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 [...]
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09, 2017
Who were the Sumerians? Mesopotamia – West Asian history
Sumerians - Head of a woman from Warka, about 3000 BC When did the Sumerians get started? About the same time as the first Pharaohs were coming to power in Egypt, around 3100 BC, [...]
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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 [...]
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09, 2017
Amorites – Mesopotamia – West Asian history
History of the Amorites: an Amorite jug, about 2200 BC Where did the Amorites live? About 2400 BC, the Amorites were living in what is now southern Turkey and Syria. Amorites [...]
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09, 2017
West Asian environment – Mesopotamia and Iran
Snow in Afghanistan Afghanistan West Asia is a dry place, where it's always hard to get enough water and there are a lot of fights over water. The easternmost part [...]
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09, 2017
West Asian economy – Mesopotamia and Iran
Obsidian tools West Asia is located in the middle of the very wide land mass we call Europe and Asia and Africa, and so it has always played an important part [...]
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09, 2017
West Asian clothing – Mesopotamia and Iran
Tel Asmar, ca. 3000 BC Most likely people were already wearing clothing about 60,000 years ago when they first walked or sailed out of Africa to West Asia. Clothing must have been invented about this time [...]
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09, 2017
Assyrian and Babylonian art – West Asia
Assyrian prisoners After the Dark Ages, by around 1000 BC, the Assyrians became the biggest power in West Asia, and they created many important works of art. The Assyrians continued the West Asian tradition of relief [...]
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09, 2017
West Asian art history – Mesopotamia and Iran
Building D, Gobekli Tepe. Southern Turkey, about 9000 BC West Asian art goes back to the earliest presence of people in West Asia, in the form of little stone or clay fertility figurines. Around 9000 [...]
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09, 2017
What is a ziggurat? Mesopotamian architecture
Remains of the ziggurat at Warka, in Iraq, 3000 BC (before it was reconstructed) Like the Egyptians at the same time, Bronze Age Sumerians and Iranians around 3000-2500 BC devoted a lot of energy to building [...]
