Weavers, Scribes, and Kings

A New History of the Ancient Near East

By: Amanda H. Podany

Narrated by: Amanda H. Podany

Length: 18 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

In this sweeping history of the ancient Near East, Amanda Podany takes listeners on a gripping journey from the creation of the world's first cities to the conquests of Alexander the Great. The book is built around the life stories of many ancient men and women, from kings, priestesses, and merchants to brickmakers, musicians, and weavers. Their habits of daily life, beliefs, triumphs, and crises, and the changes that people faced over time are explored through their own written words and the buildings, cities, and empires in which they lived.

Weavers, Scribes, and Kings creates a tapestry of life stories through which listeners will come to know individuals from many walks of life, and to understand their places within the broad history of events and institutions in the ancient Near East. These stories are preserved on ancient clay tablets, which allow us to trace, for example, the career of a weaver as she advanced to become a supervisor of a workshop, listen to a king trying to persuade his generals to prepare for a siege, and feel the pain of a starving couple and their four young children as they suffered through a time of famine. What might seem at first glance to be a remote and inaccessible ancient culture proves to be a comprehensible world, one that bequeathed to the modern world many of our institutions and beliefs, a fascinating place to visit.

©2022 Oxford University Press (P)2023 Tantor

Clever use of original source material brings the past to life

Letting identifiable people who lived thousands of years ago speak for themselves provides a brilliant insight into the lives hopes and concerns people from all walks of life. So much more engaging than traditional history’s which tend to focus on key characters and “big”events.

Ingeniously organized, impeccably read

This is one of the rare scholarly books on ancient history that can be enjoyed by the non-scholar.
The author uses the large caches of cuneiform tablets that we have unearthed over the last two centuries as the organizing principle, but she doesn't stick to only the royalty, generals and priestesses. She gives us a vibrant picture of the everyday lives of skilled artisans, slaves, and the very scribes whose chronicles have lasted more than 4,000 years.

A note on the narration: the author reads her own book, so there is no faltering over complex ancient names. AND she has a delightful voice with something like the BBC Standard British accent which so soothes American listeners.

Great survey of the ancient Near East

Interesting approach to the topic. Lots of interesting cultural and social insight to accompany the broader historical timeline.

The narration is well-paced and easy to hear and understand. The author-narrator's background as a lecturer (and obvious familiarity with the material) served them well here.

I look forward to listening to it again.

Reads like a novel

A wonderful feat of scholarship but written in a very accesible way. This is the history of Mesopotamia from Uruk to Persepolis, three thousand years told through the lives of people that have reached us vía the medium of cuneiform texts. Highly recommended for readers or listeners of any level of knowledge about the era.

Insightful look into lives in the Ancient Near East

This is by far the best audiobook on the Ancient Near East. The author tells the history of the region from the 4th millennium BC to the Persian conquest by giving us snapshots of people’s lives throughout the time frame. These are told from the cuneiform tablets found and show the amazing details about those lives that can be deduced from these tablets. So one gets both a sense of the larger sweep of the history combined with an intimate portrait of the lives of specific individuals. The narration is enhanced by the author herself (an eminent scholar in the field) performing it. She has a very pleasing and warm voice. Highly recommended.

Tour de force

A real gem for amateur historians/sociologists. The prose never falters and is nothing less than entrancing. For myself the greatest literary work can be ruined by the narrator. For this she endlessly charming.

Awesome and informative!

The narration was clear and easy to understand. A different approach to a subject, which is usually presented in a stiff academic fashion. I thoroughly enjoyed listening!

History comes to life

The book is written in a way that take us through the long history of Mesopotamia with a focus on regular people (and rulers too) thus giving us a different prospect from the typical stories of kings and conquests. It allows us to learn about the daily lives of ancient people.
The author has a unique, friendly and personable style that can be felt when reading or listening. I first discovered her in The Great Courses where she presented a series on Mesopotamian history, been a fan of her style ever sense, you can’t get bored listening to her, and she definitely knows how to capture your attention while teaching something valuable about History.

Loved this!

Ancient Mesopotamian history with a focus on people and what life was like for them. The author’s love of the subject really comes through, and I was so happy to see this available as an audio book because I’m unable to read print or Kindle books.

Detailed and human

I loved that the author herself, read the work, offering and enthusiasm and directness you don’t always hear. The scholarship is impeccable, and when sources are limited, she tells us that. This book reveals such ancient peoples as just as human as we are. I have listened to this entire book twice and it will probably end up in my regular rotation annually or by annually. I learn something new every time.