Ashurbanipal (668-627 BCE, also known as Assurbanipal) was the last...

Cuneiform is a system of writing first developed by the ancient Sumerians...

Ishtar (Inanna in Sumerian sources) is a primary Mesopotamian goddess...

Mesopotamia (from the Greek, meaning 'between two rivers&rsquo...

Nisaba (also Naga, Se-Naga, Nissaba, Nidaba, and associated with Nanibgal...

The Sumerian language was spoken in southern Mesopotamia before the...

Writing is the physical manifestation of a spoken language. It is thought...

Lexical lists are compilations of cuneiform signs and word readings...

Daily life in ancient Mesopotamia cannot be described in the same way...

Libraries were a feature of larger cities across the ancient world with...

Sometimes it is the smallest discoveries that have the largest impact...

Imagine something that has never been thought of before. If one holds...

He who saw everything in the broad-boned earth, and knew what was...

The Cyrus Cylinder is a document issued by Cyrus the Great, consisting...

Surpassing all other kings, heroic in stature,      ...

The age-old vulnerability of libraries in times of warfare applied as...

Cuneiform tablet inscribed with a letter from Tushratta, king of Mitanni...

An Assyrian relief depicting King Ashurbanipal of Assyria as High Priest...

The cuneiform inscriptions on this mud-brick mention the name of Ashurnasirpal...

The cuneiform inscription gives the name and genealogy of Adad-nirari...

Late Babylonian lexical list of personal names on a clay tablet.

Babylonian, about 700-500 BC Probably from Sippar, southern Iraq...

An ancient balsalt pillar in the southeastern section of the Erebuni...

A foundation cone with cuneiform inscriptions. The name of the king...

A stone ring of a well curb with cuneiform inscriptions which mention...

The famed "Cuneiform of Arguishti," which celebrates his construction...

Occasionally, cuneiform text scribes encounter difficult or rare words...

Carved stone cuneiform tablets in Sumerian. Left: Temple of Ningirsu...

A relief of cuneiform writing from Assyria. Exhibited in the British...

This is the upper surface of the earring. Note how the cuneiform signs...

This is a black steatite stone tablet, inscribed with a cuneiform text...

The cuneiform inscriptions on this tablet mention the name of Ur-Nammu...

A pair of golden earrings with the shape of a half pumpkin. The overlying...

The cuneiform inscriptions mention that Enannatum, king of Lagash, reminds...

Cuneiform writing on the Jerwan Aqueduct (703-690 BCE). King Sennacherib...

The cuneiform inscriptions (in the old Akkadian language) on this clay...

Neo-Assyrian lexical list of names of stones on a clay tablet.

Relief of King Ashurnasirpal II from the palace of Ashurnasirpal II...

This is a stamped mud brick with cuneiform inscriptions, which lies...

A close-up view of a partially broken stamped mud-brick. I found the...

It narrates the various religious activities of king Nabonidus and contains...

Irregular rectangular-sided monument recording Esarhaddon's restoration...

These clay tablets (letters) were found in the ruins of Akhenaten's...

These 2 unusual green schist stone tablets seem to belong together and...

This clay tablet dates back to the reign of the Achaemenid king Cyrus...

This prism records the first eight campaigns of the Assyrian King Sennacherib...

Urartian cuneiform inscription on the left of the temple door at Erebuni...

"This is the boundary according to the monument of (the god) Shara"...

Clay cuneiform tablet. Note of ten sheep and ten goats taken from flocks...

This statue depicts Idrimi, King of Alalakh in the 15th century BCE...

Cuneiform is considered the single most significant legacy of the ancient...

Cuneiform tablet made by a sixth grader in my class. Sixth graders...

The gods were responsible for teaching humans how to write. Without...

In July 1853, Hormuzd Rassam was excavating an area at the ruins of...

The Cyrus Cylinder is one of the most famous objects to have survived...

Irving Finkel has possibly the coolest job in the world – he’s curator...

In part eight of his lecture, Dr. Neiman explains that as the alphabet...

This is the part one of lecture two in the series "Cradles of Civilization"...

In the fourth part of his lecture, Dr. Neiman explains that writing...

King Hammurabi of Babylon practices the art of diplomacy and war. In...

In this third segment from Dr. David Neiman's lecture series, he describes...

My favorite example of how odd Cuneiform became as it was passed from...

A brief look into a new book that will bring insight into the world's...

Come behind the scenes to the Arched Room – an architectural highlight...

In animation, this video describes the development of cuneiform script...

The origin of pictographic & ideographic writing systems are imagined...

This video describes the intricate system of writing in cuneiform script...