Mesopotamia :The Invention of The City by Gwendolyn Leick
September 7th 2006 03:58
Mesopotamia by Gwendolyn Leick
Ur, Uruk, Akkad, Nineveh, Babylon—the very names evoke a certain sense of magic and longing in us. They were all cities which formed the crux of Mesopotamian civilisation. There have been many books which deal bygone civilizations but Mesopotamia : The Invention of The City by Gwendolyn Leick is based on the idea that Mesopotamia originated the city and the culture of the city. Leick looks at 10 cities and the chapters of this book are devoted to one each.
The first one of these is Eridu, which for a long time has enjoyed the distinction of being called the first city in the world. The last one is Babylon. Between these two there exists at least a history spanning over 2000 years. Leick passes from one city to another in this spectrum, capturing how these cities were born, how they rose to prominence and how they inevitably fell out of use and passed out of memory. She also mentions how they were found and recaptured after more than two thousand years of oblivion. She gives us a detailed picture of daily life would have been in these cities, what its unique monuments were and what each city contributed to the culture of the world. You might be astonished to find out how much what we take for granted comes from the invention of those cities.
Readers unfamiliar with ancient history of the Near East might find this book a little daunting but Leick writes in a simple, easily readable style (none of that academic stuffiness) and has arranged her material so affably that the force of the narrative might sweep you along with it. Whatever her philosophical sympathies may be, Leick does not play down the idea of the city. Instead, she sees glorifies them to an astonishingly atypical extent. I found this approach the primary reason I liked this book so much.
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