A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history’s most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? Throughout time, people have been religious by nature, and billions today adhere to unique faiths across the world. In Charles River Editors’ Religions of the World, readers can get caught up to speed on today’s religions and yesterday’s religions in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

Throughout history, the world’s most prominent religions have had intricacies that made them unique, yet many of them have also shared similar characteristics and stories. Nowhere is this clearer than in the religion practiced by people in Ancient Mesopotamia, which also happens to be the oldest documented religion in the world.

Ancient Mesopotamian religion continues to captivate people for many of the same reasons today’s best known religions and their histories fascinate people. The religion practiced by the Ancient Mesopotamians provides a certain mix between the mundane and the surreal, and at the same time aspects of it are both familiar and bizarre to people today. Some find themselves drawn to it based on its preeminent position in religious history as the oldest documented religion in the world. Others become fascinated with the close connections between some of the Mesopotamian religious texts, which include a flood story, a creation story and a story of the righteous sufferer, and their parallels in the Hebrew Bible. There are also many who learned about the mythological tales of the Greco-Roman world as children and revel in the mythological battles, love affairs and intrigue depicted in the Mesopotamian texts.

Today the Ancient Mesopotamians and their religion are a source of curiosity, but thousands of years ago the religion was an integral part of their lives. From their birth to their death, deities surrounded them, and whether their social interactions were on the level of a smaller city or that of a larger nation-state, deities played key roles in the social fabric of their society. In fact, the people and religion were so intertwined that a study of Ancient Mesopotamian religion is a study of Ancient Mesopotamian culture.

Religions of the World: The Religion of Ancient Mesopotamia examines the history and legacy of the religion practiced by the Ancient Mesopotamians, looking at the similarities it shares with other religions and the differences that make it unique. Along with pictures of important figures and places, you will learn about the religion of Ancient Mesopotamia like you never have before, in no time at all.