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Karen Rhea Nemet-Nejat
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Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia Paperback – January 1, 2002

3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 16 ratings
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This account brings the ancient world of Mesopotamia to life with details taken from primary texts such as economic records, scientific and mathematical texts, legal documents, official and personal correspondence, and magic and religious texts, drawing on the most recent discoveries of new excavation sites and artifacts. The focus is on historical Mesopotamia from 3100 BCE to the fall of Assyria (612 BCE) and Babylon (539 BCE). A glossary is included, plus b&w photos of artifacts. The author teaches at Yale University and has written other books on Mesopotamia. This is a paperbound reprint of a 1998 book published by Greenwood Press. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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  1. Print length
    346 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Hendrickson Pub
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 2002
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1 x 8.75 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1565637127
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1565637122
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Utilizing a generation of new scholarship, Karen Nemet-Nejat has given us a lively, up-to-date account of daily life in ancient Mesopotamia—from the foods that were eaten, the games that were played, the gods who were served, to methods of surveying and fortune-telling—in short, the whole gamut of life over two thousand years in one of the great literate civilizations of the ancient world.”
—Robert D. Biggs, Professor of Assyriology, Oriental Institute, University of Chicago

“The author has here distilled the essence of a vast number of studies and translations to craft a synthesis that is at once authoritative and eminently readable.”
—William W. Hallo, The William M. Laffan Professor of Assyriolgy and Babylonian Literature, Yale University

“Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia is a welcome addition for those who teach introductory courses on Mesopotamian (or Near Eastern) civilization and have searched in vain for a useful supplemental text.”
—Journal of Near Eastern Studies -- Review

About the Author

Karen Rhea Nemet-Nejat teaches at Yale University and was the first woman to receive her Ph.D. in Ancient Near Eastern / East Languages, History and Cultures at Columbia University. She is the author of Cuneiform Mathematical Texts as a Reflection of Everyday Life in Mesopotamia, Late Babylonian Field Plans in the British Museum, and the forthcoming Catalogue of the Babylonian Collections at Yale. She is currently working on her fifth book. She has also taught at University of Connecticut at Stamford and has held two fellowships at Yale.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hendrickson Pub (January 1, 2002)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 346 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1565637127
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1565637122
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.28 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1 x 8.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 16 ratings

About the author

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Karen Rhea Nemet-Nejat

Karen Rhea Nemet-Nejat

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Born in Boston, Karen Nemet-Nejat is the first woman to graduate with a PhD in Ancient Near Eastern Studies from Columbia University and the first person "Distinction" to receive from her advisor, the late Professor W.W. Hallo, Yale University and has done numerous research projects in affiliation with the institution.

Nemet-Nejat has published several books based on her research in various fields of cuneiform studies, including field plans, mathematical texts as well as in depth research on daily life and culture of Ancient Mesopotamia.

In addition she has published numerous articles including Religion of the Common People in Mesopotamia, Leisure, Recreation, and Daily Life, and the role of Women in Ancient Mesopotamia, to name only a few of the broad and various topics she has covered.

She has given several presentations on these and many other topics over the years earning her international prestige within the Ancient Near Eastern Studies community.

Her work experience ranges from visiting scholar at Yale University to visiting Professor at the Bosphorus University, Istanbul, Turkey, where she taught Comparative Mythology, on Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greek and Anatolian Mythology.

Among several awards she was granted the National Endowment for Humanities as part of the Yale team cataloging the Babylonian tablets; Nemet-Nejat catalogued the mathematical tablets in the Yale Babylonian Collection.

Dr. Nemet-Nejat has

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
3.9 out of 5
16 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Robert Spender
5.0 out of 5 stars Helpful addition to general ANE studies
Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2005
Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia is an excellent volume and highly recommended for the general audience, especially those who are interested in learning more about ancient Near Eastern backgrounds. Chapters center on major areas of life and society, for example, society, scholarship, recreation, religion, economy, and etc. Nemet-Nejat is sensitive to both the diachronic and synchronic development of topics so discussion is quite well developed in each chapter. With such an arrangement, however, there is some repetition, though minor, throughout the book. The beginning historical review is very helpful, even if most brief, and sets the stage for the development of topics in each chapter. The author's strength is in the area of mathematics and technology and they get emphasis in the book. Less discussion is found on integrated matters like environmental issues. There is a wealth of material in this book and so much is covered it is a bit encyclopedic at times but, nevertheless, well done. This book will be of interest to students of ancient history or any seeking a greater appreciation of biblical background material. There are very limited reference to the Bible and some strange. Saul's change of mind (literally heart) is take by the author as "he went off his rocker," 81, an older and limited perspective, indeed. Karen Rhea Nemet-Nejat is conversant in many areas of ANE studies and balances her discussion with excerpts from ancient texts and relevant contemporary sources. The book would be enhanced by a better bibliography. The book is a welcome contribution to the field and will be a very informative to any who read it!
9 people found this helpful
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Alex
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, readable, brilliant, comprehensive.
Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2006
Informative and engrossing. Well-organized and well-researched. The best book on Mesopotamia I've read! It definitely gets a lot more of the daily-life issues correct than others (which occasionally suggest citizens lived in large two-story houses--what a joke).

All books I've read, however, make the same error about the map pictured on the cover of an earlier version of this book--a circle with triangular shapes coming from it. This map is often mistakenly cited as partly being of Scandinavia, as it has been translated as "country where the sun has not been seen." An understandable mistake, but what it actually signifies is unknown country--no one has seen the sun there because no one from the known world at the time had explored it. A more comprehensive (intact) map would have shown that this symbol was only one part of the world, not the entire world.

I hope Ms. Nemet-Nejat accepts this bit of information in the spirit in which it is offered. :-)
4 people found this helpful
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sura
3.0 out of 5 stars Three Stars
Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2016
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Little boring
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Brian K. Miller
1.0 out of 5 stars Not longer worth the money
Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2013
Verified Purchase
When I bought this book the price was $19.95, a bit steep for a Kindle ebook but not at all unusual for an academic value like this. However, the price of this book rose to the $50 region just for the Kindle versions! Even worse, every 5th download you have to pay the cover price again!

This book used to be one of the best Sumer and Akkad references a person could buy. I depend heavily on both  Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia (The Greenwood Press Daily Life Through History Series)  and  Ancient Near East: Historical Sources in Translation(Blackwell Sourcebooks in Ancient History)  but I can no longer recommend either book because the pricing for the Kindle versions has become insane and greedy.
5 people found this helpful
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kp
2.0 out of 5 stars messing up basic terms
Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2010
...very dissapointed to start reading the book of an "expert" by reading at the preface the phrase "with diverse ethnic groups occupying the region": what is an "ethnic" group in a pre-ethnic world?

kp
ph.d. student in pol. sciences & history
One person found this helpful
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Jared Edwards
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Overview of Ancient Mesopotamia
Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2000
Nemet-Nejat has compiled a great deal of information into this book. Although the historical overview was a little long and dry, most of the book was very interesting. Nemet-Nejat quotes from a number of original writings of the ancient Mesopotamians, giving a unique view into the thinking and culture of this ancient civilization.
The insights into education, religion, writing, and recreation were most interesting.
21 people found this helpful
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