Glossary

A major Semitic kingdom of the Ancient Near East, which existed as an independent state for a period of approximately nineteen centuries from c. 2500-605 BCE.

In Babylon, an elite social class of people.

An ancient Semitic-speaking people from ancient Syria who also occupied large parts of Mesopotamia in the 21st Century BCE.

Having human characteristics.

In Babylon, a slave.

The original capital of the Assyrian Empire, which dates back to 2600 BCE.

A major Semitic empire of the Ancient Near East which existed as an independent state for a period of approximately nineteen centuries.

A city that with its surrounding territory forms an independent state.

A code of law that echoed and improved upon earlier written laws of Sumer, Akkad, and Assyria.

Wedge-shaped characters used in the ancient writing systems of Mesopotamia, impressed on clay tablets.

Wedge-shaped characters used in the ancient writing systems of Mesopotamia, surviving mainly on clay tablets.

The most extensive Babylonian medical text, written by Esagil-kin-apli of Borsippa.

An ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran.

A series of cuneiform tablets containing centuries of Babylonian observations of celestial phenomena.

An epic poem from the Third Dynasty of Ur (circa 2100 BCE), which is seen as the earliest surviving great work of literature.

Causation. In medicine, cause or origin of disease or condition.

Also known as the Cradle of Civilization, the Fertile Crescent is a crescent-shaped region containing the comparatively moist and fertile land of Western Asia, the Nile Valley, and the Nile Delta.

The south Mesopotamian god that rose to supremacy in the pantheon over the previous god, Enlil.

Written characters symbolizing an idea or entity without indicating the sounds used to say it.

An ancient Near Eastern people who controlled Babylonia for nearly 600 years after the fall of the First Babylonian Dynasty.

A type of stone document used as boundary stones and as records of land grants to vassals by the Kassites in ancient Babylonia.

The south Mesopotamian god that rose to supremacy in the pantheon over the previous god, Enlil.

Overthrower of the Elamites and the founder of the Second Dynasty of Isin.

A brick mixture of loam, mud, sand, and water mixed with a binding material, such as rice husks or straw.

In Babylon, a free man who was probably landless.

The most famous ruler of the Second Dynasty of Isin, who sacked the Elamite capital of Susa and devoted himself to peaceful building projects after securing Babylonia's borders.

The later part of the Stone Age, during which ground or polished stone weapons and implements were used.

The herding of livestock to find fresh pasture to graze.

The collective gods of a people or religion.

A pictorial symbol for a word or phrase. They are the earliest known forms of writing.

An architectural element in classical architecture used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function.

An ornamental vignette combining a view of a palace facade and a top view of the royal courtyard. It was used as a royal crest.

A stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected as a monument.