Download: Ancient Mesopotamia - Index: Iraqi Economists Network

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ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA
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A N C I E NT MESOPOTAMIA
Portrait of a Dead Civilisation by A. Leo Oppenheim
Revised Edition
Completed by Erica Reiner
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
Chicago & London
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THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, CHICAGO 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 1964, 1977 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 1977
Printed in the United States of America
90 89 88 7 6 5
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Oppenheim, A. Leo, 1904-1974.
Ancient Mesopotamia: portrait of a dead civilization.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Civilization, Assyro-Babylonian. 2. Iraq—
Civilization—To 634. I. Reiner, Erica, 1926-
II. Title.
DS69.5.06 1976 935 76-28340
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To
OTTO NEUGEBAUER
IN ADMIRATION
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Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Preface to the Revised Edition
Prefatory Note
Introduction: Assyrioiogy—Why and How?
I. The Making of Mesopotamia
THE BACKGROUND / 32
THE SETTING / 35
THE ACTORS / 48
THE WORLD AROUND / 63
II. Go to, let us build us a city and a tower!
THE SOCIAL TEXTURE / 75
ECONOMIC FACTS / 83
"THE GREAT ORGANIZATIONS" / 95
THE CITY / I09
URBANISM / 125
III. Regnum a gente in gentem transfertur
HISTORICAL SOURCES OR LITERATURE? / I44
AN ESSAY ON BABYLONIAN HISTORY / 153
AN ESSAY ON ASSYRIAN HISTORY / 163
IV. Nah ist~und schwer %ufassen der Gott
WHY A "MESOPOTAMIAN RELIGION** SHOULD NOT BE WRITTEN
THE CARE AND FEEDING OF THE GODS / 183
MESOPOTAMIAN "PSYCHOLOGY*' / 198
THE ARTS OF THE DIVINER lzo6
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V. Laterculis coctilibus 228
THE MEANING OF WRITING / 228
THE SCRIBES / 235
THE CREATIVE EFFORT / 250
PATTERNS IN NON-LITERARY TEXTS / 276
VI. There are many strange wonders, but nothing more wonderful than
man 288
MEDICINE AND PHYSICIANS / 289
MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY / 305
CRAFTSMEN AND ARTISTS / 310
Epilogue 332.
Appendix: Mesopotamian Chronology of the Historical Period by
J. A. Brinkman 335
Notes 349
Bibliographical Notes 388
Glossary of Names and Terms 398
Index 4i9
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Illustrations
PLATES (Following page 208)
1 King Assurbanipal of Assyria
2 Winged figure carrying sacrificial animal
3 Court musicians
4 Chariot in action
5 Conquered city
6 Prisoners of war
7 Defeat of the Elamites
8 Assyrian general receiving heads
9 Royal chariot
10 Scribes
11 Workmen in a quarry
12 Lions emerging from cage
13 Flocks
14 Hunting wild asses
15 The Ancient Near East
MAPS
Syria and the Upper Euphrates
The Upper Tigris and the Middle Euphrates
Babylonia and Elam
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