Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia was the land located between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Here one of the earliest forms of writing developed by pressing a stylus into wet clay to form wedge-shaped marks. Large numbers of these clay tablets, hardened in the fire of destruction, have been found intact and they bear invaluable witness to the history of cities and kingdoms such as Ur, Uruk, Akkad, Babylon, Mittani, and Assyria. Karen Radner recounts the fascinating history of this culture and community of states from their beginnings to the turning point in history at the start of the Common Era. Karen Radner is the Humboldt Professor of Ancient History of the Near and Middle East at Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich.