During the second half of the third millennium BC the land of Sumer and in fact the entire Mesopotamian region came under the control of the Akkadians, a Semitic people who had lived for centuries...
In a landmark discovery, archaeologists have re-excavated a magnificent lamassu at the ancient city of Khursbad, Iraq. The monumental sculpture, an embodiment of an Assyrian protective deity , is...
In the history of Ancient Mesopotamia, that renowned cradle of human civilization, there were many great kingdoms, city-states, and even empires. One of these was the famed Akkadian Empire, centered...
‘Lord of the Rephaim’ and ‘King of Old’ alludes to the identity of the King of the Rephaim, enigmatic beings that to this day are not fully understood. In the biblical tradition they are equated with...
In many respects the narrative of the Egyptian god, Osiris, seems to be all too human. Is it possible that his origin goes back to a real historical king? Could the historical Osiris have been none...
In the academic study of the ancient world, chronology or timeline is of the utmost importance. This is especially true for the ancient Middle East. When events in Egypt are to be correlated with...
In ancient times, Mesopotamia, meaning ‘land between two rivers’, was a vast region that lay between the Tigris and Euphrates river systems, and it is where civilization emerged over 7,000 years ago...
The Akkadian Empire was an ancient empire that existed towards the end of the 3 rd millennium BC. This was the first empire in Mesopotamia , and some consider it to be the first true empire in world...
Archaeologists have unearthed ancient carved Assyrian reliefs of a king in a procession of gods and goddesses riding on animals and mythical creatures. The Assyrian carvings are almost 3,000 years...
Spectacular things were happening in Mesopotamia in the period we call the Early Bronze Age, particularly in the southern part of it, commonly called Babylonia. It was here that the wealthy,...
Sigmund Freud’s article ‘Moses an Egyptian’ caused an outcry as he was taking the radical view that Moses was not a Jew and ascribing an Egyptian ancestry to the prophet, amid a time when Nazi’s were...
In 2334 BC, King Sargon of Akkad founded one of the world’s greatest empires. From humble roots, he created a Golden Age in Mesopotamia. Heroic epics tell tales of a strong leader. Sargon the Great...
Louise Pryke / The Conversation The world’s first known author is widely considered to be Enheduanna, a woman who lived in the 23rd century BC in ancient Mesopotamia (approximately 2285 – 2250 BC)...
Known today also as Qal’at Sherqat, the ancient Assyrian city of Assur is located in the Saladin Governorate of modern day Iraq, about 280 km (174 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad. This city was...
When examining the mysteries of the 8th century BC, all one has to do is look in the Bible or an ancient history book to realize that Assyria had no outside threats. The Hittites and Egyptians were a...
Before the famed Persian Empire, whose borders spanned from India to Thrace, there was another empire—the Assyrians. The Assyrian Empire, while much smaller than the future Persian Empire to come,...
It is not always easy to read the stories of real people from the artifacts they left behind. This is especially true if they lived 5,000 years ago. However, the story of a remarkable woman from that...
