Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles.
One app.

Start reading

Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles. One news app.

Start reading

The Latest Breaking News from Mesopotamia

In ancient Mesopotamia, what was a ziggurat?

A ziggurat (also spelled ziqqurat) was a raised platform with four sloping sides that looked like a tiered pyramid.

The Conversation

Gender ambiguity was a tool of power 4,500 years ago in Mesopotamia

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

LiveScience

Not just ‘eunuchs’ or sex workers: in ancient Mesopotamia, gender-diverse people held positions of power

Today, trans people face politicisation of their lives and vilification from politicians, media and parts of broader society.

The Conversation

From analysis to the latest developments in health,
read the most diverse news in one place.

Friday essay: how societies evolved into fear-dominated goliaths – then collapsed

We think of ancient civilisations as operating very differently from the way our economy works today. Yet the Bronze Age Assyrians living in Mesopotamia, around 4,000 to 3,000 years ago, began the basis of modern capitalism, in a region spanning most of modern-day Iraq, eastern Syria and southeastern Turkey. The…

The Conversation

4,000-year-old silver goblet found bearing ‘origin story of Universe’

Researchers say art combines elements of various myths and legends from across ancient Mesopotamia

The Independent UK

Signatures meant more in Mesopotamia than they do now − what cylinder seals say about ancient and modern life

The earliest form of the signature came from ancient Iraq in the form of cylinder seals.

The Conversation

5,000-year old 'cultic space' discovered in Iraq dates to time of the world's first cities

Archaeologists in Iraq have discovered the remains of a 5,000-year-old building that might have been used as a "cultic space" or temple for worship.

LiveScience

Read news from The Economist, FT, and more,
with one subscription

The Psychology Behind Why We Love Games of Chance

Games of chance have been with us for millennia, from ancient Mesopotamia dice games to modern online lottery and casino sites.

inkl

Meskalamdug's Helmet: One of the world's oldest helmets depicts a Mesopotamian prince's man bun

This 15-karat gold helmet was discovered in a royal tomb at Ur, but it may only have been worn for ceremonial purposes.

LiveScience

DNA analysis from 4,600-year-old skeleton uncovers hidden link between Egypt and Mesopotamia

Sealed inside a rocky tomb for over four millennia, an Egyptian skeleton has just revealed a hidden chapter of ancient history.

Euronews

Secrets of ancient societies revealed through DNA from 4,000-year-old teeth

Ancient DNA has revealed links between the cultures of Egypt and Mesopotamia

The Independent UK

Ram in the Thicket: A 4,500-year-old gold statue from the royal cemetery at Ur

This statue covered in gold leaf and semiprecious stones may have been used in ancient Mesopotamian sunrise rituals.

LiveScience

Human sacrifices found in a Bronze Age tomb in Turkey were mostly teenage girls

Archaeologists are unsure why unrelated teenagers were buried in an elaborate Bronze Age tomb but think their age may be a clue.

LiveScience

‘Spreadsheets of empire’: red tape goes back 4,000 years, say scientists after Iraq finds

Ancient Mesopotamian stone tablets show extraordinary detail and reach of government in cradle of world civilisations

The Guardian - UK

Get all your
news in one place.

100’s of premium titles.
One news app.

LiveScience

Massive Mesopotamian canal network unearthed in Iraq

Researchers have identified an extensive Mesopotamian canal network that supplied ancient farms in the Eridu region with water from the Euphrates river before the first millennium B.C.

LiveScience

Queen Puabi's lyre: A bull-headed music maker played for Mesopotamian royalty 4,500 years ago

A lyre in a treasure-laden royal tomb discovered in Mesopotamia is the earliest stringed instrument ever found.

LiveScience

7,000-year-old alien-like figurine from Kuwait a 'total surprise' to archaeologists

A newfound clay head from the sixth millennium B.C. is the first of its kind ever found in Kuwait, but similar finds have been unearthed from ancient Mesopotamia.

LiveScience

5,000-year-old artifacts in Iraq hint at mysterious collapse of one of the world's 1st governments

Newly analyzed 5,000-year-old clay bowls unearthed in Iraq may be evidence of early government-like rule, a new study finds.

Get all your
news in one place.

100’s of premium titles.
One news app.

The Independent UK

Major discovery on origin of writing in birthplace of civilization

The four original inventions of writing are recognized in Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and the Mayan culture

LiveScience

Origins of world's earliest writing point to symbols on 'seals' used in Mesopotamian trade

Researchers investigating how the first writing arose identified the motifs on preliterate "cylinder seals" used in the trade of agricultural products and textiles.

The Conversation

Why ancient Mesopotamians would have used a sheep’s liver to predict Donald Trump’s election odds

I’m standing in a basement kitchen prodding at a sheep’s liver, looking for marks on its smooth surface. People crowd around to film the proceedings, since I’m here to ask a question that everyone wants to know the answer to: will Donald Trump win the US election?

LiveScience

Archaeologists discover 4,000-year-old Bronze Age settlement hidden in Saudi Arabian oasis

A Bronze Age settlement hidden on the Arabian Peninsula reveals secrets about the slow growth of urbanization in the region.

The Guardian - UK

There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak review – story of a raindrop

This ambitious, multi-perspective novel about the politics and preciousness of water ranges from ancient Mesopotamia to contemporary London

LiveScience

'A king will die': 4,000-year-old lunar eclipse omen tablets finally deciphered

Tablets added to the British Museum's collection many decades ago have finally been deciphered.

PC Gamer

Total War: Pharaoh Dynasties has quietly become one of the best historical Total War games ever

One of the biggest updates in the history of the franchise has left us with a rich Bronze Age sandbox.

1 2

People

From analysis to the latest developments in health,
read the most diverse news in one place.

Organisations

University of Chicago

156 stories

Wikimedia

150 stories

Metropolitan Museum of Art

48 stories

The Trustees ofBritish Museum

10 stories

Read news from The Economist, FT, and more,
with one subscription

Topics

Places

the Arabian Peninsula

12 stories

Euphrates river

11 stories

Fourteen days free

Download the app

One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.