Who is Ishtar? A Mesopotamian god
The Mesopotamian god Ishtar or Inanna Who was Ishtar? Ishtar (also called Inanna) was an important god of West Asia. Beginning at least by 3000 BC the Sumerians, the Akkadians, the [...]
15
09, 2017
15
09, 2017
West Asian people – families, schools, slavery
West Asian people: Ur-Nanshe, the king's chief musician in Mari, 2400s BC Oppression of women What we notice most about the way people lived in West Asia is the widespread [...]
15
09, 2017
Shepherd story – Epic of Gilgamesh – Mesopotamia
Shepherd on a cylinder seal (Berlin Museum) When the Sumerian king Gilgamesh refused to fall in love with the goddess Ishtar, he gave her a lot of reasons why not, and he was [...]
15
09, 2017
Epic of Gilgamesh – Mesopotamian writing
Epic of Gilgamesh: Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu fight the monster Humbaba, on an Assyrian cylinder seal from the 600s BC The real king Gilgamesh The Epic of Gilgamesh is [...]
14
09, 2017
Early Dynastic Mesopotamia – West Asian history
A statue of a worshipper from Mari, on the Euphrates river in Mesopotamia (modern Syria): Early Dynastic period When is the Early Dynastic period? Around 2900 BC comes a time period [...]
16
08, 2017
Love stories and the history of love
Birth of Aphrodite (from Pompeii, about 50 AD) Stories about love People have been falling in love for hundreds of thousands of years, since they were monkeys and not really [...]
16
08, 2017
History of friendship
Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu fight a monster, on an Assyrian cylinder seal from the 600s BC Why were friends important? Friends were very important to people in the ancient [...]
3
08, 2017
The Clerk’s Tale – Chaucer – Canterbury Tales
Just like the Clerk's Tale: Clerks in the Manessa Codex (1300 AD) A story from Boccaccio Chaucer's Clerk's Tale is actually taken from one of Boccaccio's stories, and because of that [...]
21
07, 2017
Vessantara Jataka – Buddhism – India
Vessantara and Maddi and their two children (Sanchi stupa, Northern Gateway, ca. 50 BC) - a Jataka story Another Jataka story This Buddhist story is a Jataka tale from about 400 BC. Jataka tales [...]
