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По следам исчезнувших культур Востока #1
Ur of the Chaldees-a Revised and Updated Edition of Sir Leonards Wooley's Excavations at Ur
Книга известного английского археолога Леонарда Вулли подводит итоги систематических раскопок, проводившихся на протяжении двенадцати лет (1922–1934 гг.) в Южном Ираке, на месте одного из древнейших городов мира – Ура, или, как его иногда называют, следуя библейской традиции, Ура халдеев.В книге Л. Вулли представлена широкая историческая картина и освещены все этапы развития города Ура от V тысячелетия до н. э. до IV в. до н. э. Автор не ограничивается только описанием хода раскопок и анализом археологических комплексов или отдельных найденных им предметов. Он устанавливает периоды подъема и упадка города, пытается их объяснить.Доступно и увлекательно написанный очерк английского археолога может быть рекомендован тем, изучает историю или историю культуры. Следует помнить, что книга старая, и концепции истории в целом и Древнего Востока в частности изменились. Фактический материал своей ценности не утратил.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1954
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 8, 2012
Sir Leonard Woolley's account of the excavations at the Sumerian city of Ur in modern Iraq undertaken by the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania from 1922 to 1934, where the so-called royal tombs they found yielded some of the most beautiful artifacts to come out of ancient ground. Dating to 2600 BC, the "royal tombs" (probably of the high priestesses and priests who served the cult of the moon god, Nanna) get the most attention, and they are spectacular. Open pits in which were also buried the attendants of the deceased, the court women wearing beautiful golden headdresses, silver and gold ribbons wrapped around their heads and hair, beaded necklaces, beaded cloaks, golden daggers, golden bowls, lyres decorated with the heads of golden bulls with beards of lapis lazuli.
But what I found most intriguing were the small cylindrical seals made of stone, ceramic, and lapis lazuli engraved with pictographs, which when rolled onto wet clay tell a story, Many of these depict domestic and court scenes or combat or religious rites with kings, priests, gods, and goddesses in attendance. I am fascinated by how a small round carved object becomes a two-dimensional work of art; how the cylinder holds (stores) the coded narrative; and how the act of rolling the cylinder onto clay in effect "tells" the story. I've seen these seals, dating back apparently to around 3500 BC in the Near East, in many museums (the Met, Penn's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the Louvre), but never looked really closely at them. Time to go back and look again.
But what I found most intriguing were the small cylindrical seals made of stone, ceramic, and lapis lazuli engraved with pictographs, which when rolled onto wet clay tell a story, Many of these depict domestic and court scenes or combat or religious rites with kings, priests, gods, and goddesses in attendance. I am fascinated by how a small round carved object becomes a two-dimensional work of art; how the cylinder holds (stores) the coded narrative; and how the act of rolling the cylinder onto clay in effect "tells" the story. I've seen these seals, dating back apparently to around 3500 BC in the Near East, in many museums (the Met, Penn's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the Louvre), but never looked really closely at them. Time to go back and look again.
April 12, 2018
Fascinating history of one city over the course of thousands of years. It's amazing that artifacts from four thousand years ago can still be unearthed and preserved. This book goes into minute details of the excavations, which I simply skipped over.
October 5, 2023
Оказалось, что многие из ранее прочитанных книг о Месопотамии пересказывали почти дословно куски этой книги написанной известным английским археологом. Этой книге, конечно, не хватает масштабности современных работ, где авторы собирают воедино материал предшественников, обобщают его, и в результате создают работы описывающие всю Месопотамию и даже выходят за ее границы. Но эта работа имеет главное, что мне так нравится у археологов реально занимающихся раскопками — детали. Детали не просто важны, они изменяют акценты, указывают контекст, дают возможность самому интерпретировать и понимать историю. Люди описывающие историю без личного опыта слишком часто упускают важные детали, поэтому их книги хороши для общего обзора, но не для глубокого понимания того, как все было на самом деле устроено в древние времена. Поэтому нужно читать первопроходцев вроде Леонарда Вулли. Деталей в книге полно, читается легко и интересно.
June 28, 2019
Home of Abraham
Ur was a sophisticated urban center millennium’s ago. Abraham was born there, and from there he obeyed God’s call to go to the land of Canaan. And the story yet continues in his physical and spiritual descendants.
Ur was a sophisticated urban center millennium’s ago. Abraham was born there, and from there he obeyed God’s call to go to the land of Canaan. And the story yet continues in his physical and spiritual descendants.
July 2, 2020
Long descriptions of the architectural layers and artifacts; more pictures would have helped
June 30, 2021
Dry reading, but for those that like archaeology, it was very interesting especially how the archeology confirms the biblical stories.
December 22, 2015
This was, for me, a slow read.
But the detail was fascinating in its use for an imaginative reconstruction of the city in its various [layers of] formations, the use of other sites for confirmation of interpretations of uses and significances. The illustrations of some of the findings were stunning as the book's dust jacket above suggests.
Besides the review mentioned above, I was drawn to this by once having owned a copy of History Begins at Sumer and having been moved by Alejo Carpentier's The Lost Steps which included an "Ur" deep in the jungle, stumbled upon by the principals. Having visited the U of Chicago's "Oriental" Institute and seen work-ups of the history of Mesopotamia, artifacts, and so on, I was still unprepared for the extraordinary imagination and vision that went into the recovery of these ancient ruins, the history of development and destruction that played a critical role in what was recoverable, and the devotion to the accurate depiction of the past, going back now some 6000 years, into the world of Gilgamesh.
Still, only two years ago, we had a simple drainage system installed on our property that is the child of the drainage of Ur, built more than 5000 years ago--same DNA, form, and function. I am a naif
when it comes to this sort of thing, but one has to admit that the prospect is eerie. Perhaps there is "nothing new under the sun."
Sir Leonard Woolley was the original archeologist of UR and first wrote the book (1929) which was then edited and revised a number of times, finally to include more recent work (1986). It is clearly written, and the diagrams are especially helpful. The labeling of "streets" with English names was a bit unsettling, but, then, the Brits were bombing Iraqis in the 1920s as I recall.
But the detail was fascinating in its use for an imaginative reconstruction of the city in its various [layers of] formations, the use of other sites for confirmation of interpretations of uses and significances. The illustrations of some of the findings were stunning as the book's dust jacket above suggests.
Besides the review mentioned above, I was drawn to this by once having owned a copy of History Begins at Sumer and having been moved by Alejo Carpentier's The Lost Steps which included an "Ur" deep in the jungle, stumbled upon by the principals. Having visited the U of Chicago's "Oriental" Institute and seen work-ups of the history of Mesopotamia, artifacts, and so on, I was still unprepared for the extraordinary imagination and vision that went into the recovery of these ancient ruins, the history of development and destruction that played a critical role in what was recoverable, and the devotion to the accurate depiction of the past, going back now some 6000 years, into the world of Gilgamesh.
Still, only two years ago, we had a simple drainage system installed on our property that is the child of the drainage of Ur, built more than 5000 years ago--same DNA, form, and function. I am a naif
when it comes to this sort of thing, but one has to admit that the prospect is eerie. Perhaps there is "nothing new under the sun."
Sir Leonard Woolley was the original archeologist of UR and first wrote the book (1929) which was then edited and revised a number of times, finally to include more recent work (1986). It is clearly written, and the diagrams are especially helpful. The labeling of "streets" with English names was a bit unsettling, but, then, the Brits were bombing Iraqis in the 1920s as I recall.
April 15, 2016
Interesting book although a little hard to get through. An archaeological description of the ancient Sumerian city of Ur, out of which Abraham came. At that time it was very metropolitan and quite advanced. Woolley covers remnants from pre-flood up to Cyrus the Great, after which it fell into decay.
July 14, 2008
Did I mention I love history? This book is on the list of the reasons why I persist...
May 14, 2012
Good general work, abit dated but interesting none the less.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews