From Egypt to Babylon: The International Age, 1550-500 BC

This book does an impressive job of pulling together the threads of the diverse histories of the ancient world into a coherent fabric that illustrates the relations of these kingdoms to one another. For many readers it will introduce peoples about whom they may know little or nothing, and show how their histories fit into the better known histories of lands such as Egypt and Greece. This book will be of interest to any who have studied any particular ancient civilization and wondered how it fits into the larger tapestry of ancient history. I have only one small problem with this book (and it is a very small one): The author's insistence on using the term "Iraq" rather than "Mesopotamia" throughout his text. He explains it thus in his Preface: "The term Iraq (a name applied to the region of the modern country from at least the sixth century AD) is used in preference to the Greek term Mesopotamia which is becoming less meaningful for younger generations of readers." For someone like me, seeing "Iraq" used 2000 years too early in the context of Mesopotamia is both jarring and distracting. I also submit that avoiding the term "Mesopotamia" is not the best way to combat the trend of it "becoming less meaningful." However, as I said, it is a small point and does little to detract from the overall usefulness of this very useful work.

Paul Collins has written an impeccable book, and its strength lies not only in its careful analytical summations of known ancient Near Eastern history but also especially in its attention to international relations in the time period from the Late Bronze Age to Neo-Babylon. Collins has done justice to what happened in Mesopotamia at the same time as in Egypt and how these regions reacted or responded to each other, with detailed critical understanding of the ebb and flow of power dynamics between these regions (when one was strong, the other usually weaker; when equally strong, a clash was inevitable in the Levantine buffer zone). While I agree with another reviewer that selective cultural highlights would make this book even better (e.g., Gilgamesh only receives a few sentences) - although also possibly making the book too long - this is not its stated historically purposed purview. While I also agree that integration of illustration and text or discussion of illustrations therein, adding to its excellent captions, might improve the book, its many beautiful and iconic images (in keeping with British Museum Press high standards) are lavishly ample and greatly representative of the cultures therein. I will certainly use the book in my next Stanford course on the Ancient Near East, and I hope a paperback edition is forthcoming for university students, for whom it will be the current definitive text.