The book Babylon Mesopotamia and the Birth civilization by Paul Kriwaczek
The book Babylon Mesopotamia and the Birth civilization by Paul Kriwaczek is a fascinating historical book about culture first started over ten thousand years ago. Paul Kriwaczek is a world-renowned author famous for writing most of the history books; he was a British historian and television producer in 1970. In this book, he focuses on Mesopotamia’s civilization and the people who lived there at that time. His illustration of the historical events is vividly explained to the point that one might feel they are right in the middle of the historical events and civilization in Mesopotamia as he explains the past events of the enlightenment to the impact on the present cultures.
According to the Cambridge dictionary, civilization is defined as the growth of human society in terms of their ways of life within the societal structure at a particular time. In the book, the author narrates how the civilization in Babylon, specifically in Mesopotamia and how culture began. In the introduction of the book, he recounts the lessons from the past where he describes how gruesome the death of Saddam Hussein mainly how the media covered the entire story.
The author narrates how Saddam’s wage on the war in Kuwait was as instructed to him God himself “May God be my witness that the God who wanted what happens to happen.” (7) Therefore, whether it was just or not was not in question as God willed it, so it was out of our will as humans. For Saddam, it was a religious calling by God to cause thousands of deaths of Kuwait’s people.
The introduction of Mesopotamia is first mentioned in the Bible in genesis its lies between two rivers Tigris and Euphrates. Mesopotamia was at a very strategic place, which led to the war between the Muslims, Romans, Parthians, Byzantines and Sassanians, and even tribes from outside and the far distant places such as Central Asia. (14) The reason for the fight in the win of Mesopotamia is due to its lush nature. The wars continued throughout the land to date, the name has changed to shush, which is located not more than 55km from Iraq, and it lies southwest of Iran.
The name Shush comes from the Bible; it is mentioned in Esther, Nehemiah, and Daniel. Daniel 8:2 Daniel states that he was in Shushan the palace as he describes the vision God was revealing to him. He continues to say that he was standing by the river Ulai which today lies side-by-side with Shush’s land. (16)The remarkable thing about the place is that this is where Daniel’s tomb is situated. The Muslims built a shrine by the mausoleum in honor of Daniel; the Muslims highly glorify it as they come in multitudes from all over the world to pray.
The author also vividly describes the town is filled with ruins of bricks and pottery that can be dated to be as old as 5000 BC. (16) For this reason, the city is known to be one of the oldest inhabited places. The ruin in the area shows how the Iraq and Iran war significantly affected the once vibrant, highly developing community since Saddam Hussein started it in 1980.
Shush was also at some point at the frontline of the gruesome war between Iraq and Europe due to its location in 1914, all up to 1918, and shush got caught up In the war. The book illustrates how Iraq used cruel forms of weapons and even chemicals in the war; we led to the death and suffering of many families and lives. (22)Saddam Hussein was at the front line of the war, killing thousands of people during that time through the unthinkable methods such as the chemical use and bombs. His most popular means of killing people was by using young men as human grenades.
In the plight to save their city from the harsh rule of the Dictator Saddam, the Shushites dug up deep trenches; however, in 2001, Saddam forces threw bombs that led to the gruesome deaths of many residents. The images of the dead bodies inside the channels were shown all over the middle eastern media, which showed the differences the east-central media had compared to the western media.
He then narrates his personal experience as he visited the town’s ticket office and found the ruins the Great War had caused. Some of the city’s significant artifacts were also stolen by the Elamite attackers such as the famous Stele, which was carved in with the law of the Hammurabi people. Sadly in the seventh century, the once-powerful empire of Susa was destroyed due to war by the Assyrian Emperor. Paul describes the Mesopotamian history written in ancient times by Sir Austin Layard, printed on a clay tablet. The description was made in the form of poetry, which made one understand the devastating way into how the Mesopotamian Empire fell.
In the second chapter, the author talks about the Urban Revolution before 4000BC, by describing artifacts showcased at the Ashmolean Museums. He describes a black clay object that is broken to some extent. He explains how it’s hard to know what its purpose is by merely looking at it. However, the Weld-Blundell Prism was very important in the origin of civilization. It was named after the sponsor, who bought it during an auction in Mesopotamia in 1921.
The author’s evidence of the birth of Civilization in Mesopotamia is the use of Cuneiform texts, which, according to the author, there were written by a family. The form of writing was complex as one could hardly tell whose handwriting they were from as it’s different from today’s style of writing. Even though Cuneiform writing is sophisticated, some of the best scholars have been able to find out what the books say. It takes about how after the kingship was lowered from heaven, it was in Eridu. (21)
The earliest form of a kinship community in ancient times began way before the Mesopotamian rule, although it was more of oral rulings of laws than writings. The kinship rulers were the ‘Lord of four quarters of the Earth,’ ‘King-Utuhegal of Uruk of the southern Mesopotamia. Therefore according to Mesopotamians, their civilization started in Eridu at the southern shores of the sea. (34) The place is currently known as Abu Sheharein, which is located a few meters from the seashore. Unfortunately, after the death of King-Utuhegal, Eridu was long forgotten until the year 1884 when it was found in ruins by John Taylor, an Indian organization agent.
The book also illustrates how the Neolithic revolution began as humans now changed their ways of hunting and gathering and being nomadic to settling up in one area and cultivating the land for food. However, the onset of this revolution was the leading cause of the death of the culture of the Mesopotamian inhabitants. (115) This is because the sedentary movement agriculture significantly killed their tradition of moving around from one place to another came with. It destroyed the will to think of new ideas and creativeness in searching for food and cultures as they stopped from meeting other cultures. That way, the learning of other languages, as well as their growth, died with it.
He references the Bible in the book of Genesis of how the Neolithic Revolution had remarkably led to Man’s fall. He quotes the part of Genesis where God cursed the land due to the sin of Adam and Eve had committed. (112)Therefore human beings were forced to toil the ground to provide food for his family. That being so the Neolithic Revolution was difficult for the people in the ancient times notably the first trial their harvest was little as they were getting to learn about what crops were favorable for what season as well as learning about different types of soil and what plants did best in specific types of soils and seasons.
He then explains the next age of civilization in Mesopotamia, The Bronze Heroic Age. This phase of culture was characterized by the use of bronze in the creation of writing materials and tools that helped in the Agricultural field.
In the book, the author Paul Kriwaczek describes the historical development of civilization’s growth in various regions within the Middle East. In the eighth chapter, he talks about the culture of old Babylon. The Assyrian Babylon that was popular and most admired city back in the day. (124) Babylon’s name was derived from the Greek name of God, Bab-ilu, which meant the gate of God. He refers to Babylon’s land as she to apply to the numerous lives it had and gave. He states how the Bible was responsible for the reputation of Babylon’s area, such as in the Book of revelation, where a mysterious woman is described as the mother of all, Harlots, and the abominations of all the earth of great Babylon. (158)
Classical writers also wrote about the mystery of Babylon’s civilized land as it was much similar to the world of today. The Greek and Latin writers at that time, such as Herodotus and Dio Cassius, among others, vividly described the beautiful topography and the culture of the place through their writings. According to Christians, the city of Babylon was nothing more than a prostitute infested city full of immoral crimes and actions one can ever imagine.
He also references the Rastafarians in describing their view of Babylon by stating the words of Marcus Garvey. He says that the land of Babylon is the ultimate symbol of every single thing that causes oppression to the black man. This is later used as famous lyrics to many of the Reggae songs to illustrate the inflictions which the black race was facing during those times.
The last chapter of the book states the end and the begging in the time after 700BC; he explains how the people in Mesopotamia were now Aramaic speakers taught by the Arameans, who also brought about a secret weapon. This weapon had the power of crushing Mesopotamian history and culture. (228) However, it also led to the onset of a new memoir, the beginning of a new modern world. The secret weapon also led to the start of the use of alphabetical letters and the development of more advanced methods of finding mathematical solutions as invented by the scribes.
The author also states that the invention of alphabetical letters was first used in Egypt as the Egyptians writings inspired it in the famous pyramids. He reports that John Wilford, a professor at John Hopkins University, says that they were semantic literate people living in a literate society. (231-235)Aramaic writing was also known to be for the ordinary kind of semantic speakers. In contrast, the cuneiform way of writing was considered the more literate people in society. The language and literature were also natural to learn compared to the cuneiform, which was more complex to read and understand, thus making it hard to master. The preservation of the Aramaic writings was restored through the use of clay tablets, which was more sustainable than the use of papyrus as used before.
In conclusion, the book is an interesting description of the civilization of Mesopotamia from the origin of its social, political, and socio-economic development. The authors’ form of narrative and explanations is easy to understand due to the clarity and simplicity of the English used. The author also used favorable sources from classic books to the online form of journals and materials used in the 21st century, making it relatable to the current generation.
References
Kriwaczek, Paul. Babylon: Mesopotamia and the birth of civilization. Atlantic Books Ltd, 2014.