Igigi unrest leading to the Zu Incident was just a harbinger of other troubles to come-troubles inherent in long-term interplanetary missions, and female companionship was one of the significant problems. The problem was less acute with the Earth-stationed Anunnaki since they contained females from the first landing party (some named and assigned tasks in Enki’s autobiography). In addition, a group of nurses led by their daughter of Anu was sent to Earth. She was known as Ninmah (= ‘Mighty Lady’); her role on Earth was that of Sud (= ‘One who gives succor’): she served as the Anunnaki’s Chief Medical Officer and was crucial to any subsequent events. Its ancient tide echoed its opening words: Inuma ilu awilum (‘When the gods became like men’): however, there was also trouble among the Earth-based Anunnaki, especially those assigned to mining duties. Several unintended consequences resulted from the Anunnaki’s Mutiny in the Atra-Hasis Epic, which tells of an uprising by the Anunnaki who refused to work in the gold mines. While the gods, like men, bore the toil and work. There was great toil for the gods, and the result was heavy; there was much distress. The very Akkadian term, Awilu, means ‘employee,’ rather than simply ‘Man,’ as it is usually translated. In the Epic tale, the man takes over the work of the gods. Despite the absence of men on Earth, the gods toiled as though they were men. Enki and Ninmah achieved that feat, but it was not a story with a happy ending, as far as Enlil was concerned.

A broad introduction to a major turning point in human development, this book guides the reader through the emergence of civilization in Mesopotamia, when city life began and writing was invented. Covering Mesopotamia from around 3000 BCE to the fall of Babylon in 539 BCE, Mesopotamia and the Rise of Civilization: History, Documents, and Key Questions combines narrative history material and reference entries that enable students to learn about the rise of civilization in Mesopotamia and its enormous influence on western civilization with primary source documents that promote critical thinking skills. The book provides essential background via a historical overview of early development of society in Mesopotamia. This introduction is followed by reference entries on key topics; 4,000-year-old primary sources that explore Mesopotamian civilization through voices of the time and bring to light the events of a schoolboy's day, the boasts of kings, and personal letters about family concerns, for example; and a section of argumentative essays that presents thought-provoking perspectives on key issues. While the intended readership is high school students, the book's authoritative coverage of intriguing subject matter will also appeal to the wider public, especially in these times of heightened focus on the Middle East.

The Sumerian people once inhabited the region near the Persian Gulf, known as Iraq. Greeks called this country Mesopotamia, which means the land between the rivers, as the Euphrates and Tigris, rising in Anatolia, flowed through Syria and Iraq before discharging into the Persian Gulf. 'Simurrum' is the name given to the northern region by the Semitic peoples later, like the word Sumerian, which was later used for the southern region. According to the Sumerians, their land was called Kien-gi, or 'land of the lordly En,' after the priest-king of Sumer (En). Sometime after 4000 BC, the Sumerians moved to this coastal area, but it's unclear from where they came. There is no connection between their language and any other language spoken in the region. After sailing upriver from the Persian Gulf, they migrated inland from the coastal area. On the other hand, Sumerians came from the northeast of Mesopotamia and traveled down the river to the south. 'Simurrum' could indicate that the Sumerians once lived in the northern region. The Sumerians must have encountered people who had already settled in the Persian Gulf area for a long time when they entered since a few cities had names that did not match Sumerians but were most likely derived from an unknown language. Examples include Uruk, Ešnunna, and Shuruppak. Similarly, Buranuna, the name of the Euphrates River, makes no sense in Sumerian, whereas Idigna, the name of the Tigris River, might be explained as 'the blue river. Farmers had established small settlements along these two great rivers during the fifth millennium BC. To irrigate agricultural crops, they diverted water from rivers through canals. There was little rainfall in this area, and the sun burned mercilessly during the summer months, so everyone lived entirely off floodwater from the rivers. The rivers could be dangerous, though, as the land was flat, and there was always the danger that the river would overflow its banks and change its course, inundating new areas and destroying crops and water supplies. The great rivers carried silt through the plain, forming swamps along the Persian coast. Here, the inhabitants grew cane for making little reed houses for the gods. God Enki was responsible for this domain. He brought civilization to the Sumerians and lived underground in a freshwater residence, the Abzu, located below the earth's surface but above the ocean's saltwater expanse.

The earliest history of Babylon is little known. Among the many cities flourishing in southern Iraq, the town first appears in texts in the third millennium BC. Until the last century of the third millennium, few references existed to Babylon; however, offerings made to the temple of Enlil in Nippur during this period (when Babylon was part of an empire ruled by Ur) suggest a city already of some size and wealth. From relative obscurity in the middle of the 18th century BC, Babylon emerged as the political center of southern Mesopotamia. It held this position almost continuously for the next 1,400 years. Near Baghdad, around 85 kilometers south of the Euphrates, is the site of Babylon. The area is located north of the great alluvial plain of southern Iraq, a landscape of silts deposited by the Tigris and Euphrates into a vast rift created by tectonic movement as the Arabian plate slips beneath the neighboring Eurasian plate. In addition to defining modern-day Iraq's northern and eastern boundaries, the Taurus and Zagros mountain ranges were created by the same collision. As a result, Mesopotamia encompasses several environmental zones, but Babylon itself is found in the flat alluvial plain in southern Iraq. In addition to containing one of the world's earliest cities3, the table is subject to several significant environmental constraints that have shaped human settlements since long before the foundation of Babylon. Rain-fed agriculture is beyond the reach of this area due to its high temperatures. Despite the little precipitation this part of Iraq receives, it is uneven and unreliable: the bulk of a season's rain can fall in a single downpour, damaging crops as severe droughts.4 Human habitation is dependent on the two great rivers, and the permanent settlement requires irrigation. Upon establishment, However, on the levees of canals, such a system could benefit from the rich alluvial soils and support highly productive agriculture. In explaining the region's early urbanization and accompanying economic development, many contend that the region's ability to produce large agricultural surpluses played a significant role, though in what way is hotly contested. Herodotus was undoubtedly impressed. As a grain-bearing country, Assyria [meaning Mesopotamia] is the richest globally, he writes in his description of the fifth century BC. Figs, grapes, olives, or other fruit trees are not grown there, but the grain fields tend to produce crops two hundredfold and three hundredfold in exceptional years. At least three inches wide are the wheat and barley blades. Millet and sesame grow to an astonishing size, as I know, but those who have not visited Babylon have refused to believe even what I have already described as its fertility. Sesame oil is the only oil they use, and date palms, most of which bear fruit, provide them with food, wine, and honey.

Leonard Woolley, an archaeologist from Britain, returned to Iraq in 1922, almost 4,000 years after the nuclear ancient catastrophe, to uncover ancient Mesopotamia.An imposing ziggurat standing out in the desert plain drew him to the nearby site of Tell el-Muqayyar, where he began excavating. As old walls, artifacts, and inscriptions were unearthed, he realized he was digging up ancient Ur-Ur of the Chaldees. Twelve years of his work were conducted through a joint expedition between the British Museum in London and the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia. For those institutions, Sir Leonard Woolley found some of the most dramatic objects and artifacts in Ur. However, what he discovered may well surpass anything ever exhibited before. In the course of removing layers of soil deposited by desert sands, the elements, and time from the ruins, the ancient city began to take shape-here were the walls, there were the harbors and canals, the residential quarters, the palace, and the Tummal, the elevated sacred area. Woolley's discovery of a cemetery dated thousands of years ago included unique 'royal' tombs discovered by digging at its edge is the find of the century. The excavations in the city's residential sections established that Ur's inhabitants followed the Sumerian custom of burying their dead right under the floors of their dwellings, where families continued to live. It was thus highly unusual to find a cemetery with as many as 1,800 graves in it. From predynastic (before Kingship began) to Seleucid times, they were concentrated mainly within the sacred precinct. The graves were buried on top of each other, burials were interred in another grave, and some graves were apparently re-interred. To date graves more accurately, Woolley's workers dug trenches of up to fifty feet deep to cut through layers.

John J. Collinss Introduction to the Hebrew Bible is one of the most widely used textbooks in the world. Balanced and richly informative, it introduces current thinking and leads the student into the important interpretive questions. This Study Companion is tied directly to the Introduction and features essential primary readings keyed to the text, along with a running timeline feature and discussions of technical terms, archaeological sites, and methods and concepts. Students can use the study guide as a workbook and a handy complement to the textbook and the Hebrew Bible itself.