Images

An inscribed cross-shaped stone, later produced to look older than it is, which lists long-running grants and privileges supposedly bestowed on the temple priesthood of the sun-god Shamash by the Akkadian king Manushtushu (reigned 2269-2255...

This is the beginning of a cuneiform inscription, which was carved on the pair of human-headed and winged bulls flanking the main entrance to the throne room of King Sennacherib. This inscription is from the area under the stomach of the...

This hymn to the goddess Ishtar is written in Sumerian; after every line in Sumerian, the text is translated in Akkadian. Such translations have been invaluable to modern scholars. They reflect how the Sumerian language had become difficult...

Vocabulary giving the Akkadian equivalents of 48 Kassite words of the type found in personal names. The Kassite words are listed on the left of each column with their Babylonian equivalent to the right. 1200-800 BCE. From Babylon, Mesopotamia...

Etruscan male head from Latium. 3rd century BCE. (Antikensammlungen, Munich, Germany)

An Etruscan terracotta sarcophagus lid depicting one Larthia Seianti. 2nd century BCE, Near Chiusi, Italy. (Museo Archeologico Etrusco, Florence)

This gypsum door-sill was carved as a carpet; there are rosette and lotus flower designs. Neo-Assyrian Period, reign of Ashurbanipal II, 645-635 BCE. From room I, door b or d, the North Palace at Nineveh, Northern Mesopotamia, modern-day...

This clay tablet records the restoration of the temple of the sun god Shamash at Larsa (modern-day Sankarah or Tell as-Senkereh) by King Hammurabi. Old Babylonian Period, reign of Hammurabi, 1792-1750 BCE. From Larsa, Southern Mesopotamia...

This clay tablet was a letter from a person named Nanni to another one, Ea-nasir. The former complained that the wrong grade of copper ore has been delivered after a gulf (modern-day Arabic/Persian Gulf) voyage and that there was a misdirection...

The cuneiform inscription on this clay tablet claims various exemptions for the cities of Babylon, Nippur, and Sippar and warns rulers against disregarding them. This is a copy which was made about 700-650 BCE of an earlier composition. From...