Sunday, August 29, 2010

Mesopotamia: The Invention of the City


By

Gwendolyn Leick

*

More than seven thousand years ago, the first urban civilization began in Mesopotamia, in an area corresponding to present-day Iraq. This remarkable book is the first to reveal everyday life as it was in ten long-lost Mesopotamian cities. Using archaeological fragments of jewelry, textiles, and writings, anthropologist Gwendolyn Leick paints a colorful picture of the lives of Mesopotamians-from poets and priests to businesswomen and divorc&eacutees-and the incredible achievements of their advanced and imaginative society.

Gwendolyn Leick is the author of various publications on the ancient Near East.