Books by Jean Bottero

The new information found in Everyday Life in Ancient Mesopotamia makes a significant contribution, one that deepens our knowledge and understanding of this great, ancient civilization.

The Mesopotamians invented writing and with it a new way of looking at the world. To understand how Mesopotamian civilization has been mediated and interpreted in its transmission through time, Bottero begins with an account of Assyriology, the discipline devoted to the ancient culture.

One of the world's foremost experts on Assyriology, Jean Bottero has studied the religion of ancient Mesopotamia for more than fifty years. Building on these many years of research, Bottero 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.

Offers a look at the delectable secrets of Mesopotamia. The author's broad perspective takes us inside the religious rites, everyday rituals, attitudes and taboos, and even the detailed preparation techniques involving food and drink in Mesopotamian high culture during the second and third millenniums BCE, as the Mesopotamians recorded them.