Reviews
A popular work for understanding Mesopotamian social life... Written in a vigorous and interesting style with much useful information.
The book covers many interesting topics not typically addressed in general texts such as cuisine, love and sex, women's rights, and the idea of sin. The book is written for the novice in the field, but it does not simply skim the surface or summarize the authors' longer works; rather, it makes accessible much interesting primary source material that is normally only found in scholarly book sand journals.
In Everyday Life in Ancient Mesopotamia, Jean Bottéro displays his immense learning, total command of the field, as well as a profound awareness of approaches used by scholars in other historical periods... This book is a well-rounded and appealing introduction to Mesopotamian civilization.
Book Details
Publisher's Acknowledgment
A Note on Pronunciation
Foreword
Map of Ancient Mesopotamia
PART I. Origins
1. Did the Sumerians Emerge from the Sea
2. The Great Enigma of the Cemetery at Ur
PART II. Everyday
Publisher's Acknowledgment
A Note on Pronunciation
Foreword
Map of Ancient Mesopotamia
PART I. Origins
1. Did the Sumerians Emerge from the Sea
2. The Great Enigma of the Cemetery at Ur
PART II. Everyday Life
3. The Oldest Cuisine in the World
4. The Oldest Feast
5. An Ancient Vintage
6. Love and Sex in Babylon
7. Women's Rights
8. The Women of the Palace at Mari
9. Semiramis: The Builder of Babylon
10. Magic and Medicine
11. The Birth of Astrology
12. The Ordeal
PART III. Myth and Legend
13. The First Account of the Flood
14. The Epic of Gilgamesh
15. How Sin Was Born
Chronology
Further Reading
Index