Many books have been written on the origins of the cuneiform script and the role of reading and writing in Mesopotamia. But Charpin's book has no rival that could even stand in its shade. -- Karel van der Toorn, President, University of Amsterdam, and author of Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible
Dominique Charpin is Professor of Mesopotamian History at the Sorbonne, Paris.
Many books have been written on the origins of the cuneiform script
and the role of reading and writing in Mesopotamia. But Charpin's
book has no rival that could even stand in its shade.
*Karel van der Toorn, President, University of Amsterdam, and
author of Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew
Bible*
Charpin takes up a subject that's been debated by Assyriologists
for many years: Did scribes alone have the knowledge to read and
write cuneiform, the earliest writing, invented by the Sumerians
around 3200 B.C.E.? Charpin focuses on what may be called the
'classical' period of Mesopotamian civilization, the period between
the Babylonian rulers Hammurabi (1792–1750 B.C.E.) to
Nebuchadnezzar (604–562 B.C.E.). Charpin's work at Ur some 20 years
ago convinced him that what was thought to be a school was in fact
a residence for clergy who home trained their children and
apprentices to read and write cuneiform. His research has convinced
him that literacy was not limited to professional scribes. The
depth and range of material Charpin includes is indeed impressive.
In sections that will be of particular interest to lay readers and
students, Charpin goes into detail about reading a cuneiform tablet
and the apprenticeship of a scribe. He informs the reader that the
oral, spoken word—Sumerian or Akkadian—was most important in
Mesopotamian society, and it was the survival of the written over
the spoken word that produced the expansion of writing. Required
reading for scholars in the field and their students.
*Library Journal*
This introduction to the birth of cuneiform writing in the
Babylonian empire is an engaging primer on the lexicon of
linguistics… Charpin has written a scholarly work of incredible
breadth.
*Publishers Weekly*
[Reading and Writing in Babylon] is a groundbreaking and
fascinating contribution to the study of ancient literacy, readable
by all-comers.
*Times Literary Supplement*
Charpin has written a book that is accessible to those outside the
small academic field of Assyriology. The work is remarkable for its
level of detail and the breadth of its concern. Charpin is able to
keep one eye on the specifics of numerous texts and their
archaeological contexts. At the same time, he is able to situate
the written legacy of these ancient cultures in a broad
sociological context, while arguing in some places for a generally
new approach to reading and integrating the wealth of material into
cognate fields.
*Bryn Mawr Classical Review*
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