Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia

One of the world's foremost experts on Assyriology, Jean Bottéro has studied the religion of ancient Mesopotamia for more than fifty years. Building on these many years of research, Bottéro here presents the definitive account of one of the world's oldest known religions. He shows how ancient Mesopotamian religion was practiced both in the public and private spheres, how it developed over the three millennia of its active existence, and how it profoundly influenced Western civilization, including the Hebrew Bible.

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In a revision of a small text published in 1952 by Presses Universitaires de France as and long out of print, Bott<'e>ro (l'<'E>cole pratique des Hautes <'E>tudes, Paris) describes the religious practices in the region from the fourth millennium BC to just before the Christian era as revealed by artifacts. Translator Teresa Lavender Fagan uses direct English translations for the original documents when they are available. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Jean Bottéro is the emeritus director of l'École Pratique des Hautes Études, quatrième section, Paris. He is the author of The Oldest Cuisine in the World: Cooking in Mesopotamia; Mesopotamia: Writing, Reasoning, and the Gods, and coauthor of Ancestor of the West: Writing, Reasoning, and Religion in the Ancient Near East, all published by the University of Chicago Press. Teresa Lavender Fagan has translated more than a dozen books for the University of Chicago Press.