Between the Rivers: History of Ancient Mesopotamia Part 3

Between the Rivers covers some of the more "modern" periods in Mesopotamian history. We start around the time "famous" Babylonians (the guys who appear in the Bible) and we continue all the way up until the 2003 US capture of Baghdad. Its nearly 3000 years in 6 hours. However, the be fare, the last 1500 years are given a rather cursory coverage. At that time, Mesopotamia was not all that important. However, prior to them, we ha the Assyrians and Babylonians duking it out for supremacy. We had leaders that were clinging towards using the "hard-to-write" cuneiform, even though their scribes wanted to adopt an easier to use Aramaic. (The fact that the leader couldn't read or write didn't seem to make a difference.) Leaders would explore different methods of subjugating the conquered people. They may choose to install their own leader, use the existing leaders, or just exile everybody. If the vanquished crossed the victors, they could see their "nice" subjugation turn bad fast (see Jerusalem, fall of).

Babylon had some magnificently strong walls. Urbanization seemed to be going strong in the land between the rivers for millennia before they caught on in places like northern Europe. (What would have happened if the Vikings were transported back in time to Assyria or Babylonia?
Alexander the Great made his middle east appearance. He promptly got in trouble by seeing too Mesopotamian to the Greeks (and likely too Greek to the Mesopotamian) That was perhaps the beginning of the end of the unique culture. The later Muslim invasion pretty much finished it off. Now it became just a small part of the Ottoman empire until World War I. Then Iraq was formed, and archaeological history was stored in the national museum for a century. Then the US army came in and protected the oil ministry while the museum was looted.

Between the Rivers: History of Ancient Mesopotamia Part 2

The history of ancient Mesopotamia is really old. Thus, we don't have many contemporary records as we do for more modern history. This can make the study of the area more of an enumeration of facts than a pure narrative. However, there have been plenty of tablets found shedding some light on to the culture (including some poetry.)

Both the delivery and content of these lectures leave much to be desired. The delivery comes across as a recitation with very little emotion. The content focuses on presenting facts. There are sections on food, laws and science, as well as kings and empires. Even areas that lend themselves to narrative (such as the rise and fall of kings), end up as dry collection of facts. It is also easy to lose track of the timing of events (in spite of the vast time period covered.) And of that were not enough, the lecturer has an obsession with the role of women in the ancient society, and brings up every minute detail that she can find. (Even while admitting that it is likely not an accurate picture of the general role of women in society.)

Some interesting bits from the lectures were concerning medicine and lending. There was a fairly established "savings and lone" mechanism in ancient Babylon. The medical profession also appeared to be well established, though with fairly severe malpractice penalties.