Journal of Cuneiform Studies

The ancient cultures section features many of the world's ancient cultures/empires. Presented with each is a brief history, a glossary, myths, rulers, and more. The Oriental Institute Museum is a showcase of the history, art and archaeology of the ancient Near East. An integral part of the Universit...
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Quick FactsTypeLogophoneticGenealogyCuneiformLocationWest Asia > MesopotamiaTime~2500 BCE to 100 CEDirectionVariable While the cuneiform writing system was created and used at first only by the Sumerians, it did not take long before neighboring groups adopted it for their own use. By about 2500...
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Religion and CultureAssyrian relief (c. 865-860 BCE) with cuneiform script, and depiction of a royal helper carrying a bucket The Assyrian religion was heavily influenced by that of its Mesopotamian predecessors—mainly the Sumerian culture. The chief god of the Assyrians was Ashur, from whom both th...
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Axum, also known as Aksum, was an ancient kingdom located in what is now Ethiopia and Eritrea. The civilization of Axum is believed to have emerged around the 4th century BCE and reached its peak between the 1st and 7th centuries AD. It is widely considered to be one of the most important and influe...
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The Greeks were the first to formulate many of the Western world's fundamental concepts in politics, philosophy, science, and art. How was itthat a relative handful of people could bequeath such a legacy tocivilization? The definitive answer may always elude the historian, but a goodpart of the expl...
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Islam From The Beginning To 1300 Date: 2002 Islamic Culture The attainments of the Muslims in the intellectual and artistic fieldscan be attributed not only to the genius of Arabs, but also to those peopleswho embraced the Islamic faith in Persia, Mesopotamia, Turkey, Syria, Egypt,North Africa, and ...
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Islam From The Beginning To 1300 Date: 2002 The Arab Empire Of The Umayyads Muhammad's victory over the Umayyads, his capture of Mecca, and theresulting allegiance of many of the bedouin tribes of Arabia created a whollynew center of power in the Middle Eastern cradle of civilizations. A backward,no...
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Islam From The Beginning To 1300 Date: 2002 From Arab To Islamic Empire: The Early Abbasid Era The sudden shift from Umayyad to Abbasid leadership within the IslamicEmpire reflected a series of even more fundamental transformations withinevolving Islamic civilization. The revolts against the Umayyad...
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Islam From The Beginning To 1300 Date: 2002The Mosque As A Symbol Of Islamic Civilization From one end of the Islamic world to the other, Muslim towns and citiescould (and can today) be readily identified by the domes and minarets of themosques where the faithful were (and are) called to prayer five...
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Islam From The Beginning To 1300 Date: 2002 An Age Of Learning And Artistic Refinement The avid interest in Muslim ideas and material culture displayed byEuropean knights and merchants who journeyed to the centers of Islamiccivilization in this era cautions us against placing too great an emphasis o...
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Islam From The Beginning To 1300 Date: 2002 Western Intrusions And The Crisis In The Arab Islamic Heartlands By the early 1800s, the Arab peoples of the Fertile Crescent, Egypt,coastal Arabia and North Afric had lived for centuries under Ottoman-Turkishrule. Though most Arabs resented Turkish domina...
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Islam From The Beginning To 1300 Date: 2002 Muhammad, Prophet Of Islam Into this environment at Mecca was born a man who would change completelythe religious, political, and social organization of his people. Muhammad (c.570-632) came from a family belonging to the Koraysh. His early years werediffi...
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Islam From The Beginning To 1300Date: 2002 The Islamic Faith And Law Islam places great emphasis on the necessity of obedience to God's law inaddition to faith. The Koran is the fundamental and ultimate source ofknowledge about Allah and the proper actions of his followers. This holy bookcontains th...
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Islam From The Beginning To 1300 Date: 2002 The Spread Of Islam The Islamic state expanded very rapidly after the death of Muhammadthrough remarkable successes both at converting unbelievers to Islam and bymilitary conquests of the Islamic community's opponents. Expansion of theIslamic state was an ...
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Islam From The Beginning To 1300 Date: 2002 Conclusion In this chapter, we have examined the origins and meteoric development ofIslam - both the religion and the community. The great power of Muhammad'steachings enabled the creative but fragmented Arab tribes to unify and expandacross three continen...
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Islam From The Beginning To 1300 Date: 2002The Coming Of Islam To South Asia The pattern of political fragmentation that had left the much-reducedAbbasid caliphate vulnerable to nomadic invasions was also found in theregions of South Asia to which Islam spread during the centuries of Abbasiddecline....
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Islam From The Beginning To 1300 Date: 2002 The Spread Of Islam To Southeast Asia The spread of Islam to various parts of coastal India set the stage forits further expansion to island Southeast Asia. As we have seen, Arab tradersand sailors regularly visited the ports of Southeast Asia long before ...
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