Iraq: Did you mean...?

Gilgamesh is the semi-mythic King of Uruk, best known as the hero of The Epic of Gilgamesh (circa 2100 to circa 1200 BCE), the great Babylonian poem that predates Homer's Iliad and Odyssey by 1500 years and...

The Crusades were a series of military campaigns organised by popes and Christian western powers to take Jerusalem and the Holy Land back from Muslim control and then defend those gains. There were eight major official crusades between...

John the Baptist (d. c. 30 CE) was a 1st-century CE itinerant preacher in Judea. We do not know his full name, but he is recognized by his activity. 'Baptizer' (Greek: baptizo) was translated directly into English and meant 'to...

Ogedei Khan (aka Ogodei) ruled the Mongol Empire from 1229 to 1241. He was the third son of Genghis Khan (r. 1206-1227), the empire's founder. Ogedei's accomplishments included creating a new capital at Karakorum, establishing a system...

In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Abraham is a venerated patriarch whose relationship with God provides the foundational story for God's beneficial relationship with humanity. According to biblical tradition (and some...

Cuneiform is a system of writing first developed by the ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia circa 3600/3500 BCE. It is considered the most significant among the many cultural contributions of the Sumerians...

Sauska (also known as Shaushka, Sausga, and Anzili) was the Hurrian-Hittite goddess of fertility, war, and healing. She was worshipped throughout the region known as Hanigalbat (present day Iraq...

The Sumerians were the people of southern Mesopotamia (modern-day southern Iraq) whose civilization flourished between circa 4000 and 1750 BCE. Their name comes from the region, which is frequently – and incorrectly...

The Sasanian Empire (224-651 CE, also given as Sassanian, Sasanid or Sassanid) was the last pre-Islamic Persian empire, established in 224 CE by Ardeshir I, son of Papak, descendant of Sasan. The Empire lasted until 651 CE when...

The Shengavit archaeological site is an ancient settlement occupied from c. 3500 - c. 2200 BCE and is located in a southern suburb of what is presently Yerevan, Armenia. The site is nearly 3 hectares (7 acres) in size - it was originally...