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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Iran - Demography

World Jewish Congress, Jerusalem. The Jewish community of Persia, modern-day Iran, is one of the oldest in the Diaspora, and its historical roots reach back to the 6th century b.c., the time of the First Temple. The Council of the Jewish Community, which was established after World War II, is the representative body of the community, which also has...

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Origins of the Armenian People

The Armenians became part of the Achaemid Empire from 560 BC on. [AchÃ"mids - Medes]...

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Boardgame (Ur)

This boardgame, found in the Royal Tombs of Ur, is perhaps the oldest in the world. [THE ROYAL TOMBS OF UR] [Near East] [Art] [Archaeology] [Architecture]...

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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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