A recreation of the spiritual life of ancient Mesopotamia demonstrating that the roots of Western civilization lie in the ancient Near East "A brilliant presentation of Mesopotamian religion from the inside, backed at every point by meticulous scholarship and persistent adherence to original texts. . . . A classic in its field."-- Religious Studies Review " The Treasures of Darkness is the culmination of a lifetime's work, an attempt to summarize and recreate the spiritual life of Ancient Mesopotamia. Jacobsen has ...
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A recreation of the spiritual life of ancient Mesopotamia demonstrating that the roots of Western civilization lie in the ancient Near East "A brilliant presentation of Mesopotamian religion from the inside, backed at every point by meticulous scholarship and persistent adherence to original texts. . . . A classic in its field."-- Religious Studies Review " The Treasures of Darkness is the culmination of a lifetime's work, an attempt to summarize and recreate the spiritual life of Ancient Mesopotamia. Jacobsen has succeeded brilliantly. . . . His vast experience shows through every page of this unique book, through the vivid, new translations resulting from years of careful research. Everyone interested in early Mesopotamia, whether specialist, student, or complete layman, should read this book. . . . It is, quite simply, authoritative, based on a vast experience of the ancient Mesopotamian mind, and very well written in the bargain."--Brian M. Fagan, History "Professor Jacobsen is an authority on Sumerian life and society, but he is above all a philologist of rare sensibility. The Treasures of Darkness is almost entirely devoted to textual evidence, the more gritty sources of archaeological knowledge being seldom mentioned. He introduces many new translations which are much finer than previous versions. . . . Simply to read this poetry and the author's sympathetic commentary is a pleasure and a revelation. Professor Jacobsen accepts the premise that all religion springs from man's experience of a power not of this world, a mysterious 'Wholly Other.' This numinous power cannot be described in terms of worldly experience but only in allusive 'metaphors' that serve as a means of communication in religious teaching and thought. . . . As a literary work combining sensibility, imagination and scholarship, this book is near perfection."--Jacquetta Hawkes, The London Sunday Times "A fascinating book. The general reader cannot fail to admire the translated passages of Sumerian poetry with which it abounds, especially those illustrating the Dumuzi-Inanna cycle of courtship, wedding and lament for the god's untimely death. Many of these (though not all) are new even to the specialist and will repay close study."--B.O.R. Gurney, Times Literary Supplement
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New. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 288 p. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
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Dr. Thorkild Jacobsen begins his book, Treasures of Darkness, with this quote by Traherne: "Men do mightily wrong themselves when they refuse to be present in all ages and neglect to see the beauty of all kingdoms." He adds that to venture into these ages and kingdoms, one needs to understand the terms of the subject. Jacobsen states that 'ancient' to us raises the question of distance in time, in terms of the thousands of years that separate us from that which we attempt to comprehend - there is no living cultural tradition to connect us with our subject. To understand is to reconstruct the development of ancient Mesopotamia - it is to see the ancient Mesopotamians within the perspective of their time using materials and interpretations available to them. Dr. Jacobsen continues to define 'religion' as the human response to the numinous - the 'Wholly Other' existing outside of normal human experience. Because the Numinous is not of this world, it can only be described in metaphors. These metaphors form bridges between the religious leaders and their followers, these bridges furnish a common bond that permits increased understanding and communication between generations . Dr. Jacobsen posits that the ancient Mesopotamian religious experience understood the Numinous to be simultaneously immanent and transcendent in a capacity that only a highly metaphorical form of literature could begin to intimate. After detailing multiple poems, epics and myths in an attempt to explain this complex relationship between the ancient Mesopotamian writer and his sense of the Numinous, Dr. Jacobsen concludes that there is probably very little intellectual distance separating our modern apprehension and interpretation of the Numinous from that of the ancient Mesopotamians.
