Ancient Iraq: Third Edition (Penguin History) | 
 enlarge | Author: Georges Roux
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Category: Book
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Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 62422
Media: Paperback
Edition: 3
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 576
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5 x 1.1
ISBN: 014012523X
Dewey Decimal Number: 935
EAN: 9780140125238
ASIN: 014012523X
Publication Date: March 1, 1993
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Product Description
This is a political, cultural and economic history which covers the whole of Mesopotamia from the days of prehistory to the Christian Era. The book describes the empires, dynasties and religions of each millennium and suggests something of the splendour of Babylon before its capture by Cyrus.
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Ambitious, fascinating overview of Mesopotamia from prehistoric times to the first century AD September 8, 2008
_Ancient Iraq_ by Georges Roux is a book covering the entire history and culture of Mesopotamian civilization, all three thousand years of it from its prehistory to the final demise of Mesopotamian civilization in the first century A.D.
The term "Mesopotamia" originated with the Greeks and it means "the land between the rivers" and does not include all of Iraq and all of what we have come to think of as Mesopotamia. Surprisingly the ancient inhabitants had no name covering the totality of the country in which they lived.
Though in many ways the inventors of civilization often little remains for the visitor to see of this once great civilization; "[t]he dissolving rain, the sand-bearing winds, the earth-splitting sun conspired to obliterate all remains" and these desolate ruins "offer perhaps the best lesson in modesty that we shall ever receive from history." Part of the reason for the lack of remains is the nature of the Iraqi environment, as the meandering Tigris and Euphrates rivers occasionally change course, isolating once riverside sites as "forlorn ruin-mounds in a desert of silt, several miles from modern waterways." Also these ancient towns were built of nothing but mud as stone was rare. At first made of piled-up mud (pise) or adobe, as early as the ninth millennium B.C. clay was mixed with straw, gravel, or potsherds and made into sun-dried or kiln-baked bricks.
The very nature of the rivers had a lot to do with the origins of Mesopotamian civilization. As the combined flood periods of the two rivers do not occur when it is best for agriculture, fields must be irrigated. To create these canals and maintain them against silting-up require colossal, unending labor of many people, something that sowed both the seeds of local strife and political unity. The effort to maintain canals and to insure an equitable distribution of water reinforced the authority of the original town chiefs, the high priests, and along with the scarcity of fertile land lead to the concentration of power and wealth in a few hands in a few places, to the creation of cities where further technical and artistic achievements could be made, and the invention of writing to record transactions.
In many ways the book can be read as the rise, spread, and then the decline and fall of Mesopotamian civilization. It was amazing just how small Sumeria really was; it was a mere 30,000 square kilometers, a bit smaller than Belgium, a narrow strip of land around the Euphrates from about the latitude of Baghdad stretching to the Gulf, with the average city-state less than 3000 square kilometers and at most 35,000 people. Sargon and his Akkadian successors subdued the fractious Sumerian city-states and also conquered the entire Tigris-Euphrates basin and built the first great Mesopotamian kingdom. Though the Akkadian empire only lasted 200 years, collapsing from the pressure of mountain tribes and internal rebellion, it set an important example, as to reconstruct Mesopotamian unity, to reach what we could call its natural limits "became the dream of all subsequent monarchs, and from the middle of the third millennium until the fall of Babylon in 539 B.C. the history of ancient Iraq consists of their attempts, their successes and their failures to achieve this aim." The Akkadians greatly enlarged the geographical horizon of Sumer and Sumero-Akkadian culture, supported by cuneiform writing, was adopted by the people outside of Sumeria. In addition the Akkadians forever blended the two historical populations of Iraq (the non-Semitic Sumerians and the Semites), ringed the death knell for city-states, heralded the advent of large, centralized kingdoms, and eroded the power of the temples.
Later as a result of the migration of a very large ethno-linguist group, the "Indo-Europeans," young energetic nations emerged in and around Mesopotamia. That, plus the involvement of Egypt in Near Eastern politics from 1600 BC onwards meant that history in ancient Iraq was raised to a truly international scale, with Mesopotamian political fortunes as well as its culture and science influencing (and influenced by) foreign powers from then on.
The Assyrians played a huge role, though they don't come off well, as Roux wrote of the greed and ambition of Assyrian kings, of "their typical oriental desire to cover themselves with glory, to pose as invincible demigods in front of their subjects," that a combination of religious views and greed lead to "brigandry and occasional massacres" in their attempts to create an empire, which was an "act of gangsterism but also a crusade." Though they did preserve Sumero-Akkadian-Babylonian culture, they left the Near East as a whole impoverished as they took much, gave little, cared little for the advancement of their subjects, and as a result of their wars the rich land of Egypt was forever lost and the Phoenicians lost their rich maritime and colonial empire to the Greeks.
After a last flowering under Nebuchadrezzar II and a brilliant but short-lived "Neo-Babylonian" period Babylon fell without resistance to the Persian conqueror Cyrus. The Persians however did not destroy Babylon or other cities, and there are monuments and inscriptions dating from the Achaemenian, Hellenistic, and Parthian periods testifying to a partial survival of Mesopotamian civilization down to the 1st century AD. Why the slow decline and ultimately vanishing of this civilization? The three main reasons were the absence of any real national Mesopotamian government, the foundation by Alexander and his successors of new cities competing with and eventually superseding the older cities, and more than anything the massive linguistic, ethnic, religious, and cultural changes introduced by waves of Persian, Greek, Aramaean, and pre-Islamic Arab invaders, peoples who could neither be kept at bay nor assimilated. While previous invading peoples such as the Amorites and the Kassites found a young, vigorous culture superior to the own, one which they eventually adopted, later invaders felt that Mesopotamia offered relatively little, that it was a fossilized culture largely perpetuated by a few priests in a few temples; basically, it had died of old age.
Solid!! May 9, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Dr. Roux is an authoriry in the field. He lived for several years in the Middle East (Syria, Lebanon and Iraq). Although he is a medical doctor, his interest in ancient history, and the many years he spent in the Middle East provided the learned author with a pragmatic experience and first hand access to documents and valuable raw material. He used them in this book. His original research in Southern Mesopotamia and more precisely his SUMER series of articles that appeared in la Revue D'Assyriologie won him admission to restricted circles of privileged archeologists and Assyriologists. ANCIENT IRAQ is one of the best and most authoritative books ever written about the ancient civilization and culture of Iraq.
THE ULTIMATE REFERENCE May 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The ultimate reference and final word on the vanished civilization of Iraq. It encompass all the aspects from economy and culture to history and religion. It s a universal mini-encylopedia in all its splendors!
 Ancient Iraq could have been a classic March 18, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This extensive study gives an overview of Mesopotamia from pre-historic times till Christian era. The main focus is on political history sidestepping into architecture, culture and socio-economics. So be prepared for an endless succession of Sumerian, Akkadian, Kassite, Assyrian, Chaldaean alpha-males waging war to expand empires, defending their turf, erecting buildings and statues to celebrate their grandeur and fragile little egos. To me at times it was a bit too much and too tedious. No problem, I just skipped a few centuries or so!
Georges Roux deserves a 5-star rating for his work but I only give the book 4 stars because the publisher and editor should have done a better job balancing out the material. Cutting some of the political material, and expanding on art, literature, science etc. (It would have been a good idea to include more translations of original texts). They also could have provided better graphic and photographic material and organized it in a better way. If they would have done that this would have been a breathtaking classic.
Having said that the book gives a thorough account of some 8000 years of history in Iraq. I especially was impressed by the scope of vision and depth Mr. Roux possesses. He is able to provide ample insight in the developments from pre-historic hunter-gatherers to the first empires and their inner workings. Showing an extensive knowledge and control over the material. So read this book, but you are going to want to have books like Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus (Metropolitan Museum of Art Series) and S.N. Kramer History begins at Sumer and others lying next to it.
Where It All Began July 20, 2007
I echo the previous reviewers -- this is a great book. One volume contains a clear discussion of the rise of urban life and all the peoples who participated in it.
William McNeill in Plagues and Peoples reminds us that cities are population sinks. They require a hinterland to supply necessities including regular infusions of people. But the plains of Mesopotamia are a fairly hostile environment; the best land is located in the hills where timber, game and clean water are available. The logical conclusion is that the flatlanders were forced there, expelled from the hills, and that they grouped in cities for defensive purposes. This grouping behavior is universal among prey species. McNeill: "Man is to man as predator is to prey."
It was organization that allowed the ancient cities to prevail. Strong central governments arose, backed by a robust religious establishment, sustained and protected by their military.
Sounds familiar, doesn't it? America's military absorbs a lot of our treasure and our religious establishment is a central element in our strong central government -- our presidents swear their oath on a bible.
After 5000 years we can still relate to the peoples of ancient Iraq and appreciate their problems. We're living them today.
How this story came to light is itself another great story, the history of archeology in the area. All this is nicely summarized by the author. My The Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East (Cultural Atlas of) complemented my library text of the 1964 edition which had arcane marginalia and maps razored out.
I try not to think of tank battles out in the desert, using the ancient mounds as defilade against armor-piercing rounds. Who knows what has already been pulverized and lost forever?
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