Questions tagged [mesopotamia]
Refers to the land that lies between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in ancient times where empires such as Sumer, Akkad and Babylon flourished.
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How much did food cost in Babylon?
I read recently some limited information about Babylon, and it doesn't sound right to me, so I thought I'd ask.
I saw from one source that the wages for one year of unskilled labor may have been about ...
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Did people from the cities of Uruk, Ur and Sumer have knowledge/recollection of how old their cities were (say, recollection after 2000 BCE)?
I am asking this question as I remember reading somewhere that there was knowledge among the people living in one of those cities or the cities in vicinity which accurately traces back 6500 years ago. ...
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Were the Assyrians and the Akkadians different people or the same people under a different name?
Were the Assyrians and the Akkadians different peoples, or were they one and the same?
I've noticed that the Assyrians didn't seem to have their own gods as far as I have read and are just worshiping ...
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Is there truth to the Dynastic Race Theory regarding Ancient Egyptians?
According to Dynastic Race Theory,
[T]he earliest roots of the ancient Egyptian dynastic civilisation were imported by invaders from Mesopotamia who then founded the First Dynasty and brought culture ...
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How did people trade for food and drink in Bronze age cities?
The time period I’m specifically interested in is Mesopotamian civilizations in the early to middle bronze age, but I don’t mind examples from other comparable cultures.
I’m curious how people in ...
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Why wasn't Akkadian translated into other more common languages?
From what I have gathered I believe there are currently no examples of Akkadian literature, written on cuneiform tablets, being translated into other languages onto papyri outside the Mesopotamian ...
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How to explain the apparent discrepancy in the use of papyrus vs. clay tablets between Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia?
Nowadays, the papyrus plant apparently thrives relatively well in certain sections of the Tigris-Euphrates system. With that in mind, one naturally wonders why in ancient times the Sumerians and ...
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Where did the idea of weeks originate and why do they have seven days?
Years, months and days are based on obvious astronomic cycles, which makes them largely standardized and ubiquitous across all societies. Weeks, on the other hand, have no relationship to astronomical ...
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What is the Thalassic Age?
What is the Thalassic Age? What exactly happened during that time? This came from reading that Greeks during Hellenistic period conquered some areas in Phoenicia, Mesopotamia and Egypt and developed a ...
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Who was responsible for the correct production of a Mesopotamian 'cubit rod' and whose fingers where used as the standard?
Who was responsible for the correct production of a Mesopotamian 'cubit rod' and whose fingers where used as the standard?
Wikipedia notes that the standards changed but gives no source of these ...
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Why did ancient cultures (e.g. the Mesopotamians) use sexagesimal?
Why did ancient cultures, such as the Mesopotamians, use sexagesimal (base-60)? I've been doing some reading on this, and there seems to be no consensus. Of course, it's rare that there's perfect ...
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Why are there so many laws about eye injuries in the Code of Hammurabi?
Why are there so many laws about eye injuries in the Code of Hammurabi? (And so few laws about other body parts injuries.)
I want to concentrate on injuries mentioned as the crimes of physical ...
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What exactly were the dealings of Ea-Nasir ("The Worst Businessman Of The 18th Century BC")?
I recently came across an article in Forbes by Kristina Killgrove titled Meet The Worst Businessman Of The 18th Century BC.
I know that cuneiform does not probably translate fluidly to English, and ...
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What was the exact nature, extent and use of Near Eastern clay tokens? [closed]
My current knowledge of Near Eastern clay tokens is:
They were developed and used in the Fertile Crescent and Anatolia from 8000 BC
They were an accounting system with a one to one correspondence ...
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Did the Buyids emerge as allies of the Abbasid Caliphate?
The Buyid dynasty were Shia sympathizers. However, I might have read somewhere that the Buyids came to power as allies of the Abbasids. This would have been as an anti Tabaristan or anti Ziyarid ...
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Where to find a comprehensive list of proto-cuneiform Sumerian glyphs?
I'm looking for representations and meanings of the logographs of the Uruk period (3500–3000 BC), such as those on the Kish tablet. I've only been able to find a few examples, but over 1000 are known. ...
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How did the Mesopotamian clay tokens known as bulla actually work to maintain authenticity?
I've read many articles about them using clay tokens to ensure some authenticity of transactions, called Bulla, but I can't find any information about how they actually work.
Can anyone clarify?
It ...
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Why was "leaping into the river" a valid trial outcome to prove one's innocence?
The second law of the Code of Hammurabi states:
2 If any one bring an accusation against a man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink in the river his accuser shall ...
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What were the types of currency used in ancient Mesopotamia?
I noticed there were several types of currency mentioned in the Code of Hammurabi. Shekel, Gur, Gerah, Ka, Mina.
When you take into account that some of them could be weight measurements and could be ...
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What effect did the Bronze Age collapse have on India?
There was direct trade between Mesopotamia and India from the 3rd millennium BCE, and indirect trade as far back as the 9th millennium BCE.
I'm wondering what effect the Bronze Age collapse (c. 1200 ...
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Was touching your nose a greeting in second millenium Mesopotamia?
I ran across a curious sentence today, in a Mesopotamian prayer to a personal god (the grammar looked better in verse format):
"Daily worship your god with offerings, prayers and appropriate
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What is known about the Ubaid lizard-people figurines?
I find the Ubaid lizard-people figurines visually captivating. But for obvious reasons it's difficult to search for information about them online without wading chest deep through pages of ancient ...
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Was early Mari Sumerian or multicultural?
Mari was a multicultural Semitic and Sumerian city in central Mesopotamia. Despite its rich history during the historical period, I have found almost no discussion of the earliest period. This was ...
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How would ancient Sumerian astronomers predict length of the next lunar month?
I know we can do these predictions with extreme degree of precision now, using our extensive knowledge of celestial orbiting patterns and principles.
With Sumerian civilization being one of the ...
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What's the dating of the standard Akkadian version of the Gilgamesh Epic?
Wikipedia says:
The most recent Akkadian version (c. 1200 BC), also referred to as the standard version, consisting of twelve tablets, was edited by Sin-liqe-unninni and was found in the Library of ...
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is Ubaid 0 actually related to Eridu and Ubaid I-IV?
Most sources state 5400 B.C. as the beginning of the Ubaid period. The Ubaid period is further divided by them into Ubaid I-IV. Wikipedia lists Tel El Oueili (6500 B.C.) as "Ubaid 0", thus placing the ...
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When was Sura in the Roman Empire?
I am curious about this statement:
Sura was under Roman control in the time of Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE) and Ptolemy (c. 100-170 CE) but was conquered by the Sasanian king Shapur I in 253 CE.
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Downloadable/Printable 3D Model of Cylinder Seal
My son's high school has some 3D printers and I thought it might be interesting to see if they could print out a cylinder seal. Does anyone know of any 3D models online of real historical cylinder ...
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Does Winckler's explanation of Semitic migrations have any merit?
Hugo Winckler's 1907 History of Babylon and Assyria, says something along these lines: Semitic people originated in the Arabian Peninsula. All Semitic migrations were caused by overpopulation. Syria ...
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Did Marduk-balassu-iqbi help Assur-Danin-Pal?
This is a question about Assur-Danin-Pal and his relationship to the Babylonian kings. First I need to introduce the characters:
Shalmaneser III: King of Assyria (859-824)
Assur-Danin-Pal: His son, ...
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Are there any theories of Tiglath Pileser III's origins?
Most histories gloss over the low point of Assyria from 800-745. I have become interested in the period because of Shammuramat, the Babylonian regent, and her sons, who struggled for power with an ...
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What is the oldest example of conurbation?
Georges Roux, in his book Ancient Iraq (Third edition, p. 68), says that
The city of Uruk was born of the coalescence of two towns 800 metres
apart: Kullaba, devoted to the sky-god An (or Anu), ...
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Primary annalistic sources for ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt
Are there any surviving dynastic annals from any of the various civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt that provide an authoritative record of their rulers and historical events?
This is in ...
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What colors were used as paint in the construction of the ziggurats in early Sumer?
I remember many years ago going through a book about ancient civilizations in Mesopotamia. In the passages where the ziggurats were described there was a mention that each level of the pyramid was ...
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How much contact did Sub-Saharan Africa actually have with the rest of the world since the beginning of civilization?
The book 'Guns, germs and steel' introduced me to the fact that the Sahara desert actually isolated Sub-Saharan Africa from the developments elsewhere since the beginning of civilization until ...
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Mesopotamia laws 196, 197 and 198
While doing some research I stumbled upon some old Mesopotamian laws. Reading through them I found a series of conflicting laws. They state
196: If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall ...
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Did Mesopotamia have coins to represent Gerahs & Minas?
I am doing a project on Mesopotamia and have stumbled upon their currency system. They have Gerahs, Shekels and Minas. These units of currency are referred to by their laws, yet I can only find ...
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What was the purpose of a tally stick?
I was recently reading a translation of "The debate between Sheep and Grain" Babylonian creation myth. It mentioned the following in lines 130-142:
Every night your count is made and your tally-...
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Were people in the Neo-Assyrian or Achaemenid Empire aware of the empires before them?
The history of ancient civilizations in Mesopotamia has been a complex one, with several empires spanning a couple of millennia. Were the people from latter empires, say Neo-Assyrian or Achaemenid ...
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What is the historical name(s) for area between Syria and Mesopotamia?
Apologies if this is "really" a geographical question, but I suspect it must have been addressed by scholars of the past millenium of Middle Eastern history, not least because it is so central to a ...
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What kind of incense was used by the Sumerians?
Today, there are many different kinds of aromatic substances used for incense. What kind of incense was used by the ancient Sumerians?
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What did Mesopotamian beehives look like?
Do we still know what beehives looked like in ancient Mesopotamia? Are there any contemporary images or descriptions? I'm looking for anything from before 500 BC.
I've found an image of ancient ...
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Which Babylonian tablets contains the list of squares and cubes?
The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive writes
Two tablets found at Senkerah on the Euphrates in 1854 date from 2000 BC. They give squares of the numbers up to 59 and cubes of the numbers up to ...
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How many hours per day did a Sumerian farmer sleep?
I wonder about the life-styles of the inhabitants of ancient civilizations. As a particular case, if we consider the era of Sumer, what are the significant diversities compared to rural life today?
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How often did city-destroying floods happen in Mesopotamia?
I keep seeing Mesopotamia described as a floodplain, and I'm finding inklings of evidence that some cities in ancient Mesopotamia were actually destroyed by floods. But how common of an occurrence ...
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Was early Sumerian civilization wiped out by a flood?
Sumerian texts speak of a worldwide flood that wiped out most of mankind's achievements on earth. I had always suspected such a flood -- even if only covering all of Sumer -- was mythical, but then I ...
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How is Bad-Tibira written in Sumerian?
Bad-Tibira is one of the oldest recorded cities in the world. The Sumerians believed it was the second city to exercise kingship (after the more famous Eridu). I can't find the Sumerian spelling of ...
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