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kewishj's review
4.0
What a delightful book this is! The problem of Art History books tends to be that while the art analysis and high resolution photographs are excellent, they can be rather sparse in describing the historical events, people, and philosophical movements that inspired the original artists. I supplemented this text with Marc Van De Mieroop’s “A History of the Ancient Near East, ca. 3000-323 BC”.
The text starts in Uruk, and weaves it way through Assyria, Ur, and Babylon, through to eventually the Parthians. The photographs are amazing, and as for the content and analysis, Bahrani’s summation of the archaeological insights that have been found are thoroughly stunning. If you are at all curious about the cultures of lost civilizations, this book vividly brings them to life. I’ll close my endorsement by noting that I bought at least four other books while reading this because each chapter left me wishing to know more!
The text starts in Uruk, and weaves it way through Assyria, Ur, and Babylon, through to eventually the Parthians. The photographs are amazing, and as for the content and analysis, Bahrani’s summation of the archaeological insights that have been found are thoroughly stunning. If you are at all curious about the cultures of lost civilizations, this book vividly brings them to life. I’ll close my endorsement by noting that I bought at least four other books while reading this because each chapter left me wishing to know more!
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