Between Two Rivers
'I have never read a book on Mesopotamia that so beautifully brings to life the people themselves ... It melts away the sense of time.' TOM HOLLAND 'Tender, moving and vivid.' ROBERT MACFARLANE 'Beautiful' STEPHEN GREENBLATT 'Fascinating and magni...
Between Two Rivers
Thousands of years ago, in a part of the world we now call ancient Mesopotamia, people began writing things down for the very first time. What they left behind, in a vast region that once sat between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, preserves leap...
Between Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History
Mesopotamia saw the first cities, devised the original writing system, sowed the early seeds of agriculture, and developed myths, medicine, and astronomy that all went on to influence societies around the world. However, the significance of this ancient civilization goes far beyond its technological inventions: These were the people who began the human tradition of recording their own histories. With each chapter focusing on a new artifact, historian Moudhy Al-Rashid takes us on a personal tour of ancient life: the brick that was the basis of Mesopotamian architecture; the classroom tablets that shed light on the timeless anxieties of student life; the stone obelisk that spoke to the vast socioeconomic gulfs. Ancient Mesopotamians wanted a witness to their lives, and thousands of years later, Al-Rashid shares their stories.
