{"product_id":"the-mesopotamian-riddle-an-archaeologist-a-soldier-a-clergyman-and-the-race-to-decipher-the-worlds-oldest-writing-9781668015445","title":"The Mesopotamian Riddle: An Archaeologist, a Soldier, a Clergyman, and the Race to Decipher the World's Oldest Writing","description":"\u003cb\u003eA rollicking adventure starring three free-spirited Victorians on a twenty-year quest to decipher cuneiform\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003ethe oldest writing in the world\u003c\/b\u003e--\u003cb\u003efrom the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIt was one of history's great vanishing acts. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAround 3,400 BCE--as humans were gathering in complex urban settlements--a scribe in the mud-walled city-state of Uruk picked up a reed stylus to press tiny symbols into clay. For three millennia, wedge shape cuneiform script would record the military conquests, scientific discoveries, and epic literature of the great Mesopotamian kingdoms of Sumer, Assyria, and Babylon and of Persia's mighty Achaemenid Empire, along with precious minutiae about everyday life in the cradle of civilization. And then...the meaning of the characters was lost. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLondon, 1857. In an era obsessed with human progress, mysterious palaces emerging from the desert sands had captured the Victorian public's imagination. Yet Europe's best philologists struggled to decipher the bizarre inscriptions excavators were digging up. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEnter a swashbuckling archaeologist, a suave British military officer turned diplomat, and a cloistered Irish rector, all vying for glory in a race to decipher this script that would enable them to peek farther back into human history than ever before. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom the ruins of Persepolis to lawless outposts of the crumbling Ottoman Empire, \u003ci\u003eThe Mesopotamian Riddle\u003c\/i\u003e whisks you on a wild adventure through the golden age of archaeology in an epic quest to understand our past.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Joshua Hammer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Simon \u0026amp; Schuster\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/18\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 400\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.05lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.50h x 5.60w x 1.50d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781668015445","brand":"Simon \u0026 Schuster","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43446791241865,"sku":"9781668015445","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0636\/9240\/6921\/files\/img_0dbd161d-f37d-47de-9ab1-0409b1111994.jpg?v=1741681108","url":"https:\/\/sonsanddaughtersbooks.com\/products\/the-mesopotamian-riddle-an-archaeologist-a-soldier-a-clergyman-and-the-race-to-decipher-the-worlds-oldest-writing-9781668015445","provider":"Sons and Daughters Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}