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Between the Rivers: The History of Ancient Mesopotamia

By: Alexis Q. Castor, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Alexis Q. Castor
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Publisher's Summary

All cultures lie in the shadow of ancient Mesopotamia-the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that is now mostly encompassed by the borders of modern Iraq. In this fascinating series of 36 lectures, an award-winning teacher leads you on a vivid journey through Mesopotamian history-from Neolithic times to the age of Alexander the Great-and into the lives of mighty emperors, struggling farmers, ambitious merchants, and palace servants to reveal why this ancient culture occupies such a foundational position in our history.

The lectures look back to the time when the first cities arose in Mesopotamia and kings created complex bureaucracies to rule their expanding territories, thus fostering the invention of writing and other technologies. You peer into the lives and fortunes of Mesopotamia's people and learn about the birth of the urban lifestyle.

Professor Castor creates a detailed image not only of larger Mesopotamian society but of life on the level of the individual Mesopotamian as well. Among the many fascinating insights into daily Mesopotamian life you examine are how they ate, worked, learned, worshiped, married, and reared children; used scientific ideas to help them order and understand the natural world; engaged with their powerful neighbors in Egypt, Syria, and Anatolia (modern-day Turkey); waged war and experienced peace; and endured the collapse of their cities.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2006 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2006 The Great Courses

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Worth the Purchase

Very interesting series. Good sense of broader Ancient History.
Having been doing my listening for more modern periods I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of the archaeological discussion.

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Blinkered

Interesting and informative.
BUT claims about Mesopotamia being the oldest civilisation are annoying and simply wrong. The assumption seems to be that civilisation is defined in terms of current western values. That is really limiting.
Australian Aboriginal peoples are generally regarded as the oldest continuing society/civilisation. The sixty thousand (60,000) years of Aboriginal society makes Mesopotamia a very recent arrival.
The fact that a society/civilisation does not align with modern western thinking is no reason to ignore it.

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