Ancient Mesopotamia: Did you mean...?

The great cities of Mesopotamia ("the land between two rivers") developed prior to the late 4th millennium BCE along two rivers – the Tigris and Euphrates – and were...

Fashion and dress in Mesopotamia – clothing, footwear, and accessories – were not only functional but defined one's social status and developed from a simple loincloth in...

Ancient Mesopotamia proved that fertile land and the knowledge to cultivate it was a fortuitous recipe for wealth and civilization. Learn how this "land between two rivers" became the birthplace of the world's...

Burial in ancient Mesopotamia was the practice of interring a corpse in a grave or tomb while observing certain rites, primarily to ensure the passage of the soul of the deceased to...

The lives of women in ancient Mesopotamia cannot be characterized as easily as with other civilizations, owing to the different cultures over time. Generally speaking, though...

Festivals in ancient Mesopotamia honored the patron deity of a city-state or the primary god of the city that controlled a region or empire. The earliest, the Akitu festival, was first...

Ghosts in ancient Mesopotamia were understood as a reality of life, just as they were in other civilizations of antiquity. Although the cultures of the various Mesopotamian civilizations differed...

Scribes in ancient Mesopotamia were highly educated individuals trained in writing and reading on diverse subjects. Initially, their purpose was to record financial transactions through trade, but...

During the 21st century BCE, an era known as the Ur III period in Mesopotamia, many records of court hearings were drawn up in Umma, a city in what is now southern Iraq. One court record...

A ziggurat is an artificial mountain built by the ancient Mesopotamians to elevate the clergy toward the realm of the gods. A form of monumental architecture, the ziggurat had a rectangular base from which...