The Book Depository The Ark Before Noah: Decoding the Story of the Flood by Irving Finkel
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Description: The Ark Before Noah: Decoding the Story of the Flood : Paperback : Hodder & Stoughton : 9781444757088 : 1444757083 : 09 Oct 2014 : THE ARK BEFORE NOAH: Decoding the Story of the Flood by Dr Irving Finkel is a compelling investigation of one of the most famous myths in the world - and how the re-discovery of an ancient tablet challenges our view of ancient history in a new and exciting way. The Book Depository The Ark Before Noah: Decoding the Story of the Flood by Irving Finkel - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk
Category: Books
Merchant: The Book Depository
Product ID: 9781444757088
MPN: 1444757083
GTIN: 9781444757088
Author: Pentaur
Rating: 5
Review: In 'The Ark before Noah' Dr Finkel gives an enthralling and authoritative account of a 150 year old problem. His analysis is solidly based on his knowledge as an expert in cuneiform, and he successfully conveys his enthusiasm for the subject. Huge amounts of information are communicated in a deceptively easy style, covering not just the technicalities of flood texts but the whole range of Mesopotamian writing - business documents, court records, dreams and omens, educational primers, mathematics, myths and rituals and works of reference - a whole world now lying in innumerable fragments on museum shelves or still buried in Iraq. He take us through the many 'flood tablets' which have been identified since George Smith made his epoch-making identification in 1872, not just the nine main texts in Sumerian and Akkadian but the related sources in Genesis, the Qur'an and the Greco-Babylonian Berossus, then, conjuror-like, adds his own contribution, an unrecognised version of the Atrahasis myth, the so-called 'Ark Tablet', which gives new details of dimensions, design and construction methods. On this he founds a wholly original theory: in its original Babylonian conception the ark was a gigantic 'quffa', a huge circular coracle. Traces of this extraordinary idea survive in other tablets, and Dr Finkel is able to show how the design evolved from the early reed-boat of the Sumerian texts to the Babylonian circular ark, then to Utnapishti's cube and finally the rectangular box of Genesis 6-9. Necessarily this takes the discussion to the relationship with Genesis, and the author seeks to argue, again in my view convincingly, that we are not dealing with parallel, independent traditions but direct literary dependence, in which a version of the Utnapishti narrative in Gilgamesh XI was incorporated in Genesis at the time of the Babylonian Exile (597-538 BC). Here he has useful things to say about the crisis in Judaean history and its effects. There is a large measure of speculation in all this - maybe the author lets his enthusiasms run away with him at times - but there is nothing in the book that is not scholarly or worth considering. There is also valuable supporting material about the construction of coracle boats in Iraq, now alas a lost art, drawn from the pages of the Mariner's Mirror. This is a fascinating and rewarding investigation, and I thoroughly recommend it.
Author: DC
Rating: 3
Review: I do not know what was the purpose of the first three introductory chapters, one would expect that the information in those chapters would prepare the reader to understand the culture that produced the flood story, or will have some use in understanding what come later in the book, but this is not the case. The topics covered here appear to have being selected randomly and without any specific purpose. As an introduction to cuneiform writing, or text translation or Babylonian culture or whatever the intention, it is not a good one. Then we have chapters 4 to 11, this is the best part of the book, here the author deals with the ark tablet: its discovery, translation, intepretation, the flood story in the literature of ancient Sumer and Babylon , and a very interesting and plausible theory about how this story ended up in the Old testament. Very engaging and interesting reading. Then we have chapter 12, well..chapter 12, how can I put it...from 4 to 11, he drove and showed off his brand new BMW, in chapter 12 he crash it beyond repair. Here the author deals with the aftermath of the deluge. There are several interesting bits of mesopotamian history and the world map tablet ( of which I would like to read more about ), but his entussiasm to link them all to the flood story goes too far. Too many assumptions and suppositions to be taken seriously. Perhaps I am being mean, but the picture that came to my mind while reading this chapter was that of watching one of these pseudo-scientific TV "documentaries" where some Von Daniken-like "expert" claim to have found a new hidden secret in the texts of Khufu's funerary chamber (by the way, there are no texts in Khufu's funerary chamber) The final recapitulation chapters 13 & 14 are not bad, 14 much better than 13 ( in 13 the BMW is being towed). Then we have an extra chapter 15 explaining how they built a real coracle for a TV documentary. The whole book is sprinkled with unnecessary autobiographical and humorous quotes, and several annoying digressions. I would have left 4 stars if not for chapters 1-3 & 12. But mostly 12 !
