The first civilisation

 by Ben Soton

Between Two Rivers a History of Mesopotamia and the birth of History by Moudhy Al-Rashid. Hardback 336 pp, Hachette, London 2025 Hbk £25, Pbk £12.99

When we look at history, we tend to view things in terms of BC or AD; or before or after the birth of Christ.  Sometimes we need reminding that there is more recorded history covering the years before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth than since.  To put this in perspective we are closer chronologically to the Roman conquest of Britain than Julius Caesar was to the earliest historical records. What we refer to as the “historical era” originated in Mesopotamia, the land between and around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers somewhere around the fourth millennia BC.  
It is to this period in ancient Mesopotamia that Moudhy Al-Rashid devotes her debut book Between Two Rivers a History of Mesopotamia and the birth of History.  The basis of her study is a discovery of a range of primary artefacts in 1920 which include; a clay drum, a mace head, a statue, school tablets, a brick and a cone. The author uses her in-depth knowledge combined with the study of the items to construct a period of what was probably the world’s first civilisation.
Much of the work is based on a study of cuneiform, probably the world’s first form of writing.  Cuneiform was used by the Sumerian. Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian empires.  Al-Rashid points out that writing was not invented by poets, authors, playwrights or even journalists. It was simply a means of recording grain transactions, inventories and rations.  In other words, without the need for bureaucrats to keep records there would be no Dickens, Shakespeare or for the that matter the New Worker. It is from these essentially mundane records that “history” emanates.   
What makes Mesopotamia special is that it was the world’s first region to develop agriculture. From agriculture came cities, trade, warfare and most important of all class society.  In early class society payment for work was given out in the form of rations rather than cash and a considerable amount of work was done by slaves. 
Although probably not a Marxist herself, Al-Rashid’s book confirms this view.  She goes on to point out that much of history is told from the point of view of those at the top of society with the rest of us often ignored.  
In her own words the author views the artefacts as a handshake with a long dead person from the past. Her knowledge of the very ancient world and its languages comes through in the book. Her work is well worth reading for anyone interested in the period that even the Romans would have considered as ancient history.