Internet Ancient History Sourcebook:
Mesopotamia
See Main Page for a guide to
all contents of all sections.
Contents
Ancient Near East
Back to Index
Sumeria (c. 3100-c. 2000 BCE)
-
Interactive Map:
Political Change in Ancient Mesopotamia, 3000-1000 BCE [At U. Oregon]
- Map: Sumerian Archeological
Sites [At Sumerian]
-
The
Emergence of Kingship: Inscription of Umma and Lagash, c. 2500BCE [At piney.com]
- The Sumerian King List [At
CSUN]
- Proverbs from Ki-en-gir (Sumer), c. 2000 BCE [At
this Site]
- Penitential
Prayer to God [At Then Again]
- Inanna Texts [At CSUN]
- Enki
and the World Order: A Sumerian High God [At Eliade Site]
- A
Sumero-Akkadian prayer to Every God [At Eliade Site]
- Shamash
Hymn [At Enteract.com]
The justice of the god.
- The Epic of Gilgamesh
- Epic of Gilgamesh,
Complete Text of Robert Temple translation, [At Gates of Babylon]
- The Epic of Gilgamesh: An Outline, Much
more than its name implies. This is the best place to goe for more information on the
Epic, [At Cambridge]
-
Gilgamesh Tablet [At
piney.com]
- Gilgamesh
in Search of Immortality [At Eliade Site]
- Epic of Gilgamesh, entire text (you
need to page down), [At Near Eastern Resources/piney.com]
Somewhat hard to read in this format.
- Sumerian Prologue
to Gilgamesh [At UPenn]
-
Domestication of
Enkidu [At piney.com]
-
Enkidu's Dream [At Internet Archive, from CCNY]
-
Gilgamesh Flood Story [At Internet Archive, from Creighton]
- Gilgamesh
Flood Story [At enteract.com]
- 2ND Arthur A. Brown: Storytelling, the Meaning of Life, and
The Epic of Gilgamesh [At EAWC][Modern Account]
-
The Worm and the
Toothache [At piney.com]
-
The Creation of the
Pickax [At piney.com]
- Sumerian Mythology FAQ [At
UNH]
- The Ludlul Bêl Nimeqi, c. 1700 BCE [At this Site]
A Sumerian Job.
- Sumerian Language
- Art
- Connections with India
- WEB Harrapa [Website]
The Indus valley culture which had some interaction with Mesopotamia.
-
WEB Harrapa Images [from the Indus Valley][At Then Again]
Back to Index
Akkadia (c.2350-2200 BCE)
Back to Index
Babylonia (c.2000-1600 BCE)
Back to Index
Kassites and Hittites (c.1600-717
BCE)
- Kassites
- Hittites
- Hittite Texts
- Material Culture
Back to Index
Assyria (c.1350- 612 BCE)
- Map: Assyrian Empires [At Nineveh.com]
- Assyrian Kings List [at aina.org]
-
Assyrian
Army Attacks a City [At Then Again]
- Letter of Pabi, Prince of Lachish, to Akhnaton, King of Kemet
(i.e. Egypt), circa 1350 BCE. [At this Site]
- The Code of the Assyrians, c. 1075 BCE
Excerpts on sex and gender matters.
-
Tiglathpileser I (r. 1115-1077 BCE): Inscription [At Then Again]
-
Tiglath Pileser I, King of Assyria, B.C (r. 1115-1077 BCE): Inscription [At Loyola]
-
Black Obelisk of
Shalmaneser III (d. 823 BCE) [At M UNiv]. Images can be found here [British Museum]
Each of its four sides is divided into five compartments of sculpture representing the
tribute brought to the Assyrian King by vassal princes, Jehu of Israel being among the
number. Shalmaneser, whose annals and conquests are recorded upon it, was the son of
Assur-natsir-pal, and died in 823 BCE. [Note this king has now been renumbered as III rather
than II!]
-
Annals of Assur-nasir-pal (prob. r. 883 to 858 BCE) [At M Univ]
-
Sennacherib's
Campaign vs. Judea 701 BCE [At Internet Archive, from ANET]
- Accounts of the Campaign of Sennacherib, 701 BCE [At
this Site]
-
Banquet of
Ashurnasirpal II (669-626 BCE), [At Wittenberg]
-
Account of
Revolt of the City of Suru of Bit-Halupe 7th Cent BCE [At Internet Archive, from CCNY]
-
Legend of Ahikar the Wise [At
Internet Archive]
- Greek Reports of Babylonia, Chaldea, and Assyria [At
This Site]
Includes accounts of Semiramis and Nitocris, Marriage customs, and the Persian conquest.
-
2ND The Great Ashurbanipal [At UT]
Ashurbanipal (Sardanapalus)(r.668-626 BCE). Collected a libary of 22,000 clay tablets which was discovered
in the late 19th century.
- 2ND John Malcolm Russel: Stolen Stones: The
Modern Sack of Nineveh [At Archeology]
Splendid photographs of the modern sites.
-
2ND Austen Henry Layard: A Popular Account of Discoveries in
Nineveh. (New York. 1854) Complete text. [At Assyrian International News Agency]
- WEB Nineveh
Online [Website]
Ancient and modern Assyrian culture.
Back to Index
Chaldea/Neo-Babylonia (612-539
BCE)
Back to Index
Syrian Cities: Ebla, Ugarit, Emar
Ebla was an ancient city in Syria at Tell Mardikh. The palace library, with thousands
of tablets, was excavated by an Italian expedition in1975. These showed that Ebla had been
a major commercial center. The tablets, written in a Canaanite language (Eblaite), date
from c.2500 BCE. Exacavations over the past century have revealed more and more about
Syrian cities.
Back to Index
Phoenicia 950 BCE on
Back to Index
Carthage: The Punic Empire
Back to Index
ANE Arts and Architecture
Back to Index
ANE Mathematics and Astronomy
Back to Index
Gender and Sexuality
Back to Index
Common Issues:
Mesopotamian/Egyptian/Hebrew/Greek History
There are a number of problems in the various proposed chronologies of ancient
Mediterranean cultures. One that most students might notice is a diversity in the dates
given for Egyptian and Mesopotamian states, periods, and monarchs. The variety of methods
used to ascertain dates leads to rival schemes with dates which vary by nearly a century.
There is also a much large inconsistency claimed by credentialed scholars whose motives
seem, however, to derive from Biblical literalism.
Back to Index
NOTES:
Dates of accession of material added since July 1998 can be seen in the New Additions page..
The date of inception was
4/8/1998.
Links to files at other site are indicated by [At some indication of the site
name or location].
Locally available texts are marked by [At this Site].
WEB indicates a link to one of small
number of high quality web sites which provide either more texts or an especially valuable
overview.
The Internet Ancient History Sourcebook is part of the Internet History Sourcebooks Project
The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is located at the History Department of Fordham University, New York. The Internet
Medieval Sourcebook, and other medieval components of the project, are located at
the Fordham University Center
for Medieval Studies.The IHSP recognizes the contribution of Fordham University, the
Fordham University History Department, and the Fordham Center for Medieval Studies in
providing web space and server support for the project. The IHSP is a project independent of Fordham University. Although the IHSP seeks to follow all applicable copyright law, Fordham University is not
the institutional owner, and is not liable as the result of any legal action.
© Site Concept and Design: Paul Halsall created 26 Jan 1996: latest revision 26 January 2023 [CV]
|