• Includes E. A. Wallis Budge's explanation of the Seven Tablets of Creation, the creation myth that bears striking similarities to the book of Genesis.
• Includes the ancient Mesopotamian account of the descent of the goddess Ishtar into the underworld.
• Explains the role religion played at the national, city, and personal levels in all aspects of life.

A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? Throughout time, people have been religious by nature, and billions today adhere to unique faiths across the world. In Charles River Editors' Religions of the World, listeners can get caught up to speed on today's and yesterday's religions in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

Throughout history the world's most prominent religions have had intricacies that made them unique, yet many of them have also shared similar characteristics and stories. Nowhere is this clearer than in the religion practiced by people in ancient Mesopotamia, which also happens to be the oldest documented religion in the world.

Ancient Mesopotamian religion continues to captivate people for many of the same reasons today's best-known religions and their histories fascinate people. The religion practiced by the ancient Mesopotamians provides a certain mix between the mundane and the surreal, and at the same time aspects of it are both familiar and bizarre to people today. Some find themselves drawn to it based on its preeminent position in religious history as the oldest documented religion in the world.