Summary of David Frye's Walls

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview: #1 The people of Mesopotamia, who lived in the area now known as Iraq, fought against the effects of time. They lived as if in sand castles, constantly building and rebuilding a world that would eventually be washed away. Nothing endured.

#2 The Mesopotamians were able to overcome the constraints of time only in their record keeping, and this led to the habit of kings giving names to years. The system allowed the kings to commemorate their achievements, including the building of structures that would not last.

#3 The first solution to any problem for the Mesopotamians was building, and they built walls to protect themselves and their cities. The drudgery of building these walls was accepted as part of life.

#4 The walls of the cities were not for everyone. The shepherds, who lived outside the walls, had little use for them. They were a rough and fearless lot, skilled with slings, throw sticks, and staffs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Feb 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669353850

IRB Media

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Insights on David Frye's Walls

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The people of Mesopotamia, who lived in the area now known as Iraq, fought against the effects of time. They lived as if in sand castles, constantly building and rebuilding a world that would eventually be washed away. Nothing endured.

#2

The Mesopotamians were able to overcome the constraints of time only in their record keeping, and this led to the habit of kings giving names to years. The system allowed the kings to commemorate their achievements, including the building of structures that would not last.

#3

The first solution to any problem for the Mesopotamians was building, and they built walls to protect themselves and their cities. The drudgery of building these walls was accepted as part of life.

#4

The walls of the cities were not for everyone. The shepherds, who lived outside the walls, had little use for them. They were a rough and fearless lot, skilled with slings, throw sticks, and staffs.

#5

Shepherds were admired in the ancient Near East, but they were also widely feared. They were the sort of men who could defend a city, but they could never build one.

#6

The idea that the life of the cities had softened men and left them less suited for war was widespread in the ancient Near East. Occasionally, an Old Testament prophet would voice a similar idea while exhorting his countrymen to abandon walled Jerusalem and return to their tents.

#7

The first civilization, the Mesopotamians, were a timid lot. They could not have known that their experiment of cities, farms, priests, scribes, and walls would even succeed. The world outside their walls was not exactly uninhabited, but it was dangerous.

#8

The first fantastic dreams of a walled kingdom grew out of the first great invasions of the late third millennium. The record of destruction is astonishing: Egypt, Syria, Canaan, Akkad, Sumer, Troy, Elam, the Indus Valley, and Anatolia all suffered.

#9

The wall that Shulgi built was intended to protect the kingdom from invaders, but in reality it only protected the cities for a short period of