I should add two things: The Cantor book is quite entertaining, and worth reading if you’re interested in a breezy survey of Western civ from the rise of Egypt through the fall of Rome. Also, Assyrian artwork is striking. I haven’t seen what’s at the Met, but I did go to the British Museum several times a number of years ago. With the possible exception of the Rosetta Stone, what I remember most vividly are the Assyrian friezes.