YOUR GUIDE
Hello! Shlama! Shlomo!
I’m Arim and I’ll be your guide.
You’re going to visit eleven cities where you’ll get to taste the food, meet the locals, and experience daily life in ancient Mesopotamia.
No prior experience with time travel needed. But bring a bag of barley, some silver, and comfortable sandals.
Like a Cookbook.
Unlike any Cookbook.
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BECOME AN ANCIENT CHEF
Host Unforgettable
Dinners
With the help of chefs, historians, photographers, and food stylists, we’ve recreated 70 recipes from ancient Mesopotamia over a period of seven years.
Each recipe has been adapted to modern kitchens and perfected with the feedback of 282 recipe testers.
Whether you’re preparing a royal pomegranate cake or a Sumerian peasant’s porridge, you’ll take your friends and family on a culinary journey they’ll never forget.
Gubibate. Kalhu, 864 BC.
THE ROYAL GAME OF UR
Dinner Ends, Game Begins
Flip the book and you’ll find the world’s oldest board game on the back cover.
Buy the book on Kickstarter and get the game piece set worth $69 for free.
BECOME AN ANCIENT STORYTELLER
Tell Stories of Kings
and Gods
Captivate your guests by the dinner table or your children at bedtime.
Each recipe in Table of Gods is introduced by a short story of gods, royals, and legends from ancient Mesopotamia.
The Epic of Gilgamesh, Inana’s descent to the underworld, and King Sargon’s battle against Urartu are just a few examples.
A ROAD TRIP THROUGH MESOPOTAMIA
Walk the Streets
of the First Cities
From the marshlands of Eridu to the barley fields in Uruk. From the taverns in Lagash to the alleys in Ur. From the schools in Nippur to the fruit forests in Mari.
And that’s only halfway through your journey.
You’re also going to visit the famous kebab stand in Ashur and party with Ashurnasirpal in Kalhu. Explore the the Assyrian army in Dur-Sharrukin and the Hanging Gardens in Nineveh.
And then on your last stop, you’ll walk the Processional Way through the Ishtar Gate and into Babylon, just like Alexander the Great once did.
Bring anyone with you and return as many times as you want.
SPEAK WITH THE LOCALS
Learn to Speak Sumerian
With the help of language professors, we’ve created two language guides—one for Sumerian and one for Akkadian—with hundreds of useful words and phrases.
Although gestures take you a long way, these language guides will prove useful as you visit taverns, market places, and temples on your journey through ancient Mesopotamia.
silim
mea
anash
mungu Arim am
eshdam
dug
ngae dubsar men
hello
where?
why?
my name is Arim
tavern
good, sweet
I am a scribe
BECOME A SCRIBE
Write Your Name in Cuneiform
Write your guests names in cuneiform and teach your children history’s oldest writing system.
Together with Assyriologists (whose profession is to translate cuneiform texts), we’ve created a guide that will teach you to write anything in cuneiform.
𒁲 𒀠 𒆷
𒅈 𒅎
𒊓 𒊏
𒇷 𒄠
𒅎 𒈠
DI-AL-LA
AR-IM
SA-RA
LI-AM
EM-MA
An Object of Art
A PIECE OF ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA
Clay Infused Cover
By adding clay from the Euphrates River to the cover paper of Table of Gods, we’ve turned the book into an artifact.
When you hold Table of Gods, you’re holding a piece of ancient Mesopotamia.
DEBOSSED COVER
Cuneiform Cover
The debossed cuneiform signs on the cover are the same signs that appear in the first recipe, “Meat Broth,” on the tablet containing the world’s oldest recipes.
The 3D effect is created using a custom brass die, specialty cover paper, and a reinforced cover board. All to make the book resemble a clay tablet.
When you hold Table of Gods, you hold a piece of ancient Mesopotamia.
BESPOKE COVER PAPER
Beautiful. Durable. Stain-Resistant.
The dyed-through cover paper has a special coating that makes it look and feel like clay while remaining durable and stain-resistant.
Spilled Assyrian hummus on the cover?
Just wipe it off.
FEELS LIKE PAPYRUS
Fine Art Paper
We sourced hundreds of interior art papers from mills around the world. After twenty-three print tests, we settled on a paper that prints like a painting and feels like papyrus.
PRINTS LIKE A PAINTING
UV-LED Printing
To achieve precise color accuracy on our art paper, we print using UV-LED technology.
Unlike conventional inks that soak into the paper as they dry, UV-LED inks cure instantly on the paper's surface.
This results in sharper detail, deeper contrast, and more vibrant color.
Warning: You might be tempted to eat the pages.
CINEMATIC PHOTOGRAPHY
Every Photo Tells a Story
Over five years, we shot ninety-three photos with the help of two food stylists, two chefs, a costume designer, seventeen actors, and Sweden’s best photographer.
Each photo in Table of Gods is staged to transport you to ancient Mesopotamia.
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PLANT A TREE
Buy a Book, Plant a Tree
When you buy Table of Gods, we fund the planting of a tree in partnership with the non-profit organization One Tree Planted.
WHAT CHEFS AND HISTORIANS SAY
Praise for Table of Gods
FREDRIK ERIKSSON
Owner of Restaurang Nationalmuseum and Långbro Värdshus, and gastronomic advisor to the Nobel banquet at Stockholm City Hall
These 4,000-year-old recipes remain fresh, flavorful, and visually stunning.
DR. ECKART FRAHM
Professor of Assyriology at Yale University and author of Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World's First Empire
"Arim Hawsho has managed to combine well researched historical information with his own personal take on ancient Assyria, its culture, and its culinary traditions."
DR. SIMO PARPOLA
Professor Emeritus of Assyriology at the University of Helsinki
"It seems to me that in praising the deeds of the Sargonid kings, Arim Hawsho has exceeded even the Assyrian scribes."
MICHAEL W. TWITTY
Culinary historian and James Beard Award-winning author of The Cooking Gene
"Arim Hawsho has captured the magic of the continued existence of Assyrians as a people, and how this existence courses through his veins."
DR. WILLIAM (BRAD) HAFFORD
Near Eastern Archaeologist at the University of Pennsylvania Museum and host of Artifactually Speaking on YouTube
"By researching cuneiform texts, archaeological excavations, and traditional cooking in the region today, Arim Hawsho has produced an amazing book of Mesopotamian recipes. He not only brings ancient meals back to life for today's kitchens, but he also takes the reader on a journey through ancient cities to experience the cultures that invented them."
DR. SALVATORE GASPA
Professor of History of the Ancient Near East and Assyriology at the University of Padua
"Table of Gods is both interesting and inspirational. The carefully researched recipes and the captivating photographs succeed in recreating the atmosphere of ancient Assyrian cuisine while also showing a strong link of continuity with modern Assyrian and, in general, Near Eastern cuisine. It’s a great way to resurrect Assyrian culture and make it known to the general public."
FEEDBACK FROM 329 BETA READERS
What Early Readers Say
THOUSANDS HAVE TASTED ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA
What Others Have Cooked
SINCE 2019
Seven Years of Love
