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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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Ziggurat

Artist’s impression of ancient Ur on the Euphrates. (anibal / Adobe Stock)

Mesopotamia’s Ur, A City Of Ziggurat Temples, Royal Tombs And Death Pits

Where the Euphrates River once opened its mouth into the Persian Gulf, on the southern floodplain of Mesopotamia, lies Ur, dating from the Ubaid period, circa (6500 -3800 BC), and host to the...
The Tower of Babel. Source: FrankBoston / Adobe Stock.

Unraveling the Tower of Babel: Myth or Reality? (Video)

The ancient ruins of Babylon , located in central Iraq, have long captivated historians and archeologists alike. Among its remnants lies a structure that has stirred intrigue and speculation—the...
Representational image of a ziggurat tower structure in ancient Mesopotamia. Source: top images / Adobe Stock

Five Surprising Ways Mesopotamia Shaped the World

One of the most fascinating and accomplished civilizations in history was the fruitful region of Mesopotamia. Frequently called the “Cradle of Civilization,” Mesopotamia was home to some of the...
Sumerian Ziggurat. Source: Michael Rosskothen / Adobe Stock

View the Majesty of a Sumerian Ziggurat in 3D Virtual Tour (Video)

A Sumerian ziggurat was a towering, stepped structures built in ancient Mesopotamia over 4,000 years ago. They were constructed by the Sumerians , who were one of the earliest civilizations in human...
The so-called Abraham house at the Ur archaeological complex in southern Iraq is said to be the birthplace of the prophet Abraham (Ibrahim in Arabic). The "latest" Mesopotamian city discovered near Tell al-Duhaila is less than 20 miles (31 km) from Ur.      Source: Aziz1005 / CC BY 4.0

4,000-Year-Old Mesopotamian City Discovered In the Shadow Of Ur

A 4,000-year-old urban settlement has been discovered on the road to Ur in modern Iraq. Researchers suspect the discovery represents a lost Mesopotamian city capital that was founded on the ashes of...
Nabu: Ancient Mesopotamian God of Scribes and Wisdom

Nabu: Ancient Mesopotamian God of Scribes and Wisdom

Nestled in the fertile region around the River Tigris and Euphrates, the historical region of ancient Mesopotamia has long been regarded as one of the earliest cradles of civilization. Home to...
Is the mythology surrounding the Tower of Babel somehow connected to that of the Great Pyramid of Cholula in Mexico?

Parallel Twin Ziggurats: The Tower of Babel and Pyramid of Cholula

From the oasis sands of the biblical cradle of Mesopotamia all the way to the volcanic Valley of Mexico, parallel pyramids and mirroring myths have endured across the ages. Isolated from each other...
Mesopotamian relief of Assyrian warriors. Credit: kmiragaya / Adobe Stock

Ancient Mesopotamia and the Rise of Civilization

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 Monte D'Accoddi ziggurat on Sardinia. Source: Pierluigi Tombetti

Monte D'Accoddi: A Mesopotamian Ziggurat on Sardinia?

The site of Monte D'Accoddi on Sardinia is one of the most extraordinary mysteries of modern archaeology. It’s a real Babylonian style stepped pyramid that stands on a millenary plain as a reminder...
Ur-Shulgi. King Shulgi is credited with the completion of the Great ziggurat of Ur.

The Mighty Deeds of King Shulgi of Ur, Master of Mesopotamian Monarchs

In the early second millennium BC, the city-states of Mesopotamia thrived in the so-called “Ur III period.” Assuming political frameworks previously abandoned in times of chaos, the rulers of the...
The ziggurat Choga Zanbil in Ira

Ziggurat: A Mesopotamian Manmade Mountain to Reach the Gods

With their massive terraces decreasing in size as the building rises, ziggurats can easily be called manmade mountains. They are identifiable structures most often associated with ancient...
Illustration of city in Mesopotamia.

The Great City of Uruk Became Sumerian Powerhouse of Technology, Architecture and Culture

Home to Gilgamesh, Uruk was the major force of urbanization and state formation during the 4th millennium BC. In Epic of Gilgamesh , the king is said to have built the city’s monumental walls. There...
Re-creation of the port at Eridu.

Eridu: The Sumerian Garden of Eden and the Oldest City in the World?

Today, Eridu is often considered to be one of the oldest permanent settlements in Mesopotamia, and perhaps even in the world. The ancient Sumerians also believed that Eridu was the first city in the...
‘The Tower of Babel’ (1595) by Lucas van Valckenborch.

Inside Etemenanki: The Real-Life Tower of Babel

If there was a tower of Babel, it was Etemenanki: a massive, stone ziggurat at the center of Babylon built to be a passageway up to heaven. The Babylonians didn’t see their tower of Babel as a...
The baked tablet that had been deciphered by Dr George. It is finely carved with a relief showing the king and tower and chiseled with text saying how people were gathered from all over to construct the ziggurat.

Ancient Babylonian Tablet Provides Compelling Evidence that the Tower of Babel DID Exist

Half the world seems to say the Bible is pure bunk, while the other half says it’s, well, the word of God. Now comes a professor who isn’t religious to say that a baked tablet from ancient Babylon...
Buried Beneath the Sand, The Ziggurat of Jiroft May be Largest and Oldest of its Kind in the World

Buried Beneath the Sand, The Ziggurat of Jiroft May be Largest and Oldest of its Kind in the World

The Ziggurat of Jiroft, known also as the Konar Sandal Ziggurat, is an ancient monument located in Jiroft in the southern Iranian province of Kerman, a place that some say is Iran’s cradle of...
The White Temple and the Great Ziggurat in the Mesopotamian City of Uruk

The White Temple and the Great Ziggurat in the Mesopotamian City of Uruk

The Egyptian pyramids are not the only ancient mystery of the old world; the ziggurat also sustains a substantial position of wonder. The ancient land of Uruk was once located in southern Mesopotamia...
The "Disk of Enheduanna" at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia.

The Poetry of Gods by Enheduanna - The First Known Female Writer

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...
The Ziggurat at Chogha Zanbil

Chogha Zanbil: an Unfinished Elamite Site with a Unique Ziggurat

The ziggurat is arguably the most distinct architectural feature of the Mesopotamian civilization. Nevertheless, some of these structures have been found to exist outside the area once occupied by...
The Great Ziggurat of Ur

The Great Ziggurat of Ur

The city of Ur was one of the most important Sumerian city states in ancient Mesopotamia during the 3 rd millennium BC. One of best preserved and most spectacular remains of this ancient city is the...