Between Two Rivers
Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History
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Thousands of years ago, in a part of the world we now call ancient Mesopotamia, people began writing things down for the very first time. What they left behind, in a vast region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, preserves leaps in human ingenuity, like the earliest depiction of a wheel and the first approximation of pi. But they also capture breathtakingly intimate, raw, and relatable moments, like a dog's paw prints as it accidentally stepped into fresh clay, or the imprint of a child's teeth. In Between Two Rivers, historian Dr. Moudhy Al-Rashid reveals what these ancient people chose to record about their lives, allowing us to brush hands with them millennia later. We find a lullaby to soothe a baby, instructions for exorcising a ghost, countless receipts for beer, and the messy writing of preschoolers. We meet an enslaved person negotiating their freedom, an astronomer tracing the movement of the planets, a princess who may have created the world's first museum, and a working mother struggling with "the juggle" in 1900 BCE. Millennia ago, Mesopotamians saw the world's first cities, the first writing system, early seeds of agriculture, and groundbreaking developments in medicine and astronomy. With breathtaking intimacy and grace, Al-Rashid brings their lives--with all their anxieties, aspirations, and intimacies--vividly close to our own.
About this Author
Moudhy Al-Rashid is an honorary fellow at the University of Oxford's Wolfson College, where she specializes in the languages and history of ancient Mesopotamia. Originally from Saudi Arabia, where she grew up, she now lives in Oxfordshire with her family and their dogs.
Reviews
"Fascinating and magnificent, beautifully written and explained: Between Two Rivers is a masterpiece."
"A tender, moving, and vivid history of ancient Mesopotamia and how it still speaks to us. . . . Spectacular!"
"A must-read, millennia-spanning history. . . . [Moudhy Al-Rashid is] a gifted storyteller, able to spin a yarn of gold from very fragmentary sources."
"Absorbing, learned and witty. . . . An ingenious, passionate 'history of histories' [in which] we vividly witness how lives across the millennia are revealed and connected by archaeology and cuneiform."
"I have never read a book on Mesopotamia that so beautifully brings to life the people themselves. . . . It melts away the sense of time. A wonderful read."
"An extraordinary invitation to the magical land of Mesopotamia. . . . Stunning."
"Moudhy al Rashid describes her job of reading ancient Mesopotamian texts as like shaking hands with strangers. She introduces them in this marvelous book, which not only brims with her humanity but offers fascinating and often funny insights into everyday life in this crucial era of world history. Fart jokes to exam stress, motherhood and tax evasion: you'll find something here that reminds you that it is not as remote as you might think."
"Between Two Rivers provides remarkable insights into ancient lives. . . . Even at a distance of nearly four millennia, it is impossible not to be moved."
"A highly readable introduction to an era of history that deserves to be better known."
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