Rashid's must-read, millennia-spanning history, cleverly wrought from tablets written in the world's oldest script ...

Millennia ago, in the Fertile Crescent, the land nestled between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in what is now present-day Iran, the ancient Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer arose. Sumerians ...

This 8th-century miniature, by the Spanish monk Beatus of Liébana, depicts the Bible story of Babylonian King Nebuchadrezzar eating grass as divine punishment. Photograph by Granger Collection ...

When did writing develop? The oldest known example of writing comes from Mesopotamia and dates to about 3300 BC. In time different-looking writing appeared in the river valleys of Egypt ...

After decades of inaccessibility due to unrest and wars, teams of archaeologists from around the globe return to the greatest sites in Mesopotamia in a bid to save what can still be saved.