For students of the humanities…
Mesopotamia gave civilization many of its firsts. It is the foundation of many of the things that people consider essential today. This article from the History Channel goes through many aspects of Mesopotamian civilization, and is a great place for any interested scholar to begin their study. link to Mesopotamia
Art in Context is a website that focusses on the arts, and it tries to provide an idea of where that art is coming from and what it means. It's set up as an online encyclopedia and has a lot of resources on many periods of art and art history. link to Art in Context
The Sumerians may well have been the first civilization based around cities in Mesopotamia, which makes it likely that they were the first such civilization anywhere. In fact, the Sumerians are credited with many "firsts": the wheel, cities, writing.... This article from the History Channel details 9 things about the Sumerians that you may not know.… Continue reading Article: 9 Things You May Not Know About the Ancient Sumerians
This article from Smithsonian Magazine showcases the breadth of the influence of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. After saving an carved stone panel from looters, archeologists uncovered evidence that the Neo-Assyrian culture interacted with the Arameans in what is today Turkey. link to Ancient Rock Art Depicting Divine Procession...
This carving from the Metropolitan Museum of Art is very interesting to me for several reasons. First, it is attributed to an "Old Assyrian Trading Colony," and it was found in what is now Turkey. Also, you don't often see female sphinxes, and most sphinxes come from Egypt. Added to that is the fact that… Continue reading Object: Furniture support: female sphinx with Hathor-style curls
In this article from 2017, ArtNet details the destruction (that was at that time still ongoing) of cultural heritage sites by ISIS. Stories like this show the destructive affect of war on art and culture (in addition to its painful consequences for people's lives and families). link to A Monumental Loss...
When we study the region of the ancient world known as Mesopotamia, we often focus only on a few major cultures: Sumer, Babylon, Akkad, Assyria, etc. However, there is evidence that there is more to the history of Mesopotamia. This article focusses on the evidence for the possible "Forgotten Kingdom" of Ebla. link to First… Continue reading Article: First Kingdoms: The Forgotten Mesopotamian Kingdom of Elba
For students of culture, the online home of the Smithsonian Magazine is an incredible resource. They have searchable sections on Smart News, History, Science, Innovation, Arts & Culture, Travel, At the Smithsonian, Photos, Videos, and Games. Wherever your interests lie within the Humanities, the Smithsonian Magazine would be a good place to start your research.… Continue reading Website: Smithsonian Magazine
I recently shared translations of the poetry of the Akkadian author Enheduanna, and in that post, I mentioned that we have an image of the lady in question. This article showcases the relief that represents Enheduanna, and it provides a good amount of information both on that and on her life as well. link to… Continue reading Article: Ur Digitization Project: Item of the Month, June 2012
It always gives me great pleasure to remind people that the first author (whose name we know) was a woman. While her poetry is not quite as old as The Epic of Gilgamesh, Enheduanna's work is special because we know who wrote it (the author of The Epic of Gilgamesh remains anonymous). Even better, we… Continue reading Article: The Temple Hymns of Enheduanna
Magic was important in the ancient world, but it's unfortunately an aspect of culture that modern scholars often ignore of view as somewhat silly. I think that the fact that it was important to the ancients means that it's an important part of understanding them. This article from the Expedition Magazine at the Penn Museum… Continue reading Article: Secrets of Ancient Magic: The Power of Spells, Curses, & Omens
I think that this article may have the longest title of anything I have written about so far, but Ancient Origins has put together a very interesting look at an often neglected people. When we look at the history of language and writing, we often throw the word "cuneiform" out there without any context. This… Continue reading Article: Sumerian Tablets: A Deeper Understanding of the Oldest Known Written Language
This site has so much information, it can become a little overwhelming. In the future, I plan to highlight a few specific areas, but I didn't want to wait to share information about this resource in general. The Kahn Academy provides free courses (including some excellent videos) on a wide variety of subjects. If you're… Continue reading Website: Kahn Academy
The World History Encyclopedia purports to be the "world's most-read history encyclopedia." I don't know about that, but they have a huge number of articles about a wide variety of topics on history, culture, and art. They have been very helpful to me when researching new topics, and they are easy to search. link to… Continue reading Website: The World History Encyclopedia
Humanities Scholars 