Unlike the Egyptian pyramids, ziggurats were not places of royal burials, but temples dedicated to the patron deity of a city ...

Gender-ambiguous people in ancient Mesopotamia were powerful and important members of society more than four millennia ago.

In a study published in the journal Iraq, Dr. Troels Arbøll analyzed medical prescriptions from ancient Mesopotamia to ...

Ancient medical texts found in Iraq reveal how Mesopotamian healers sometimes sent patients to sanctuaries as part of treatment.

Millennia ago, in the Fertile Crescent, the land nestled between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in what is now present-day Iran, the ancient Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer arose. Sumerians ...

The origins of writing in Mesopotamia lie in the images imprinted by ancient cylinder seals on clay tablets and other artifacts. A research group from the University of Bologna has identified a series ...

Today, trans people face politicisation of their lives and vilification from politicians, media and parts of broader society. But in some of history’s earliest civilisations, gender-diverse people ...

The discoveries shed new light on life in ancient Mesopotamia. Examples of the cuneiform tablets found, and an aerial view of Fayadia District, Iraq. Photo: Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and ...

Assyrian cylinder seal from the late ninth to seventh centuries B.C.E., made of chalcedony and inscribed with a cultic scene. The image on the right shows the impression the seal would make. Gift of ...