The Wonder of Ancient Civilization

I've been doing some research for the recent character assignment which revolves around specific theme and time period. I chose the Ancient Mesopotamia.

It is the oldest recorded civilization and filled will awesome myths, legends and stories. I'm absolutely fascinated.

Mesopotamia - the cradle of civilization

The land between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers, it is said, hosted the legendary Garden of Eden - if it existed anywhere. To emphasize this the ancient village of Al-Qurna singled out a tree ("Adam's tree") with a sign - in Arabic and English. On this holy spot where the Tigris meets the Euphrates this holy tree of our father Adam grew symbolizing the Garden of Eden. Abraham prayed here 2,000 years B.C. Throughout Iraq loom ziggurat temples dating from 3,000 B.C. which recall the story of the Tower of Babel. One such ziggurat is Aqar-Quf (a suburb of present day Baghdad) marking the capital of the Cassites. In the south lie the ruins of Sumer where were found tens of thousands of stone tablets from the incredible Sumerian culture which flourished 5,000 years ago. On some of these tablets, which were used for teaching children, are found fascinating descriptions of everyday life, including the first organized and detailed set of instructions on when to plant and when to harvest. Also in the south lie the ruins of Ur from which at God's prodding Abraham set out for the promised land. Here the Akkadians introduced chariots to warfare. Nearby on the west bank of the Shatt-el-Arab lies Basra which later became the home port of Sindbad the Sailor. The Marsh Arabs (Ma'dan) are found at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates in the south. In the north of Iraq the gates of Ninevah the Assyrian capital with their imaginative stone winged-bulls mark the place where the prophet Jonah is said to have preached penance to the wicked inhabitants, all of whom repented, much to Jonah's chagrin. Later neighboring Mosul became the crossroads of the great caravan routes. Kirkuk is the oil center of the north and boasts of the tomb of the Old Testament prophet Daniel. The city of Mosul has given us the cloth that bears its name "muslin" as well as building materials, alabaster and gypsum cement with its remarkable strength and rapid-drying properties.

In the middle of Iraq lie the ruins of Nebuchadnezzar's Hanging Gardens of Babylon (Babel) close to the place where Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego sang their hymn of praise in the midst of the fiery furnace. Here Daniel read the mysterious Aramaic handwriting on the wall "mene tekel peres" (counted, weighed, divided) in the Aramaic or Chaldean language for Nebuchadnezzar and under the later rule of Darius, the biblical Daniel sat unharmed in the lions' den. The Old Testament "Daniel" story, probably written between 167-164 B.C., was borrowed from Babel and Persian literature and adapted for Jewish readership.

Judaism had been a presence in Mesopotamia since the Babylonian captivity from 586 to 538 B.C. Nearby, Xenophon and his 10,000 fought against the Persians and in 1700 B.C. Hammurabi composed his famous collection of laws. After conquering the world, Alexander the Great, at the age of 32 died an untimely death at Babel in 323 B.C. The Sassanid settlement of Selucia-Ctesiphon (Ma-da-in) boasted of a giant arch (the only remnant of the palace still standing) which was believed to have been the widest span of pure brickwork in the world. The Arch of Ctesiphon (Taq-ki-sra near Baghdad) testifies to the skill of its third century builders.