Customer Rating:  
Summary: Intercultural study
Comment: I have used this video in a humanities survey course for several years and have had great success with it. It illustrates ancient Mesopotamian culture fairly well and serves as a fine transition into a discussion of the epic "Gilgamesh" which we read immediately after the film viewing. Students seem truly to enjoy it as well; just yesterday a student asked if she could take it home to share with her family. I think it spends so much time on the comparison of Biblical text to Mesopotamian text because that is the major theme of the entire video, to illustrate the intersections and interactions of the ancient Israelites and the Mesopotamians through their archaeology, historical documents, and mythology. I have two objections to the video: 1) the opening and closing seem fairly corny to me and to my students and make very general speculations compared to the very specific evidence inside the content proper; 2) the use of old silent film footage of the flood or Babylonian cities detracts rather than adds to the quality of the film. This is an objection I have to videos in the entire series and not just this volume.
Customer Rating:
Summary: By far the worst I've seen in the series.
Comment: I've thoroughly enjoyed the other videos in this series, but this one was unfocused and more than a little boring at times. Rather than focusing on the accomplishments and personalities of the Fertile Crescent, it looks at some of the archaeology that was done nearly 100 years ago and then makes spends an inordinate amount of time comparing Biblical texts to Mesopotamian records.
Very disappointing, especially when compared to the rest of the series.
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