The ancient Near East is known as the "cradle of civilization"--and
for good reason. Mesopotamia, Syria, and Anatolia were home to an
extraordinarily rich and successful culture. Indeed, it was a time
and place of earth-shaking changes for humankind: the beginnings of
writing and law, kingship and bureaucracy, diplomacy and
state-sponsored warfare, mathematics and literature.
This Very Short Introduction offers a fascinating account
of this momentous... more...