Ancient Near East

Write Like a Babylonian

see your monogram in cuneiform, the way an ancient Babylonian might have written it. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology...

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Bull's head carving from column capital at Persopolis.

[AchÃ"mids and Medes] [images] [AchÃ"menid stone carving]...

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A Persian helmet

lost during the Olympia campaign in Greece, 490 B.C. (Olympia Museum). The inscription added by the Greeks indicates that it ended as booty dedicated to the gods. The helmet style is Assyrian. [AchÃ"mids and Medes] [images] [AchÃ"menid metal working and coinage]...

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Sargon (Akkad)

The city-states of Mesopotamia were finally conquered and unified by the ambitious ruler, Sargon. He created the world's first empire, Akkad. [AKKAD] [Near East] [Art] [Archaeology] [Architecture]...

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Persians and Aryan Origin

Since ancient times, Persians have used the term Aryan as a racial designation in an ethnic sense to describe their lineage and their language, and this tradition has continued into the present day amongst modern Iranians (Encyclopedia Iranica, p. 681, Arya). In fact, the name Iran is a cognate of Aryan and means "Land of the Aryans." Darius the G...

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Griffin's head from column at Persopolis

. May reflect a borrowing a Mesopotamian political symbolism. [AchÃ"mids and Medes] [images] [AchÃ"menid stone carving]...

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Assyrian Archer

This stela depicts an Assyrian archer. The Assyrian Empire was unrivaled in its cruel, ruthless methods of warfare. [ASSYRIA] [Near East] [Art] [Archaeology] [Architecture]...

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Early Persia

Class notes on the Persians, includes their Aryan origins. [AchÃ"mids and Medes]...

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Lion's head from top of a column at Persopolis.

[AchÃ"mids and Medes] [images] [AchÃ"menid stone carving]...

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Palace relief of Tiglathpileser III, king of Assyria

Stone panel Attacking on an enemy town. Assyrian Bureaucrats 8th C BC palace relief from the British Museum showing scribes entering the spoils of war. [Near East] [Art] [Archaeology] [Architecture]...

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