Despite the title - perhaps imposed by the publisher, Atlantic Books - it covers a much longer period of history, starting well before Babylon was founded in about 2300BC.
The book's sub-title, Mesopotamia And The Birth Of Civilization, gives a much better idea of the contents.
As the blurb on the back states: "Kriwaczek tells the story of ancient Mesopotamia from the earliest settlements around 5400BC to the eclipse of Babylon by the Persians in the sixth century BC."
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| A faded photo - metaphor for Mesopotamia's glory? |
To put the period in context, Kriwaczek points out in the introduction: "If history, as by most definitions, begins with writing, then the birth, rise and fall of ancient Mesopotamia occupies a full half of all history."
Inevitably, in covering such a huge span of time, the author resorts to sweeping generalisations that I imagine would make specialists wince - his observations on the Assyrian military, particularly the superiority of iron over bronze ("cheaper, harder, less brittle ... sharper ... keener"), certainly made me flinch, and I am no specialist.
But there is a lot of interesting reading in the book's c300 pages, and I feel much more informed for having read it.
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