The Babylonians

This survey of ancient Mesopotamia follows settlement in the Tigris-Euphrates valley from prehistoric farming through Sumerian city-states, the Akkadian empire of Agade, the Third Dynasty of Ur, Old Babylon under Hammurabi, the Kassite centuries, and the Neo-Babylonian empire. Saggs uses cuneiform tablets, seals, pottery, and buildings to describe language, trade, kingship, warfare, temples, and myth, including links later readers know from the Bible. Gaps in the record are noted. The book is a civilization history of Babylonia and its predecessors, not a commentary on a single reign and not an excavation report.

Decorations by Simon Noyes. Maps by Reginald Piggott. Gilt image decorated green cloth binding. Decorative map endpapers. Illustrated with colour and black & white photographs and maps. Plain dark red slipcase. From 1999 Empires of the Ancient Near East set.