When a vast library of texts amassed by Mesopotamian King Ashurbanipal was burned to the ground about 2700 years ago, the clay tablets were preserved by the heat. Selena Wisnom's new book reveals more ...

Societies in Mesopotamia could have regularly switched between hierarchical, king-based rule and a more egalitarian social organization where people collectively make decisions. "The idea that humans ...

This 8th-century miniature, by the Spanish monk Beatus of Liébana, depicts the Bible story of Babylonian King Nebuchadrezzar eating grass as divine punishment. Photograph by Granger Collection ...

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a collection of stories written about a superhuman king called Gilgamesh. They were written thousands of years ago on clay tablets. This Sumerian King List prism is from ...

The Ancient Mesopotamian poem entitled the Epic of Gilgamesh (ca. 27th century BC) 1 is famed as being the first corpus of epic literature known to man. It is also a source of much conjecture, for ...