Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia

This is an excellent book. For a course I just completed on Mesopotamian religion, we frequently read small sections of this book as introductions to topics we studied each week, finishing all sections of the book by the end of the course. It is very well written and intelligent. I always looked forward to reading the sections from this book first, before tackling published essays and primary source material. The author has written many books on the subject. You would also never know that it had been translated from French.

I started reading about Mesopotamia (ancient mesopotamia is a little redundant isn't it? Unless you are talking geography) after reading about early Greek culture, specifically, I trace my interest to the works of Robin Lane Fox. So I'm not a scholar in the subject, just a guy who reads books about ancient mesopotamia. First I read the terrible "50 Firsts at Sumer" or whatever it's called- awful. Then I found Bottero's "Mesopotamia: Writing Reasoning and the Gods" and I said, "This guy is much better!" So he is- Bottero conciesely explains the progression of three thousand years of ancient civilization, specifcally their religion, in a little over 200 pages, at the end I felt like I'd learned 500 pages of material. Bottero is sure to emphasize the broader eras: Sumerian (most ancient), Akkadian, Assyrian, each period had it's own language (though they shared a Sumerian derivied alphabet) and a broad, polythesitic religion. Really, "Mesopoatmia" is about the mixing of Sumerian with Semites, so it really shouldn't be suprising that Mesopotamian themese run throughout the Bible. Bottero pretty much presents this argument as a non-controverial statement of fact, and I wonder how the Christian crazies would react if they read this book. Christian crazies? I know you're out there. Come out!

There are several excellent reviews of this book (although one review posted here appears to be of Black and Green's "Illustrated Dictionary: Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia" - another excellent but very different book). Nevertheless, I thought I'd add my two cents worth. This book is very verbally descriptive and packed with facts by an expert. The facts are embedded in the text mostly, there isn't much "at-a-glance" information. However, when you get into the text, it is extremely worthwhile - clear, beautifully written, informative, packed with information, but factual. The author clearly has a deep empathy and understanding of the worldview of this most ancient of cultures (even though he obviously is himself from and assumes his reader is from a Judeo-Christian worldview), and through his elegant writing he is able to transport the reader into that world. In the final analysis, there aren't many academics who can do this. Many books either venture into the fantastic or too far into speculation on the one hand, or on the other hand refuse to enter into the experience the facts present leaving the reader with a dry summary. This book manages to remain with the factual while transporting the reader into the experience. For those who know either of the extremely ancient languages of Mesopotamia, throughout, both Sumerian and Akkadian names are given for various deities, priesthoods, religious elements etc. The book is not a compendium of myths or texts although the most important myths are explained and used to situate cosmology with relation to the religion. Also, quite a number of samplings of texts (in English) are given which enable the reader to experience firsthand through example the principle being illustrated by the author. Chapter 6 p152 gives the standardized Mesopotamian calendar from which the ancient but later Hebrew calendar is partially derived. A few of the most important festivals are described with explication of what is known, what can be guessed at, what is unknown. If you like reading text, then this is a very good book and you will come to a good feeling for Mesopotamian religion backed up by facts. There is a respectable bibliography at the end and notes.

Teachers and students have needed this book for a long time; previously, we had to depend on skimpy glossaries at the end of anthologies. Inevitably, for reasons of space and cost, those glossaries were very brief and not cross-referenced. This book, put together by two scholars in the field, solves this problem. In 192 illustrated pages, Black and Green have, in dictionary-style defined, explained, and cross-referenced to other items and illustrations, every god, demon, and symbol mentioned in the available Mesopotamian literature. Like good scholars, they are very careful when they speculate about meanings; they are factual and write clearly,linking, whenever possible, the item they're defining to parallels in architecture, sculpture, and literature. This is a very valuable resource since it puts into one text the best, most up-to-date scholarly understanding of the many gods, demons, and symbols that the ancient Mesopotamians poured so many of their imaginative energies into creating.

This book is an excellent introduction to religion in ancient Mesopotamia. It is clear, straightforward and written with a minimum of academic jargon. I would go so far as to say it is easy to read, not common for books of this type. The author makes clear points, does not overindulge in speculation, and has a very reasonable view of what we can and cannot know about this 3000 year old religion. I really like that, despite the vast historical distance between our worldview and that of the ancient Mesopotamians, the author tries as much as possible to understand the religious mentality through which these ancient peoples viewed their world. The book sheds a lot of light on the religion of the Bible and the religious environment that created it, yet in a manner accessible to non-experts. Overall, if you are looking for an accessible introduction to a religion that was so influential to the Bible, yet is grossly understudied and likely misunderstood, I would say this is an excellent place to start.