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Mesopotamian Male Worshiper Votive Figure
Mesopotamian male worshiper votive figure, from Eshnunna, Mesopotamia (modern-day Tell Asmar), 2750-2600 BCE.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Definition
Ereshkigal
Ereshkigal (also known as Irkalla and Allatu) is the Mesopotamian Queen of the Dead who rules the underworld. Her name translates as 'Queen of the Great Below' or 'Lady of the Great Place.' She was responsible for both keeping the dead within...
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Lost Treasures From Iraq: Revisited & Identified
For how long do we build a household? For how long do we seal a document? For how long do brothers share the inheritance? For how long is there to be jealousy in the land(?)? The Epic of Gilgamesh, chapter 10, Tablet X. I have always...
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The Legend of Cutha - A How-To on the Proper Relationship with One's God
The Legend of Cutha (also known as the Cuthean Legend of Naram-Sin, Cutha Legend, and Kutha Legend) is a fictional work dated to the 17th century BCE belonging to the genre known as Mesopotamian naru literature. It features the Akkadian king...
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Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia - Mirroring the Modern World
Daily life in ancient Mesopotamia cannot be described in the same way one would describe life in ancient Rome or Greece. Mesopotamia was never a single, unified civilization, not even under the Akkadian Empire of Sargon of Akkad (the Great...
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Mesopotamian Spells Against Sorcerers
The first tablet of Maqlu (Akkadian, which means burning), the Akkadian series of incantations directed against demons and witches. The spells involved the manufacturer of wax figurines; these would then be burned in certain ceremonies. From...
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Mesopotamian Ceramic Objects Used in Magical Liturgy
Three rounded ceramic objects with saw-teeth-like margins. They have small holes on both the ventral and the dorsal aspects. Upon moving them, a sound comes out as if there is a small object inside them. May have been used in religious settings...
Definition
Ancient Syria
Syria is a country located in the Middle East on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea and bordered, from the north down to the west, by Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, and Lebanon. It is one of the oldest inhabited regions in the world with archaeological...
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Mesopotamian Beer Rations Tablet
The temples issued workers with daily rations of barley beer, the staple drink of Mesopotamia. The tablet was impressed with five different types of numerical symbol. From Mesopotamia, Iraq. Late Uruk Period, 3100-3000 BCE. (The British Museum...
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Mesopotamian Record of Barley
On this clay tablet, barley appears 4 times, depicted as a single stalk with ears at the top. Emmer wheat is different from barley, by writing numbers with extra strokes. Three different types of numerical symbol were used. From Mesopotamia...