Great gods and sovereigns carved in the rock along an imposing irrigation canal in Faida (Kurdistan Region of Iraq) Exciting discoveries from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq: ten new rock reliefs showing the Assyrian king and the gods of Assyria sculpted along a large rock-cut irrigation canal. These are the results of the “Kurdish-Italian Faida Archaeological Project”, co-
Read MorePreface and acknowledgements On 10 March 2011, a meeting took place between Nassar al-Rubaiee, acting Iraq’s Minister of Planning, Dr Sami Mati Polous, Deputy Minister for Technical Affairs, Gert Meinecke, the Danish Ambassador to Iraq, and myself. The meeting was extremely cordial. The metaphor in some of the Minister’s prose was not easy to unpack. On 11 March 2011, a Royal
Read MoreIf Baghdad today is a byword for inner-city decay and violence on an unspeakable scale, its foundation 1,250 years ago was a glorious milestone in the history of urban design. More than that, it was a landmark for civilisation, the birth of a city that would quickly become the cultural lodestar of the world. Contrary to popular belief, Baghdad is old but not ancient. Founded in
Read MoreKARBALA, Iraq — The once-mighty Fortress of Al-Ukhaidir is wasting away in the desert of Karbala. This great palace, which Abbasid Prince Isa ibn Musa built for his retirement from politics, is crumbling from lack of maintenance. Its internal and external structures collapsed as the strong wind in the desert washed away its extremities, and its foundations have weakened because
Read MoreMesopotamia (mostly the present-day Iraq) is rich with archeological sites. Over a million tablets were excavated so far. These were the Mesopotamian’s CDs. Cuneiform scripts are engraved on those tablets, conveying things about every aspect of the Mesopotamian culture. The book, in spite of its title, is neither a pure historical exposition nor a mathematical presentation. It
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