Mesopotamia

Ziggurat of Ur: A massive mud-brick temple built around 2100 BC, it towered over the city as a lasting symbol of devotion to the Mesopotamian moon god and the power of an early urban culture. Illustration: depositphotos.com

From the Tower of Babel to the Empire State Building

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Multidisciplinary study describes how the ziggurats of Mesopotamia influenced religious imagination, city-state power centers, and even modern architecture.
Arpachiyah Excavations, Iraq – Historical Documentation from the British Museum and UCL Collections. Credit: Yosef Garfinkel.

Flower paintings on 8,000-year-old pottery from Mesopotamia reveal mathematical patterns

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Analysis of samples from the Khalafite culture in northern Mesopotamia found symmetrical divisions of the numbers 4, 8, 16, 32 and even 64 – a hint at quantitative thinking before the emergence of written numbers
Ancient Palmyra, Syria. The competition between it and Neharda led to the destruction of the Jewish city. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Nehardea Chapter 4 and Final: The Destruction of Nehardea Between Persia and Palmyra: Who Really Destroyed the Babylonian Center of Torah?

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The article re-examines the identity of Papa bar Netzer, rejects the identification with Odintus of Palmyra, and suggests that the destruction of Nehardea in the third century CE was the result of a Palmyra invasion motivated by economic and competitive motives.
One of three clay tablets found at the Kurd Qaburstan site in northeastern Iraq. The tablet was discovered in a debris-filled corridor in the Lower City Palace. Initial interpretations point to dramatic events and perhaps even an ancient war. Credit: Courtesy of Tiffany Early-Spadoni.

Lost civilization uncovered in northeastern Iraq, likely the lost city of Kabra

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An example of a cylinder stamp (left) and its design impressed on clay (right) Credit: Franck Raux © 2001 GrandPalaisRmn (Musée du Louvre) CREATIVE COMMON

The origin of writing in Mesopotamia is related to designs engraved on ancient scroll seals

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A group of researchers from the University of Bologna identified a series of connections between the designs engraved on these seals, which date back about 6,000 years (4000 BC), and some of the signs in the proto-cuneiform writing that appeared in the city of Uroch, located today
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