Tag Archives: Iraq

1750 BC: Let Man Bear the Load of the Gods!

Posted on April 20, 2019 by corvusfugit

In one of the oldest surviving creation myths, humankind originates from a labor action. The story, told in the Babylonian Atrahasis Epic, goes like this: long before humankind, only gods exist, with some more powerful than others. These greater gods—the … Continue reading →

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2016: His Strange and Awesome Fairy Tale Like House of Books

Posted on October 24, 2017 by corvusfugit

 A few miles northwest of Tunis, with its sidewalk cafés and streets lined by rows of manicured ficus trees and its avenues named after European cities, there is a poor suburb of eighty thousand people called Douar Hicher….In November, I … Continue reading →

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670 BC: Rebuilding Babylon

Posted on September 23, 2017 by corvusfugit

Black basalt monument narrating King Esarhaddon’s restoration of Babylon following the defeat of his brothers in a civil war in 681 BC. After he was declared king, he set about rebuilding temples, holy sites, and the statues of Babylonian gods … Continue reading →

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1793: In Saddam Hussein’s Basement

Posted on July 3, 2017 by corvusfugit

Title page of a volume from a multi-volume Talmud set published in Vienna in 1793 by Yozef Hroshontsḳi and recovered from the flooded basement of the Mukhabarat, Saddam Hussein’s intelligence headquarters, in 2003. Tens of thousands of Jewish documents were … Continue reading →

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