Ancient Mesopotamia - Modern Iraq Resources

Here you'll find pages on this site on various aspects of life and the people who lived in and around Mesopotamia or the area we now call Iraq.

• Mesopotamia
  Basic information on the land between two rivers and statistics.
• Iraq War on Ancient Artifacts
  A look at what we are doing to prevent the destruction of 7000 year old artifacts during war.
  
• The Persian Wars
  The Persian Empire tried to expand to include Greece.
  

Maps

• Maps of Mesopotamia and the Near East
  

The People of Mesopotamia

• Achaemids - Medes
  
• Assyria
  An introduction to ancient Assyria.
  
• Babylonia
  An introduction to ancient Babylonia.
  
• Cyrus
  Resources on Cyrus, a Persian king who conquered Babylon in 539 B.C.
  
• Dilmun (Bahrain)
  Information on an ancient trading center that was probably modern Bahrain.
  
• Epic of Gilgamesh
  The story of a legendary king of Uruk in Babylonia.
  
• Hammurabi - Babylonia
  Information on the Babylonian king known for his law code.
  
• Iraq
  Information on the early years of what is now Iraq.
  
• Lebanon - Phoenicians
  Tyre is in Lebanon and was one of the areas in which the ancient Phoenicians lived.
  
• Nebuchadnezzar - Babylonia
  Information on the Chaldean king known for his hanging gardens.
  
• Persia
  Introduction to ancient Persia, the Medes, and Cyrus.
  
• Qatar
  Information on the ancient country now known as Qatar -- the home of the Arab news service Al Jazeera.
  
• Sargon the Great
  Ancient king of Akkad and father of the first named author.
  
• Saudi Arabia
  In ancient times Saudi Arabia profited from agriculture and trade in many items, including frankincense and myrrh.
  
• Sumer
  An introduction to ancient Sumer and the Sumerians.
  
• Syria
  Information on the ancient area now known as Syria.
  
• Turkey - Anatolia
  Ancient residents of this area included Hittites, Kurds, Phrygians, and Lydians.
  
• Xerxes, Darius, Cyrus, Ashurbanipal, Tiglath Pileser, Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Sargon II and Ashurbanipal
  Reigns, events, dates and major contributions of major Near Eastern monarchs.
  

Mesopotamia - Chronology

Broad time categories for Mesopotamian History.

• Timelines - Mesopotamia
  
• 4000-1000 BC 5000-1595 BC Sumer Timeline
  

Contributions to Civilization

• Whose Culture?
• Beer
  A look at the long association between humans and beer.
  
• Calendars - Babylonian
  The months and structure of the calendar the Babylonians used.
  
• Cuneiform Writing
  Basic information on this Mesopotamian type of writing.
  
• Language, Writing, and Literature
  Resources on the languages of the region, learning them, and the literature produced.
  
• Race To Be First - Writing
  Mesopotamia is only one of the possible locations for the first writing system.
  
• Law - Legal Documents
  Resources on inscriptions and translated documents about law in the Near East and Middle East.
  
• Math
  Information on the Babylonian system of counting.
  
• Science, Math, and Technology
  Resources on Near and Middle Eastern contributions to science, plumbing, mathematics, and other technologies.
  
• Stele
  Information on this type of monument.
  
• Ziggurats
  Information on this type of stepped temple.
  

Mesopotamia - Religion

• Sumerian Gods and Goddesses
  Information about the major Sumerian gods and goddesses.
  
• Ancient Near and Middle East Religion and Mythology
  Speculation on how early people in Mesopotamia came to develop religion with information on the principal gods and goddesses.
  

Principal ancient classical historians who wrote about the ancient Arabs:
Herodotus: The Histories, c. 430 B.C.
Strabo: Geography, c. A.D. 22
Dio Cassius: History of Rome, c. A.D. 220
Ammianus Marcellinus: The Roman History, c. A.D. 380
Procopius of Caesarea: History of the Wars, c. A.D. 550