"This splendid work of scholarship . . . sums up with economy and power all that the written record so far deciphered has to tell about the ancient and complementary civilizations of Babylon and Assyria."--Edward B. Garside, "New York Times Book Review"
Ancient Mesopotamia--the area now called Iraq--has received less attention than ancient Egypt and other long-extinct and more spectacular civilizations. But numerous small clay tablets buried in the desert soil for thousands of years make it possible for us to know more about the people of ancient Mesopotamia than any other land in the early Near East.
Professor Oppenheim, who studied these tablets for more than thirty years, used his intimate knowledge of long-dead languages to put together a distinctively personal picture of the Mesopotamians of some three thousand years ago. Following Oppenheim's death, Erica Reiner used the author's outline to complete the revisions he had begun.
"To any serious student of Mesopotamian civilization, this is one of the most valuable books ever written."--Leonard Cottrell, "Book Week"
"Leo Oppenheim has made a bold, brave, pioneering attempt to present a synthesis of the vast mass of philological and archaeological data that have accumulated over the past hundred years in the field of Assyriological research."--Samuel Noah Kramer, "Archaeology"
A. Leo Oppenheim, one of the most distinguished Assyriologists of our time, was editor in charge of the "Assyrian Dictionary" of the Oriental Institute and John A. Wilson Professor of Oriental Studies at the University of Chicago.

The Babylonian and Assyrian Legends Concerning the Creation of the World and of Mankind. The Enuma Elish is one of the oldest stories known to mankind. It is a story first written down by the ancient Sumerians thousands of years ago. As a one time assistant in the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities at the British Museum. L.W. King provides us with a qualified translation of the tables which were originally written in cuneiform script. The Enuma Elish is receiving renewed interest from modern researchers delving into the origins of mankind, the earth, and the solar system. Over the centuries a copy ended up in the library at Nineveh in the 7th century B.C., and was uncovered by archaeologists in the late 1800s. Written to cuneiform text and preserved on seven clay tables, the entire story was called "The Seven Tablets of Creation". After being translated the story revealed how the planets became aligned, how a cosmic catastrophe affected the earth, how mankind came upon the scene, and how the "gods" played a role in all of it. The Seven Tablets of Creation have had many profound implications since they were first discovered and subsequently published. They predate many parts of the Book of Genesis as well as other worldwide creation myths. Volume One includes this epic poem's English translation. It also includes information on parallels in Hebrew literature, the date and origin of the Babylonian creation legends, and more. Volume Two includes other accounts of creation, an Assyrian "Tower of Babel" story, and supplementary texts showing the actual cuneiform tablets.

Miraculously preserved on clay tablets dating back as far as four thousand years, the poem of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, is the world's oldest epic, predating Homer by many centuries. The story tells of Gilgamesh.s adventures with the wild man Enkidu, and of his arduous journey to the ends of the earth in quest of the Babylonian Noah and the secret of immortality. In addition to its themes of family, friendship and duties of kings, The Epic of Gilgamesh is, above all, about mankind's eternal struggle with the fear of death.
The Babylonian version has been known for over a century, but linguists are still deciphering new fragments in Akkadian and Sumerian. Andrew George's gripping translation brilliantly combines these into a fluent narrative and will long rank as the definitive English Gilgamesh.

苏美尔王表是一份古代文献，发现于美索不达米亚各地，使用苏美尔语书写。目前发现总共有十六份，互相之间基本相同，是现存最完整的王表，而苏美尔王表是现代学者起的名称。此王表列举了官方的统治者以及他们统治的时间。按照王表，"王权"自天而降，然后从一个城市转移到另一个城市。王表中早先的君主大概都属神话人物，统治时间非常长。后来的许多君主，是实际存在的历史人物，但是王表也会将他们的统治时间说的很长。

The Epic of Gilgamesh (ca. 2500-1500 B.C.E.) is one of the world's greatest epic narratives and, quite possibly, its oldest epic poem. Our text is based on a new English translation from original sources. An introduction, interpretive headings, explanatory annotations, and illustrations guide readers through the text and help them explore Near Eastern history and culture. Analogues includes two related groups of ancient poetry. The first is a collection of shorter, older Sumerian poems about the hero Gilgamesh, some of which appear in The Epic of Gilgamesh . The second collection includes material about Gilgamesh from the Hittite language, translations or paraphrases of Babylonian versions of the epic that have not been preserved in the same form. Criticism provides introduction and analysis in essays by William Moran, Thorkild Jacobsen, and Rivkah Harris. A Glossary of Proper Names and a Selected Bibliography are included. About the Series : No other series of classic texts equals the caliber of the Norton Critical Editions . Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with the comprehenive pedagogical apparatus necessary to appreciate the work fully. Careful editing, first-rate translation, and thorough explanatory annotations allow each text to meet the highest literary standards while remaining accessible to students. Each edition is printed on acid-free paper and every text in the series remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice for excellence in scholarship for students at more than 2,000 universities worldwide.

古代社会生活史手册丛书全面介绍了古代希腊、古代罗马、古代埃及、古代玛雅、古代美索不达米亚、欧洲文艺复兴、日本中世和近世时期的社会历史生活。
《古代美索不达米亚社会生活》一书通过文字和图片的方式详细介绍了古美索不达米亚文明的发生发展，详细勾勒了古美索不达米亚时期的历史概况，全景式地再现了古美索不达米亚时期的社会历史生活。
作为古文明历史读本，该手册汇集了当代古美索不达米亚文明的研究成果，描摹了古美索不达米亚社会历史场景，也为古美索不达米亚文明的研究提供了重要的文献参考。