Reviews for Babylonian Life and History

The average rating for Babylonian Life and History based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-04-29 00:00:00 Metral Suke Despite my seemingly harsh review, this book isn't terrible. It's a decent primer that contains a tremendous amount of information on the history of the region known as Babylonia. However, my rating is low for three reasons: 1 - It's incredibly dated. This book was written in 1925, and many studies have come to light since that time. This affects his chronology and his knowledge of texts that brought to light connections between religious beliefs of neighboring civilizations. 2 - Continuing from #2, the author a great deal of bias in regard to the Old Testament. He is in denial over the connections between Babylonian and Israelite creation myths, and connects Egyptian and Babylonian mythology to an undue degree. Studies since this period (by less biased scholars) have shown a great deal of synchronicity between the Bible and earlier Middle-Eastern mythology. 3 - The author's method of writing is jumbled and disorganized, which makes him difficult to follow at times. This is especially evident during the early parts of the book, when he simply rambles off lists of kings of various cities, regions and dynasties. This is repeated during sections detailing mythology. Perhaps the editor should add a chart. The end of the book does, however, give an interesting overview of then-current excavations in what was once known as Babylonia. Nonetheless, I'd look for a different book if you're interested in this subject.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-10-24 00:00:00 Joe Garica I found this book to be informative, perhaps because I don't have a lot of background knowledge about Babylon. The writing is dated, and some chapters of this book seem designed for specialists, while others seem designed for general readers. As a result, it didn't really cohere into one book with a clear message. Nevertheless, I learned quite a few interesting facts. For example: *In its last centuries, Babylonia was not very stable. Assyrians took over in 732, were ejected in 625, and were completely destroyed only thirteen years after that. The Babylonian regime that replaced the Assyrians was itself ejected by Persia after less than a century in power. *I had always thought there was just one ziggurat (the inspiration for the Biblical Tower of Babel)- but in fact, there were a few of them, and the largest may have been as much as 300 feet high. *The Code of Hammurabi was remarkably severe; for example, a temple woman (the local equivalent of Rome's vestal virgins) could be burnt (presumably to death) just for entering a wine shop. *Although Babylon was very polytheistic, Babylonians wrote wisdom literature that seems awfully similar to the Book of Proverbs. *The Babylonian calendar, like the modern Jewish calendar on which it is based, had "leap months" to make the lunar and solar years coincide. (However, we Jews just have a second Adar in the spring; Babylonians had the option of adding a second Elul in the fall). *Apparently, the city of Babylon declined because a river changed course, and its location no longer made sense.