Sargon

An informative video about the ruins of the Roman baths at Bath, UK. How they were built, how they worked and more.

Sources:

Map location

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Bath,+Bath+and+North+East+Somerset/@51.5368213,-2.5058073,9z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x487178a6743ee12d:0x138b27d0d66d9a09

Roman Britain

http://www.roman-britain.org/places/aquae_sulis.htm

The Lewis bolt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_(lifting_appliance)

Hypocaust

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypocaust

Curse tablets

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_curse_tablets

Wikipedia Links about Bath

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Baths_(Bath)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquae_Sulis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minerva

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A few observations about the advice of an ancient Akkadian father.

Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxWRzZvkMSA

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Fathers have been passing on wisdom since time immemorial. This short text from an Akkadian father is almost as relevant today as when it was written.

Source:

http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/2200akkad-father.asp

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Some musings and commentary on the content of Ishtar's Descent into the Underworld.

Listen to Ishtar's Descent into the Underworld here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MFmqyIPRn0

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Ishtar (Sumerian: Inanna) and her descent into the land of no return, to meet Erishkigal, the goddess of death and Queen of the Underworld.

While Ishtar is there, all sexual activity on Earth ceases, and Ea, king of the gods, creates a eunuch with which to persuade Erishkigal to release Ishtar.

Although the text read is from the Library of Ashurbanipal in the 7th century BC, the story is also known from much earlier Sumerian texts.

Commentary on this text: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccNCT-GewX4

Sources:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/ishtar.htm

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/c/cuneiform_ishtars_underworld.aspx

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The Treaty of Kadesh is the world's earliest peace treaty that is still extant. It was signed by Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses the Great and Hittite Great King Hattusili in approximately 1259 BC, making it over three thousand years old.

The peace treaty was signed subsequent to the famous Battle of Kadesh, where the Egyptians and Hittites fought a very close-run battle that probably ended in a stalemate.

Both states are dealt with as equals in the treaty. Any conditions that apply to one also apply to the other, and it is implied that both sovereigns are of equal status and call one another 'brother'.

Source:

http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/ramses-hattusili-treaty.htm

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The Enuma Elish (Enûma Eliš) is the Babylonian creation myth that describes the great hero Marduk's battle with the great primordial dragon Tiamat and her armies of gods and monsters. Marduk defeats Tiamat, mutilates her body and uses it to form the covering of the sky and the Earth. He then creates man to keep the worship of the gods upon the earth.

The Enuma Elish's earliest texts date back to the 700-600 BC, however the text was probably compiled long before, up to around 1800 BC.

Source:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/enuma.htm

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The Cyrus Cylinder is an ancient document written in Akkadian cuneiform, attributed to Achaemenid Persian conqueror Cyrus the Great, after his conquest of Babylon.

It was written around the 6th century BC and was discovered in the ruins of Babylon in 1879.

The text of the cylinder describes Cyrus' denouncement of overthrown Babylonian king Nabonidus, and Cyrus' subsequent defamation of him as a tyrant and oppressor, before introducing Cyrus' wise and magnanimous kingship.

Although originally hailed as some revolutionary charter of human rights, the cylinder actually represents fairly standard practice for conquering Middle-Eastern kings.

Source:

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/articles/c/cyrus_cylinder_-_translation.aspx

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The Magna Carta (The Great Charter) was a document drafted by Stephen Langton, Archibishop of Canterbury, to make peace between King John "Lackland" of England and a coalition of rebel barons who opposed his despotic rule.

Source: http://www.bl.uk/magna-carta/articles/magna-carta-english-translation

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The Melian Dialogue is an excerpt from Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War between the powerful Athenian Empire and the tiny island state of Melos.

The Athenians explain that power dynamics dominate the dialogue, whereas the Melians appeal to logic, reason and morality.

The Melian dialogue is most famous for the phrase: "The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must."

Source: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/classics/students/modules/introhist/usefuldocuments/thucydides_v.84-116.pdf

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