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Between Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History
Humanity’s earliest efforts at recording and drawing meaning from history reveal how lives millennia ago were not so different from our own.
Mesopotamia saw the first cities, devised the original writing system, sowed the early seeds of agriculture, and developed myths, medicine, and astronomy that all went on to influence societies around the world. However, the significance of this ancient civilization goes far beyond its technological inventions: These were the people who began the human tradition of recording their own histories.
With each chapter focusing on a new artifact, historian Moudhy Al-Rashid takes us on a personal tour of ancient life: the brick that was the basis of Mesopotamian architecture; the classroom tablets that shed light on the timeless anxieties of student life; the stone obelisk that spoke to the vast socioeconomic gulfs. Ancient Mesopotamians wanted a witness to their lives, and thousands of years later, Al-Rashid shares their stories.
Mesopotamia saw the first cities, devised the original writing system, sowed the early seeds of agriculture, and developed myths, medicine, and astronomy that all went on to influence societies around the world. However, the significance of this ancient civilization goes far beyond its technological inventions: These were the people who began the human tradition of recording their own histories.
With each chapter focusing on a new artifact, historian Moudhy Al-Rashid takes us on a personal tour of ancient life: the brick that was the basis of Mesopotamian architecture; the classroom tablets that shed light on the timeless anxieties of student life; the stone obelisk that spoke to the vast socioeconomic gulfs. Ancient Mesopotamians wanted a witness to their lives, and thousands of years later, Al-Rashid shares their stories.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published February 20, 2025
210 people are currently reading
9002 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
August 2, 2025
Between Two Rivers is a truly fascinating read.
Many history books can become bogged down in too much academia or dry prose but Mouthy Al-Rashid writes with passion and from the heart.It is almost as though you are with her making a presentation in which she is talking directly to you. Personal reference points in her life and connections to modern life and life in Mesopotamia are made providing further accessibility.
This is a book about communication - the way through which interpreting past lives are made through examining and understanding the little rolls or drums of clay covered with cuneiform writing. ( initially with 2000 signs then many more!) They unlock the world of the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians.
Daily lives are opened to the reader; rulers and royals are explored; architecture and construction unpicked. The recognition of blending myth and history to create stories prevails- but also Mouthy Al- Rashid makes us question how modern history could be interpreted in the future.
Having recently read Elif Shafak's superb There Are Rivers In The Sky, Between Two Rivers felt like the perfect companion book.
Rather like Bethany Hughes and Michael Scott, Moudhy Al-Rashid's writing brings history to life in an entertaining and highly informative way. A brilliant read- highly recommended
Many history books can become bogged down in too much academia or dry prose but Mouthy Al-Rashid writes with passion and from the heart.It is almost as though you are with her making a presentation in which she is talking directly to you. Personal reference points in her life and connections to modern life and life in Mesopotamia are made providing further accessibility.
This is a book about communication - the way through which interpreting past lives are made through examining and understanding the little rolls or drums of clay covered with cuneiform writing. ( initially with 2000 signs then many more!) They unlock the world of the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians.
Daily lives are opened to the reader; rulers and royals are explored; architecture and construction unpicked. The recognition of blending myth and history to create stories prevails- but also Mouthy Al- Rashid makes us question how modern history could be interpreted in the future.
Having recently read Elif Shafak's superb There Are Rivers In The Sky, Between Two Rivers felt like the perfect companion book.
Rather like Bethany Hughes and Michael Scott, Moudhy Al-Rashid's writing brings history to life in an entertaining and highly informative way. A brilliant read- highly recommended
September 25, 2024
Absolutely breathtaking. The narrative and style of Author are touching to the very core, I’ve completely fell in love with the Mesopotamian reality shown through her eyes. A 10000% recommendation for literally everyone - those who don’t know anything about ancient Mesopotamia and those who are convinced that they’ve read everything important about this period of time. Loved it so much.
June 21, 2025
Там, откъдето тръгва първото известно на човечеството писмено слово…
Земята между реките Тигър и Ефрат в днешен Ирак е видяла възхода и заника на много царства. В този плодороден отрязък са възниквали първите известни градове-държави (митичният Вавилон, магичните Ур, Урук и Лагаш, изисканата Ниневия), строени са огромни зикурати-прототипи на вавилонската кула, говорели са се шумерски, акадски, вавилонски, асирийски езици. Част от месопотамския мита за Гилгамеш е влязъл в библията с потопа и Ной, асирийските царе отбелязват присъствие в стария завет, а приличащото на птичи стъпки клинописно писмо върху вездесъщите глинени плочки не секва близо три хилядолетия от 3500 г.пр.н.е. до 79 г.пр.н.е. Тези три хилядолетия са обилно документирани в списъци, химни, митове, медицински рецепти, закони (и прочулият се с тях цар Хамурапи), актове за собственост, астрономически наблюдения с религиозни тълкувания, дипломатическа поща и ученически драскулки върху глинени плочки.
Муди ал-Рашид поднася едно интерактивно запознанство с този удивителен регион и неговите обитатели, които през 6 в.пр.н.е. вече са имали над 2000 годишна история… Текстът очертава непрекъснатите паралели на древния бит с технологичното ни настояще, и го прави удачно, защото - за разлика от технологиите - хората не се променят.
Разказът тече под формата на история за историята. През 6 в.пр.н.е. Вавилонската принцеса и жрица Енигалди-Нана е съхранявала множество предмети с вече близо две хилядолетна история. А през 1922 г. археологическите разкопки на Ленърд Ули изкарват на бял свят осем от тях. Историята на всеки предмет маркира отделяна глава и отвежда към аспект от културата, религията, науката, управлението, войните и бита на древните народи в поречието.
Любовта на авторката към древна Месопотамия е повече от доловима и се предава до голяма стелен на читателя. Проблемът е, че древността е оскъдна на цялостни и завършени истории и е по-скоро калейдоскоп от непасващи си парчета от различни истории (голяма част от които - митологични или идеологични), и Муди на моменти твърде много се повтаря или се плъзга по повърхността. Липсата на илюстрации също силно накърнява гладкото възприемане на текста. Неяснотата и догадките са правило, а не изключение. Но това е правилото и на стандартния човешки живот. Дано Междуречието познае скорошно благоденствие и да ни разкрие още много съкровища от необикновената си съдба и история.
3,5⭐️
Хубава съвместна дигитална изложба на няколко месопотамски артефакта на Гети и Лувъра:
https://mesopotamia.getty.edu/
Земята между реките Тигър и Ефрат в днешен Ирак е видяла възхода и заника на много царства. В този плодороден отрязък са възниквали първите известни градове-държави (митичният Вавилон, магичните Ур, Урук и Лагаш, изисканата Ниневия), строени са огромни зикурати-прототипи на вавилонската кула, говорели са се шумерски, акадски, вавилонски, асирийски езици. Част от месопотамския мита за Гилгамеш е влязъл в библията с потопа и Ной, асирийските царе отбелязват присъствие в стария завет, а приличащото на птичи стъпки клинописно писмо върху вездесъщите глинени плочки не секва близо три хилядолетия от 3500 г.пр.н.е. до 79 г.пр.н.е. Тези три хилядолетия са обилно документирани в списъци, химни, митове, медицински рецепти, закони (и прочулият се с тях цар Хамурапи), актове за собственост, астрономически наблюдения с религиозни тълкувания, дипломатическа поща и ученически драскулки върху глинени плочки.
Муди ал-Рашид поднася едно интерактивно запознанство с този удивителен регион и неговите обитатели, които през 6 в.пр.н.е. вече са имали над 2000 годишна история… Текстът очертава непрекъснатите паралели на древния бит с технологичното ни настояще, и го прави удачно, защото - за разлика от технологиите - хората не се променят.
Разказът тече под формата на история за историята. През 6 в.пр.н.е. Вавилонската принцеса и жрица Енигалди-Нана е съхранявала множество предмети с вече близо две хилядолетна история. А през 1922 г. археологическите разкопки на Ленърд Ули изкарват на бял свят осем от тях. Историята на всеки предмет маркира отделяна глава и отвежда към аспект от културата, религията, науката, управлението, войните и бита на древните народи в поречието.
Любовта на авторката към древна Месопотамия е повече от доловима и се предава до голяма стелен на читателя. Проблемът е, че древността е оскъдна на цялостни и завършени истории и е по-скоро калейдоскоп от непасващи си парчета от различни истории (голяма част от които - митологични или идеологични), и Муди на моменти твърде много се повтаря или се плъзга по повърхността. Липсата на илюстрации също силно накърнява гладкото възприемане на текста. Неяснотата и догадките са правило, а не изключение. Но това е правилото и на стандартния човешки живот. Дано Междуречието познае скорошно благоденствие и да ни разкрие още много съкровища от необикновената си съдба и история.
3,5⭐️
Хубава съвместна дигитална изложба на няколко месопотамски артефакта на Гети и Лувъра:
https://mesopotamia.getty.edu/
August 7, 2025
Between Two Rivers starts in Ur with excavations of objects which would have been excavated themselves: what its discoverer dubbed the first museum. A brick. A statue. The head of a mace. A 2500-year-old museum label.
In what is perhaps my favourite approach to writing about ancient history, Moudhy Al-Rashid starts with sites and objects, with the written medium and material that we get the history from. This is also about personal connections, what moved the dead, what moves the living scholar, and method. You get to learn a bit about looking at the world like an archaeologist along the way.
_____________
Al-Rashid is a historian of medicine and science, though there is unfortunately little of that in the text. She does notes that cuneiform dictionaries did not limit themselves to practical terms and real objects but seemed to be an exploration of all the abstract combinatory possibilities the new technology of writing offered = knowledge-making as free movement, exploration - play, if you will (my interpretation, I think I am bastardizing it from Gadamer.)
Her thesis (which is well-worth taking a look at) as well as her further work focus on mental illness and its treatment in Ancient Near East.
But Between Two Rivers certainly bears the imprint of her preoccupation with human inner life and embodied experience and the ways language captures that.
In what is perhaps my favourite approach to writing about ancient history, Moudhy Al-Rashid starts with sites and objects, with the written medium and material that we get the history from. This is also about personal connections, what moved the dead, what moves the living scholar, and method. You get to learn a bit about looking at the world like an archaeologist along the way.
_____________
Al-Rashid is a historian of medicine and science, though there is unfortunately little of that in the text. She does notes that cuneiform dictionaries did not limit themselves to practical terms and real objects but seemed to be an exploration of all the abstract combinatory possibilities the new technology of writing offered = knowledge-making as free movement, exploration - play, if you will (my interpretation, I think I am bastardizing it from Gadamer.)
Her thesis (which is well-worth taking a look at) as well as her further work focus on mental illness and its treatment in Ancient Near East.
But Between Two Rivers certainly bears the imprint of her preoccupation with human inner life and embodied experience and the ways language captures that.
May 5, 2025
An excellent history of Mesopotamia through a collection of objects found in an enigmatic room in the ruins of the ancient city of Ur. Moudhy Al-Rashid writes brilliantly and passionately about how the people of Mesopotamia lived, loved and worked. Her thoughts on history, writing and culture are insightful, and she casts a lot of light into how ancient societies parallel our own, though human needs, but are also vastly different due to their economic structures. Her book doesn't ignore the inequalities of class and gender, and this makes it particularly valuable. There's only the briefest of mentions of the US led Iraq War, but it's made to illuminate ancient warfare in all its simularities and differences. I would, however, have been interested in what Al-Rashid thought of the impact of that war, and its aftermath on our knowledge of the region's history. An excellent history book. Highly recommended.
Read
June 28, 2025Despite the promise of the title, "Between Two Rivers" offers a fragmented reading experience, based on the description of archaeological objects and short contextual stories, without ever building a clear line of historical development. The lack of a chronological progression or a common thread linking the chapters makes the reading seem more like a collection of disconnected spaces than a journey through the birth of Mesopotamian civilisation. For those looking for an evolutionary overview or a broader argument about the emergence of history, the book's structure can be frustrating.
I recommend it first:
“Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization” (2010) Paul Kriwaczek, https://virtual-illusion.blogspot.com...
"O Infinito num Junco” (2020) Irene Vallejo https://virtual-illusion.blogspot.com...
I recommend it first:
“Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization” (2010) Paul Kriwaczek, https://virtual-illusion.blogspot.com...
"O Infinito num Junco” (2020) Irene Vallejo https://virtual-illusion.blogspot.com...
August 19, 2025
A highly readable history of Mesopotamia, loosely framed around the idea of how Mesopotamians viewed history themselves. Al-Rashid has a breezy, chatty tone and wants us to love her cast of ancient characters as much as she does. She uses a lot of modern analogies to make this world come alive, but is careful not to tip into obscuring difference either. This was a great introduction to Mesopotamian history and convinced me to add the Epic of Gilgamesh to my TBR.
August 29, 2025
I swear: In another life, I was meant to be translating cuneiform tablets in the basement of the British Museum.
This was such a fun, readable, introductory look into ancient Mesopotamia. The book is organized around a series of artifacts, with each chapter delving into a different aspect of ancient life. Whether it was warfare, writing, the lives of women, or the Mesopotamian's study of the stars and science, I found that the information included was very high-level, but written with the right amount of enthusiasm and personal anecdotes to get someone hyped up about this part of history.
The only downside to the organization of this book is that it wasn't chronological, and as someone who is just starting to dip their toes into learning about ancient history, it was hard to get a sense of the timelines and orient myself in terms of the different empires. I also felt that this book lacked three things that would have really elevated the reading experience: a map (I wanted this so bad!), a timeline, and, most of all, pictures!! This entire book was organized around artifacts, and yet there were not images of those artifacts included. The amount of times I went to google something that was being discussed was kind of absurd.
However, if you're just looking to get excited about this part of history, and to really encourage yourself to go read more on the topic, then this is definitely a great place to start.
This was such a fun, readable, introductory look into ancient Mesopotamia. The book is organized around a series of artifacts, with each chapter delving into a different aspect of ancient life. Whether it was warfare, writing, the lives of women, or the Mesopotamian's study of the stars and science, I found that the information included was very high-level, but written with the right amount of enthusiasm and personal anecdotes to get someone hyped up about this part of history.
The only downside to the organization of this book is that it wasn't chronological, and as someone who is just starting to dip their toes into learning about ancient history, it was hard to get a sense of the timelines and orient myself in terms of the different empires. I also felt that this book lacked three things that would have really elevated the reading experience: a map (I wanted this so bad!), a timeline, and, most of all, pictures!! This entire book was organized around artifacts, and yet there were not images of those artifacts included. The amount of times I went to google something that was being discussed was kind of absurd.
However, if you're just looking to get excited about this part of history, and to really encourage yourself to go read more on the topic, then this is definitely a great place to start.
August 19, 2025
Imagine if, 2700 years from now, the only thing anyone ever knew about your entire existence was that your coworker thought you were a colossal dumbass.
April 18, 2025
2.5/5
I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. I've recently been on a bit of a Mesopotamia bender, so when this new book came out, I was really excited to see what it could add to the story. The problem is, it didn't add much to what I already knew. I've read reasonably straightforward histories of the region, and this is not trying to be that. instead, it's a discussion of how different aspects of life -- war, trade, school -- can be inferred from artifacts. There were some good bits there. I liked learning about schoolboy tablets, and what we can infer about burial practices and respect for enemies in war from the writings and excavations of mass burials. But even at this task, the end result seemed awfully shallow: examples are re-used and recycled, which makes them seem, on average, less fresh, and led me to wonder whether those case studies are truly all that there is to build a story on. Also, there's an awful lot of repetitive point-making about how Mesopotamians were People Just Like Us, which would have been more powerful if it had been supported, rather than asserted over and over again in far too many words. Finally, and perhaps worst of all, there are no images! All the text spent describing steles and texts and images and artifacts, and not a single image provided to actually show us what it's all about. I had to go to a separate book -- a mathematics book! -- to find an image of the Plimpton tablet, the earliest known set of Pythagorean triples, compiled centuries upon centuries before Pythagoras made his name.
Perhaps this will serve for someone looking for a very gentle introduction to Mesopotamia. But for someone who's looking for more meat, I recommend Paul Kriwaczek's much richer and more informative book on Babylon.
I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. I've recently been on a bit of a Mesopotamia bender, so when this new book came out, I was really excited to see what it could add to the story. The problem is, it didn't add much to what I already knew. I've read reasonably straightforward histories of the region, and this is not trying to be that. instead, it's a discussion of how different aspects of life -- war, trade, school -- can be inferred from artifacts. There were some good bits there. I liked learning about schoolboy tablets, and what we can infer about burial practices and respect for enemies in war from the writings and excavations of mass burials. But even at this task, the end result seemed awfully shallow: examples are re-used and recycled, which makes them seem, on average, less fresh, and led me to wonder whether those case studies are truly all that there is to build a story on. Also, there's an awful lot of repetitive point-making about how Mesopotamians were People Just Like Us, which would have been more powerful if it had been supported, rather than asserted over and over again in far too many words. Finally, and perhaps worst of all, there are no images! All the text spent describing steles and texts and images and artifacts, and not a single image provided to actually show us what it's all about. I had to go to a separate book -- a mathematics book! -- to find an image of the Plimpton tablet, the earliest known set of Pythagorean triples, compiled centuries upon centuries before Pythagoras made his name.
Perhaps this will serve for someone looking for a very gentle introduction to Mesopotamia. But for someone who's looking for more meat, I recommend Paul Kriwaczek's much richer and more informative book on Babylon.
July 26, 2025
Many thanks to NetGalley and to this book's publisher for granting me access to a digital advance reader copy of this delightful, informative, light-hearted romp through the millennia-long history of society and culture in the so-called (perhaps erroneously) "cradle of civilization," otherwise known as ancient Mesopotamia, a Greek portmanteau meaning "land between two rivers," as the title references. One part personal memoir, two parts examination of Sumerian and Akkadian history via extant artifacts housed in some of the world's greatest museums, this was such an unexpectedly joyous and entertaining book!! After reading, I just wish I could spend an afternoon with author and scholar Moudhy Al-Rashid, picking her brain about everyday life in Ur, or Uruk, or Eridu...
Highly, highly recommended!
Highly, highly recommended!
August 28, 2025
I’ll hold up my hands and say that my prior knowledge of Mesopotamia was pretty much as follows: cradle of civilization, Epic of Gilgamesh, Code of Hammurabi, Ea-Nasir copper complaint memes.
Luckily, this was a really wonderful introduction to the ancient region that made me curious to learn more. Al-Rashid’s writing style is thorough, passionate, and readable, creating something that has depth but is accessible.
Looking at the history and culture of Mesopotamia through a series of objects that were excavated from what may have themselves been part of an ancient museum, this book explores so many aspects of that bygone world while also drawing through lines to life today.
Luckily, this was a really wonderful introduction to the ancient region that made me curious to learn more. Al-Rashid’s writing style is thorough, passionate, and readable, creating something that has depth but is accessible.
Looking at the history and culture of Mesopotamia through a series of objects that were excavated from what may have themselves been part of an ancient museum, this book explores so many aspects of that bygone world while also drawing through lines to life today.
May 22, 2025
This ruled! Really passionate and approachable, and all in service of showing how, just like every other people or place in history, they really were just like us fr.
March 20, 2025
I love reading about history and Mesopotamia. So much clever research went into this book. Very informative and interesting
April 15, 2025
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway and was really looking forward to diving into Mesopotamian history. Unfortunately, the writing style just fell flat for me. It lacked dynamism and imagery. So many unnecessary phrases and clauses that made sentences unnecessarily long and added no value. Perhaps some maps, timelines, and images would have supported the author’s description of objects and helped establish some atmosphere and immerse readers in that ancient world. There was a rambling quality about the book that didn’t feel purposeful. I really tried to get into this book, but couldn’t get past chapter one, and would recommend that the author read something by Adam Grant or Michael Pollan for inspiration.
June 14, 2025
This erudite work begins with a collection of disparate objects, including clay tablets with cuneiform writing. The objects belong to what was perhaps the first known museum. Thus begins a meditation on the nature of history focused on what written inscriptions allow us to know about an era. One of Al-Rashid's main points is that cuneiform tablets excavated in modern Iraq and Syria allow access not only to the privileged and wealthy but also to the more everyday aspects of ancient social life, including the lives of women and slaves, administrative concerns and even receipts for beer. Learning about people in their own words is a game-changer in how we understand the past. The book is a beautifully written celebration of history from below, weaving together aspects of the author's life with the joys and sorrows of Mesopotamian peoples.
August 14, 2025
During a 1925 archaeological excavation of the Ur temple complex, eight artifacts were discovered. The evidence of the dig did not reflect mere happenstance, but suggest that these items had been purposefully gathered and stored together, suggesting that this was the first museum. Moudhy Al-Rashid's Between Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History uses these objects to frame the book, using them as entry points to Mesopotamian history that then consider commonalities across humanity and the way history is constructed, preserved and disseminated.
This excellent book finely balances the work of an academic with a very readable and personal tone. The chapters are formed from the objects with a coda focused on Ennigaldi-Nanna, the priestess living in the palace where the subject objects were found. Each section provides contextualization, pulling in translations from some of the many surviving cuneiform documents of both official channels and the direct communication of more ordinary (but still privileged to some degree) individuals. Some of the featured items include: a mud brick, school tablets, a boundary stone, a cone for astronomical work and a mace head.
Across these chapters, Al-Rashid makes connections to the modern day, or universal aspects of humanity. A frequent descriptor of the cuneiform tablets is their size similarity to a tablet. There are always tensions between memory and history, advances of science against the brutality of war, the hopes of a better future for our children against the challenge of survival. There is also the clear joy of a scholar being able to physically work with a historic object they have read about and studied, in turn offering that joy or experience with students.
Highly recommended to readers of the history of history, importance of primary sources, and ancient history.
I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.
This excellent book finely balances the work of an academic with a very readable and personal tone. The chapters are formed from the objects with a coda focused on Ennigaldi-Nanna, the priestess living in the palace where the subject objects were found. Each section provides contextualization, pulling in translations from some of the many surviving cuneiform documents of both official channels and the direct communication of more ordinary (but still privileged to some degree) individuals. Some of the featured items include: a mud brick, school tablets, a boundary stone, a cone for astronomical work and a mace head.
Across these chapters, Al-Rashid makes connections to the modern day, or universal aspects of humanity. A frequent descriptor of the cuneiform tablets is their size similarity to a tablet. There are always tensions between memory and history, advances of science against the brutality of war, the hopes of a better future for our children against the challenge of survival. There is also the clear joy of a scholar being able to physically work with a historic object they have read about and studied, in turn offering that joy or experience with students.
Highly recommended to readers of the history of history, importance of primary sources, and ancient history.
I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.
September 21, 2025
Ms. al-Rashid has written a remarkably readable and chatty history of Mesopotamia. It is a delightful read, especially as she focuses significant attention on those individuals normally forgotten in history books. In particular, Chapter 7 focuses attention on those who were trafficked and/or enslaved in Mesopotamian society, and what their lives would have been like, to the best we can ascertain. I have only one kvetch...in a history book that focuses on specific objects in order to bring the history to us, it would be better to provide photos of those objects so that the reader could see them.
August 24, 2025
I highly recommend checking out this book if you are a fan of history. The documents found tell us a story we’d understand today with what life was like and us as the reader can discover that it wasn’t so far off from what we deal with now. I love learning more about Ancient Mesopotamia and everything this civilization has to offer.
April 27, 2025
I have only rated it 3 stars . It is vividly written with great verve and enthusiasm. However as a beginner to the subject I found all the jumping around through millenia a little confusing as is the mixture of myth and history. Someillustrations of cuneiform writing would help which is vividly written about but hard to visualise. The author also interposes her own experience as a modern day mother with historical writing This may appeal to some but not to me. The author is clearly very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about her subject and writes in an entertaining manner but I did not feel I got as much of the history I was looking for. Perhaps my own failing!
May 11, 2025
Great invitation to discover the world of ancient Mesopotamia. Fantastic book.
March 10, 2025
Beautifully written
This is a beautifully written book in which the author masterfully renders a difficult and dry subject into delightful tale of king, princesses and ordinary people. From clay tablets and cuneiform writings she brings the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia alive and makes them relatable to our modern lives today.
I thank the author for this wonderful book.
This is a beautifully written book in which the author masterfully renders a difficult and dry subject into delightful tale of king, princesses and ordinary people. From clay tablets and cuneiform writings she brings the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia alive and makes them relatable to our modern lives today.
I thank the author for this wonderful book.
September 4, 2025
This is an exceptionally good book. It deals with ancient antiquity, though not with pre-historic antiquity as it covers periods after the invention of writing, and indeed deals primarily with ancient written records.
The background of the book is that the author, a Saudi woman who was studying Philosophy in the US and about to try for law school (Philosophy followed by Law strangely having also been my career path), stopped in London on the way home for a week and, on a whim, signed up to a course on ancient books. After one morning of looking at cuneiform clay tablets her life was changed. Roll forward a couple of decades and she’s now an Honorary Fellow at Wolfson College Oxford, specialising in the languages and history of ancient Mesopotamia.
What makes the book is that she didn’t write it as an academic. She wrote it from the position of enthusiasm, wonder and excitement that changed her life that morning in London, and which has clearly never left her. This book is a labour of love, not of academia, and while I doubt that it cuts much ice with academics, it makes it highly accessible to the general public. That’s not to say that it’s an easy read: history this ancient is pretty much by definition a difficult and inaccessible subject, and you won’t find many people reading this book by the poolside on a Mediterranean holiday, but what she does manage to achieve is to bring a lot of life and fun to the subject.
Some of the accessibility of the book stems simply from her youth and enthusiasm, such as describing a myth within a tract on midwifery as being the ancient equivalent of hypnobirthing, or a section on cuneiform references to flatulence, in which she reassures us that fart jokes go back at least as far as the Sumerians. Much of the accessibility of the book stems from the very structure of the book, in which she takes a single object in each chapter and uses it as the basis for exploring a single aspect of ancient life. By way of example, a chapter which starts with a description of a house brick then goes on to detail the buildings, urban layouts and building materials of the period, including the mind-boggling fact that Uruk had city walls 5.5 miles long nearly five thousand years ago.
Quite a lot about this ancient world of the Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians and Babylonians is mind-boggling. Its very duration is startling, with cuneiform having been in use for almost three and a half thousand years, meaning that its last use is closer - indeed, much closer - to the present than it is to its first use. It also boggles my mind that nearly three thousand years ago scholars were able to regularly predict the occurrence of eclipses. Other aspects of ancient life are mind-boggling in other ways, such as slaves being attached to ropes by their noses, a reminder of how thin is the veneer of modern civilisation and of how much of what we now regard as ‘human values’ are nurture rather than nature. This feeling is brought even more to the fore by how similar ancient people were to us in other ways, as evidenced by a section about the efforts to which people went to avoid paying taxes, including smuggling packets of tin into a city hidden in their underwear.
If I have one minor criticism of the book it’s that it didn’t contain photos of any of the objects described, presumably because the royalties for using the photos would have been prohibitive. The good news is that at the end of the book there is a list of the artefacts cited, together with references which allow for them to be searched easily. If you keep your phone handy while reading then a search of ‘brick with dog paw prints British Museum 137495’ will bring the book even more to life.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the book is what the author has managed to leave out. This is her life’s work and life’s passion, so it must have taken incredibly strong discipline to leave out stories and artefacts to which she has strong attachments, but it’s inevitable that she must have done so. Essentially, it’s that self-discipline, which has enabled her to reduce the topic to under 250 pages, which allowed her to create a book that wasn’t aimed at and fit for academics, but one aimed at and fit for the mildly curious. That is quite an achievement in relation to an underlyingly inaccessible subject. Delightful.
The background of the book is that the author, a Saudi woman who was studying Philosophy in the US and about to try for law school (Philosophy followed by Law strangely having also been my career path), stopped in London on the way home for a week and, on a whim, signed up to a course on ancient books. After one morning of looking at cuneiform clay tablets her life was changed. Roll forward a couple of decades and she’s now an Honorary Fellow at Wolfson College Oxford, specialising in the languages and history of ancient Mesopotamia.
What makes the book is that she didn’t write it as an academic. She wrote it from the position of enthusiasm, wonder and excitement that changed her life that morning in London, and which has clearly never left her. This book is a labour of love, not of academia, and while I doubt that it cuts much ice with academics, it makes it highly accessible to the general public. That’s not to say that it’s an easy read: history this ancient is pretty much by definition a difficult and inaccessible subject, and you won’t find many people reading this book by the poolside on a Mediterranean holiday, but what she does manage to achieve is to bring a lot of life and fun to the subject.
Some of the accessibility of the book stems simply from her youth and enthusiasm, such as describing a myth within a tract on midwifery as being the ancient equivalent of hypnobirthing, or a section on cuneiform references to flatulence, in which she reassures us that fart jokes go back at least as far as the Sumerians. Much of the accessibility of the book stems from the very structure of the book, in which she takes a single object in each chapter and uses it as the basis for exploring a single aspect of ancient life. By way of example, a chapter which starts with a description of a house brick then goes on to detail the buildings, urban layouts and building materials of the period, including the mind-boggling fact that Uruk had city walls 5.5 miles long nearly five thousand years ago.
Quite a lot about this ancient world of the Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians and Babylonians is mind-boggling. Its very duration is startling, with cuneiform having been in use for almost three and a half thousand years, meaning that its last use is closer - indeed, much closer - to the present than it is to its first use. It also boggles my mind that nearly three thousand years ago scholars were able to regularly predict the occurrence of eclipses. Other aspects of ancient life are mind-boggling in other ways, such as slaves being attached to ropes by their noses, a reminder of how thin is the veneer of modern civilisation and of how much of what we now regard as ‘human values’ are nurture rather than nature. This feeling is brought even more to the fore by how similar ancient people were to us in other ways, as evidenced by a section about the efforts to which people went to avoid paying taxes, including smuggling packets of tin into a city hidden in their underwear.
If I have one minor criticism of the book it’s that it didn’t contain photos of any of the objects described, presumably because the royalties for using the photos would have been prohibitive. The good news is that at the end of the book there is a list of the artefacts cited, together with references which allow for them to be searched easily. If you keep your phone handy while reading then a search of ‘brick with dog paw prints British Museum 137495’ will bring the book even more to life.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the book is what the author has managed to leave out. This is her life’s work and life’s passion, so it must have taken incredibly strong discipline to leave out stories and artefacts to which she has strong attachments, but it’s inevitable that she must have done so. Essentially, it’s that self-discipline, which has enabled her to reduce the topic to under 250 pages, which allowed her to create a book that wasn’t aimed at and fit for academics, but one aimed at and fit for the mildly curious. That is quite an achievement in relation to an underlyingly inaccessible subject. Delightful.
July 24, 2025
In "Between Two Rivers," Moudhy Al-Rashid invites readers into ancient Mesopotamia not through the thundering declarations of kings or the grand sweep of empires but through the quiet persistence of clay tablets, drums, and cones that whisper from the ruins of Ur. It is a book about history, yes, but more fundamentally, it is about the human need to preserve, interpret, and mythologize the past. Al-Rashid is less interested in what happened than in how ancient people understood what happened and in how we—centuries removed—make sense of their meaning-making.
At the center of the narrative is the intriguing collection of Princess Ennigaldi-Nanna, often labeled the world's first museum. Al-Rashid deftly examines the assumptions behind this romantic designation. Was it a museum, as its British excavator, C. Leonard Woolley, claimed? Or a well-organized storeroom, or even a happenstance of preservation? The book doesn't rush to resolve the ambiguity; instead, it dwells in it, showing that how we interpret the site reveals as much about us as it does about Ennigaldi-Nanna. In the princess's collection—spanning centuries and civilizations—Al-Rashid finds a resonant metaphor for Mesopotamia itself: a palimpsest of memory and meaning.
Each chapter of "Between Two Rivers" uses an artifact from this assemblage as a point of departure to explore a facet of Mesopotamian life: student life, architecture, kingship, medicine, science, and the dynamics of power. But running through all these inquiries is the thread of historical consciousness. What did it mean, for example, that King Nabonidus collected inscriptions from the distant past? That students copied centuries-old texts in archaic scripts? That cuneiform—a writing system that outlived the languages it recorded—was kept alive for millennia, more through reverence than utility?
The effect is not a chronological march through history but a thematic and deeply reflective meditation on the past's endurance. "Between Two Rivers" is a "history of histories," as the book proudly declares—an exploration of how ancient peoples understood and recorded their own past—and it is here that Al-Rashid's work distinguishes itself. By treating Mesopotamian artifacts not just as sources but as acts of historical self-awareness, she transforms what might have been a museum catalog into a philosophical exploration of memory, narrative, and identity.
What makes "Between Two Rivers" particularly engaging is Al-Rashid herself. An Assyriologist by training, she is refreshingly candid about the messiness of the historical record and the emotional labor involved in studying it. Her humor—often self-deprecating, always generous—acts as a bridge between ancient and modern worlds. She confesses to chanting Sumerian like a call to prayer, admits to being undone by exam stress (just like the students she studies), and chuckles over ancient fart jokes with the delighted irreverence of someone who knows that humanity has never taken itself too seriously. In lesser hands, these admissions might come off as flippant; here, they are endearing, illuminating, and archaeologically honest.
The book refuses to keep ancient Mesopotamia at arm's length. Al-Rashid insists that these were not alien people but kin. They fretted over taxes, lost sleep over exams, and sang lullabies to their sick children. They studied their own history with curiosity and reverence. By reading their words and understanding how they interpreted the words of those who came before them, Al-Rashid draws us into a long, unbroken chain of historical consciousness.
"Between Two Rivers" reminds us that the study of the past is never passive. It is interpretation, imagination, empathy, and sometimes, it is standing in a desert beside a half-buried drum inscribed in three languages and wondering, "Why did she keep this?" Al-Rashid doesn't give us definitive answers. Instead, she shows us how to ask better questions. In doing so, she has not only written a book about Mesopotamian history but also offered a moving defense of why studying the past and questioning how we study it matters at all.
This review is of an advance reader copy provided by Edelweiss and W.W. Norton & Company.
At the center of the narrative is the intriguing collection of Princess Ennigaldi-Nanna, often labeled the world's first museum. Al-Rashid deftly examines the assumptions behind this romantic designation. Was it a museum, as its British excavator, C. Leonard Woolley, claimed? Or a well-organized storeroom, or even a happenstance of preservation? The book doesn't rush to resolve the ambiguity; instead, it dwells in it, showing that how we interpret the site reveals as much about us as it does about Ennigaldi-Nanna. In the princess's collection—spanning centuries and civilizations—Al-Rashid finds a resonant metaphor for Mesopotamia itself: a palimpsest of memory and meaning.
Each chapter of "Between Two Rivers" uses an artifact from this assemblage as a point of departure to explore a facet of Mesopotamian life: student life, architecture, kingship, medicine, science, and the dynamics of power. But running through all these inquiries is the thread of historical consciousness. What did it mean, for example, that King Nabonidus collected inscriptions from the distant past? That students copied centuries-old texts in archaic scripts? That cuneiform—a writing system that outlived the languages it recorded—was kept alive for millennia, more through reverence than utility?
The effect is not a chronological march through history but a thematic and deeply reflective meditation on the past's endurance. "Between Two Rivers" is a "history of histories," as the book proudly declares—an exploration of how ancient peoples understood and recorded their own past—and it is here that Al-Rashid's work distinguishes itself. By treating Mesopotamian artifacts not just as sources but as acts of historical self-awareness, she transforms what might have been a museum catalog into a philosophical exploration of memory, narrative, and identity.
What makes "Between Two Rivers" particularly engaging is Al-Rashid herself. An Assyriologist by training, she is refreshingly candid about the messiness of the historical record and the emotional labor involved in studying it. Her humor—often self-deprecating, always generous—acts as a bridge between ancient and modern worlds. She confesses to chanting Sumerian like a call to prayer, admits to being undone by exam stress (just like the students she studies), and chuckles over ancient fart jokes with the delighted irreverence of someone who knows that humanity has never taken itself too seriously. In lesser hands, these admissions might come off as flippant; here, they are endearing, illuminating, and archaeologically honest.
The book refuses to keep ancient Mesopotamia at arm's length. Al-Rashid insists that these were not alien people but kin. They fretted over taxes, lost sleep over exams, and sang lullabies to their sick children. They studied their own history with curiosity and reverence. By reading their words and understanding how they interpreted the words of those who came before them, Al-Rashid draws us into a long, unbroken chain of historical consciousness.
"Between Two Rivers" reminds us that the study of the past is never passive. It is interpretation, imagination, empathy, and sometimes, it is standing in a desert beside a half-buried drum inscribed in three languages and wondering, "Why did she keep this?" Al-Rashid doesn't give us definitive answers. Instead, she shows us how to ask better questions. In doing so, she has not only written a book about Mesopotamian history but also offered a moving defense of why studying the past and questioning how we study it matters at all.
This review is of an advance reader copy provided by Edelweiss and W.W. Norton & Company.
July 27, 2025
Confesso um fascínio crescente com esta antiga civilização, vinda dos primórdios da história. Talvez pelo seu elevado nível de alfabetismo. O legado da antiga Suméria faz-se de muito mais do que vestígios arqueológicos e antigos monumentos, restam-nos quantidades vastas das tabuinhas de argila inscritas com os seus antigos caracteres em forma de cunhas. Essas tabuinhas são fascinantes, preservam não as memórias institucionais e religiosas, a forma como os poderosos gostam de se preservar para a posteridade, mas a vida comum, a textura de uma sociedade e da vida das pessoas.
Parte destas tabuinhas preserva a literatura, de índole religiosa, e através da sua decifração percebemos o quanto a antiga Suméria faz parte do nosso adn cultural. As suas lendas e histórias, mesmo após o esquecimento da civilização, foram incorporadas no corpus mítico que molda textos mitológicos como a bíblia. Ler o Épico de Gilgamesh é redescobrir textos esquecidos que ficaram preservados na memória, entre a busca pela imortalidade ou o mito do dilúvio. Também devemos aos sumérios as bases da matemática e astronomia.
São ideias que perduram na mente após a leitura deste muito interessante livro. A autora abandona o estilo necessariamente seco da escrita académica e faz despertar no leitor imagens vívidas das antigas Suméria e Assíria. A história constrói-se através da análise de um achado de artefactos, e só esse preâmbulo já impressiona. Fala-nos dos vestígios do palácio da última sacerdotisa da deusa tutelar da Babilónia (sabemo-lo porque o seu pai foi o último rei da cidade, antes desta ser absorvida pelos Persas), onde foi encontrado algo que foi interpretado como um antigo museu, preservando artefactos e a memória de povos que já eram milenares nesses tempos antigos.
Parte de artefactos, mas esta não é uma história de objetos, reis e sacerdotes. É uma história de profundo humanismo, que se foca no tentar recriar do que era viver naqueles tempos. É a vida, não só a das classes superiores, mas também a vida das pessoas comuns. Nisso, o legado literário sumério é um instrumento fundamental. Faz-se de ima miríade de documentos perfeitamente banais. Cartas pessoais, recibos, reclamações, registos. Através do tédio da burocracia emerge o retrato pulsante de um povo.
Como professor, fiquei particularmente intrigado pelo corpus de registos eduba - textos sobre a escola suméria e assíria, onde os futuros escribas entravam em criança para aprender as regras da escrita suméria (um pormenor, que mostra a importância história da antiga civilização, tem a ver com o perdurar da língua suméria após a absorção desta civilização pela Assíria, como língua erudita e de registo). São textos que nos mostram que há coisas que nunca mudam, os excertos partilhados pela autora mostram que as ânsias e ansiedades dos professores e estudantes eram, há mais de três mil anos, os mesmos de hoje. Algo que é tocante.
Mais do que uma história, esta é uma obra humanista que nos recorda o quer a humanidade naquela época. Recorda-nos, também, o quanto perdura a memória destas civilizações que, até ao século XIX, estavam esquecidas sobre as areias do médio oriente.
Parte destas tabuinhas preserva a literatura, de índole religiosa, e através da sua decifração percebemos o quanto a antiga Suméria faz parte do nosso adn cultural. As suas lendas e histórias, mesmo após o esquecimento da civilização, foram incorporadas no corpus mítico que molda textos mitológicos como a bíblia. Ler o Épico de Gilgamesh é redescobrir textos esquecidos que ficaram preservados na memória, entre a busca pela imortalidade ou o mito do dilúvio. Também devemos aos sumérios as bases da matemática e astronomia.
São ideias que perduram na mente após a leitura deste muito interessante livro. A autora abandona o estilo necessariamente seco da escrita académica e faz despertar no leitor imagens vívidas das antigas Suméria e Assíria. A história constrói-se através da análise de um achado de artefactos, e só esse preâmbulo já impressiona. Fala-nos dos vestígios do palácio da última sacerdotisa da deusa tutelar da Babilónia (sabemo-lo porque o seu pai foi o último rei da cidade, antes desta ser absorvida pelos Persas), onde foi encontrado algo que foi interpretado como um antigo museu, preservando artefactos e a memória de povos que já eram milenares nesses tempos antigos.
Parte de artefactos, mas esta não é uma história de objetos, reis e sacerdotes. É uma história de profundo humanismo, que se foca no tentar recriar do que era viver naqueles tempos. É a vida, não só a das classes superiores, mas também a vida das pessoas comuns. Nisso, o legado literário sumério é um instrumento fundamental. Faz-se de ima miríade de documentos perfeitamente banais. Cartas pessoais, recibos, reclamações, registos. Através do tédio da burocracia emerge o retrato pulsante de um povo.
Como professor, fiquei particularmente intrigado pelo corpus de registos eduba - textos sobre a escola suméria e assíria, onde os futuros escribas entravam em criança para aprender as regras da escrita suméria (um pormenor, que mostra a importância história da antiga civilização, tem a ver com o perdurar da língua suméria após a absorção desta civilização pela Assíria, como língua erudita e de registo). São textos que nos mostram que há coisas que nunca mudam, os excertos partilhados pela autora mostram que as ânsias e ansiedades dos professores e estudantes eram, há mais de três mil anos, os mesmos de hoje. Algo que é tocante.
Mais do que uma história, esta é uma obra humanista que nos recorda o quer a humanidade naquela época. Recorda-nos, também, o quanto perdura a memória destas civilizações que, até ao século XIX, estavam esquecidas sobre as areias do médio oriente.
July 14, 2025
Cuneiform is a reminder that if I can find something in common with someone who lived 2,000 years ago, then I can certainly find something in common with almost anyone alive today. from Between Two Rivers by Moudhy Al-Rashid
Decades ago we took our son back to his birth city of Philadelphia and showed him the sights, including the University of Pennsylvania Museum. We saw remarkable artefacts from ancient Mesopotamia. I have never forgotten the Ram in a Thicket.
Ram in the Thicket, Penn Museum, as I saw it before restoration
I did not at the time know how Pennsylvania came to hold these artefacts, not until reading Between Two Rivers. In 1922, an expedition was sponsored by the British Museum and the University Museum in Pennsylvania, one of the largest digs of its time, lasting twelve seasons. The Ram was one of the thousands of items recovered.
They discovered the ruins of a building that held objects from across thousands of years–a museum! A cuneiform object appeared to be a label for a brick with Sumerian writing, a dead language when the building was standing. We realize that humans have always revered their history and wanted to be remembered by future generations.
Cuneiform preserves the stories of people whose work in many ways made life in ancient Mesopotamia possible. from Between Two Rivers.
I learned that thousands of cuneiform tablets have been discovered, telling the story of humankind’s first agriculture and cities through business records and schoolwork and letters. One tells the story of impoverished children sold into slavery, their mother hoping to buy them back. There are collections of epigrams, including “Fate is a dog, walking always behind a man.”
Kings and rulers rose up, waging brutal war, and leaving behind magnificent tombs filled with treasure and slaughtered human companions. The first laws were engraved on stone as were the images of gods and goddess and the divination that tried to understand them.
Ur was abandoned after the river’s course veered away from it, leaving the city to the sands of time to be discovered thousands of years later. It amazes me how much we know because of marks imprinted on clay tablets. Our own paper and electronic achieves will not survive thousands of years.
A fascinating history, beautifully written.
Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley.
Decades ago we took our son back to his birth city of Philadelphia and showed him the sights, including the University of Pennsylvania Museum. We saw remarkable artefacts from ancient Mesopotamia. I have never forgotten the Ram in a Thicket.
Ram in the Thicket, Penn Museum, as I saw it before restoration
I did not at the time know how Pennsylvania came to hold these artefacts, not until reading Between Two Rivers. In 1922, an expedition was sponsored by the British Museum and the University Museum in Pennsylvania, one of the largest digs of its time, lasting twelve seasons. The Ram was one of the thousands of items recovered.
They discovered the ruins of a building that held objects from across thousands of years–a museum! A cuneiform object appeared to be a label for a brick with Sumerian writing, a dead language when the building was standing. We realize that humans have always revered their history and wanted to be remembered by future generations.
Cuneiform preserves the stories of people whose work in many ways made life in ancient Mesopotamia possible. from Between Two Rivers.
I learned that thousands of cuneiform tablets have been discovered, telling the story of humankind’s first agriculture and cities through business records and schoolwork and letters. One tells the story of impoverished children sold into slavery, their mother hoping to buy them back. There are collections of epigrams, including “Fate is a dog, walking always behind a man.”
Kings and rulers rose up, waging brutal war, and leaving behind magnificent tombs filled with treasure and slaughtered human companions. The first laws were engraved on stone as were the images of gods and goddess and the divination that tried to understand them.
Ur was abandoned after the river’s course veered away from it, leaving the city to the sands of time to be discovered thousands of years later. It amazes me how much we know because of marks imprinted on clay tablets. Our own paper and electronic achieves will not survive thousands of years.
A fascinating history, beautifully written.
Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley.
August 9, 2025
This was a great introduction to Mesopotamian history, very accessible to a wide audience but also frequently eye-opening for an ancient history nerd like me. I loved the concept and format of the book: a tour of the region’s fascinating history, and indeed the birth of history itself, through the artifacts found insight what may be the world’s oldest museum.
These eight artifacts (and the maybe-museum itself) are themselves explained and then used to elucidate many facets of Mesopotamian life throughout the millennia: war, science, literature, social stratification, gender roles, and more. There are the usual beats of history captured here — kings, conquests, trade routes — but also frequently hilarious fragments of everyday life, such as snappy letters between spouses, admonishments to one’s sister to do her homework, and ancient priests creating fraudulent ancient-er artifacts to prove their legitimacy.
The writing is clear and conversational rather than academic, and the author frequently makes references to her own life and recent history to draw connections between modern and ancient educational practices, worldviews, politics, and so on. I thought the author did a particularly excellent job describing a feeling I often have that I find difficult to explain to other people: the awe I find for ancient places and objects, drawn from a shared sense of human togetherness across the gulf of time and space. She really captured that drive to use history to feel closer to other people.
My only suggestions:
1) The writing was frequently quite repetitive. While it made sense at times because there were a lot of names and periods to refer back to, I felt like some of the repetition could have been cut.
2) While the author did a good job describing them, many of the artifacts, particularly the more artistic ones, would have been more concrete in my mind if pictures had been included.
Overall, I would highly recommend this book to people who want to explore a period of time that is too frequently overlooked or mythologized in the modern imagination. Even fantasy readers who delve into nonfiction will likely enjoy this book, as many aspects of the culture it describes are unfamiliar and fascinating.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
These eight artifacts (and the maybe-museum itself) are themselves explained and then used to elucidate many facets of Mesopotamian life throughout the millennia: war, science, literature, social stratification, gender roles, and more. There are the usual beats of history captured here — kings, conquests, trade routes — but also frequently hilarious fragments of everyday life, such as snappy letters between spouses, admonishments to one’s sister to do her homework, and ancient priests creating fraudulent ancient-er artifacts to prove their legitimacy.
The writing is clear and conversational rather than academic, and the author frequently makes references to her own life and recent history to draw connections between modern and ancient educational practices, worldviews, politics, and so on. I thought the author did a particularly excellent job describing a feeling I often have that I find difficult to explain to other people: the awe I find for ancient places and objects, drawn from a shared sense of human togetherness across the gulf of time and space. She really captured that drive to use history to feel closer to other people.
My only suggestions:
1) The writing was frequently quite repetitive. While it made sense at times because there were a lot of names and periods to refer back to, I felt like some of the repetition could have been cut.
2) While the author did a good job describing them, many of the artifacts, particularly the more artistic ones, would have been more concrete in my mind if pictures had been included.
Overall, I would highly recommend this book to people who want to explore a period of time that is too frequently overlooked or mythologized in the modern imagination. Even fantasy readers who delve into nonfiction will likely enjoy this book, as many aspects of the culture it describes are unfamiliar and fascinating.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
August 4, 2025
Never has "don't judge a book by its cover" (or its title) rang so true for me. I was captivated by this cover, reminding me of Circe and promising me an earthy, liquid tale of ancient life on the river. In fact, the rivers play just a tiny role in this scattered summary of occasionally interesting, mostly mundane receipts from ancient bureaucracy. The author is passionate to be sure, but is seemingly passionate about the very idea that, 4000 years ago, society functioned in very similar ways to 2000 years ago. I don't know if it's just me, but I was really unsurprised to find out that women were sometimes priestesses, sometimes weavers in 2000 BCE, and some of their kids went to some kind of school to learn their letters; or that wars were fought over holy relics, that leaders likely embellished their triumphs in the historical records or that soldiers were unceremoniously dumped in mass graves. These all seem like very obvious things to me.
The author's passion is for ancient science, and it shows - the most interesting and coherent passages are examining the astronomers and physicians of the time. Yet this makes up a tiny part of a book overly obsessed with the idea that people wrote their day-to-day bookkeeping on bits of clay. There are also many many repetitions of the book's stock phrases - cuneiform is hard to read, cuneiform is fascinating, cuneiform is old. The final nail in the coffin for me is the over-reliance on modern puns and inappropriate threading to modern concepts, which are at best condescending and at worst excruciatingly reductive. I don't need the phrase "donkey DHL" to understand mules were used for goods transport, and I certainly don't need the author to equate a creation myth's genitalia-less clay figure to an original "non-binary" identity. (I am one of those folks - we're not eunuchs?)
Anyway. It was much much duller than it needed to be. There was an interesting article in this, but it shouldn't have been a book - either that, or the author should have stuck to her passion for ancient science and dug deeper instead of so broadly. A shame.
The author's passion is for ancient science, and it shows - the most interesting and coherent passages are examining the astronomers and physicians of the time. Yet this makes up a tiny part of a book overly obsessed with the idea that people wrote their day-to-day bookkeeping on bits of clay. There are also many many repetitions of the book's stock phrases - cuneiform is hard to read, cuneiform is fascinating, cuneiform is old. The final nail in the coffin for me is the over-reliance on modern puns and inappropriate threading to modern concepts, which are at best condescending and at worst excruciatingly reductive. I don't need the phrase "donkey DHL" to understand mules were used for goods transport, and I certainly don't need the author to equate a creation myth's genitalia-less clay figure to an original "non-binary" identity. (I am one of those folks - we're not eunuchs?)
Anyway. It was much much duller than it needed to be. There was an interesting article in this, but it shouldn't have been a book - either that, or the author should have stuck to her passion for ancient science and dug deeper instead of so broadly. A shame.
January 19, 2025
This wonderful book is Dr Moudhy Al-Rashid's love song to cuneiform, the oldest form of writing that came out of ancient Mesopotamia, the birthplace of our history.
She tells a contextual history of the region, focusing on a collection of ancient objects found in the palace of the priestess Ennigaldi-Nanna. She uses these objects to tell us about the history of the area and, more importantly, the lives of the people who lived between the great rivers of the Tigris and the Euphrates.
The scope of the book covers everything from astronomy to childcare, and is as much about the everyday people as it is about the rulers. Everything always comes back to the cuneiform tablets that have left a wealth of information about these people. Time and again I had to keep checking the dates because the things described were so relatable that I couldn't believe they were being written about so many thousands of years ago. The author is a wonderful communicator, relating these ancient words to her own experiences, her own highs and lows. This makes them so much richer and brings them closer to our own civilisation.
I'm sure many people will be drawn to this book after reading Elif Shafak's beautiful novel 'There are Rivers in the Sky'. That inspired a trip to the British Museum to see the huge Lamassu from Nimrud. Whilst there we stumbled into a corridor showing the great lion hunt, which Al-Rashid so vividly describes. The curators were experimenting with using video and sound to bring some of the carvings to life and I stood there enthralled as the ancient world came to life around me. This book had the same effect. It brought an ancient civilisation back to life and has opened my eyes to this rich and beautiful part of our history.
I can't wait for this book to be published and I'd like to thank Hodder Press and NetGalley for the chance to read a preview copy of this book.
She tells a contextual history of the region, focusing on a collection of ancient objects found in the palace of the priestess Ennigaldi-Nanna. She uses these objects to tell us about the history of the area and, more importantly, the lives of the people who lived between the great rivers of the Tigris and the Euphrates.
The scope of the book covers everything from astronomy to childcare, and is as much about the everyday people as it is about the rulers. Everything always comes back to the cuneiform tablets that have left a wealth of information about these people. Time and again I had to keep checking the dates because the things described were so relatable that I couldn't believe they were being written about so many thousands of years ago. The author is a wonderful communicator, relating these ancient words to her own experiences, her own highs and lows. This makes them so much richer and brings them closer to our own civilisation.
I'm sure many people will be drawn to this book after reading Elif Shafak's beautiful novel 'There are Rivers in the Sky'. That inspired a trip to the British Museum to see the huge Lamassu from Nimrud. Whilst there we stumbled into a corridor showing the great lion hunt, which Al-Rashid so vividly describes. The curators were experimenting with using video and sound to bring some of the carvings to life and I stood there enthralled as the ancient world came to life around me. This book had the same effect. It brought an ancient civilisation back to life and has opened my eyes to this rich and beautiful part of our history.
I can't wait for this book to be published and I'd like to thank Hodder Press and NetGalley for the chance to read a preview copy of this book.
August 15, 2025
“The first clay tablet I ever held […] would have meant little more than a work email to the scribe who drafted it. But, for me, it was a handshake with a stranger.”
This was an enjoyable read. It was a theme based foundational introduction to ancient Mesopotamia that was not overly broad or too weighed down in detail. Dr. Moudhy Al-Rashid does a good job of finding entry points into her vast knowledge on Ancient Mesopotamia, building around that to give larger context and then connecting us to that moment. It is truly pleasing to read about a topic that someone not only has a depth of knowledge in but clearly takes joy from and is passionate about. (Dr Al-Rashid’s amusement at the fart jokes in the Sumerian proverbs on clay tablets was truly endearing.)
The author also notes that a lot of what gets transcribed in ancient civilizations are records of those with privilege and I appreciated that she made an effort to tell us about those alluded to between the margins with what documentation there is. It was refreshing to see noted how breastfeeding - a necessity in a time without formula - was a commodity and a business.
In speaking on the enduring legacy of Gilgamesh the author states “he has achieved the only kind of immortality allowed mere mortals: he is remembered”. And that’s the legacy the author is continuing with this book. Making sure we remember not just those of epic tales but also those of the rarely recorded individuals - from the child who bit his clay homework tablet to the woman who wants her husband to pay his taxes so the collector stops knocking on her door - the author wants us to be able to picture those moments, see them centered as agents of their own stories and feel connected to them. Dr. Al- Rashid has a reverence for history and it shines through in this book.
This was an enjoyable read. It was a theme based foundational introduction to ancient Mesopotamia that was not overly broad or too weighed down in detail. Dr. Moudhy Al-Rashid does a good job of finding entry points into her vast knowledge on Ancient Mesopotamia, building around that to give larger context and then connecting us to that moment. It is truly pleasing to read about a topic that someone not only has a depth of knowledge in but clearly takes joy from and is passionate about. (Dr Al-Rashid’s amusement at the fart jokes in the Sumerian proverbs on clay tablets was truly endearing.)
The author also notes that a lot of what gets transcribed in ancient civilizations are records of those with privilege and I appreciated that she made an effort to tell us about those alluded to between the margins with what documentation there is. It was refreshing to see noted how breastfeeding - a necessity in a time without formula - was a commodity and a business.
In speaking on the enduring legacy of Gilgamesh the author states “he has achieved the only kind of immortality allowed mere mortals: he is remembered”. And that’s the legacy the author is continuing with this book. Making sure we remember not just those of epic tales but also those of the rarely recorded individuals - from the child who bit his clay homework tablet to the woman who wants her husband to pay his taxes so the collector stops knocking on her door - the author wants us to be able to picture those moments, see them centered as agents of their own stories and feel connected to them. Dr. Al- Rashid has a reverence for history and it shines through in this book.
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