An examination of the multiple ways in which texts and material culture remains from explorations of Mesopotamia impacted the field of biblical studies and vice versa. Thelle's focus is on Mesopotamia's impact on biblical studies; however, she also shows how the ancient Assyrian and Babylonian civilizations would never have been of much interest to Western explorers had it not been for their connection with biblical history. The book thus outlines not only how biblical studies has broadened our understanding of ancient history but also how intertwined these two disciplines are.
Thelle examines the period from the 1870s to 1920s, the time during which some of the foundational works in biblical studies were written (Wellhausen, Gunkel and Mowinckel). This time period also encompasses the publication of some of the major cuneiform texts that impacted biblical studies, beginning with George Smith's presentation of the "Flood tablet" in 1872, and continuing with Gilgamesh, Enuma Elish, and other "Creation epics," hymns, prayers, and ritual texts. This time period was also crucial as the time when key discoveries in southern Mesopotamia would radically change historians' understanding of human history. As a specific in-depth case, Thelle analyzes the German Babylon excavation of 1899-1917, seeking to unearth the political, intellectual and scholarly forces which motivated and shaped this excavation, one of the largest archaeological projects ever conducted. This probe focuses on the interaction between the archaeologists and excavators on one hand, and the reception of the material by historians and biblical scholars, as well as the general public on the other. As such it is a dramatic investigation into the history of scholarship.
