Babylon

by James Howard Wellard

A history of the ancient city of Babylon and its rediscovery by modern archaeologists.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

223 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

James Howard Wellard was a prolific writer of both fiction & nonfiction. He was a journalist who served as a combat correspondent attached to Patton's Third Army during WWII, after which he wrote a biography of General Patton. He continued his successful career as an author until the 1980s.

Reviews

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the theorized linkages between Babylonian poetry and the Hebrew Bible, particularly with the Book of Job.

[Reeds · Rating 2 out of 5]

-This author has a deep bias against the Bible. He couldn’t mention it without mocking it.

-He also makes up his mind, and writes his personal conclusion as fact. He decided that Alexander the Great had cirrhosis of the liver and died in his early 30’s. A simple internet search, will show you that there are several ways he could have died from the symptoms he had, but it is all speculation. No one alive today can know for sure what happened to Alexander thousands of years later.

Page 150 – The Bible doesn’t give Shalmaneser a number behind his name. Come to think of it, I don’t think the Bible puts numbers behind the names of any kings, it differentiates between them by saying who their father was. This author mocks the Bible saying that it said Shalmaneser III who reigned in 858-824 BC reigned too early to have been king during king Hezekiah’s reign 716-686 BC. The Bible must have been referring to Shalmaneser V.

A great quote to keep in mind when dealing with ancient history:
“It must never be forgotten that we are dealing with a civilization thousands of years old and one of which only tiny remnants have survived. What is proudly advertised as Egyptian history is merely a collection of rags and tatters.” ~ Sir Alan Gardiner

Don’t talk in absolutes about ancient history. Not only are we depending on rags-and-tatters, but the kings back then wouldn’t allow anything embarrassing to be written about themselves. If the king did something embarrassing to the country, the king who came after him would erase the record of it from wherever it was recorded. Those statues in Egypt with the noses scratched off wasn’t done by the wind. It doesn’t matter if it was Assyria, Babylon, Persia, or Egypt none of them would tolerate being publicly humiliated.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

There seems to have been a wealth of books in the mid 20th century that dealt with the adventure of archaeology over the drudgery of the discoverys/findings/methodology. Wellard's book mostly reads like a boy's adventure novel and that's no bad thing. Brought to life are the rascals and scallywags who first negotiated digging rights to the Mesopotamian sites that have brought so much of the ancient world back into clarity.

[Constance Meccarello-Gerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting history