The land between the twin rivers, Tigris and Euphrates, provided ideal conditions for the growth of civilization. Fertile soil, a warm sun, and a secure supply of water were the raw materials for a succession of urban cultures. Yet until the last century, the cities of Ur of the Chaldees, Babylon, and a host of lesser city-states were almost mythical names--places lost in the desert, inaccessible in a distant province of the Ottoman Empire. Through a succession of archaeological triumphs, recounted in this book, the civilizations of the "land between the rivers" was rediscovered. However, the archaeologists, almost overwhelmed by a profusion of excavated material, rebuilt their own myths of Mesopotamian cultures. Charles Maisels follows the course of discovery over more than a century.