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The Ancient Gods by E.O. James I found in a book store marked down from $20 to $5. (The bookstore was going out of business and having a 75percent off sale.) It contained a series of 85 plates of Egyptian, Sumerian, Babylonian, Hittite, Greek and Roman artwork so I figured that in itself was worth the price. But as I know very little about these old religions and it's one of the things I think I should I decided I should probably read it too.
It was interesting to me to read a book talking about Ancient civilizations that completely ignored China. It was fun to see all the differences and make comparisons as I was reading. Reading about ancient cities besides Banpo was a nice change. At first it seemed like the scope of the book was too big. The author was trying to cover every civilization of the ancient western world it seemed. Talking about different issues and how they related to Egypt, Sumer, Babylon, Greece, and Judaism. (and sometimes Hittite). But as I found myself growing more familiar with the different areas it became less confusing. At first I found myself wanting to skip the sections on Judaism, having spent a great deal of time growing up and my first two years in college studying Christianity I felt like I already had that covered. But in the end I found myself reading them anyway as he did a very good job of tracing their different beliefs, saying what got influenced by what, and made it all quite interesting again. He had a way of writing that seemed to me would make the book interesting to people who already knew about the subject, not just as an introductory work. I recommended it to Bill as it talked a little about the mystery religions and their relation to ancient philosophy.
The subjects James looked at were, The rise of civilization in the Ancient Near East, The Emergence of Religion in the Ancient Near East, The Mother-Goddess and the Young God, The Sacral Kingship, The Seasonal Festivals, The Cult of the Dead, Cosmology, Divination, Astrology and Prophecy, The Gods and The Good Life and The Development and Diffusion of Near Eastern Deities.
I felt like I learned a lot and it did spark my interest in a couple of areas, I realized I need to know a bit more about Sumer and Babylon, particularly their mythology. (Inspired buying several related books at the book fair). I also understood a little more why Plato gets linked to analysis of Chinese beliefs a little more, and made me realize I know very little about the ancient Greek Philosophers, but I still find philosophy much less interesting than religion. It reminded me how much I love the idea of spirits and exorcisms and ecstatic beliefs, I'd be fascinated by doing a cross cultural study on that sometime, and made me think that perhaps I do just need to find the time to go back and re-read Davis' book on that subject and Sung China.
It was good to read a book about other cultures, I felt a little guilty that I wasn't reading about China but thought it would be good to compare. I found it interesting and it made me want to learn more. I'm now having one of those moments where the world seems like such a big and interesting place and it seems impossible to know everything about it and that's a little frustrating. So with that said I guess you could say I enjoyed this book a great deal!
It was interesting to me to read a book talking about Ancient civilizations that completely ignored China. It was fun to see all the differences and make comparisons as I was reading. Reading about ancient cities besides Banpo was a nice change. At first it seemed like the scope of the book was too big. The author was trying to cover every civilization of the ancient western world it seemed. Talking about different issues and how they related to Egypt, Sumer, Babylon, Greece, and Judaism. (and sometimes Hittite). But as I found myself growing more familiar with the different areas it became less confusing. At first I found myself wanting to skip the sections on Judaism, having spent a great deal of time growing up and my first two years in college studying Christianity I felt like I already had that covered. But in the end I found myself reading them anyway as he did a very good job of tracing their different beliefs, saying what got influenced by what, and made it all quite interesting again. He had a way of writing that seemed to me would make the book interesting to people who already knew about the subject, not just as an introductory work. I recommended it to Bill as it talked a little about the mystery religions and their relation to ancient philosophy.
The subjects James looked at were, The rise of civilization in the Ancient Near East, The Emergence of Religion in the Ancient Near East, The Mother-Goddess and the Young God, The Sacral Kingship, The Seasonal Festivals, The Cult of the Dead, Cosmology, Divination, Astrology and Prophecy, The Gods and The Good Life and The Development and Diffusion of Near Eastern Deities.
I felt like I learned a lot and it did spark my interest in a couple of areas, I realized I need to know a bit more about Sumer and Babylon, particularly their mythology. (Inspired buying several related books at the book fair). I also understood a little more why Plato gets linked to analysis of Chinese beliefs a little more, and made me realize I know very little about the ancient Greek Philosophers, but I still find philosophy much less interesting than religion. It reminded me how much I love the idea of spirits and exorcisms and ecstatic beliefs, I'd be fascinated by doing a cross cultural study on that sometime, and made me think that perhaps I do just need to find the time to go back and re-read Davis' book on that subject and Sung China.
It was good to read a book about other cultures, I felt a little guilty that I wasn't reading about China but thought it would be good to compare. I found it interesting and it made me want to learn more. I'm now having one of those moments where the world seems like such a big and interesting place and it seems impossible to know everything about it and that's a little frustrating. So with that said I guess you could say I enjoyed this book a great deal!