The First Great Powers

Cotterell notes in the preface the need for a current history of Babylon and Assyria, so he set out to fill this gap by surveying the key political figures and events that appear in the literature each kingdom produced. His first three chapters (89 pages) cover: (1) “Sumer and Akkad” to lay the foundations of Mesopotamian culture by briefly commenting on the introduction of writing, which enabled them to record laws, establish kingship and treaties, record myths, and leave a record of warfare through the Third Dynasty of Ur; (2) “The First Babylonian Hegemony” included a description of Hammurabi’s (1792 BC) establishment of his kingdom with a more extensive law code, the contribution of 20,000 tablets from the Mari library, plus the Kassite period from 1595–1155 BC (including some humorous correspondence between the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep III and the Kassite king Kadashman-enlil I about a princess); and (3) “The Rise and Domination of Assyria,” which begins with the military exploits of Ashur-dan II (934 BC) and includes the powerful kings (Tiglath-pileser III, Sargon II, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and Ashurbanipal) that interacted with the kings of Judah and Israel. This material is generously illustrated with many drawings and pictures (more than 130 in the whole book, with each explained in an appendix) to provide the reader with a concise introduction to each historical period.The remaining chapters (4–10) address a series of topics that are central to understanding the history and culture of each era. Cotterell first addresses the topic of war (particularly Assyrian warfare), which enabled the victor to collect valuable treasures, allowed the gods to demonstrate their power over chaos, and brought a new divine order into existence. Their artistic reproductions depict excessive violence against their enemies (on murals) and curses that spread their fame for ruthlessness and terror. Only a few kings (e.g., Naramsin) come close to glorifying themselves as gods in order to strengthen their status and support their military expansion. Their national war records tell of their violence, their pride in creating tall piles of decapitated heads of the enemy, and their skill in gaining tactical advantage through the use of chariotry and the composite bow by archers on their chariots.Cotterell admits that relatively little is known about the rulers included in the Sumerian King List, though they did believe that kingship came down from heaven. Success in war was a key factor in attaining kingship, and one of the king’s duties was to gain the blessing of Inanna, the goddess of fertility. Though kings (except Naramsin) did not claim divinity, they believed they were victorious in war because of support from a goddess or god. Kings wrote law codes, showed their devotion to their gods who guided them, and participated in the New Year’s Festival. The last Babylonian king, Nabonidus, was devoted to the cult of the god Sin. After his defeat, the territory was ruled by the Persians (539 BC) and then the Greeks (332 BC).Chapter 6 reviews ancient records (including later information from Herodotus) about the impressive imperial capitals of Ashur, Nineveh, and Babylon. Their many temples, ziggurats, and royal palaces featured murals inside, extensive gardens outside, massive defensive walls, and impressive decorated gates with winged bulls.Chapter 7 summarizes some of the key factors underpinning the religious life in Babylon and Assyria. Cotterall introduces the reader to Mesopotamian divination, mythology, and a few of the gods in the large Sumerian pantheon in the heavens and on earth (Enlil, Ninlil, Inanna, Utu, An, Enki, Ninhursag, and Ereshkigal), plus some Babylonian and Assyrian gods. He gives special attention to the rise of Marduk detailed in Enuma Elish, as well as the important Assyrian god Ashur and the Ishtar cult.Chapter 8 touches on the broad category of Babylonian and Assyrian society, including: (a) the use of irrigation ditches to control flooding and improve agricultural output; (b) the impact of new laws (introduced by Hammurabi) to regulate behavior (in the family, for slaves, to limit the power of the wealthy, and to regulate punishments) and create a more just society for individuals at all social levels, (c) the importance of scribes and the king; and (d) the introduction of deporting people from one territory to another in order to improve the production of goods from the land.Chapter 9 chronicles the revival of Babylon under Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar II, including the Babylonian defeat of Judah, the religious preferences of Nabonidus, and the rise of the Persians under Cyrus. Chapter 10 discusses the Assyrian exile of Israel and Babylonian exile of Judah but makes numerous questionable statements, such as that full-fledged monotheism begins at this time or that the final rehabilitation of the people after death owed much to Zoroastrianism.By and large, this is an excellent introductory text that broadly introduces Mesopotamian history and culture. It contains enough stories to make it engaging and enough details to make important distinctions between the different eras, but it does not have so much detail that the reader is overwhelmed by the complexity

Ancient history · Annexation · Art · Assyria · Hegemony · Monarchy · Mythology · Political science · Politics · Sumerian · Ancient Near East History · Classics · History · Law