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class='column-center-outer'> <div class='column-center-inner'> <div class='main section' id='main' name='Main'><div class='widget Blog' data-version='1' id='Blog1'> <div class='blog-posts hfeed'> <div class='status-msg-wrap'> <div class='status-msg-body'> Showing posts with label <b>Iron Age</b>. <a href="https://egunnu.blogspot.com/">Show all posts</a> </div> <div class='status-msg-border'> <div class='status-msg-bg'> <div class='status-msg-hidden'>Showing posts with label <b>Iron Age</b>. <a href="https://egunnu.blogspot.com/">Show all posts</a></div> </div> </div> </div> <div style='clear: both;'></div> <div class="date-outer"> <h2 class='date-header'><span>Friday, April 23, 2021</span></h2> <div class="date-posts"> <div class='post-outer'> <div class='post hentry uncustomized-post-template' itemprop='blogPost' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/BlogPosting'> <meta content='https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61OUhir6bVL._SL500_.jpg' itemprop='image_url'/> <meta content='2724078395031847481' itemprop='blogId'/> <meta content='2197490929241590861' itemprop='postId'/> <a name='2197490929241590861'></a> <div class='post-header'> <div class='post-header-line-1'></div> </div> <div class='post-body entry-content' id='post-body-2197490929241590861' itemprop='description articleBody'> <h2 style="text-align: left;"><b>Ancient History Book Review</b></h2><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Ark Before Noah: Decoding The Story of the Flood by Irving Finkel, 2014, 352pp </span></h3><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Ark Before Noah is a rather charming history book looks at the pre-biblical Mesopotamian flood myth in all its glory. For those who don't know, the author Irving Finkel is the Assistant Keeper of Ancient Mesopotamian script, languages, and cultures in the Department of the Middle East in the British Museum, and is essentially the museum's curator of cuneiform tablets. It's a position he's held for a very long time, and has a wealth of experience, both as a researcher and as a public speaker in the museum. <br /><br />This experience contributes significantly to the book. Aside from the core subject matter of the flood story, Finkel give us stories of life in the museum and anecdotes from his own early career as a student and educator. Among these is the story of the first decipherment of the Mesopotamian flood text by George Smith (who was so moved by the discovery he screamed and removed his clothes – just like a Babylonian prophet!). There are also stories of later discoveries volunteer translators and Finkel himself, as well as anecdotes from his own earlier career. These personal touches are a welcome (and vanishingly rare in history books) addition to the story Finkel weaves about the evolution of the flood story.</span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61OUhir6bVL._SL500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61OUhir6bVL._SL500_.jpg" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />  <br /><br />In the audio version, all of this is delivered by Finkel himself in a friendly and conversational manner – he's clearly used to conveying history to a wide audience, and has written several children's books as well as a novel. For gamers – particularly a British gamers – there's an added bonus: Finkel sounds a lot like veteran GM Nigel Clarke, who is himself no stranger to ancient history! So if you ever wondered what it would be like to play in a session GMed by Finkel, play first with Nigel and then give this book a whirl. I haven't played with Nigel myself, but it he breaks role occasionally to tell you stories about his 'cinematically eccentric' colleagues or his flowering from youth to scholar, then the picture will be complete. <br /><br /></span><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia;">“...It was this archaeological fluke that got me the cuneiform job. After signing the official secrets act, I was handed my heavy, pass-port-to-the-nations-treasure key, which is soberly inscribed 'if lost, 20 shillings reward'. The tablet collections in the British Museum defied, and still defy, belief.” </span></blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia;">As for the core content, Finkel covers all the basics, giving us the stories of the discovery of the various tablets that reference the flood, their provenance, and their contents, and their relative dates of origin. Of these, two come from the Old Babylonian period, two from the Middle Babylonian Kassite period, two from the Assyrian period, and finally the reference found in the Gilgamesh epic of the Neo Babylonian period. Two tablets are written in Sumerian, the rest are Akkadian. <br /><br />Finkel also gives us context, describing the relevant bits of Babylonian society, including the idiosyncrasies of writing cuneiform, the role and life of scribes in society, and how writing changed over time. Then he goes through the tablets, spending time on the various episodes to give context to the things described in them. He will ask, for example, what did the ark look like? What kind of boat was it? Then relate what the tablets tell us to what we actually know of ancient Mesopotamian boats. Similarly, he looks at who the flood hero (Atrahasis, Utnapishtim, or Ziusudra, depending on the tablet) might have been, how the god, Enki, conveyed his instructions, and where the boat might have landed afterward. <br /><br />I started to count off the aspects of Babylonian culture he listed and I compared them to what we included in the Mythic Babylon supplement for Mythras, and soon came to the conclusion that this book offers a nice primer to Babylonian culture. Much of what he talks about is covered in Mythic Babylon, including: <br /></span><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">The writing and delivery of personal correspondence, </span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">Who the Great Gods were </span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">The nature of literature and scribal culture, </span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">The nature of omens (including the reading of birth defects), </span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">Types of divination such as extispicy and leucanomancy, </span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">The use of mumbo-jumbo language in spells, </span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Asu and Ashipu as medical specialists, </span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">Gudu priests and other clergy, </span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">Dream incubation, </span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">Reed houses in the southern marsh, </span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">The shape and use of quppu boats, among others, and </span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">The source of bitumen for waterproofing. </span></li></ul><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">All of this and more is found in Mythic Babylon.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/2/11/1392141922145/Illustration-by-Clifford--009.jpg?width=445&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=2a17253d3df820367071d39a1f60896b" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="276" data-original-width="460" src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/2/11/1392141922145/Illustration-by-Clifford--009.jpg?width=445&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=2a17253d3df820367071d39a1f60896b" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Ark was a Quppu boat!</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /> <br />Finkel also covers a number of things we didn't include in our text, such as the various places people thought the ark had come to rest (A mountain in Urartu, or Mount Nizir, or even Mt Gudi). He discusses the evolution of the flood myth, and the possibility for a trade in 'ark artifacts' not unlike what happened with the bones of saints and pieces of the 'true cross' in the Middle Ages. He spends quite a bit of time developing his theory that the roots of monotheism are to be found in 7th & 6th Century Babylon. He even included a few little gems to surprise me – such as how people can only write cuneiform right-handed, or that truly good scribes were said to 'follow the mouth', or that Hammurabi's Code was written in a deliberately old fashioned style so it could lean on the weight of tradition. And did you know that the word 'disaster' has its roots in the words 'dire' and 'star'? The Dire Star will be the name of my next Fiasco spaceship! <br /><br />Obviously, I quite enjoyed the book – both as a history buff and as a gamer. Anytime I read a book and learn something that excites me AND I get something I can use in gaming, I consider that a book well read. If the story is also accessible, well-told, and convincing, then that's a five out of five stars book from my perspective, and one I can recommend to my friends.</span></div></div> <div style='clear: both;'></div> </div> <div class='post-footer'> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'> <span class='post-author vcard'> </span> <span class='post-timestamp'> at <meta content='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2021/04/ancient-history-book-review-ark-before.html' itemprop='url'/> <a class='timestamp-link' href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2021/04/ancient-history-book-review-ark-before.html' rel='bookmark' title='permanent link'><abbr class='published' itemprop='datePublished' title='2021-04-23T12:45:00-07:00'>April 23, 2021</abbr></a> </span> <span class='post-comment-link'> <a class='comment-link' href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2021/04/ancient-history-book-review-ark-before.html#comment-form' onclick=''> No comments: </a> </span> <span class='post-icons'> <span class='item-control blog-admin pid-1282338224'> <a href='https://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=2197490929241590861&from=pencil' title='Edit Post'> <img alt='' class='icon-action' height='18' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif' width='18'/> </a> </span> </span> <div class='post-share-buttons goog-inline-block'> <a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-email' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=2197490929241590861&target=email' target='_blank' title='Email This'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Email This</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-blog' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=2197490929241590861&target=blog' onclick='window.open(this.href, "_blank", "height=270,width=475"); 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It adheres fairly closely to the novel, but cuts out a couple of large swaths of the more sedentary portions - as it would have to do, given the length of the book.</span><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pictures.abebooks.com/inventory/21733165929.jpg" style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" height="572" src="https://pictures.abebooks.com/inventory/21733165929.jpg" width="398" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>Synopsis</b></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">(Light spoilers below)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">The story follows the fortunes of Judah Ben Hur, son of a wealthy Hebrew merchant. Ben Hur has plans to join the Roman Army, but everything changes when a freak accident nearly kills the Roman governor of the district, and Judah is accused of being an assassin. He is sent to the galleys, while his mother and sister are imprisoned and their property forfeit - all without trial.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">After some years as a Roman galley slave in the Mediterranean, Ben Hur's fortunes change when he is adopted by a Roman officer, and he inherits considerable wealth. When in Antioch, he meets with his father's old slave, Simonides, who is himself is now a wealthy man having secured Ben Hur's father's trading company from the Romans who had confiscated it. He also meets his old friend Messala, who was responsible for grassing him up to the Romans right after the accident. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">After meeting Messala, Ben Hur's thoughts turn to vengeance, and this is one of the main themes of the book. Ben Hur (with the help of Simonides, who has remained loyal to the family through all this) concocts a scheme wherein Hur challenges Messala to a chariot race. They goad Messala into betting more than he owns on the outcome of the race, and during the race Hur drives his chariot into Massena's, causing it to crash and cripple him. Messala loses both the use of is legs, and his fortune. Hur's revenge is complete. This is one of those places where the book differs from the movie, for in the film, Messala is the one who is ruthless on the race track, not Hur. In the book, I found myself questioning Hur's charity.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Hur eventually goes back to Jerusalem where he ends up leading and training a resistance movement, and becomes a follower of The Christ. The book ends differently from the film - not with redemption and healing upon the Resurrection, but perhaps more bittersweetly. I won't spoil it.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://retrographik.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Ben-Hur-Theatrical-Poster-1901.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="499" height="742" src="https://retrographik.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Ben-Hur-Theatrical-Poster-1901.jpg" width="464" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>Reflections</b></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">One difference between the book and the film is that the film is more subtle in evoking the Christian themes, relying on soulful looks and music as much as anything. The book is rather more open about it, especially in the first scene when the three wise men meet in the desert before we ever meet Ben Hur. This felt heavy handed to me when I was first getting into the book, but now that I've finished it I don't think it is. There's some speculation that Wallace himself was not particularly religious before starting the book, but in imagining the place and time grew in admiration for early Christians and tried to bring that out in his writing.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">I really loved the historical detail in this book. Wallace pauses fairly often in his tale to address the reader so that he can set the scene. "Imagine, dear reader, if you will..." and then he launches into a description of the cave where Jesus is born, or of a caravanserai, or the gates of Jerusalem and who might be hanging about, or tells us about the nature of chariot horses. I found it to be a great resource for my own setting of these kinds of scenes in gaming, and the next time I run a game inspired by the middle east, this will be one of the tools I'll use. Here's a sample:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i></i></span><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>"To understand thoroughly what happened to the Nazarene at the khan, the reader must be reminded that Eastern inns were different from the inns of the Western world. They were called khans, from the Persian, and, in simplest form, were fenced enclosures, without house or shed, often without a gate or entrance. Their sites were chosen with reference to shade, defence, or water. Such were the inns that sheltered Jacob when he went to seek a wife in Padan-Aram. Their like may been seen at this day in the stopping-places of the desert. On the other hand, some of them, especially those on the roads between great cities, like Jerusalem and Alexandria, were princely establishments, monuments to the piety of the kings who built them. In ordinary, however, they were no more than the house or possession of a sheik, in which, as in headquarters, he swayed his tribe. Lodging the traveller was the least of their uses; they were markets, factories, forts; places of assemblage and residence for merchants and artisans quite as much as places of shelter for belated and wandering wayfarers. Within their walls, all the year round, occurred the multiplied daily transactions of a town."</i></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>"The singular management of these hostelries was the feature likely to strike a Western mind with most force. There was no host or hostess; no clerk, cook, or kitchen; a steward at the gate was all the assertion of government or proprietorship anywhere visible. Strangers arriving stayed at will without rendering account. A consequence of the system was that whoever came had to bring his food and culinary outfit with him, or buy them of dealers in the khan. The same rule held good as to his bed and bedding, and forage for his beasts. Water, rest, shelter, and protection were all he looked for from the proprietor, and they were gratuities. The peace of synagogues was sometimes broken by brawling disputants, but that of the khans never. The houses and all their appurtenances were sacred: a well was not more so."</i></span></blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i></i></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">There, in just two paragraphs, we have the entire scenario setting described for us, with sights, sounds, possible encounters, major NPCs and their motives all suggested. I really lean on descriptions like this when running a game. They help me set the scene and, even more important, tell me which characters are hanging about, and give me an idea of what they'll think and say.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">I recommend Ben Hur if you like a good historical tale, and especially if you liked the film. Although the events are similar to the film, there are enough differences that you'll get fresh perspectives, and Wallace can really set a scene, if scenery is what you're after.</span><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Strobridge_%26_Co._Lith.-_Ben-Hur_-_Klaw_%26_Erlanger's_Stupendous_Production.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="545" data-original-width="800" height="415" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Strobridge_%26_Co._Lith.-_Ben-Hur_-_Klaw_%26_Erlanger's_Stupendous_Production.jpg" width="609" /></a></div><br /><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><br /></p></div> <div style='clear: both;'></div> </div> <div class='post-footer'> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'> <span class='post-author vcard'> </span> <span class='post-timestamp'> at <meta content='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2021/03/reflections-on-ben-hur-tale-of-christ.html' itemprop='url'/> <a class='timestamp-link' href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2021/03/reflections-on-ben-hur-tale-of-christ.html' rel='bookmark' title='permanent link'><abbr class='published' itemprop='datePublished' title='2021-03-10T10:24:00-08:00'>March 10, 2021</abbr></a> </span> <span class='post-comment-link'> <a class='comment-link' href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2021/03/reflections-on-ben-hur-tale-of-christ.html#comment-form' onclick=''> No comments: </a> </span> <span class='post-icons'> <span class='item-control blog-admin pid-1282338224'> <a href='https://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=2649653457463439667&from=pencil' title='Edit Post'> <img alt='' class='icon-action' height='18' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif' width='18'/> </a> </span> </span> <div class='post-share-buttons goog-inline-block'> <a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-email' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=2649653457463439667&target=email' target='_blank' title='Email This'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Email This</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-blog' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=2649653457463439667&target=blog' onclick='window.open(this.href, "_blank", "height=270,width=475"); return false;' target='_blank' title='BlogThis!'><span class='share-button-link-text'>BlogThis!</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-twitter' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=2649653457463439667&target=twitter' target='_blank' title='Share to X'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Share to X</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-facebook' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=2649653457463439667&target=facebook' onclick='window.open(this.href, "_blank", "height=430,width=640"); return false;' target='_blank' title='Share to Facebook'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Share to Facebook</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-pinterest' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=2649653457463439667&target=pinterest' target='_blank' title='Share to Pinterest'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Share to Pinterest</span></a> </div> </div> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-2'> <span class='post-labels'> Labels: <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Biblical' rel='tag'>Biblical</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Book%20Reviews' rel='tag'>Book Reviews</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Classical%20Antiquity' rel='tag'>Classical Antiquity</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Fiction' rel='tag'>Fiction</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Iron%20Age' rel='tag'>Iron Age</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Israel' rel='tag'>Israel</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Near%20East' rel='tag'>Near East</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Roman' rel='tag'>Roman</a> </span> </div> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'> <span class='post-location'> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div></div> <div class="date-outer"> <h2 class='date-header'><span>Monday, May 25, 2020</span></h2> <div class="date-posts"> <div class='post-outer'> <div class='post hentry uncustomized-post-template' itemprop='blogPost' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/BlogPosting'> <meta content='2724078395031847481' itemprop='blogId'/> <meta content='5742704193252183119' itemprop='postId'/> <a name='5742704193252183119'></a> <h3 class='post-title entry-title' itemprop='name'> <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2020/05/what-books-can-i-read-to-inspire-my.html'>"What books can I read to inspire my Mythic Babylon campaign?"</a> </h3> <div class='post-header'> <div class='post-header-line-1'></div> </div> <div class='post-body entry-content' id='post-body-5742704193252183119' itemprop='description articleBody'> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">This question about the upcoming Mythic Babylon setting was asked recently over on the Mythras forums. Since this turned into a rather lengthy reply and might appeal to people other than gamers, I thought it would be better to post it here.</span><br /> <div> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br />It's a difficult question to answer - there simply isn't much in the way of fiction in any format that deals well with the time and place covered by Mythic Babylon. We didn't use any fiction as inspiration in building the setting - at least, no modern fiction. We built it solely on the work of history writers, archaeologists, and translators of period stories. Because there's so little available in the popular culture, we designed Mythic Babylon to be pretty comprehensive and self-contained, so you don't NEED to read anything else, though of course if you wanted to get lost down some rabbit holes there are plenty of good history books around. Those will have to wait for another post, though.  </span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">I'm certainly not aware of any TV shows or films that deal with the subject historically, but I do think one could draw a certain amount of inspiration from classic Biblical epics like Ben Hur, Sodom and Gomorrah, or Samson and Delilah.<br /><br />Of the available fiction that covers Ancient Mesopotamia, very little of it deals with the time period that Mythic Babylon covers (The Old Babylonian Period) even though our  period is rich in ancient texts. Let me try to explain why that matters.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: large;">A Mesopotamian History Primer</span><br /><br />Before I talk about what's available in fiction, maybe a short primer on Mesopotamian history would help you to understand the different periods. The term 'Ancient Mesopotamia' typically covers about  3000 years of history, and maybe another 1000 of pre-history, but the Old Babylonian Period as seen in Mythic Babylon only covers about 400 of these years, and occurs about 1000 years before the Babylon of the Ishtar Gate and the Bible fame. </span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Stories that are set in other time periods can work as an inspiration for the kinds of stories that are appropriate to Mythic Babylon, but might differ significantly in the details of daily life. <br /><br />These are the main periods of Mesopotamian history - the dates are approximate: <br /><br /> 1. Uruk Period lasted from about 4000BC to 3000 BC. This is a pre-historic (i.e. before writing) period during which Uruk was the main city. It colonized other areas and exported its culture to the entire region. Being pre-historic, we only know what archaeology can reveal, so it's hard to write stories about it without being highly inventive. <br /><br /> 2. The Early Dynastic Period - roughly 3000 BC to 2300. A time of several competing city states. Early writing tells us the names of some kings and we can build a sketchy history, but much is still unknown. This is the time that the historical king Gilgamesh lived. Sumerian was the dominant language, but co-existed with the Semitic Akkadian language. <br /><br /> 3. The Akkadian period - 2300-2100. The city of Akkad becomes dominant and forms what might be the first empire under King Sargon. The Akkadian language (named after the city) is dominant. It ends in a collapse and barbarian invasions. <br /><br /> 4. The Neo-Sumerian period - 2100-2000. A short but important empire phase. Ur takes over from Akkad as the dominant city, and the Sumerian language sees a brief resurgence, though Akkadian remains the lingua-franca. This also ends in a societal collapse and invasion. <br /><br /><b> 5. The Old Babylonian Period - 2000-1600.</b> The nomadic and Semitic Amorites have now populated the region and become kings of most cities, so it's heavily influenced by their culture. Many cities form small hegemonic kingdoms that compete with one another - some end up growing very large, like the kingdom of North Mesopotamia under king Shamshi-Adad, and later Babylon will rise to become the most important power. This also ends in a collapse and invasion by the Hittites. <br /><br /> 6. The Middle Babylonian / Assyrian period 1600-1200/1100. Babylon rises again under a new Kassite (another foreign tribe) dynasty and controls the south. The city of Assur and a mainly Hurrian kingdom called Mitani compete in the north. The Hittites dominate Anatolia, and Egypt is influential in the west. Historically, we know very little about Babylon at this time, and much more about the north and west, largely due to the accidental availability of written texts from the period. This period ends with the large Bronze Age Collapse that lasts a few hundred years, leaving us with a dark age. This is the end of the Bronze Age. <br /><br /> 7. The Neo-Assyrian period 900-612 - Assyria is now dominant over Babylonia and extends its empire far to the west into Israel and Egypt. <br /><br /> 8. The Neo-Babylonian Period 626-539 - Culturally similar but with some differences, Babylon has inherited the Assyrian empire. When people think generally of 'Babylon' this is the time period they're thinking of. <br /><br /> 9. The Persian Period 539-330 - the Achaemenid Persians conquer Babylon. It's culture is left largely intact, but political control shifts to Persia, with Babylon as a western capital. <br /><br /> 10. The Hellenic period starts in 330 with the conquests of Alexander the Great. Babylon is conquered. Again the local culture is left largely intact, though of course it has evolved on its own since the time of Hammurabi nearly 1500 years ago.<br /><br /><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size: large;">General Categories of Mesopotamian Fiction</span><br /><br /> So, now that you know that Ancient Mesopotamia =/= Mythic Babylon, we can look at what's available in fiction. These books seem to fall into three categories: <br /><br /> 1. Books by historians or history enthusiasts who see the gap and decide to try their hand a fiction. Many of these deal with the detail of history fairly well, though often with errors. But the reviews indicate they also often fall short in the story-telling department.<br /><br /> 2. Writers who are novelists first and foremost and want to write about their favorite period of history. These are generally more successful, though they may take liberties with the history. At least you get a good story, and if you're looking for inspiration for writing your own Mythic Babylon scenarios, this is probably more helpful - especially since we already have the history part covered pretty well in Mythic Babylon.<br /><br /> 3. People inspired by the bible who want to write a 'historical novel'. These seem to have no 'historical' merit, as far as I can tell, though they pretend to it surprisingly often. My basic feeling is that whenever you see the words 'Sumeria' or 'Shinar', that author probably isn't too concerned about the historicity of their setting. Of course, that doesn't mean they can't tell a good story.<br /><br /> <span style="font-size: large;">Mesopotamian Historical Fiction</span><br /><br /> Here's what I've found for fiction when browsing Amazon or Goodreads. I haven't read most of these because I'm rather picky and I already have way too much to read, so I won't buy a book just because the subject interests me - I need to see that it's well reviewed. And most of these aren't. So for most of these entries, my opinion is based on the reviews of others and the author's (or publisher's) description of the work.<br /><br /><b>Empires of Bronze (Son of Ishtar and Empires of Bronze) by Gordon Doherty.</b> These are set toward the end of the Middle Babylonian period and are really about the Hittites, so I'm not sure there's much in there about Babylon. They look pretty good, though, and fall into category 2. </span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/266815-empires-of-bronze">https://www.goodreads.com/series/266815-empires-of-bronze</a><br /><br /><b>The Assyrian and The Blood Star by Nicholas Guild.</b> These are set in the Neo-Assyrian empire and centred on a son of one of the kings. They also seem to fall into category 2 and also, to my eye, look pretty good, though they're set well after the time of Mythic Babylon, and the political context of the Assyrian Empire is totally different than that in MB. </span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/90398-tiglath-ashur">https://www.goodreads.com/series/90398-tiglath-ashur</a></span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br /><br /><b>The Esskar series by Sam Barone.</b> I'm not quite sure what to make of these. From the description, these are set during the Akkadian period, but the personal names are made up and don't seem authentic, and the kings and rulers mentioned are also made up. So I'd say this is rather a made-up setting than a set of historical novels, but they might capture the kinds of events that could inspire a Mythic Babylon campaign. Until I hear more or read one myself, I'd say 'approach with caution'. </span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/55754-eskkar-saga">https://www.goodreads.com/series/55754-eskkar-saga</a></span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br /><br /><b>In the Court of the Queen and The Ambassador's Daughter by Elizabeth Roberts Craft.</b> Set supposedly in 2000 BC (the end of the Neo-Sumerian period) these, again, from the description seem to be completely a-historical, but they obviously mash a lot of historical content together to make some perhaps plausible stories. Like the Sam Barone books above, I think the historical value is questionable, but they might thematically be strong. Some reviewers mention not liking the writing, including this very thorough review by someone who undertook some a very impressive piece of sleuthing to try and figure out why another reviewer would think Hammurabi and Zimri-Lim were gay. If you're into the metal ages, check out this reviewer's bookshelves for loads more reviews.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2338467571?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1">https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2338467571?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1</a></span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br /><b>Trade Winds to Meluhha by Vasant Dave.</b> I think this is a category 1 novel. Set ostensibly in 2138 and being about the connection between Sumer and Meluhha (the Indus Valley). The blurb mentions that the main character leaves Babylon (which was a best a little village way up the Euphrates at this time) to go to Meluhha, so this may not be entirely historical - in fact, the author calls is 'prehistorical', which may be a fair assessment given that the Indus script has never been translated. I suspect this has lots of accurate historical details despite being a little loose, and is probably good fodder for Mythic Babylon inspiration. Reviews of the writing seem mixed. </span><br /> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40095826-trade-winds-to-meluhha"><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40095826-trade-winds-to-meluhha</span></a><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br /><b>The Seventh Sanctuary by Jennifer Malin.</b> The tag-line 'A steamy novella of ancient Sumeria' sets off all kinds of alarm bells for me, but again, this might serve for inspiration to Mythic Babylon. I'm having a hard time judging its quality from the few reviews. </span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15718845-seventh-sanctuary">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15718845-seventh-sanctuary</a><br /><br /><b>The Prince and the Prophet and other 'novels of Sumeria' by Jesse Hudson.</b> I suspect this is a category 3 and is fiction partially informed by history, rather than a historical novel. I mean this: "For Ammon-Shur the struggle to end the slave trade in Sumeria is not going as planned" is simply not a thing. But in spite of playing fast and loose with fact, he's done a lot of research and is clearly bringing it to bear in the ways that best suit his story-telling needs.  <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40039274-novels-of-ancient-sumeria-box-set-1?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=dmnpGRDY9S&rank=5#">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40039274-novels-of-ancient-sumeria-box-set-1?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=dmnpGRDY9S&rank=5#</a></span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Here's an excerpt from one text: <a href="https://www.wattpad.com/253325262-etana-the-snake-and-the-eagle">https://www.wattpad.com/253325262-etana-the-snake-and-the-eagle</a></span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br /><b>Claimed by the Enemy by Shauna Roberts</b> - An Akkadian period novel that, in spite of its terrible cover and 'romance novel' labelling, seems like it might not be half bad, at least in terms of story and historical merit. The writer has several other books to her name, which at least tells you she's good enough to have staying power.<br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22699685-claimed-by-the-enemy">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22699685-claimed-by-the-enemy</a><br /><br /><br /><b>Like Mayflies in the Stream is also by Shauna Roberts</b> - a novelization of the Gilgamesh story. Same comments as above. </span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6920419-like-mayflies-in-a-stream">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6920419-like-mayflies-in-a-stream</a><br /><br /><b>The Priests of Lagash by David Jordan</b> - set at the end of the Early Dynastic period. It doesn't have a lot of reviews, which is common for a lot of these books. My gut feeling is that this book is probably pretty decent. From the blurb, it feels right, historically, and he's picked an interesting time. The reviewers seem to like the writing. Too bad it's kindle only - I'll probably never read it, and yet of all the books mentioned here it's the one I think I'd most like to read. EDIT: One of the readers of this blog has read this since my original post and had this to say: </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Whitney, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"><i>much lighter than I thought it would be. It felt slightly anachronistic, like a noir detective thriller in places - ordinary Joe caught up in events larger than he first understands. Not bad though.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Priests-Lagash-David-Jordan-ebook/dp/B004G08YIU/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+priests+of+lagash&qid=1590448668&s=digital-text&sr=1-1">https://www.amazon.ca/Priests-Lagash-David-Jordan-ebook/dp/B004G08YIU/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+priests+of+lagash&qid=1590448668&s=digital-text&sr=1-1</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br /><br /><b>Lost in Mari: Rise of a Mesopotamian Demon by Jayneela</b> - Set in the Old Babylonian period, the same as Mythic Babylon. There's very little information about the book itself, and no reviews. My gut feeling is that it's rather too fanciful to be considered a historic novel, but that doesn't mean its not good. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33591773-lost-in-mari">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33591773-lost-in-mari</a><br /><br /><b>The Flame Before Us by Richard Abbott</b> - Set on the verge of the Bronze Age Collapse c.1200 BC and on the coast of Syria and Canaanite hills (which is on the fringe of the territory we cover in Mythic Babylon.) This is a novel about the arrival of the sea peoples and how that affected local populations. I quite enjoyed the book, and I thought Richard did a really good job tackling the subject matter. Richard is a friend of mine and I've read several of his other books, my favourite of which is called Scenes From a Life, about a Canaanite who brings his craft to Egypt where he makes a living. Richard has impressive historical chops and I like his writing, so I'd say he's one of the more successful category 1 authors I've encountered. As inspiration for Mythic Babylon specifically, this book offers something for those who want to focus on migratory populations. It's characters and situations are rather domestic in scope, though, rather than 'mythical'.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25323363-the-flame-before-us">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25323363-the-flame-before-us</a><br /><br /><b>She Wrote on Clay by Shirley Graetz</b> - set in the Old Babylonian period during the reign of Hammurabi. I have read this one and have mixed feelings about it. This falls in category 1, and the historical research is very good (though there are a few oddities - there was no such thing as the briefly mentioned 'cavalry' at the time, for example.) However, the story is a little lacking and the main character has very little agency, always being rescued by others. However, as a 'slice of life' story that illustrates the unique quality of the life of a naditu priestess, you won't find much better. I think roleplayers will find this particular 'slice of life' a little too dull for gaming inspiration, but you never know. </span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18698033-she-wrote-on-clay" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18698033-she-wrote-on-clay</a><br /><br /><b style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">I, The Sun by Janet Morris</b><font face="georgia, times new roman, serif"> - Set c.1400 BC about the Hittite king Suppiluliumas, this is a very good and well researched historical fiction novel, but not really something to read in preparation for Mythic Babylon. I have a fuller review here: https://www.ttrpbc.com/discussion/139/novel-review-i-the-sun-by-janet-morris#latest </font><br /><br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17878917-i-the-sun" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17878917-i-the-sun</a><br /><br /> <font face="georgia"><b>The Dragon of the Ishtar Gate by L. Sprague de Camp</b> - A category 2 novel set in the Persian era. It's a travelling tale that goes to the far west corners of the Persian empire and told in a style that would appeal to fans of pulp Sword and Sorcery (of which de Camp wrote a lot) or swashbuckling fiction. But De Camp was widely read in ancient history, so the book is well-researched. I have this on my shelf, but haven't read it. I have read other books by the author and quite liked them, including (in the same series) The Bronze God of Rhodes, which we read with our book club to generally positive reviews. De Camp's dialogue is often playful, and that can come across as pretty campy to some. There's a recent review on Goodread that points out (in detail) all the flaws with the novel when seen from the woke perspective of the 20-teens. This was written in the '60s, so temper your expectations accordingly. And don't expect much Babylonian content. EDIT: Having now read this, I can say it has a bit more Babylonian content than I would have expected and I may write a separate review. In short, though, I found the action in the novel to be a little less interesting than I would have expected, and the book gives a lot of space to the mistreatment of women in society without any meaningful comment or examination of that, which will turn a lot of people off.<br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122051.The_Dragon_of_Ishtar_Gate">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122051.The_Dragon_of_Ishtar_Gate</a><br /><br /><b>Dark Priestess by Juanita Coulson</b> - a 1977 category 2 novel; Coulson is primarily an SF author and even wrote some Star Trek and Ravenloft books, in addition to her own original material. This is described as a 'Searing Romance in Fabulously Wicked Babylon at the dawn of History'. I know the publisher wrote that, but since Babylon really only comes to the fore a thousand years after the dawn of history I think we can take this as a clue to the level of historicity. One reviewer calls it a novel about 'Sumeria'. There isn't much to go on in the blurb apart from the name of the main character (Ki-Inanna, which might sound authentic but isn't), so I can't even establish which period of history this is supposedly set in. It likely mashes things up to create a 'Babylonian pastiche', so probably best to think of this as a fantasy novel along the lines of what Guy Gavriel Kay writes.<br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1701348.Dark_Priestess">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1701348.Dark_Priestess</a></font><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><div style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><b>Gilgamesh The King by Robert Silverberg</b> - another category 2 novel by well regarded SF&F author Robert Silverberg, in which he rationalizes the myth of Gilgamesh into a historical narrative. The mystical elements are also rationalized, with Humbaba turned into a volcanic landscape. I somehow doubt that Silverberg was aware enough of the distinctions between the various historical periods to make this truly historical, but you never know. My guess is that it's a historical pastiche, but nevertheless a useful for gaming inspiration. In fact, I suspect historical pastiche is the preferred method by which gamers relive history. There's a distinctly less historical sequel called <i>To the Land of the Living</i> that finds Gilgamesh in the afterlife with Helen of Troy and Picasso (!)</span></div><div style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/114134-gilgamesh">https://www.goodreads.com/series/114134-gilgamesh</a></span></div><div style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></div></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: medium;">The Writing in Stone by Irving Finkel</b><font face="georgia, times new roman, serif"> - This is a category 1 novel by renowned Assyriologist and biblical scholar Irving Finkel. I was familiar with Finkel's historical work and role as a curator in the British Museum, but I never knew he wrote fiction until a reader pointed this one out to me. Here's the description from Good Reads:</font></span></span></div><div><font color="#b51200"><br />The landscape of this dark and powerful story is the ancient world of Assyria some 3000 years ago, a time when writing was in the world's oldest script, cuneiform, and the domination of unseen forces firmly in the hands of the state's leading Exorcist. In the capital, Nineveh, resides a deep and complex man, the power behind the King of the World. Faced with unforeseen disaster that threatens his authority, he emerges as a psychopathic killer. The author uses his familiarity with ancient writings preserved in the world's museums to recreate a vanished world in which those who step from the shadows in ruthless violence to pursue ultimate control show themselves at the same time to be disconcertingly human. The tight prose and graphic illustrations make this a gripping and unusual tale not of this world, but at the same time weirdly familiar.<br /><br /></font><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Finkel is a good author and I think you can trust in this being a quality book, however if you read the GR reviews, you'll notice a trigger warning about violence against women by some of the characters, so proceed with caution.</span></div><div><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36027243-the-writing-in-the-stone"><font face="times">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36027243-the-writing-in-the-stone</font></a></div><div><br /></div><div><b style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">The Tower of Babel by Ted Chiang</b><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"> - this is a short story by this highly regarded author which appears in his collection Stories Of Your Life And Others (though I think you can purchase the single story, electronically). It follows the fortunes of an Elamite tradesman who is climbing the Tower of Babel (still under construction) so he can join the work crews near the top and help complete the project. Along the way, we encounter other Babylonian locals and situations. It takes quite a while, since the tower is very tall. Eventually, the tower is completed and reaches the firmament, and our Elamite climbs up into the clouds to find something unexpected. This is a nice story and has a great mythical quality - it could certainly inspire a Mythic Babylon scenario. It was nominated for a Hugo and won a Nebula.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/29864598">https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/29864598</a><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Fantasy Novels Inspired by Ancient Mesopotamia </span><br /><br /><b>Between the Rivers by Harry Turtledove</b> - Vaguely based on Sumerian myth and beliefs, this story is set in a not-Sumer where gods walk the earth and malicious spirits abound and can fly up your nose. It's an interesting read for gamers (and I have read this one), though probably too difficult to relate to Mythic Babylon. A mash-up between the two would be interesting, if anyone wanted to put the work in. <br /><br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/101600.Between_the_Rivers">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/101600.Between_the_Rivers</a><br /><br /><b>The Moonlit Cities series by Marcin Wrona</b> - fantasy inspired in part by Mesopotamia. These seem well reviewed, but only available on Kindle at the moment which means I won't likely read them. I quite like the cover designs, for whatever that's worth. <br /><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Pale-Queens-Courtyard-Moonlit-Cities-ebook/dp/B004XTTVCC/ref=sr_1_3?qid=1590447319&refinements=p_27%3AMarcin+Wrona&s=digital-text&sr=1-3&text=Marcin+Wrona">https://www.amazon.ca/Pale-Queens-Courtyard-Moonlit-Cities-ebook/dp/B004XTTVCC/ref=sr_1_3?qid=1590447319&refinements=p_27%3AMarcin+Wrona&s=digital-text&sr=1-3&text=Marcin+Wrona</a></span><br /> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span></div><font face="georgia"><b>The Ship of Ishtar by A. Merritt</b> - another fantasy inspired by Mesopotamia, this novel doesn't take place there, but a contemporary archaeologist gets sucked into fantasy adventure along the lines of Moorcock's Sailor on the Seas of Fate, travelling about in Ishtar's ship and caught between her and the god Nergal. I read it, but don't remember being especially moved.<br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6345033-the-ship-of-ishtar">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6345033-the-ship-of-ishtar</a></font> <div> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">So that's my round-up of Ancient Mesopotamian fiction. Please feel free to let me know of any that I missed. I may post a follow-up on non-fiction in the future, and will certainly keep posting reviews of individual books.</span></div> </div> <div style='clear: both;'></div> </div> <div class='post-footer'> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'> <span class='post-author vcard'> </span> <span class='post-timestamp'> at <meta content='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2020/05/what-books-can-i-read-to-inspire-my.html' itemprop='url'/> <a class='timestamp-link' href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2020/05/what-books-can-i-read-to-inspire-my.html' rel='bookmark' title='permanent link'><abbr class='published' itemprop='datePublished' title='2020-05-25T16:35:00-07:00'>May 25, 2020</abbr></a> </span> <span class='post-comment-link'> <a class='comment-link' href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2020/05/what-books-can-i-read-to-inspire-my.html#comment-form' onclick=''> 1 comment: </a> </span> <span class='post-icons'> <span class='item-control blog-admin pid-1282338224'> <a href='https://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=5742704193252183119&from=pencil' title='Edit Post'> <img alt='' class='icon-action' height='18' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif' width='18'/> </a> </span> </span> <div class='post-share-buttons goog-inline-block'> <a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-email' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=5742704193252183119&target=email' target='_blank' title='Email This'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Email This</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-blog' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=5742704193252183119&target=blog' onclick='window.open(this.href, "_blank", "height=270,width=475"); return false;' target='_blank' title='BlogThis!'><span class='share-button-link-text'>BlogThis!</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-twitter' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=5742704193252183119&target=twitter' target='_blank' title='Share to X'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Share to X</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-facebook' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=5742704193252183119&target=facebook' onclick='window.open(this.href, "_blank", "height=430,width=640"); return false;' target='_blank' title='Share to Facebook'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Share to Facebook</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-pinterest' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=5742704193252183119&target=pinterest' target='_blank' title='Share to Pinterest'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Share to Pinterest</span></a> </div> </div> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-2'> <span class='post-labels'> Labels: <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Assyria' rel='tag'>Assyria</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Babylon' rel='tag'>Babylon</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Bronze%20Age' rel='tag'>Bronze Age</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Classical%20Antiquity' rel='tag'>Classical Antiquity</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Fiction' rel='tag'>Fiction</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Iron%20Age' rel='tag'>Iron Age</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Mythic%20Babylon' rel='tag'>Mythic Babylon</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Near%20East' rel='tag'>Near East</a> </span> </div> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'> <span class='post-location'> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div></div> <div class="date-outer"> <h2 class='date-header'><span>Friday, December 20, 2019</span></h2> <div class="date-posts"> <div class='post-outer'> <div class='post hentry uncustomized-post-template' itemprop='blogPost' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/BlogPosting'> <meta content='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Tiamat.JPG' itemprop='image_url'/> <meta content='2724078395031847481' itemprop='blogId'/> <meta content='8000373722530587484' itemprop='postId'/> <a name='8000373722530587484'></a> <h3 class='post-title entry-title' itemprop='name'> <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-great-serpents-of-old-we-think-of.html'>The Great Serpents of Old</a> </h3> <div class='post-header'> <div class='post-header-line-1'></div> </div> <div class='post-body entry-content' id='post-body-8000373722530587484' itemprop='description articleBody'> <br /> <h2> The Great Serpents of Old</h2> <br /> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">We think of wyrms and dragons as iconic medieval monsters, and so they are. For sea monsters we turn to ancient instead Greece, the Bible, or the dark ages But the great serpents of legend have very old roots - going back at least to Babylonian times, and probably earlier. They are creatures of such import that they are given individual names, and no two are really alike. But perhaps, like in the story of the blind men and the elephant, they are really all the same creature and we can only appreciate one part at a time. Whatever the case, here are a few Great Serpents whose names you may not have heard before. They come from deepest antiquity.</span></div> <br /> <h4> Sumer and Babylon</h4> <span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Three great horned serpents are known to us from Akkadian literature, their names in some cases coming from Sumerian roots. Though there are several written descriptions, it can be hard to tell them apart as the texts don't always make it obvious which serpent they're referring to.</span></span><br /> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">One of these was <i>U拧umgallu</i> (from Sumerian </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">U艩UMGAL</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> - “The Great Dragon”) who was considered a monster or a demon. Where humans and hybrid creatures were thought to have been made by the gods, monsters and demons had older and more obscure roots. The great serpents were usually thought to have been of offspring of the primordial goddess, Temtu, who in later myth was herself described as a sea monster and given the name Tiamat. Temtu was the encircling salt sea, a mother goddess who gave birth (in some myths) to the lesser gods after mating with the Abzu (subterranean fresh waters). She was later depicted as a sea monster in her own right. </span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">U拧umgallu was counted among the 'warriors' said to have been slain by the god Ninurta, the champion Enlil, king of the gods, and defender of the city of Nippur. The myth recounting this slaying is lost (if it ever existed), but the deed is listed among the god's past exploits in a myth known today as 'The Exploits of Ninurta'. In that myth, Ninurta was also credited with slaying the six-headed wild ram, Anzud the thunderbird, and more. Of his various enemies, only the enigmatic Palm Tree King seems to have escaped.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">U拧umgallu can be equated with the lion-dragon - a great horned snake with forelegs and fierceness of a lion. The word </span>'<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">U艩UMGAL</span>' <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">was sometimes used as a metaphor for a king or a god in order to speak of their greatness. </span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The following verse comes from a myth of the god Ti拧pak, the warrior god and protector of the city of E拧nunna, and translated by Benjamin Foster in <i>Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature.</i></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“The sea produced the serpent.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Enlil has drawn the image of the serpent in heaven.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Its length was twenty leagues, its height was one league.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Its mouth was six cubits, its tongue twelve cubits,</span><br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Its horns were twelve cubits.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">At sixty cubits it snatches birds.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It draws nine cubits of water when it swims.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If it raises its tail, it darkens the sky</span><br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">All the gods in heaven fear it.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Go, Ti拧pak! Kill the lion-serpent!”</span><br /> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span> <br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Tiamat.JPG" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="231" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Tiamat.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small; text-align: start;">A seal depicting the slaying of U拧umgallu or perhaps Tiamat: Source: Wikimedia</span></td></tr> </tbody></table> <div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />Ba拧mu (Venemous Serpent) was another of the three great horned serpents of Babylonia. Ba拧mu was said to have two forelegs and wings, and to be sixty double-miles long. Ba拧mu lived in the sea, and devoured fish, birds, onagers, or humans with equal zeal. It had six mouths, seven tongues, and seven eyes on its belly. The following two texts describe Ba拧mu - or perhaps the third great serpent called Mu拧mahhu (Exalted Serpent), about whom little is known but who may have been the seven-headed serpent who was also slain by Ninurta.</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“I seize the mouth of all snakes, even the viper,</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Serpent that cannot be conjured:</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The alabaster burrower,</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The fish-snake with rainbow eyes,</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The eel, the hissing snake,</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The hisser, the snake at the window.</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It came in by a crevice, it went out by a drain.</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It struck the gazelle while it slept.</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It secreted itself in the withered oak.</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The snake lurks in a roof beam, the serpent lurks in wool.</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The serpent has six mouths, seven tongues,</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Seven are the poisonous vapours of its heart.</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It is bushy of hair, horrible of feature, its eyes are frightful.</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Bubbles ooze from it's maw, it's spittle cleaves stone.”</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <br /></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“The Idiqlat* bore it,</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Ulaya raised it,</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It lies under the rushes like a serpent.</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Its head is like a pestle,</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Its tail is like a pounding tool.</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Adad gave it its roar,</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Nergal, the descendant of Anu, gave it its slither.</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I conjure you by I拧tar and Dumuzi,</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Not to come near me a league and sixty cubits!”</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <br /></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">(Both texts from Before the Muses by Benjamin Foster)</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">*For context, the Idiqlat is the Tigris River; the Ulaya is the ancient river upon which the important Elamite city of Susa rested. Adad is the Babylonian storm god, Nergal the destructive warrior and king of the Underworld, and Anu is the father of the gods. The goddess I拧tar and the shepherd god Dumuzi were famously married until they had a falling out so spectacular it sundered the seasons from one another. </span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div> </div> <div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkGJu3L89cLuOfws39GBl-TGCFaZWKalC7xLgqq2wexRriag3GhChOBjlKiaruzpNvPkkLq_IMWQvTSlCIQIrh4QOx_HTN78Ksp3vfa9bcM9Yq9HXCCMP_VdAsYAZJR0xfhSgrPUq2ZClG/s1600/Mythic_Babylon_cover.png" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkGJu3L89cLuOfws39GBl-TGCFaZWKalC7xLgqq2wexRriag3GhChOBjlKiaruzpNvPkkLq_IMWQvTSlCIQIrh4QOx_HTN78Ksp3vfa9bcM9Yq9HXCCMP_VdAsYAZJR0xfhSgrPUq2ZClG/s400/Mythic_Babylon_cover.png" width="308" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;"> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Ba拧mu as he appears on the cover of the </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">forthcoming Mythic Babylon setting for Mythras</span></div> </td></tr> </tbody></table> <h4> <br />Hatti and Mitania</h4> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the lands north of Babylonia, another giant dragon-like monster lived. He is called Illuyanka and referred to in both Hattian and Hurrian myths. There are a few different versions of his story, but in one myth, Illuyanka took the eyes and heart of the weather god, Te拧拧ub, thus depriving him of his power, but as with so many of the great serpents he was ultimately slain by the god. Some scholars believe that Illuyanka was a metaphorical construct meant to evoke the Ga拧gaeans, who were a rival people to the Hittites. The name 'Illuyanka' comes from two proto-Indo-European roots - hillu and henge, both of which mean 'snake'. The latin word 'Anguilla' shares the same roots, but written in reverse order.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Museum_of_Anatolian_Civilizations082_kopie1jpg.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="146" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Museum_of_Anatolian_Civilizations082_kopie1jpg.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small; text-align: left;">"The serpent defeated the Storm-god and took his heart and eyes." Source: Wikimedia</span></td></tr> </tbody></table> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <h4 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;">India</span></h4> <div style="text-align: left;"> <br /></div> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yet another legendary great serpent is Poubi Lai, a lake serpent from Manipuri mythology. Poubi Lai is said to have been the embodiment of the spirit of Loktak Lake in northeastern India. In ages past, he was awakened as a manifest spirit of the lake when over-fishing threatened the balance of nature. Poubi Lai ravaged the local villages, so the local king took to appeasing him by offering one basket of rice and one living person for his daily meal. But the people found this situation untenable, and one of the villagers went into the hills to find the great shaman, Kabui Salang Baji, who fashioned a great javelin from an aquatic plant with which to tame the serpent.</span></div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <br /></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c2/Paphal_(Mus%C3%A9e_du_Quai_Branly)_(4489839164).jpg/1280px-Paphal_(Mus%C3%A9e_du_Quai_Branly)_(4489839164).jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c2/Paphal_(Mus%C3%A9e_du_Quai_Branly)_(4489839164).jpg/1280px-Paphal_(Mus%C3%A9e_du_Quai_Branly)_(4489839164).jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small; text-align: left;">Carving of Poubi Lai by Karam Dineshwar Singh. Source: Wikimedia</span></td></tr> </tbody></table> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <br /></div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">All these stories make it clear that Great Serpents can be slain by those with special powers, be they gods or heroes. But the task won't be easy, and who will suffer in the meantime? Your own giant serpent quest might require the help of dread shamans, greedy kings, or blind gods. Keep in mind, too, that snakes are said to be immortal - shedding their skins every so often to re-acquire the vigor of youth. What is the secret of that power, and is it shared by the Great Serpents of Old?</span></div> </div> </div> <div style='clear: both;'></div> </div> <div class='post-footer'> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'> <span class='post-author vcard'> </span> <span class='post-timestamp'> at <meta content='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-great-serpents-of-old-we-think-of.html' itemprop='url'/> <a class='timestamp-link' href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-great-serpents-of-old-we-think-of.html' rel='bookmark' title='permanent link'><abbr class='published' itemprop='datePublished' title='2019-12-20T15:34:00-08:00'>December 20, 2019</abbr></a> </span> <span class='post-comment-link'> <a class='comment-link' href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-great-serpents-of-old-we-think-of.html#comment-form' onclick=''> No comments: </a> </span> <span class='post-icons'> <span class='item-control blog-admin pid-1282338224'> <a href='https://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=8000373722530587484&from=pencil' title='Edit Post'> <img alt='' class='icon-action' height='18' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif' width='18'/> </a> </span> </span> <div class='post-share-buttons goog-inline-block'> <a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-email' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=8000373722530587484&target=email' target='_blank' title='Email This'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Email This</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-blog' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=8000373722530587484&target=blog' onclick='window.open(this.href, "_blank", "height=270,width=475"); 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text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347441073l/826949.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="267" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347441073l/826949.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /><br />This issue from the <i>Society of Biblical Literature</i> is a translation and update of a previous work by the author published in French. It's a survey of the published chronicles (a particular genre of literature that concerns itself with the documentation of events over time) which were originally written in the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian languages. Their writing spans a period of about 2000 years from the time of the Third Dynasty of Ur (c.2100 BC) to the Seleucid period (c.300 BC). The time periods these chronicles purport to cover are the same, but in some cases they stretch back to the dawn of humanity, before the mythical flood.<br /><br />About two-thirds of the book is devoted to the translations and transliterations of some 53 unique texts, most of which are fragmentary - many extremely so. The remaining third is devoted to a discussion of the nature of the texts (how they're classified, what characteristics they share, who wrote them, and why), and to a discussion of Babylonian and Assyrian thought on the nature of origins. <br /><br />Most interesting in this first third of the book, though, is the author's thesis on the Babylonian view of the nature of history, and why they considered it valuable. According to Glassner, Babylonians didn't see history as linear, but cyclical. Their chronicles, and especially the earliest, the <i>Chronicle of the Single Monarch</i>, which attempts to relate for the first time the earliest history of the people going back thousands of years, is predicated on the idea of cycles. <br /><br />The greatest cycle was that of the 'flood', for which original Sumerian word apparently refers to a 'meteorological event that is a weapon of the gods' and could relate to both a great storm or an invasion. 'Deluge' might be a better translation. In any case, it refers to a wiping clean of the land by something of divine origin that flows over the land. The mythical 'Flood' is one example. The invasion of the Gutians at the end of the Akkadian era is another.<br /><br />Within the flood cycles are dynastic cycles, in which the high kingship of the ruling city is passed to another king of the same city. When the dynastic cycle ends, rulership is passed to a new dynasty in the next city. Within each dynasty is another another nested cycle - that of individual of kings. Kings rule for cycles of years, which are made of a cycle of months, which are made of days, which are made of hours. <br /><br />Babylonian linear history therefore looks something like this:<br />Hours are nested within<br />Days, are nested within<br />Months, are nested within<br />Years, are nested within<br />The Reigns of Kings, are nested within <br />The Dynasties of Cities, which are nested within<br />Divine Deluges.<br /><br />The purpose of knowing the cyclical history (which is more important than the linear history) is so that any given king can figure out if he's going to be the one at the end of a cycle or not. Because nobody wants to be that guy.<br /><br />As usual when I review these books on ancient history, I like to provide a few excerpts to show what I find so fascinating, and to illustrate how I might apply them to games and world-building. Here are some things that particularly caught my eye:<br /><br />REPLICATING THE CITY<br />From the discussion of page 87:</span><br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>"The Replica of Babylon: Two chronicles explained the tragic end of Sargon of Akkade by reference to a sacrilege he had committed by removing soil from Babylon and reconstructing a replica of the city elsewhere. Should we see here an allusion to the Assyrian practice of transporting soil from conquered territories to be trampled daily under the feet of its conquerors? Rather, the comparison with Nabonidus seems more likely, as he was reproached for wanting to construct at Tayma, in the north of the Arabian peninsula, a replica of the palace of Babylon."</i></span></blockquote> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />Both of these suggestions are compelling to me. The former is basically the epitome of the act of what we would consider an evil empire - adding injury to defeat. The latter is interesting in a society where cities belong to their gods - for a human king to want to build a replica of a divine city would be seen as the height of hubris. Maybe, in your homemade world, it's the latter act that causes the 'deluge' which takes the form of the invasion of someone who would trample your soil daily - that's an interesting cycle in and of itself.<br /><br />THE SUBSTITUTE KING</span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Here's an actual chronicle entry. This was written in the late Babylonian period (7th century) but refers to a much earlier event in the 20th century BC. This instance, which takes place during cycle of the first dynasty of Isin, describes the practice of the substitute king, in which a king receives a warning by omen or prophecy that he will die, and so places a courtier or some other poor sap on the throne for a short time, while he takes the position of 'gardener'. Usually, if nothing happens naturally to the substitute king, he is killed and the prophecy is fulfilled. Then the rightful king retakes his place. In this instance though, events unfolded otherwise:</span><br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>"King Erra-imitti ordered Enlil-bani, the gardener, to sit on the throne as royal substitute and put the crown of kingship on his head. Erra-imitti died in his palace while swallowing soup in little sips. Enlil-bani sat on his throne, did not resign, and was elevated to the royal office."</i></span></blockquote> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />In this case, the rightful king died while he was playing the gardener. The substitute refused to step aside, and kept the throne. I have no idea what the significance of the 'little sips' is, but I love the detail. This would make a superb set up for a one-shot game. Imagine if the player-characters were sent on a diplomatic mission, only to find that the king they were supposed to treat with had been replace by a temporary substitute. Would they treat with the substitute, or try to find the real king, who is hiding as a 'gardener'. Then, when they do find the real king, he dies, choking on soup - maybe right in front of them. Imagine the look on the player's faces.<br /><br />ACTS OF A DERANGED KING<br />In another late chronicle, we are treated to the events that chronicle the mental or moral breakdown of a king of the Chaldean dynasty of Babylon, Nabu-shuma-ishkun. He commits all kinds of acts that would be considered atrocities today - maybe they were then, too, but people felt powerless to stop them.</span><br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>"Unshaven, he mutilated (the fingers of) his apprentice scribe, and, wearing fine gold, he entered into Bel's (Marduk's) cella of offering..."</i></span></blockquote> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>"A leek, a thing forbidden (taboo) in the Ezida (temple), he brought to the temple of Nabu and gave to the one "entering the temple" (a temple functionary)."</i></span></blockquote> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>"In (only) one day, he burned alive sixteen Cutheans (citizens of the city of Cutha) at Zababa's gate in the heart of Babylon."</i></span></blockquote> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>"The man Itagal-il of the town of Dur-sha-Karhi , which is on the banks of the Euphrates, came into his presence and swore agreements and oaths, but he committed insult and unspeakable slander that are forbidden of princes against him and counted his town as booty."</i></span></blockquote> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>"In the sixth year, he turned his attention toward the Esagila , the palace of Enlil of the gods, with a view to restoring it, but the possessions of the Esagila (as much as was there, that earlier kings had donated) he took out, gathered them into his own palace, and made them his own: silver, gold, choice and priceless stones, and everything that befits a deity, as much as was there. According to his good pleasure, he made offerings of them to the gods of the Sealand, or the Chaldeans, and of the Aramaeans. He would adorn the women of his palace with them and would give them to the kings of Hatti and Elam as signs of respect."</i></span></blockquote> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />Stealing from the gods, cursing, and bringing leeks into the temple! Now there's a king just asking for a deluge!</span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">SUMMARY</span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Like so many books that survey ancient literature, this book holds some serious gems. You have to sort the wheat from the chaff, but here the author helps us do that and gives us some synthesis. He could have just presented the chronicles as they were and left us to draw our own conclusions, but he didn't. His analysis really brings the chronicles alive and reveals the wonder of the ancient world.</span></div> <div style='clear: both;'></div> </div> <div class='post-footer'> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'> <span class='post-author vcard'> </span> <span class='post-timestamp'> at <meta content='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2019/05/book-review-chronicles-by-jean-jacques.html' itemprop='url'/> <a class='timestamp-link' href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2019/05/book-review-chronicles-by-jean-jacques.html' rel='bookmark' title='permanent link'><abbr class='published' itemprop='datePublished' title='2019-05-04T12:12:00-07:00'>May 04, 2019</abbr></a> </span> <span class='post-comment-link'> <a class='comment-link' href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2019/05/book-review-chronicles-by-jean-jacques.html#comment-form' onclick=''> No comments: </a> </span> <span class='post-icons'> <span class='item-control blog-admin pid-1282338224'> <a href='https://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=8024546084830888777&from=pencil' title='Edit Post'> <img alt='' class='icon-action' height='18' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif' width='18'/> </a> </span> </span> <div class='post-share-buttons goog-inline-block'> <a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-email' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=8024546084830888777&target=email' target='_blank' title='Email This'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Email This</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-blog' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=8024546084830888777&target=blog' onclick='window.open(this.href, "_blank", "height=270,width=475"); return false;' target='_blank' title='BlogThis!'><span class='share-button-link-text'>BlogThis!</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-twitter' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=8024546084830888777&target=twitter' target='_blank' title='Share to X'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Share to X</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-facebook' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=8024546084830888777&target=facebook' onclick='window.open(this.href, "_blank", "height=430,width=640"); return false;' target='_blank' title='Share to Facebook'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Share to Facebook</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-pinterest' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=8024546084830888777&target=pinterest' target='_blank' title='Share to Pinterest'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Share to Pinterest</span></a> </div> </div> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-2'> <span class='post-labels'> Labels: <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Assyria' rel='tag'>Assyria</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Babylon' rel='tag'>Babylon</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Book%20Reviews' rel='tag'>Book Reviews</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Bronze%20Age' rel='tag'>Bronze Age</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Iron%20Age' rel='tag'>Iron Age</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Literature' rel='tag'>Literature</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Near%20East' rel='tag'>Near East</a> </span> </div> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'> <span class='post-location'> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div></div> <div class="date-outer"> <h2 class='date-header'><span>Wednesday, January 16, 2019</span></h2> <div class="date-posts"> <div class='post-outer'> <div class='post hentry uncustomized-post-template' itemprop='blogPost' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/BlogPosting'> <meta content='https://d1lfxha3ugu3d4.cloudfront.net/images/opencollection/objects/size4/37.949E_front_PS2.jpg' itemprop='image_url'/> <meta content='2724078395031847481' itemprop='blogId'/> <meta content='7507052887169399636' itemprop='postId'/> <a name='7507052887169399636'></a> <h3 class='post-title entry-title' itemprop='name'> <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-hbyt-campaign-about-greed.html'>The Hbyt - A Campaign about Friendship and Greed</a> </h3> <div class='post-header'> <div class='post-header-line-1'></div> </div> <div class='post-body entry-content' id='post-body-7507052887169399636' itemprop='description articleBody'> <br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Today on his blog, <a href="https://rpgimaginarium.wordpress.com/2019/01/16/hunting-high-and-low/#comments">Paul Mitchener</a> was musing on how he might revisit his <b>Hunters of Alexandria</b> game. This gave me an idea.<br /><br />I think there's a lot of scope for expanding with a sort of 'city breaks' book that gives adventurers a wide variety of places to visit on travels from Alexandria. There are a lot of very interesting but less famous Egyptian locales that would really lend that feeling of wonder and mystery to an adventure. And in this case I'd certainly include the Fayyum city of <b>Arsinoe in Arcadia</b> <b>- aka Crocodilopolis</b>. From Wikipedia:<i> "The city worshiped a tamed sacred crocodile called in Koine Petsuchos, "the Son of Soukhos", that was adorned with gold and gem pendants. The Petsoukhos lived in a special temple pond and was fed by the priests with food provided by visitors. When Petsuchos died, it was replaced by another."</i></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">That's very cool on its own, but let's take this a step further and turn it into an RPG campaign. <i><br /></i></span><br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://d1lfxha3ugu3d4.cloudfront.net/images/opencollection/objects/size4/37.949E_front_PS2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="573" height="320" src="https://d1lfxha3ugu3d4.cloudfront.net/images/opencollection/objects/size4/37.949E_front_PS2.jpg" width="229" /></a></div> <br /> <div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Pataikos, or nmw</i></span></div> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><br /> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The Hbyt</span><br /><br />A bunch of Egyptian<i> nmw</i>, or Pataikos, servants of the cult of Ptah, wish to reclaim the treasures of their ancestors, unjustly robbed from them by the cult of Petsoukhos generations ago. On the advice of a priest of Thoth, they arrive for an unexpected party at the house of an unlikely burglar in Alexandria, whose door the Priest of Thoth had marked with a hieroglyph. The burglar is surprised by the intrusion, but politely provides many festive offerings to his guests. Before he knows it, the burglar agrees to set off on adventures with them and leaves Alexandria for the first time. <br /><br />On their journeys they are nearly eaten by sphinxes, then captured by Troglodytes from the Erythrean Sea or Upper Nile area, and while trapped in the troglodyte caves the burglar meets an ancient mummy and wins a treasure from him - the Ring of Gyges, which turns the wearer invisible. <br /><br />Eventually they all get out of the caves, only to be hunted by jackals, and then rescued by griffins and deposited on an island in the river where they meet a man who can change into a hippopotamus. They next traverse the great reed beds and nearly run afoul of giant water striders. <br /><br />Finally they make it to Crocodilopolis and discover the secret way into the lair of Petshoukhos by moonlight. He lies within, encrusted in gems. Using the Ring of Gyges, the burglar steals the Eye of Osiris, which angers the great reptile, who then goes on a rampage in the city of Arsinoe where he is eventually killed by a local archer - but not before the town is nearly destroyed. </span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">While the local residents deal with the great croc, the patraikos move into the lair and reclaim it and its treasure for themselves, as their heritage. The burglar finds he must mediate between the two groups that want the treasure in payment for past wrongs. And to complicate matters, the angry troglodytes, jackals, and some bird pals show up seeking revenge.<br /><br />Now, what could you call this campaign? Maybe name it after the unexpected party that starts it all. Looking up the Egyptian word for festive offerings in the dictionary, that gives us Hbyt, so we'll call it The Hbyt. Sounds about right.<br /><br />Links:</span><br /> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://ancientstandard.com/2007/07/02/come-to-crocodilopolis-no-we-are-not-making-this-up-3000-%E2%80%93-30-bc/">Crocodilopolis</a><br /><a href="http://archaeologicalmuseum.jhu.edu/the-collection/object-stories/ancient-egyptian-amulets/pataikos/">Pataikos</a><br /><a href="https://theodora.com/encyclopedia/t/troglodytes.html">Troglodytes</a><br /><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Gyges">The Ring of Gyges</a><br /><a href="https://seshkemet.weebly.com/dictionary.html#hcap">Ancient Egyptian Dictionary</a></span><br /> <br /> <div style='clear: both;'></div> </div> <div class='post-footer'> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'> <span class='post-author vcard'> </span> <span class='post-timestamp'> at <meta content='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-hbyt-campaign-about-greed.html' itemprop='url'/> <a class='timestamp-link' href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-hbyt-campaign-about-greed.html' rel='bookmark' title='permanent link'><abbr class='published' itemprop='datePublished' title='2019-01-16T14:29:00-08:00'>January 16, 2019</abbr></a> </span> <span class='post-comment-link'> <a class='comment-link' href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-hbyt-campaign-about-greed.html#comment-form' onclick=''> 3 comments: </a> </span> <span class='post-icons'> <span class='item-control blog-admin pid-1282338224'> <a href='https://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=7507052887169399636&from=pencil' title='Edit Post'> <img alt='' class='icon-action' height='18' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif' width='18'/> </a> </span> </span> <div class='post-share-buttons goog-inline-block'> <a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-email' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=7507052887169399636&target=email' target='_blank' title='Email This'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Email This</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-blog' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=7507052887169399636&target=blog' onclick='window.open(this.href, "_blank", "height=270,width=475"); return false;' target='_blank' title='BlogThis!'><span class='share-button-link-text'>BlogThis!</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-twitter' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=7507052887169399636&target=twitter' target='_blank' title='Share to X'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Share to X</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-facebook' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=7507052887169399636&target=facebook' onclick='window.open(this.href, "_blank", "height=430,width=640"); return false;' target='_blank' title='Share to Facebook'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Share to Facebook</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-pinterest' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=7507052887169399636&target=pinterest' target='_blank' title='Share to Pinterest'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Share to Pinterest</span></a> </div> </div> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-2'> <span class='post-labels'> Labels: <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Alexandria' rel='tag'>Alexandria</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Classical%20Antiquity' rel='tag'>Classical Antiquity</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Egypt' rel='tag'>Egypt</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Hunters%20of%20Alexandria' rel='tag'>Hunters of Alexandria</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Iron%20Age' rel='tag'>Iron Age</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Near%20East' rel='tag'>Near East</a>, <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Roleplaying%20Games' rel='tag'>Roleplaying Games</a> </span> </div> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'> <span class='post-location'> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div></div> <div class="date-outer"> <h2 class='date-header'><span>Saturday, January 12, 2019</span></h2> <div class="date-posts"> <div class='post-outer'> <div class='post hentry uncustomized-post-template' itemprop='blogPost' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/BlogPosting'> <meta content='https://media.bloomsbury.com/rep/f/9781472531698.jpg' itemprop='image_url'/> <meta content='2724078395031847481' itemprop='blogId'/> <meta content='8339739802495357486' itemprop='postId'/> <a name='8339739802495357486'></a> <h3 class='post-title entry-title' itemprop='name'> <a href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2019/01/history-book-reviews-3-city-books-ur.html'>History Book Reviews - Three City Books: Ur, Ugarit, and Erbil</a> </h3> <div class='post-header'> <div class='post-header-line-1'></div> </div> <div class='post-body entry-content' id='post-body-8339739802495357486' itemprop='description articleBody'> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">This post collects three of the book reviews rescued from my G+ feed. Each of these books discusses the archaeology and known history of a single ancient city: Ur, in the land of Sumer, Ugarit, in the land of Canaan, and Erbil, in the land of Assyria.</span><br /> <div> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div> <div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">1. Ur - The City of the Moon God </span><br />by Harriet Crawford, 2015, 146 pages</span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div> <div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://media.bloomsbury.com/rep/f/9781472531698.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="160" src="https://media.bloomsbury.com/rep/f/9781472531698.jpg" /></a></div> <div> <br /></div> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">This book offers a capsule history of the ancient city of Ur, one of the oldest known cities in the world. Located on the lower Euphrates river near the head of the Persian Gulf, this city played an important role in the early history of the ancient near east and, for about 100 years at the end of the 3rd millennium BC, was arguably the most important city in the world.<br /><br />The author, Harriet Crawford, is one of the most prolific writers on this period and definitely knows her stuff. As a survey, this book covers all the periods that saw people living and working on the site, from the <i>Ubaid period</i> c.5000 BC to its eventual decline sometime during the or after time the Persians ruled Babylon c.500BC. She also discusses the archaeological work of Sir Leonard Woolley in excavating the city in the '20s. <br /><br />As a light survey, I think it does a fine job. It's accessible to the lay-person and relatively concise. For my money, though, I think I would have preferred something more complete - an encyclopedia of the city of Ur. As such this book is nowhere near complete. It lacks illustrations of many of the key finds discussed in the text, and is missing king lists and other historical data. It's also a little shy on synthesis, which is something I have found in other books by this author - she prefers to lay out facts and let the reader draw their own conclusions. This book mainly focuses on the architecture based on archaeological evidence. It adds little that is new to the discussion of Ur, so if you've already read something about this city or period in some depth, you won't find anything too exciting in here.<br /><br />If you're interested in cities of the ancient near east (including Ur), then I would point you instead to <b>Mesopotamia: The Invention of the City</b> by Gwendolyn Leick, which tells the story of ancient Mesopotamia, from the first cities to the invasion of the Persians, one city at a time from Eridu to Babylon. It's one of the most remarkable books on ancient history I've ever read, and Ur gets its own chapter. </span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">2. Ugarit: Ras Shamra </span></div> <div> <div> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">by Adrian Curtis, 1985, 125pp</span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div> <div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://books.google.ca/books/content?id=G3JtAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1&imgtk=AFLRE70K7GJYYBP_goqm5fLEi2xKJnLmxQKtLGvn6hXLtH6w_eoOjkCH4LYeqvxvFRnUUbts8eGxEnSUsytdWbuuUL89s0n8OUyDru87-dnjQHOxWOR_ynBFlvgNSVX5BhKiuZFetSa8" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="184" data-original-width="128" src="https://books.google.ca/books/content?id=G3JtAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1&imgtk=AFLRE70K7GJYYBP_goqm5fLEi2xKJnLmxQKtLGvn6hXLtH6w_eoOjkCH4LYeqvxvFRnUUbts8eGxEnSUsytdWbuuUL89s0n8OUyDru87-dnjQHOxWOR_ynBFlvgNSVX5BhKiuZFetSa8" /></a></div> <div> <br /></div> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ancient cities fascinate me because they're puzzles. They can be excavated for years, but never fully discovered, so scholars and archaeologists take what they can find and try to create the most complete picture possible. Even the most complete picture still leaves a lot to the imagination, and there are always new places to dig, either sideways or down.<br /><br />Ugarit is one of those cities. Chances are you haven't heard of it, but it's an interesting place. It lies on a headland on the Mediterranean shore of modern Syria, south of the Turkish border. It was settled and abandoned more than once between 6000 and 2000 BC, and finally reached its peak development in the middle and late bronze age between about 1800 and 1200 BC. It was destroyed and abandoned for good during the cataclysmic Bronze Age Collapse that took place around 1200-1100 BC - the same event that saw the fall of a great many cities in the area, including the Hittite empire of ancient Turkey and the Mycenaean civilization in what is now Greece.<br /><br />During its heyday, Ugarit was an important nexus for trade, being at the northern edge of Egyptian influence, the eastern edge of Mycenaean influence, the southern edge of Hittite influence, and the western edge of Mittanian and Assyrian (and before them Akkadian) influence. Being always on the edge of great empires, it was both free to develop its own culture and yet close enough to be exposed to what was happening in larger and more influential centres. It was occupied by a mix of Semitic and Hurrian speaking people.<br /><br />The most important discoveries from Ugarit are the written tablets containing what has become known as the Ugaritic Script - perhaps the earliest alphabetic script - which was used to write the Ugaritic language - a semitic language related to Hebrew. These ancient writing tablets contain records of financial transactions, correspondence, and most important, the most complete records of Canaanite myth so far discovered. <br /><br /><i>Ugarit</i> by Adrian Curtis describes the early history of the city, life in its golden age (including a brief summary of some of the sordid affairs of its kings), a description of the city based on archaeology, a summary of the myths discovered, and two more in-depth essays on what the religion of the city might have looked like and why all of this is relevant to bible scholars. <br /><br />I particularly enjoyed reading about King Ammistamru's troubles involving his brothers and what appear to be two divorces, all of which seemed to need the interference of the Hittite king to be settled. I also enjoyed reading the myths of the city god, Baal, and the discussion of how he relates to the Hebrew god, Yahweh.<br /><br />This volume by Curtis is one of a few book length treatments of the city I'm aware of. Another, by Marguerite Yon, translated into English from the original french, is a little newer and probably probably more up-to-date, since a major find of 300 tablets was discovered in the years between when these two books were published. I haven't read that book, but would be inclined to suggest it instead of this one simply because it is more current. But if you happen to see the Curtis book on a used book shop shelf somewhere, by all means pick it up and give it a read.<br /><br />And if you already know something about Ugarit and would like to learn more, then be sure to check out the historical novel by my friend, Richard Abbott: <a href="http://richardabbott.datascenesdev.com/blog/index.php/the-flame-before-us/">The Flame Before Us</a> which is set in Ugarit during its final fall c.1200 BC. </span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">3. A City from the Dawn of History: </span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Erbil in the Cuneiform Sources </span></span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">by John MacGinnis, 2014, 128 pages</span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div> <div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/265x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/9/7/9781782977971.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="265" data-original-width="265" src="https://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/265x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/9/7/9781782977971.jpg" /></a></div> <div> <br /></div> </div> <div> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">My ideal book on an ancient city would include both original written texts and archaeological data, both of which are thin on the ground. Rather good books have been written about the cities of <a href="https://books.google.ca/books/about/Ebla_and_Its_Landscape.html?id=AaZg0ypYrnQC&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">Ebla</a> and <a href="https://www.ancient.eu/books/1782977317/">Mari</a>. I recently reviewed one on Ur and another on Ugarit. This book focuses on Erbil (anciently known as Irbilum, Urbilum, Urbel, and Arbail) which is located in Iraqi Kurdistan on the Lesser Zab river. It's not my ideal book, but it has enough to keep me interested.<br /><br />Unlike Ebla, Mari, Ugarit, and Ur, the city of Erbil is still an inhabited city of about 1.5 million people. There is evidence for settlement here as far back as the Ubaid period (C.5000 BC), so Erbil is a contender for the title of the world's oldest continuously inhabited city. Being inhabited, Erbil hasn't been able to benefit from an extensive archaeological program, but with the help of UNESCO it is about to implement one as part of a revitalization program. This book, therefore, focuses on what was anciently written about Erbil in the cuneiform texts from the late 3rd millennium to the time of Alexander the Great - hence the subtitle.<br /><br />Check out this <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citadel_of_Erbil">Wikipedia article</a> to see a picture of the ancient heart of Erbil, located under the citadel on what is obviously an ancient tell. A "tell" is a city mound, built up over centuries of continuous habitation in one spot. </span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /><i>A City From the Dawn of History</i> does a good job of describing the history of Erbil (such as is possible) through the ancient period. The author makes some educated guesses based on scant resources for the early periods, and those texts are provided in translation. Later texts, from the late Assyrian period, are only summarized, rather than translated, and in this I was a little disappointed - it would have been nice to have more of these written out in full.<br /><br />One of the more interesting treatments in this book is the analysis of how the name for the city was written during different time periods. The various names are shown in cuneiform, transliterated, and translated, so we can see how not only the name changed, but how cuneiform writing itself changed - and that's a fascinating thing!<br /><br />Around 3100 BC, during the time of the Third Dynasty of Ur, the name was written </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ur bi lum</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> followed by the sign </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">KI</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">. This last sign is written, but not pronounced. It's what's called a determinative and it's used to classify the word - in this case as a land or large city. The same signs, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ur-bi-lum</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">, could be used to describe something else, if a different determinative was used.</span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />By c.1700 BC the name was spelled </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ur bi el</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> , a phonetic spelling, followed by the </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">KI</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> sign. The actually cuneiform symbols look very different from those of 500 years earlier - they are simpler.</span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />By the late second millennium, the name is written </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ar ba il</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and now preceded by the determinative </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">URU</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> (meaning city). </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">KI</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> is no longer used.</span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />By the middle of the 1st millennium, the name is written using the sign for the number 4 and the sign for god, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">DINGIR</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">, preceeded by the </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">URU</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> determinative. This is because scribes were now using the signs for 4 (pronounced 'arba') and for God (pronounced 'il') to write the name. Using just those two signs one could approximate the sound of the name Arbil. And so the city earned the nickname "City of the Four Gods" - not because it had four gods, but because of a scribal spelling convention.<br /><br />The actual city god of Erbil was called Ishtar of Arbail and she was one of the most important goddesses of the Assyrian Empire. Erbil was, at that time, one of the key cities of the Assyrian heartland. Her temple was called Egashankalamma ("House of the Lady of the Land") and King Esarhaddon of Assyria claimed to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esarhaddon">have covered it in electrum.</a><br /><br />A prominent prophet lived here at that time, and a number of those prophecies appear, translated, in another book I reviewed: <a href="https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2018/11/review-prophets-and-prophecy-in-ancient.html">Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East</a> by Martti Nissinen.</span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">So, to conclude, this book isn't my ideal - it's missing the archaeological information I'd normally look for because the city is still thickly settled. But it really does give you everything else that's available, with some wonderful synthesis and great illustrations. Of the three books presented here, it's the one that presented me with the most pleasant surprises.</span><br /> <br /></div> </div> </div> <div style='clear: both;'></div> </div> <div class='post-footer'> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'> <span class='post-author vcard'> </span> <span class='post-timestamp'> at <meta content='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2019/01/history-book-reviews-3-city-books-ur.html' itemprop='url'/> <a class='timestamp-link' href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2019/01/history-book-reviews-3-city-books-ur.html' rel='bookmark' title='permanent link'><abbr class='published' itemprop='datePublished' title='2019-01-12T17:08:00-08:00'>January 12, 2019</abbr></a> </span> <span class='post-comment-link'> <a class='comment-link' href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/2019/01/history-book-reviews-3-city-books-ur.html#comment-form' onclick=''> No comments: </a> </span> <span class='post-icons'> <span class='item-control blog-admin pid-1282338224'> <a href='https://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=8339739802495357486&from=pencil' title='Edit Post'> <img alt='' class='icon-action' height='18' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif' width='18'/> </a> </span> </span> <div class='post-share-buttons goog-inline-block'> <a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-email' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=8339739802495357486&target=email' target='_blank' title='Email This'><span class='share-button-link-text'>Email This</span></a><a class='goog-inline-block share-button sb-blog' href='https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2724078395031847481&postID=8339739802495357486&target=blog' onclick='window.open(this.href, "_blank", "height=270,width=475"); 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Here you'll find posts covering the stories, myths, customs, and wisdom of the ancient and medieval world, including archaeological news, book reviews, and sometimes game reviews.</span> </div> <div class='clear'></div> </div> <div class='widget Profile' data-version='1' id='Profile1'> <h2>About The Many Coloured House</h2> <div class='widget-content'> <a href='https://www.blogger.com/profile/06226516133657970887'><img alt='My photo' class='profile-img' height='77' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0r97yC4PKlwqitOa9vDDaG-CFT4h8QKa-cPY9pvoSce5NNpQDwkLDKBeymWhYiGqS4HeKHJNflmwMWEtxZ-vNeW9-ijy3DKug4nHD6MrOXePYQuz6W2huVdcR2CxHiQ/s117/Akkadian_01.jpg' width='80'/></a> <dl class='profile-datablock'> <dt class='profile-data'> <a class='profile-name-link g-profile' href='https://www.blogger.com/profile/06226516133657970887' rel='author' style='background-image: url(//www.blogger.com/img/logo-16.png);'> Chris G </a> </dt> <dd class='profile-textblock'>I'm an history enthusiast with a particular interest in the Bronze Age Near East and Dark Ages Britain. I'm also the creator and co-author of Mythic Babylon, a setting for the Mythras Role Playing Game that lets you play characters in 1764 BC Babylon. </dd> </dl> <a class='profile-link' href='https://www.blogger.com/profile/06226516133657970887' rel='author'>View my complete profile</a> <div class='clear'></div> </div> </div><div class='widget Label' data-version='1' id='Label1'> <h2>Labels</h2> <div class='widget-content list-label-widget-content'> <ul> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Alexandria'>Alexandria</a> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Assyria'>Assyria</a> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Babylon'>Babylon</a> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Bactria'>Bactria</a> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' href='https://egunnu.blogspot.com/search/label/Bet%20You%20Didn%27t%20Know'>Bet You Didn't Know</a> </li> <li> <a dir='ltr' 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