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...
Gilgamesh is one of the greatest heroes of the ancient Middle Eastern world. The epic named after him has become one of the greatest literary works of all ages. There is, however, one aspect of...
The Sumerians were the first known people to settle in Mesopotamia over 7,000 years ago. Located in the southernmost part of Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (modern day Iraq),...
Monarchs have always played a very important role in how their subjects form their cultural identity. Egypt, China, and the Sumerian city-states are examples of some of the oldest monarchies. The...
The Sumerian civilization (known also as Sumer) was one of the earliest civilizations in the world. This ancient civilization emerged in the region of southern Mesopotamia (modern day southern Iraq...
The Sumerian religion was polytheistic in nature, and the Sumerians worshipped a great number of deities. These deities were anthropomorphic beings, and were meant to represent the natural forces of...
In the temple-schools of Mesopotamia , students learned exorcism rituals, how to mix healing atonements, perform astrology, and how to cure demonic possession. While these skills may seem archaic now...
The Fertile Crescent is the name given to the arc-shaped area of land that stretched across the Middle East from the northern end of the Gulf in the East to the Nile Valley in the West. It was here...
Life went through some incredible changes when the first cities were built. Up until then, nearly every person had to work as a farmer or a hunter, moving from place to place in a constant struggle...
This is the second part of a two-part article. Read Part 1 In Plato’s Symposium (189–190 AD), Aristophanes displays knowledge of an ancient myth of the androgyne, according to which our original...
“The primitive mind does not invent myths, it experiences them.” -- Carl Jung For nearly 30 years I have returned to the famous “Sleeping Prophet” Edgar Cayce’s readings as a road map to try and...
Nowadays, people drink beer for its good taste and feel-good effects. However, thousands of years ago, beer played a much more central role in society. The Sumerian word for beer appears in many...
“Forget death and seek life!” With these encouraging words, Gilgamesh, the star of the eponymous 4000-year-old epic poem, coins the world’s first heroic catchphrase. At the same time, the young king...
A cylinder seal is a small cylindrical object with images, words, or both, engraved onto it. Sumerian cylinder seals would be rolled over wet clay to make an impression. When the clay dried, a seal...
Eannatum’s tour of Elam, Urua, and Umma paid off. He controlled provinces and regions rich with resources. He had metal to produce weapons and fertile fields to grow food—both of which were used to...
Between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, lies a land known as Mesopotamia. It was here that men found suitable land, which they pierced, ripped, and seeded. Once the seeds took root, civilization was...