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The Debate Between Bird and Fish - The Age-old Problem of Difficult Neighbors
The Debate Between Bird and Fish (written circa 2000 BCE) is a Sumerian poem dated to the Ur III Period (circa 2112-circa 2004 BCE) when the genre of the literary debate was especially popular. The poem is the earliest extant on the theme...
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Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld
Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld is a Sumerian poem pre-dating The Epic of Gilgamesh and featuring its central characters. It is sometimes included in modern-day translations as Book 12 but is usually omitted as it does not fit the...
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Hymn to Nisaba
The Hymn to Nisaba (c. 3rd millennium BCE) is a poem praising Nisaba, the Sumerian goddess of writing and accounts who also served as scribe of the gods. The poem is officially dedicated to Enki, the god of wisdom (sometimes given as her...
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The Song of the Hoe
The Song of the Hoe is a Sumerian praise poem celebrating the hoe for its many uses and linking it to the creation of the world by the great god Enlil. As the economy of Mesopotamia was almost entirely based on agriculture, it is not surprising...
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Nazca Geoglyphs on Mountain Top
Flattened mountain at 3 km south of the city of Palpa, Peru with small geoglyphs similar to the larger ones in Nazca. Nasca and Palpa are now considered together as an UNESCO World Heritage Site (see http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/700). The...
Definition
Aeschylus
Aeschylus (c. 525 - c. 456 BCE) was one of the great writers of Greek Tragedy in 5th century BCE Classical Athens. Known as 'the father of tragedy', the playwright wrote up to 90 plays, winning with half of them at the great Athenian festivals...
Definition
Battle of Cannae
The Battle of Cannae (2 August 216 BCE) was the decisive victory of the Carthaginian army over Roman forces at Cannae, southeast Italy, during the Second Punic War (218-202 BCE). The Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca (l. 247-183 BCE), who...
Definition
Rosetta Stone
The Rosetta Stone is an incomplete grey and pink granodiorite stela dating from 196 BCE which presents a priestly decree concerning King Ptolemy V of Egypt. The text is in three different versions: Hieroglyphic, Demotic and Greek, a fact...
Definition
Moabite Stone [Mesha Stele]
The Moabite Stone, otherwise known as the Mesha Stele, contains an ancient inscription by Mesha, King of Moab during the late 9th century BCE, elements of which match events in the Hebrew Bible. The inscription describes two aspects of how...
Definition
Vercingetorix
Vercingetorix (82-46 BCE) was a Gallic chieftain who rallied the tribes of Gaul (modern-day France) to repel the Roman invasion of Julius Caesar in 52 BCE. His name means "Victor of a Hundred Battles" and was not his birth name but a title...