Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization
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Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization
by Authors:
A. Leo Oppenheim , Erica Reiner
Released: 01 October, 1976
ISBN: 0226631877
Paperback
Sales Rank: 74,832
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List price:
$20.00
Our price:
$20.00
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| Book > Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization > Customer Reviews: |
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Average Customer Rating: 
Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization >
Customer Review #1:
 more racism whats next, white ppl come from a differ planet
This is just another sad attempt to put Euro-asia ahead of Africa. The reason why there are not a lot of artifacts which would show that mesopotamia is older than Eypt is the same reason why a few racist moronic (pretend) scholars would go out of their way to make up false claims. For the record, migration started from Africa to Euro-Asia and before then, Africa had already produced its pyramids in its mother country of Nubia, or Sudanic territory (black negroids), and its agriculture through out the continent. Come on ppl lets get beyond ones short comings, besides, there is more validation for hinduism coming from the iranian aryans. Who in turn receive their influences from the contact of African so called animist, which in fact is the belief that everything is the supreme source in a loop sequence of vibrating which is believe to be the only way the sun gods, rock gods, animal gods, human gods(neteru), etc., can exist. It was the greeks,iranian aryans who took this knowledge out of context, as they were the ones who were truly polytheistic in their beginning, as they treated there different gods as seperate beings who existed independant of one another. Hindu, and greek mythology went through a change once the invading Europeans were reeducated by the Egyptians, and Dravidians influences which in the beginning they were accused of being inferior civilizations with lame gods, but more likely it was just the ignorant outside view, as proved. Mesopotamians were a combination of African negroids (Sudanic-Nubians), Mediterranean Indo-Euros, and pre-nomadic Arabs(the offspring of different ethnic groups). The teachings were concentrated around the African stories of civilization from beings of a different world which can be dated earlier in African stories throughout South Africa spreading up to the later north, east, and central migrations. The Ancient Africans claim to have gotten their knowledge about space-time, geometrics of objects, and consciousness being absolute, from these beings, inwhich the universe was said to exist psycho-physically, from a supreme being that was absolute conscious reality. Not all Africans societies receive the exact same knowledge so this is why it varies, other reasons were do to fueds domestically and abroad. There is no evidence that Mesopotamians invaded South Africa and brought there knowledge and stories with them of e.t visitors, but the migration from Africa to Euro-Asia supports the latter. The sad truth is the more that white racist try to seperate themselves from their source they will only reveal it more.
Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization >
Customer Review #2:
 Classic Introduction
Georges Rouxs outstanding book on ancient Iraq - which opens my eyes - seems amateurish compared to this one - probably the single best introduction to ancient Mesopotamia written in the English language.Iraqs civilization is interesting for two reasons. From a purely archaeological/anthropological point of view, ancient Mesopotamia is by far the oldest civilization on this planet - even older than Egypt. The reasons why theres much less attention to it than to Egypt are the fact that there are so few monumental structures remaining there and the fact that Egypt is closer to the Graeoco-Roman civilization. The other reason why Iraqs civilization is interesting is its potential importance IN THE FUTURE. With the wars outcome almost certain (truly its like an Iron Age army crushing a Stone Age one), Iraqs long term prospects are quite good. Sitting on the second largest proven crude oil reserves in the world, Iraq has the potential to wield much influence, like Saudi Arabia. Useful (but rather short) bibilography and glossary. Oppenheim regrets not being able to make this book "twice the size of the present one." (p.334) I only regret that this book ISNT three times as long. If this book isnt flying off the shelves, it should be. Get it before its too late. (Warning: This book does not include the Sumerian civilization, as the author makes explicit. For this subject you must turn to Sam N. Kramer.)
Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization >
Customer Review #3:
Lively, Insightful and Wide-Ranging
A. Leo Oppenheims "Ancient Mesopotamia:Portrait of a Dead Civilization" is one lively read. It is not a chronologically arranged history, (youll have to go to Georges Rouxs "Ancient Iraq" for that), but it is an unusually comprehensive series of essays on aspects of ancient Mesopotamian civilization. After introducing Assyriology as a discipline, Oppenheim situates Mesopotamia geographically and culturally within the ancient world, and discusses its relations with and influence on its neighbors. From there he goes on to analyze the root forms of almost everything we know of as civilization: urbanism, political and social organization, religion, writing, literature, and scientific thought. Particularly interesting are the discussions on the care and feeding of the gods, ancient psychology, and the scribal subculture. Throughout the book, Oppenheim refers to historical and literary data of every sort in an even-handed way. A helpful chronology, glossary, notes, and index fill the final 100+ pages of the book. Illustrations and maps could be a little better, but thats small change in a book of this scope. Come visit the impossibly exotic, yet oddly accessible, past
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Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization >
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