Customer Reviews

Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Although I'm a biologist by education, I'm something of a history buff and I've purchased 6 or 7 big atlases of world history and cultural atlases of the world lately (you can't have too many atlases in your life), and this one is the best atlas on Mesopotomia that I've seen. It's well-written and has lots of interesting information, but it's major strength is all the beautiful color photos of art, artifacts, buildings, and other cultural items from the many ancient sites, along with a number of maps. The author does a fine job of discussing the importance of many of the major archeological sites and their history. You'll hear a lot about these in the book, some of which, although I've read a fair amount of archeology and ancient history, I still wasn't that familiar with, so the author knows his stuff. All in all a beautifully illustrated, well-written, educational, and even reasonably priced book given the overall quality and features.

While we're on the subject, another very accessible and interesting book is Prof. Jean Bottero's Everyday Life in Ancient Mesopotomia. The ancient Mesopotamians come across as practical, no-nonsense people who, in contrast to the ancient Egyptians, weren't especially religious and believed in living life in the here and now as best one could. Although they did have a religion, it was mostly for propitiating various gods and deities who they hoped would bestow their blessings on them in their present life. There was a concept of the afterlife, but it was basically a dark, dingy, netherworld where not much happened, it seems, and they regarded the present life as far preferable to it.

Just another suggestion for further reading in case you're interested.

This atlas covers the historical development of the ancient Near East (with an emphasis on ancient Mesopotamia) from Paleolithic times to the conquest of the Persian empire by Alexander the Great. Michael Roaf does an excellent job of illustrating the book with color photos of artifacts, stone inscriptions, and maps that reinforce the discussion in the text. At appropriate points in the book, special features are included that focus on specific archaelogical sites around the Middle East as well as on significant cultural and scientific developments that occurred.

The main part of the book is 223 pages long, of which approximately half is devoted to photos, maps, and features. However, this is not simply a picture book; the atlas also includes a historical narrative that I found to be quite engaging and accessible for a general reader like myself. Additionally, besides being a good introduction to ancient Mesopotamia, this atlas provides a wealth of archaelogical data that may serve as a good reference for those who are undergoing more advanced reading. Examples of such data include the layout of existing ruins, geographical distributions of archaelogical finds, and a gazetteer that provides the coordinates of ancient sites in the Middle East.

On the negative side, I found that the index often provided faulty page references to subjects and a few typos can be found throughout the text. Nevetheless, these blemishes do not take away from the book's main goal of providing an illustrated introduction to ancient Mesopotamia for the general reader.

I understand that Checkmark Books (who published this atlas in 1990) has recently published a new book entitled "The Historical Atlas of Ancient Mesopotamia" by Norman Hunt. I have not seen this more recent book nor have I read any reviews about it, but potential buyers may wish to inquire about it before purchasing the 1990 atlas.

In any event, I think that "The Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East" would be a valuable addition to the library of anyone who is interested in ancient history. I know that this book will be in my collection for a long time to come.

A very well documented book. The one thing that sets this book apart from other books written on Mesopotamia are the photos and diagrams. If you are looking for a detailed show-me view of Mesopotamian archeaology and history then this is the publication for you. All of the cultural atlas series are well developed in a visional sense for the reader. The topics covered in this book begin from the origin of agriculture through the Persian empire, with all the archaeological evidence and written history inbetween. I recommend this book for every library, weither your highly interested in Mesopotamia or it's just a fancy. Buy it and you will not regret the purchase.

I was re-reading the above book and saw the comments of 'Susanna', who faulted the book because of a lack of information associated with the pictures shown. He/she is entirely wrong -- and in addition no one else commented in this (supposed) fault.
Each photo I saw (all) not only gave a good description, but, contrary to many similar type books, indicates from where each item was/is to be found. This is a definite 'plus'.

This is an incorrect and inaccurate criticism.

This is an incredibly informative read with hundreds of beautiful photographs throughout. Its very factual and seems current with its research. Roaf does not waste time on speculation - he simply states the facts as they have been uncovered and leaves it up to the reader to infer meaning and implication. I read this as a text for a college course and found it loaded with info (overwhelming at times). But it having a professor explain the hows and whys was crucial.

This is what a professor claimed of this book as I was beginning my readings on ANE history and looking for good sources. I could not agree more, I constantly find myself returning to this book for reference. I would say that there are three primary strengths of this book (for the beginner especially).

1.It will give you a basic understanding of how archaeology works within the context of ANE studies. When virtually everything we know about the region comes from archaeological data, it is imperative for a beginner to understand the basics of the methodology being used and how scholars interpret the data. Being that archaeology is central to the book, some may find the book tedious.
2. The maps and illustrations are phenomenal. This is what I most often use it for now and have found nothing better in this respect.
3. The historical summary is interesting, clear, and well organized. However, there are certain parts that seem disorganized. Most of this is due to complete gaps in historical data where the author chose to refrain from speculation. This is simply the nature of the beast in ANE history. The scarcity of the material is accurately conveyed when it is necessary.


I would recommend using this (the text and maps) in conjunction with A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000 - 323 BC (Blackwell History of the Ancient World) by Marc Van De Mieroop

This is a readable and informative review of our ancient heritage. Even though the civilizations discussed are 3000 to 5000 years old - many of their ideas have come down to us - although in a transmuted sense and changed through many generations.

This is a good introduction to the peoples and culture that predate the greeks, romans and egyptians: where western civilization usually starts its history.

This is a well-written book and has lots of valuable information, but it's major strength is all the beautiful color photos of art, artifacts, buildings, and other cultural items from ancient sites, along with a number of maps. The author does a fine job of discussing the importance of many of the major archeological sites and their history. All in all, a beautifully done book, well-written, informative and even reasonably priced given the overall quality and features.

If you want to read just one work in ancient Mesopotamia and its ancient neighbors, make it this one.

Roaf presents an impressive, chronological narrative of the region complemented by a stunning array of photographs, maps and tables. The scholarship is so excellent that I've seen it 'borrowed' by other scholars-Van Der Mieroop, for instance.

Not to be missed.

I slowly worked my way through this book over that last year and learned quite a lot from it. From the contents of Neolithic villiages to the slow evolution on Cuniform script from it's origional pictograms. I was fascinated by the Assyrian's system of empire. A system that kept things in tact so well that the subsequent empires of the Babylonians, Medes, Persions, and Greeks were able to conquer vast swaths of the world in releativly short time spans.

I kind of a technically minded person so it's easy for me to forget that this is a "Cultural Atlas". The book is filled with full-color pictures of ancient art ranging from every-day pottery to artifacts from the greatest temples and palaces of their times.

I'm a born-again Christian and one reason I got this book to try to get a glimpse of what cultures influenced the ancient Hebrews of the Old Testament and to see what evidence actually exists of the Hebrew monarchy besides the bible and temple ruins (Answer - not a lot). Roaf does give the Hebrews an honorable mention and often mentions how archaeologists use passages from the Old Testament as a cross-refernce to literature and records from neighboring cultures.

I gave the book 5 stars but it does have it's flaws. Many of the figures have a baffling lack of legend and captions to allow a better understanding of what, when, and where one is looking at. Sometimes one has to look real hard at the map figures to understand exactly what part of Mesopotamia one is looking at as there is no indication of scale or landmarks.

The figures were only a minor nuisance. Get this book for the great array of photographs and easy read.