was hoping to come to a better understanding of the role of the temple of Mesopotamia, its relation to the cities, and also popular religion (though Jacobsen does delve into this later topic in his chapter about the Paternal relationship of Gods to worshippers). Despite this, though, the book is very good, and based on my enjoyment of it, I picked up his latter volume of translations of Mesopotamian poetry.

[Atticus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely amazing, a shame that I waited this long to read it in all honesty. Jacobsen has a real talent, even in essaying, at bringing ancient mythology and cult practices alive; the read is incredibly smooth, altogether interesting, and frankly, enthralling. Anyone interested in the mythology of the ancient near-east should check this out.

[Costangeles · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little bit hard to follow, but very complex as it contains a lot of ancient text analysis. I don't know if it is the best one on Mesopotamian religion, but it sure helped me understand the subject better.

[Gayla Bassham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating if dense. If you're curious about ancient religions definitely worth a look.

[Corey Hampton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic piece of scholarship. Personally, the commentary on Enûma Elish is worth the price of the book itself. Highly recommended.

[Salam Taha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always trusted as much as enjoyed reading Prof Jacobson's translations from Ancient Iraq's Literature, I recommend this book for any tier of readers, a must read.

[Hoho Ghumpus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each of us is a library. Some of the information inside of us is genetic, the legacy of ancestors fighting to stay alive, of viruses embedding themselves inside our chromosomes; and some of that information is cultural, the traces of what long-dead people once thought, sung, wrote. The ancient Mesopotamians had a story about a great flood and an ark bearing the lucky few to safety. They had stories about a new race made of clay, treacherous serpents, doomed quests for eternal life, and the rise of the One God. The cultural beliefs that dominate modern life are remixes of ideas born before humans could write. Jacobsen clearly loves his subject, but the reader need not share that love in order to value what he's done here. The names of the Sumerian and Akkadian gods are strange, their behavior often appalling, but they are, as much as any god in the world, our ancestors. Learning about their origins, their adaptations to the chaotic Fertile Crescent politics of the third and second millennium BCE, is like viewing a section of DNA through an electron microscope. We may not recognize what we see, and we won't easily be able to connect that weird little molecule to this thing we think of as the self. But stare long enough, and the sheer improbability of what we're looking at imposes itself upon us. Everything that came before is here now.

[Uladzislau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Книга реально зубодробительная, подходит только для специалистов, отчего непонятно, почему же ее издали в известной научно-популярной серии? Видимо, к постсоветскому времени серия деградировала, как и почти все остальное. Рекомендовать книгу любителю истории не стоит, потому что для ее прочтения и адекватного восприятия необходимо владеть узкоспециальными знаниями. А специалист найдет ее и без рекомендаций.

[Catherine McNiel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I looked forward to reading this for a long time, and was not disappointed. I thoroughly enjoyed every second of the read. Excellent book.

[Aleksandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant book on Mesopotamian religion and mythology, indispensable for the scholars and students of mythology.

[Bart Everson]

I especially liked Jacobsen's account of the Epic of Gilgamesh.