The names and concepts of Mesopotamian religion are recorded in two languages, Sumerian and Akkadian. Where possible, words have been listed in this dictionary in their Sumerian form, with only a cross-reference under the Akkadian name. Thus the goddess Istar (Akkadian), for instance, is dealt with under her Sumerian name Inana. However, within the entries, the Sumerian or Akkadian name is used as appropriate, depending on the sources or periods referred to.

A number of Mesopotamian names are commonly used in modern books (including this one) in Greek or Latin forms (especially place-names, e.g. (Greek) Babylon for Akkadian Babili), or in a form in which they occur in the Authorised Version of the Old Testament (especially the names of Assyrian kings, e.g. Sennacherib for Akkadian Sin-ahhe-eriba). Similarly, archaeological sites are sometimes known by their modern Arabic names, e.g. Abu Shahrain for Sumerian Eridu.

Of course we have no exact information on the pronunciation of the Akkadian or Sumerian languages, but scholars have reconstructed an approximate system based on comparison with other Semitic languages and on ancient transcriptions into Greek.

Ancient Mesopotamia was the home of some of the world's earliest cities, and the place where writing was invented. For these two major developments alone -- urban society and literate society -- it might justly be titled the 'cradle of civilisation', but in its literature, its religious philosophies and no less in its art it can also be placed firmly as the direct ancestor of the Western world. (by Jeremy Black)