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In this work the author studies domestic life at two urban sites in Upper Mesopotamia, Titri Hi and Kazane Hi, and, for comparison, a rural settlement, Tilbes Hi. The author opted for an integration of archaeological and geological techniques (more frequently used at prehistoric sites) and developed a method that she refers to as omicro-archaeologyo or omicro-debris analysis.o In total, 370 micro-debris samples were taken from a diversity of contexts that date to the Early Bronze Age, ca. third millennium B.C.E. Generations of archaeologists have devised models to explain the functioning of cities in ancient Mesopotamia. Implicit in many models is a focus on the elites and historic events. In this research, the author analyzes wealthy and commoner households to test current models of domestic economy, family structure, house types, and residential organization within rural and urban communities. ... Read more

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Mesopotamian houses excavated at Ur and Nippur represent a unique archaeological context for the analysis of the interaction of verbal and nonverbal sign systems in that archaeologists can combine archival evidence of the III-II millennium BC with well-preserved house layouts. This work provides a general framework for the interpretation of other sites where textual evidence is absent or not in context. Although the aims of the book are multiple, the main objective is theoretical: The author goes beyond the interpretation of Mesopotamian domestic sociology and offers a semiotic theory of verbal and nonverbal meanings, useful for archaeology in general. Contents: 1) Theories of meaning and archaeology; 2) Nonverbal meaning as implicit deixis in archaeology ; 3) Verbal and nonverbal sign interaction in Mesopotamian domestic space; 4) Dynamic interaction of semiotic systems through the house cycle; 5) The spatial dimension of legal and technical discourse; 6) The ethnographic dimension of verbal and nonverbal semiosis; 7) The body in language: towards a theory of the relation between verbal and nonverbal meaning in archaeology. ... Read more

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This volume examines the transmission of biblical pseudepigraphicliterature and motifs from their largely Jewish cultural contexts in Palestineto developing gnostic milieux of Syria and Mesopotamia, particularly that onelying behind the birth and growth of Manichaeism. It surveys biblicalpseudepigraphic literary activity in the late antique Near East, devotingspecial attention to revelatory works attributed to the five biblicalforefathers who are cited in the Cologne Mani Codex: Adam, Seth, Enosh,Shem, and Enoch.The author provides a philological, literary, and religio-historical analysisof each of the five pseudepigraphic citations contained in the Codex, andoffers hypotheses regarding the original provenance of each citation and themeans by which these traditions have been adapted to their present context.This study is an important contribution to the scholarly reassessment of theroles played by Second Temple Judaism, Jewish Christian sectarianism, andclassical gnosis in the formulation and development of Syro-Mesopotamianreligious currents. ... Read more

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Heralds of That Good Realm
Ephrem Syrus caustically remarks at one place in his Prose Refutations that the Manichaeans "say of Egyptian Hermes and of the Greek Plato and of Jesus who appeared in Judea that they were heralds of the Good (Realm) to the world." This observation, apparently based upon a quotation from an unidentified Manichaean source and intended by Ephrem to discredit the Manichaean concept of a periodic dispatch to earth of representatives of the supernal Realm of Light, encapsulates the thematic core of the present monograph. It offers a systematic examination, from a comparative perspective, of the extant Manichaean (as well as non-Manichaean) rosters of authentic predecessors who purportedly proclaimed the Religion of Light prior to the advent of Mani, "seal of the prophets", and examines the implications of this particular doctrine for the origins of Manichaeism.

See also:Jewish Lore in Manichaean Cosmogony: Studies in the Book of Giants Traditions (Monographs of the Hebrew Union College). ... Read more

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This collection of papers is dedicated to the study of Mesopotamian magic. Magical texts, forms and traditions from the Mesopotamian cultural worlds of the third millennium BCE through the first millennium CE, in Sumerian, Akkadian and Aramaic languages, as well as art, are examined. ... Read more

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Mathematics was integral to Mesopotamian scribal culture: indeed, writing was invented towards the end of the fourth millennium B.C. for the express purpose of recording numericalatical information. The main body of this book is a mathematical and philological discussion of the two hundred technical constants, or "coefficients", found in early second millennium mathematics. Their names and mathematical functions are established, leading to improved interpretations of several large mathematical topics. The origins of many coefficients--and much of the more practical mathematics--are traced to late third millennium accounting and quantity surveying practices. Finally, the coefficients are used to examine some aspects of mathematics education in early Mesopotamia. ... Read more

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Dhimmis: Jew Christian in Islam - Muslim
This hardback is Vol. XVII of the "Israel Oriental Studies" with this 256-page book subtitled: "Dhimmis and Others: Jews and Christians and the World of Classical Islam."It is edited by Uri Rubin and David Wasserstein; and copyright by the Tel-Aviv University in Israel.Its chapters are: "On the words for 'Jew(s)' in Arabic" by Simon Hopkins (18 pgs); "Did Muhammad Conclude Treaties with the Jewish Tribes Nadir, Qurayza and Qaynuqa?" by Michael Lecker (9 pgs); "Les Trois Mensognes d'Abraham Dans la Tradition Interpretante Musulmane" by Claude Gillot (52 pgs, alas--this chapter is in the French language); "Apes, Pigs, and the Islamic Identity" by Uri Rubin(18 pgs); "Sirk and 'Idolatry' in Monotheist Polemic" by Gerald Hawting (20 pgs); "Sahrastani on the Magariyya" by Steven Wasserstrom (30 pgs); "Christian Success and Muslim Fear in Andalusi Writings during the Almoravid and Almohad Periods" by Maribel Fierro (24 pgs); "The Muslims and the Golden Age of the Jews in al-Andalus" by David Wasserstein (18 pgs); "Excerpts from the Abridgment of al-Kitab al-Kati by Abu al-Farag Harun in Arabic Script" by Nasir Basal (20 pgs; in Arabic, Hebrew & English); "Jewish Converts to Islam in the Muslim West" by Mercedes Garcia-Arenal (24 pgs); and two book reviews: "Igor Diakonoff: Archaic Myths of the Orient and the Occident" by Daniel Gershenson (4 pgs); and "J.C.E. Watson: Sbahtu! A Course in San'ani Arabic" by Moshe Piamenta (3 pgs).Hey, lots of scholarly stuff here.{Another reviewer wrote about "Adapa and the South Wind" which apparently is really in Vol. 10 of some other unrelated series, because it isn't in this book.}

A great resource!
Every once in a while, a book comes along that surprises me with its excellence, and this is one of those books. An ancient Mesopotamian story is that of the sage Adapa, who with a curse broke the wing of the South Wind, and missed an opportunity at eternal life offered to him by the great god Anu. This book is an in-depth look at the story, what we know of it, and what its significance is.

The first chapter looks at the five surviving fragments of the tale; with a copy in the original language, the text translated into English, and then a list of line-by-line comments. The second chapter looks at the dating of the myth, while the third chapter looks at the myth as poetry. The final, and to my mind best, chapter looks at the myth itself and its meaning.

Overall, I found this to be a great resource. Though it was written for a scholarly audience, the book is still eminently readable, and quite fascinating, even to the general reader. So, if you are at all interested in Mesopotamian myths in general, and about the Adapa myth in particular, then you will find this to be a great book. I know I did! I highly recommend this book.
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Chapters: Ziggurat, Uruk, Sumerian Architecture, Ancient Mesopotamian Units of Measurement, Warka Vase, Statues of Gudea, Ziggurat of Ur, Ram in a Thicket, Standard of Ur. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 63. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt:Uruk (Cuneiform: , UNUG ; Sumerian: unug; Akkadian: uruk; Biblical Hebrew: Erech; Greek: , ; Latin: ; Arabic: , ) was an ancient city of Sumer and later Babylonia, situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates river, on the ancient dry former channel of the Euphrates River, some 30 km east of modern As-Samawah, Al-Muthann, Iraq. Uruk is eponymous of the Uruk period, the protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia spanning ca. 4000 to 3100 BC, succeeded by the Jemdet Nasr period of Sumer proper. Uruk played a leading role in the early urbanization of Sumer in the mid 4th millennium BC. At its height c 2900 BC, Uruk probably had 50,00080,000 residents living in 6 km of walled area; the largest city in the world at the time. The semi-mythical king Gilgamesh according to the chronology presented in the Sumerian king list ruled Uruk in the 27th century BC. The city lost its prime importance around 2000 BC, in the context of the struggle of Babylonia with Elam, but it remained inhabited throughout the Seleucid and Parthian periods until it was finally abandoned during the Sassanid period shortly before the Islamic conquest of Mesopotamia. The site of Uruk was discovered in 1849 by William Kennett Loftus who led the first excavations from 1850 to 1854. The Arabic name of lower Mesopotamia, al-Irq, is thought to be derived from the name Uruk, possibly via Middle Persian transmission. In myth and literature Uruk was famous as the capital city of Gilgamesh, hero of the Epic of Gilgamesh. It is also believed Uru...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=85442 ... Read more

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Two theses are presented in this book. First, that there is an overarching "School of Thought" in Mesopotamia, consistent in its basic tenets, from ancient times to the late middle ages, and that this "Mesopotamian School" is fundamentally realistic as opposed to idealistic. Second, that the Christology of Theodore of Mopsuestia, as read as an expression of this School, is orthodox by the Chalcedonian standard. Included in the Appendices are complete translations of Mar Narsai's 16th and 35th Metrical Sermons, on human nature and the Trinity, respectively, as well as of his "Dialogue Between the Watcher & Mary." ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Good Information, Horrible Editing, Borderline Plagarism
I give tis book two stars rather than one only on account of the fact that it is one of the few books providing a full overview of this overlooked and fascinating part of the First World War. The Mesopotamian Campaign deserves to be far better known than it is, both in terms of its impact on the war and the subsequent course of the history of the Middle East. From this book, one can gleen a general understanding of what happened in what is now Iraq between 1914 and 1918.

That being said, the editing of this book is the worst I have ever seen. Someone clearly misused the "Correct All" function when they were retyping this, because on nearly every page we see ridiculous spelling errors with the wrong words substitued for the right ones. The word "mere" is usually "there" (i.e. "The position was held by a there 1,500 men."), "the" is often "me" (i.e. At one o'clock, me troops advanced."), and so forth. This wouldn't matter all that much if it happened on just a few occasions, but it happens in every other paragraph and gets quite annoying. On top of that, words are frequently italicized for no reason, and numbers and punctuation marks appear in the middle of sentences for no apparent reason. This is, quite frankly, the worst edited book I have ever read.

On top of that, while reading this book, I happened to find "The Long Road to Baghdad" by Edmund Candler on Google Books. Candler was a journalist with the British Army in Mesopotamia during the fighting, and wrote this book in 1919. As I scrolled though it, I realized with great disappointment that much of "The First Iraq War" is lifted almost word-for-word from Candler's account. Using it as a reference would be one thing, but this was borderline plagarism; had it not been for the fact that Candler had aleady been dead for decades when this book was originally written, I would certainly expect a lawsuit.

For these reasons, I can only give this book two stars.

The Forgotten Campaign of World War I
A campaign that was essentially a sideshow compared to the main event happening on the Western Front in Europe, much was written about the British Mesopotamia Campaign in the 1920s and 1930s while it was still fresh in the minds of its participants.However, as time went on the story of this campaign became forgotten.Far more books have been published about Gallipoli than on the twin campaigns of Palestine and Mesopotamia.However, the late 1960s brought a new round of books that gave a fresh look back at this campaign.These new books were published around the time that the 50th anniversary of the Great War was being observed.This book, by A. J. Barker, was one of them and I consider it the most definitive account of this campaign.

I first stumbled into this book in the 1980s while looking for a subject to write a college paper on.I found a series of books on Mesopotamia and Gallipoli in the university library and after reading this book, I became hooked on this theatre of war ever since.When the First Gulf War took place, this book was almost impossible to find and first editions now fetch high prices on the used book market.I am glad to see it being published again.Just to note that this is the third title I have seen this book published under.It was originally published in the UK in 1967 as "The Neglected War" by Faber and Faber and in the US as "The Bastard War" by Dial Press.

Barker's book outlines the series of misfortunes that dogged this campaign from its inception in 1914 to its understated end in 1918.What is now known as "mission creep" set in soon after the deployment of the first brigades from the Indian Army to protect the oil fields at Basra.Spurred by the success in protecting these fields against a disorganized and poorly led Turkish Army, the commanders on the scene transitioned from a defensive posture to an offensive one that eventually culminated with an ill advised attack on Baghdad itself with inadequate forces.The result was disastrous for the British.As the Turkish Army retreated up the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, they grew stronger with a shortened supply line while that of the British weakened with every mile they marched.After a Pyrrhic victory at Ctesiphon, the spent British force was forced to retreat back along the Tigris River with the Turks in pursuit. Trapped at Kut-al-Amara, the entire 6th Indian division was forced to surrender after a lengthy siege. More tragic were the heavy losses that the Turks inflicted on repeated relief attempts by the British forces.This defeat forced a reassessment of the British position in Mesopotamia and its eventual reorganization and reinforcement.With Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Stanley Maude in command, the British went over on the offensive again that eventually led to the capture of Baghdad in March 1917.This and the capture of Jerusalem nine months later were the only good news for the British people during that year of a war gone mad.

This chain of misfortunes had its genesis a decade before when the Indian Army was reorganized and than tasked for certain wartime contingency plans that included providing security for Britain's oil fields in the Middle East.The Indian Army was never organized or trained to engage in conventional combat.However, that is exactly what ended up happening. Aside from the forces sent to the Middle East, four divisions were shipped to the Western Front in 1914, but two were eventually transferred back to Mesopotamia due to the unsuitable conditions for the Indian soldiers in Europe.These two divisions arrived just in time to be chewed up during the desperate attempts to relief Kut.As the campaign dragged on the British attempted to minimize financial costs by passing on the responsibility of prosecuting the campaign to the British Raj of India, who proved organizationally and financially unable to do this.

In addition, despite the superb performance of a truly professional and loyal Indian Army, the British refused to expand it until 1917 when manpower losses among the other Commonwealth nations forced it to do so.The reason was based on British distrust of the potential Muslim recruits it would need for the expansion.By 1917, when it became apparent that the Middle Eastern Arabs and other Muslim nations had refused Turkey's call for a Jihad against the Allies, the British relented and expanded the Indian Army.This Army went on to make a valuable contribution to Turkey's defeat in Palestine in 1918.Eventually, over 700,000 Indians saw service in the Middle East during WWI.

While the author touches very little on the politics involved, he details the incompetence and mismanagement of the campaign.The flawed decision making, the wrong assumptions and assessments of the enemy's capabilities, the lack of medical units and hospitals, the disorganized logistics at Basra are all detailed.Also outlined is the extensive logistics involved in supporting this campaign. While the British used motor transport, they also made use of the river network and built an extensive narrow gauge railroad to keep up with the campaign's supply requirements.The book ends with the Armistice and the author says very little about the fact that the war was the easy part.By 1919, the British were mandated to oversee the newly created country now called Iraq.They were also bogged down in fighting twin insurgencies with the Kurds in the north and with the Shiite Arabs in the southern marshes.This insurgency lasted well into the 1920s and proved to be as unpopular at home as the current war in Iraq is.However, that is another story.

A very comprehensive book on this little known aspect of the Great War, I highly recommend it.However, the tagline's claim that this book has the answers for todays conflict in Iraq is totally false and misleading. I would certainly not recommend this book for that purpose. My buds at the War College get a chuckle out of today's publishers digging out older books about the Middle East and trying to squeeze more earnings from them by saying they are relevant to the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan today.Although the title for this book alludes to Britain's first war in Iraq, it is not very relevant to the happenings there today.That war is a very different one.

A note about the author.LTC A. J. Barker is an old school officer of Britain's former Indian Army.He attended the Command and Staff College at Quetta on the NW Frontier in what is now known as Pakistan, LTC Barker went on to fight in WWII and some of Britain's post war conflicts.Retired in 1958, LTC Barker went on to write numerous books with subjects ranging from Germany's Afrika Korps to battles in NW Europe. His handbook on the Japanese Army was the reference book to have until other such books were published in the 1990s.His other works of note was a series of handbooks on infantry weapons of WWII.LTC Barker's books launched the interests of numerous young men (to include myself) into war gaming and military history.I don't think this gentleman gets the attention he deserves.I have not been able to find his biography anywhere on the internet and I don't even know if he is presently alive.On the back cover of the 1967 edition of "The Bastard War" is a photo of the author with General Sir Claude Auchinleck at the 50th anniversary and final reunion for the survivors of Kut. Sir Auchinleck, Commander of the British Middle East Command and 8th Army during WWII, was a battalion commander during one of the relief attempts for Kut in 1916.

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