The Exceptional Career of a Mesopotamian Ruler without a Crown: Kudur-Mabuk and the Kingship of Larsa
January 2022 | Vol. 10.1 By Baptiste Fiette Where did Mesopotamian kings come from? In the second third of the 19th century BCE, the kingdom of Larsa in southern Mesopotamia went t
The Art of Conservative Rebellion: A Short Introduction to the First Sealand Dynasty
Until recently, almost nothing was known of the “kings of Urukug” – better known as the Sealand. New tablets and excavations are now revealing this small southern Babylonian
Mesopotamian Sculpture in Color
Like other ancient sculpture, Mesopotamian statues were painted. Small traces can now be analyzed with scientific techniques and help explain Mesopotamian concepts such as “posit
Glass: Lapis Lazuli from the Kiln
Like other ancient sculpture, Mesopotamian statues were painted. Small traces can now be analyzed with scientific techniques and help explain Mesopotamian concepts such as “posit
Epidemics in Mesopotamia
Epidemics have been with us since long before the dawn of history. Three collections of documents record some of the ways ancient Near Eastern societies suffered and coped.
Beneath the Euphrates Sediments: Magnetic Traces of the Mesopotamian Megacity Uruk-Warka
The southern Mesopotamian city of Uruk is approximately five kilometers in diameter. Even after a century of work, excavations have barely scratched the surface. But new techniques
Sunlight and Shade in the First Cities – A Sensory Archaeology of Early Iraq
There are two periods of about five days each, in the Spring and in the Autumn, when the weather in southern Iraq is quite nice. Otherwise it’s cold, windy and rainy, or roasting
Trash and Toilets in Mesopotamia: Sanitation and Early Urbanism
For much of the world sanitary disposal of human and other waste remains a critical issue. What do the first cities of ancient Mesopotamia have something to teach us about this ver