Mesopotamia: Writing, Reasoning, and the Gods

Our ancestors, the Mesopotamians, invented writing and with it a new way of looking at the world. In this collection of essays, the French scholar Jean Bottero attempts to go back to the moment which marks the very beginning of history. To give the reader some sense of how Mesopotamian civilization has been mediated and interpreted in its transmission through time, Bottero begins with an account of Assyriology, the discipline devoted to the ancient culture. This transmission, compounded with countless discoveries, would not have been possible without the surprising decipherment of the cuneiform writing system. Bottero also focuses on divination in the ancient world, contending that certain modes of worship in Mesopotamia, in their application of causality and proof, prefigure the "scientific mind."… (more)

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LibraryThing member Iacobus

This book is a collection of articles written by the author (a respected French Assyriologist) from 1966 to 1982, along with an introduction an osme helps and aids. This is not an introduction to ancient Mesopotamia. What Bottéro tries to do is figure out how the ancient Mesopotamians thought,

what made their brain tick. He is especially fascinated by:

• the utility of investigating long lost cultures,
• how the development of writing changed the way that educated Mesopotamians looked at the world,
• the links between concrete reality and concepts, and the written word,
• how the world was investigated and understood,
• how ancient Mesopotamians thought about the gods, sex, and death.

Bottéro is disarming in his mixed attitude to the Mesopotamians: they both repulse and intrigue him. Although his writing does not require technical knowledge of ancient Mesoptamian history, writing or language, a basic familiarity is assumed. Following his reasoning can be hard work (at least for those like me for whom philosophy and logic hold no special attraction) but it is worthwhile persisting. Windows open up, not only on long past cultures, but on how humans view and construct culture. Perhaps it can lend some perspective to our own? That, I think, is one of Bottéro’s hopes.

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LibraryThing member thcson

One of the author's goals in this book is to defend the utility of studies in ancient civilizations. He does this by presenting the ways of thought of the ancient Mesopotamians as recorded in their tablets. The presentation is of course limited by the scarcity of the evidence and the tenuousness of

interpretations of foreign worldviews, but nevertheless it persuaded me. Excellent books like this are the best justification for the pursuit of understanding in ancient history.

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