273 pages : 25 cm

" ... No one can plausibly deny that the religious development of the peoples of Canaan (and indeed of all the ancient world around the eastern Mediterranean to the Indus river) were affected by the cultural and religious developments in Mesopotamia, the centre of the region, and a fertile region second to none known in the world, on a par with the Nile, around which another major civilization arose. This is a text of history of Mesopotamia in its own right. By the time history gets back this far, the lines become very blurred, rather like parallel lines intersecting on the horizon. Literature, religion, archaeology, sociology, psychology -- all of these disciplines become intertwined in Jacobsen's text as he looks at Sumerian society. The book is organized with an introduction, then according to time divisions of fourth, third, and second millennia, then concludes with an epilogue into the first millennium, during which the Bible as we know it (and most ancient history such as is commonly known occurred) came to be"--Amazon.com

Includes bibliographical references and index

Ancient Mesopotamian religion : the terms -- Fourth millennium metaphors : the gods as providers--dying gods of fertility -- Third millennium metaphors : the gods as rulers--the cosmos a polity -- Third millennium metaphors : the gods as rulers--individual divine figures -- Second millennium metaphors : the gods as parents--rise of personal religion -- Second millennium metaphors : world origins and world order--the creation epic -- Second millennium metaphors : "and death the journey's end"--the Gilgamesh epic

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