The Graven Image Representation in Babylonia and Assyria Zainab Bahrani A passionate and powerful polemic.--iAntiquityi Bahrani opens up the field of discourse for the study of ancient Near Eastern art and brings it into dialogue with current disciplinary trends. . . . The book will stimulate further discussion about the natures of Babylonian and Assyrian representation across the disciplinary divides.--iJournal of the American Oriental Societyi A welcome addition to the study of the ancient Near East. It breaks away from Eurocentric approaches and tries to do justice to Mesopotamian thought, thus shedding new light on the relationship between text and representation. . . . Bahrani's book will become the center of a lively debate.--iBryn Mawr Classical Reviewi Mesopotamia, the world's earliest literate culture, developed a rich philosophical conception of representation in which the world was saturated with signs. Instead of imitating the natural world, representation--both in writing