From about 2,100 BC, Amorites from the desert began moving into Iraq from the west, and settling around the cities. In about 2,000 BC they contributed to the overthrow of the dominant Third Dynasty of ...

This is a companion volume and sequel to Early Mesopotamia and Iran: Contact and Conflict, c. 3500-1600 BC. "Funded by a gift from Raymond and Beverly Sackler." Published for the Trustees of the ...

Landscape, climate, population -- The beginnings of sedentary life (ca. 10,000-4000 BCE) -- The first urban society and the use of writing (ca. 4000-3200 BCE) -- City-states and the way toward the ...

This 8th-century miniature, by the Spanish monk Beatus of Liébana, depicts the Bible story of Babylonian King Nebuchadrezzar eating grass as divine punishment. Photograph by Granger Collection/Age ...

Wherever we are we leave traces of our lives. Sometimes they remain buried and undiscovered. Sometimes they leave evidence so compelling that it will affect the rest of the world forever. “Ancient ...

The loss of the ancient world's greatest repository of knowledge has been mourned for centuries—but Julius Caesar may not ...

Assyriologist Al-Rashid debuts with an eclectic history of Mesopotamia framed around an ancient collection of artifacts widely considered to be the first museum. Located in a room in a palace in Ur ...

Picture writing was invented in Mesopotamia before 3,000 BC. This clay tablet, dating to about 3,100 BC, has written on it a list of rations. It shows how writing was developing from using pictures to ...