Review Mesopotamia: The Invention of the City, by Gwendolyn Leick

This is a bit out of my usual area. It had been sitting, as many things are wont to do, in my basket, and as I was clearing out the enormo-list of things to actually buy a handful of items there was a sale on. This new book was cut from about £12 to £4, so I decided to get it.

Through looking at ten cities in an approximately chronological order, from Eridu to Babylon, the settlements and civilisation of Mesopotamia are explained to the reader. There are various different peoples/cultures covered, such as Sumerians, Assyrians, and Babylonians. I knew very little of this period (mostly the Persians under Cyrus replacing the Medes and conquering the entire area, which is touched on briefly at the very end) and the book begins with a somewhat prehistoric look which soon turns historical.

The name Mesopotamia means ‘between the rivers’, and the shifting course of the waters plays a major role in cities rising, falling, and rising again. The time periods involved are quite astonishing, literally thousands of years. Equally interesting is the shift from a potentially egalitarian society through to god-kings (in a broad sense, not dissimilar to what happened with Rome).

There are various particular terms which are always explained as they crop up, as are the various gods, which was very useful as I had no idea otherwise what many of them meant. Necessarily, there’s a lot of knowledge gaps with many uncertainties due to lack of evidence. In other areas, fortune preserved tablets which, upon discovery, revealed surprisingly detailed accounts of myths and historical events (or propaganda, perhaps).

I found it a very interesting book, and one good for people unfamiliar with the period.

Thaddeus

Review: (A Brief History of) The Roman Empire, by Stephen P. Kershaw

I acquired this from a local little library and thought it worth a look. And so look I did.

The Roman state (in the west) began as a kingdom before becoming a republic, with the imperial period only covering the last five centuries or so. It’s important to be aware of that because if you’re looking for
a Western Roman history from start to finish this is not it (nor does it purport to be but sometimes people assume Roman Empire = Roman Kingdom + Republic + Empire).

Necessarily the scope of the time frame means there can’t be an in-depth analysis, but the author’s relaxed style does make this very easy to read as he charts the achievements, calamities, and peculiar episodes of Roman imperial history.

This works as a good refresher for people who haven’t read much recently, or as an introduction for people new to classical history. It’s unreasonable to criticise the lack of detail in certain areas as a single volume covering five hundred years necessarily has to be concise. However, if you do want a more in-depth look at a particular period or emperor then this is not the book for you.

For further reading there’s a smorgasbord. The most obvious is almost the most difficult: Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (go for a Penguin or Everyman edition so you can enjoy the many notes).

Early Imperial Rome is covered by Suetonius and Tacitus, for later stuff I’d suggest Ammianus Marcellinus.

Thaddeus