BABYLON TO BAKU

by Zayn Bilkadi

Published in 1996 Stanhope-Seta Ltd

ISBN 0 9528816 0 8

224 pages

h/c with d/j - approx 30.5cm x 23cm - no inscriptions h/c - blue cloth covers, gilt stamping to spine and front cover - publisher's blind stamped insignia to front cover - cream parchment end papers - glossy pages - beautiful photographs

FOREWORD:

BABYLON TO BAKU recounts the story of a naturally occurring resource that has been utilised in parts of the Middle East for approximately 40,000 years, when it was first used to fix handles to stone tools and to waterproof baskets. Archaeologists have grown increasingly interested in this history. Excavations are throwing new light on ancient trade patterns, indicating that the ancient peoples of Northern Iraq, South West Iran and the Dead Sea, were the first to use this resource and in most cases continue to do so to this day. Evidence of the importance attached to this material by early civilisations can be concluded from an excavation at the Mesopotamian city of Nippur in Southern Iraq, a site dating to 3000 BC, where it has been uncovered more often than almost any other material. Early practical uses ranged from lining water pipes, as an adhesive and for securing valuable coloured inlays onto furniture, musical instruments and architectural decoration. Contemporary documents, written on clay, detail its shipments and uses. The British Museum has a particularly rich collection of objects and texts which illustrate some of these ancient uses and many of these are pictured in this book.

CONTENTS:

Foreword Map of the Ancient Near East Introduction

• Secret of Babylonia
• Bulls from the Sea
• The Oil Weapons
• The Silk Road
• Land of the Naphtha Fountain Language Origins Jewellery Bibliography Acknowledgements Index

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