This is a fantastic survey of the problems (and joys) of writing histories of the ancient Near East. This book rewards both novices and scholars in the field! The author is obviously familiar with the most up to date scholarship in Assyriology. The treatment of issues relating to intellectual history and the role of women in antiquity are expecially satisfying. Accessible and brief, the editors of the series are to be commended for inlcuding this treatment of the cuneiform world!

What I like about Bottero's work, this included, is his emphasis on the actual words of the ancient writers. My dissertation involves the literary influence of these ancient texts on biblical texts, but since I, as a math and English major, have not yet had the opportunity to take courses in ancient Sumerian or Akkadian, it means a great deal to me to have some basis on which to tell how good are the translations offered for such texts, and hence how good my intended comparisons. His emphasis on reason and on "religion/gods" adds further to understanding and recovering the ancient near eastern milieu of thought which was lost to us during the Hellenization process begun by Alexander the Great. To regain these pre-Platonic thought patterns is very difficult for us, but possible when offered, as here, material that emphasizes the very words used by the ancients.

"Mesopotamia" is not a history, but a foot in the door toward understanding the complex issues involved in the study of the West's remote, but culturally crucial ancestor. The author maintains a conversational, sometimes humorous, tone throughout the book, which helps in getting through some of the more tedious, but necessary, areas of Assyriology. Bottero divides this work into four sections: I.Assyriology, II.Writing, III.Reasoning-Institutions and Mentality, and IV.The Gods-Religion, containing a total of fifteen articles. These deal with the deveopment of cuneiform script, how it influenced and reflected thought, the beginnings of science, reason and law, divination, dreams, and the religious system and its literature.The writing is clear as the author moves smoothly through hundreds of years at a time. After a while I started thinking, "A millenium here, a millenium there, and pretty soon you're talking about some real time!" There are some typos in my edition (for shame, University of Chicago Press), but not enough to be more than a minor annoyance. In the Bibliographical Orientation at the end of the book, Bottero recommends a few other books "that are not pedantic, heavy or annoying, as is usually the case." This phrase can also speak for "Mesopotamia"

MESOPOTAMIA : Writing, Reasoning, and the Gods. By Jean Bottero. Translated by Zainab Bahrani and Marc Van De Mieroop. 311 pp. Chicago and London : The University of Chicago Press, 1992. ISBN 0-226-06727-0 (pbk.)

Jean Bottero is emeritus director of Assyriology at the Ecole pratique des hautes etudes, Paris. His book, which is a compilation of 15 of his earlier and reworked scholarly articles on various aspects of Assyriology, would require a specialist in the field to do it justice, though it contains much that the general reader and enthusiast can enjoy.

One of the things that greatly appealed to me about this book was the warm and human personality of its author. Anglo-Saxon scholars tend as a rule to be rather aloof, distant, and formal, but Continentals such as Jean Bottero and Jean Paulhan don't seem to have quite the same fear of appearing human, and the personal touch they bring to their work can be quite engaging. It's also nice, after having read US scholars such as Kramer, Oppenheim, and Jacobsen, to be allowed to see things from the rather different Continental perspective.

In his 10-page introductory essay on 'The Birth of the West, Professor Bottero writes: "... the plan that I am pursuing here [is] to discover step by step the ways of seeing, of sensing, and of living, and the unpredictable thoughts and hearts, of our oldest recognizable ancestors (page 3). Although the whole book can be read with pleasure, three articles in particular stood out for me. These were 'A Century of Assyriology,' 'Writing and Dialectics, or the Progress of Knowledge,' and '"Free Love" and its Disadvantages.'

The book also includes a brief Chronology and an excellent map, and is rounded out with a Glossary-Index, a List of References, and a 'Bibliographical Orientation' which describes some of the more important studies in the field and which serious students should find very useful. The book is beautifully printed in an exceptionally clear font on excellent paper, contains a number of interesting illustrations, and is bound in a sturdy plasticized wrapper. As such, it should stand up to the wear of the repeated readings it deserves to get.

Although I found much to agree with in Professor Bottero, I was a bit disturbed by what seemed to me to be his overvaluation of reason (predictable in a son of Descartes) and of writing, and by his worship of the 'scientific method.' Personally I'm not altogether convinced that the effect of the invention of writing on the human mind was an altogether good thing. How much true wisdom and culture is lost when we move from the pre-literate to the literate state? I also like to draw a distinction between a reasonable use of reason and that excessive use of reason which has led to the distortions of the present era. But perhaps I've misread him and should allow myself the pleasure of reading him again.

Professor Bottero's book should be of real value and interest to anyone with a serious interest in Ancient Mesopotamia, and I feel sure that the honest and unpretentious way he goes about presenting his ideas will prove as charming to other readers as it did to me.

In this book, Professor Van De Mieroop looks at the Mesopotamian city, from earliest Sumer to the Babylonian and Assyrian empires. Included in this work are chapters covering everything politics, organization of neighborhoods (districts might be a better word), clans, economics, and more. The author's grasp of the subject is obviously profound, and any student of Mesopotamia can gather a great deal of information from this book. On the downside, though, the book was obviously written for an academic audience, rather than for general readers. This means that the book is often dry and verbose. However, that said, it is a fascinating work, one with a great deal to offer anyone interested in the Mesopotamian city.

This book is a long overdue survey of the urban experience in the first literate society. This work goes beyond the 'origin of cities', to tell us how they worked, and what really went on! Informative and accessible, I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in ancient history.