Ancient Mesopotamia: Did you mean...?

Religion (from the Latin Religio, meaning 'restraint,' or Relegere, according to Cicero, meaning 'to repeat, to read again,' or, most likely, Religionem, 'to show respect for what is sacred') is an organized system of beliefs and practices...

Ancient Mesopotamia, located in the Fertile Crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, witnessed the emergence of cities and empires primarily due to the vital role of agriculture. The rich alluvial soil and access to water sources...

This collection focuses on providing supplementary materials to students who want to enhance their school history studies and to teachers who want a more concise coverage of each lesson that they deliver. This chapter examines the economic...

The Asiatic lion in Mesopotamia symbolized the forces of chaos, which the king defeated in his role as a champion of order and civilization. Lions appear in works of art from the Early Dynastic Period through the time of the Neo-Assyrian...

The literature of Mesopotamia dates from c. 2600 BCE when scribes began composing original works in the region of Sumer. The Sumerians invented writing c. 3500 BCE, but it was then mostly used for record-keeping. The literature of ancient...

Even though Mesopotamia was never a single unified civilization, people led their lives following similar principles throughout the region and across time periods. As the birthplace of cities, agriculture, writing, and civilization in general...

The lives of women in ancient Mesopotamia were regulated by a patriarchal hierarchy, but within this social structure, there were many who distinguished themselves and some who were able to assume positions traditionally held by men. Women...

This map shows the political situation in Syro-Mesopotamia c. 1764 BCE. During this time, the Amorite Kings, Hammurabi of Babylon and Zimri-Lim of Mari were engaged in near-constant warfare with surrounding polities, many of whom were also...

A belief in an afterlife was central to every major civilization of the ancient world and this encouraged the recognition of the reality of ghosts as the spirits of the departed who, for one reason or another, either returned from the realm...

Historical fiction is frequently dated to works including the Iliad of Homer (8th century BCE) or The Tale of Genji (11th century CE) or, in English, to the 19th century, usually to the works of Sir Walter Scott, but the genre has more ancient...