Learning module considers the writing systems and literature of ancient Mesopotamia before the arrival of Christianity or Islam.

Cuneiform is one of the oldest forms of writing known. Read about the emergence of written language and what we can learn about the Ancient World by deciphering cuneiform.

Read a brief history of cuneiform, the most widely used and historically significant writing system of the ancient Middle East. Also learn about how cuneiform spread from one ancient culture to another.

View clay tablets, cones, and brick fragments inscribed using the ancient Sumerian pictographic writing system known as cuneiform and read about the ancient writing system.

Photograph of a cuneiform tablet.

A detailed account of the history and culture of Sumeria at this site from History World International. Includes section on language, writing, world view and religion.

Example of a cylinder seal and the impression it made. Indication of Cypro-Minoan script. 14th century B.C.E.. At the Louvre.

A tablet of dark brown clay, much injured, dating from the 8th or 7th century B.C. The two large concentric circles indicate the ocean, or, as it is called in the cuneiform writing between the circles, the 'Briny Flood.' Beyond the ocean...

Cuneiform writing from Assyria.

This site from the Classics Technology Center provides materials concerning ancient Mesopotamia collected through teacher collaboration. Focuses on geography, religion, economics, clothing, and achievements. Also includes classroom...

This beautifully crafted site on Mesopotamia has selected information on Assyrian palaces and warfare, Babylonian astronomers, trade and transport and Sumer, Royal Tombs of Ur and Ziggurats.

Bisotun is located along the ancient trade route linking the Iranian high plateau with Mesopotamia and features remains from the prehistoric times to the Median, Achaemenid, Sassanian, and Ilkhanid periods. The principal monument of this...