Resilience and Rebirth: Lessons Learned from the Aftermath of the Late Bronze Age Collapse
April 2024 | Vol. 12.4 By Eric H. Cline Some thirty years ago, the respected sociologist Shmuel Eisenstadt said bluntly that “ancient states and civilizations do not collapse a
A Girl’s Helping Hand on the Journey to the Afterlife: Alabaster Ishtar-Aphrodite Figurines from Seleucid-Parthian Babylonia
December 2023 | Vol. 11.12 By Stephanie M. Langin-Hooper Sometime late in the Seleucid or early in the Parthian period (c. 2nd century BCE), a family living in or near Babylon grie
The Harsh Life of Diplomatic Messengers in Egypt in the Late Bronze Age
September 2023 | Vol. 11.9 By Mohy-Eldin E. Abo-Eleaz International relations in Egypt during the Late Bronze Age (~1500 BCE – 1200 BCE) depended mainly on diplomatic envoys; the
Before and After Babel
August 2023 | Vol. 11.8 By Marc Van De Mieroop “But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the sam
The Ishtar Gate of Babylon: One Monument, Multiple Narratives
april 2023 | Vol. 11.4 By Helen Gries The lavishly decorated Ishtar Gate was one of the city gates of ancient Babylon in present-day Iraq, built by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezz
Cuneiform Mathematics: Outstanding Techniques in a System of Texts
February 2023 | Vol. 11.2 By Carlos Gonçalves Mathematical cuneiform documents from various sites and periods provide a wealth of information about the conceptualization and pract
How Did the Kings of the Late Bronze Age Deal with Rumors?
january 2023 | Vol. 11.1 By Mohy-Eldin Elnady Abo-Eleaz In the Late Bronze Age, a so-called Club of Great Powers arose and divided the control of the Ancient Near East among themse
The Salt Traders of Seleucid Babylonia
january 2023 | Vol. 11.1 By Vito Messina The trade of salt was one of the most valuable economic activities in antiquity. Literary, epigraphic, and archaeological records point to
Modern Wars and Ancient Governance: Archaeology and Textual Finds from First Millennium BCE Babylon
November 2022 | Vol. 10.11 By Odette Boivin When the German architect-turned-archaeologist Robert Koldewey and his colleagues unearthed cuneiform tablets from the ruins of Babylon
The Babylonian Akītu Festival and the Ritual Humiliation of the King
September 2022 | Vol. 10.9 By Sam Mirelman Many Mesopotamian festivals are known, but only one involved a priest striking the king. The akītu was one of the most importa