Mesopotamia is considered the cradle of Western civilization, and the diverse societies that flourished there, nestled around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, were as culturally rich as this attribution would suggest. Spanning a significant historical period, from 8000 BCE to the arrival of Islam in 636 CE, Art of Mesopotamia explores spectacular structures and objects, as well as the techniques artists used, in order to gain insight into the beliefs and practices of ancient peoples. The volume also introduces the archaeologists who discovered these sites more than a thousand years later.Richly illustrated with more than 400 full-color photographs, Art of Mesopotamia is an astounding record by award-winning author Zainab Bahrani of artworks from this region, many of which have in recent years been damaged or destroyed by war, and as such is of particular and lasting importance. It includes the most up-to-date scholarship and reflects significant new approaches to Mesopotamian art over the past few decades.