Ancestor of the West: Writing, Reasoning, and Religion in Mesopotamia, Elam, and GreeceWith Ancestor of the West, three distinguished French historians reveal the story of the birth of writing and reason, demonstrating how the logical religious structures of Near Eastern and Mesopotamian cultures served as precursors to those of the West. "Full of matter for anyone interested in language, religion, and politics in the ancient world."—R. T. Ridley, Journal of Religious History "In this accessible introduction to the ancient world, three leading French scholars explore the emergence of rationality and writing in the West, tracing its development and its survival in our own traditions. . . . Jean Bottero focuses on writing and religion in ancient Mesopotamia, Clarisse Herrenschmidt considers a broader history of ancient writing, and Jean-Pierre Vernant examines classical Greek civilization in the context of Near Eastern history."—Translation Review |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
able Ahura Mazdā Akkadian alphabet already ancient appear aspirate Athens became beginning birth body breath called century civilization complete concerned connected consonant continued created culture cuneiform developed divine documents earth Elamite entire essential established everything example existence expressed fact given gods graphic Greece Greek hand Hebrew humans idea imagine indicate invented king known land language later least less letters linguistic living logograms longer look Mazdean means Mesopotamian Middle millennium mind myths nature never objects Old Persian Old Persian cuneiform once origin perhaps period person political present question reader reason referred relation religion religious remained represented ritual script Semitic signs sometimes sound speak speech Sumerian syllable tablets texts things thought tion true understand universe vowels writing system written