The story of how the first cities rose from southern Mesopotamia has long fascinated scientists and historians. Many explanations point to fertile soil, farming, and trade networks as the engines of ...

Out of the many incredible artifacts that have been recovered from sites in Iraq where flourishing Sumerian cities once stood, few have been more intriguing than the Sumerian King List. An ancient ...

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The civilisation weakened when city rulers began fighting with each other. Flooding meant that crops weren't growing as well. Cities began to struggle. In the end, Sumer was invaded by the Elamites ...

The storm god Iškur is trapped in the netherworld. Without him in the sky, the rivers will dry up—the grasses, cows and people will die. A lone Fox volunteers to traverse worlds to rescue him, armed ...

A little-known Mesopotamian poet and priestess, Enheduanna, is the subject of a new exhibition in New York. Diane Cole explores her influence – and looks at how she helped create a common system of ...

If asked to list the most important civilisations of the ancient world, many people of the west would mention Greece, Rome and Egypt. After that, if pressed, some might hazard a guess at Mesopotamia, ...