ANE Today - Current News About the Ancient Past

Welcome to The Ancient Near East Today, a digital platform for public scholarship on the Ancient Near East and beyond. Whether you are a student, scholar, or enthusiast, you are bound to learn something new.

Subscribe to our Substack Newsletter!

Recent Articles

Courtyard of “Le Petit Palais”, constructed 1831-1832. Photo by Helen Dixon.

Art

Treasures in Tunis: An Archaeologist’s Guide to the Bardo National Museum

November 3, 2026

Map of Cyprus from 1873-1874 CE, while under Ottoman control. Public Domain via Wikimedia.

History

Cyprus Through Syrian Eyes: Reflections on Hanna Diyab’s 1707 Travels

October 22, 2026

Close-up of a seal impression on a mudstopper from Saqqara tomb S3503 with serekhs (rectangular symbols that were used to frame an Egyptian king’s name in the Early Dynastic period). Courtesy of the Egypt Exploration Society; used with permission from the author.

Digital Archaeology

Did Meretneith Rule Egypt as a Female King in the First Dynasty?

October 1, 2026

Featured Articles

A she-demon bound with chains and surrounded by words of adjuration. Collection of Shlomo Moussaief. Photograph by Matthew Morgenstern.

Judaism

Early Jewish Magic

January 29, 2018

A pair of gold earrings, 24-karrat. The overlying cuneiform inscription mentions the name of the Neo-Sumerian (Ur III) king Shulgi, son of Ur-Nammu. 21st century BCE. On display at the Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraq. Photo courtesy of the author.

Archaeological Method

Photographing Iraq

December 15, 2020

Funerary Practices

Resurrection in the Mediterranean World

April 7, 2020

Fresco from a synagogue in Dura Europos, depicting the discovery of baby Moses by the Egyptian princess Thermouthis. Ca. 244–355 CE. Public Domain.

Bible

Moses in Josephus’ Antiquities: Between Jewish and Greek Traditions

November 30, 2023

A typical circular house with thatched roof. Courtesy of Hossein Vahedi.

Iran

The First Archeological and Ethnoarcheological Survey Project in the Sefidkuh Makran Mountains of Baluchistan

August 19, 2020