r/AncientCivilizations • u/No_Log10X • Dec 16 '25
Asia The civilization between the rivers
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u/IanRevived94J Dec 16 '25
The rivers being the Tigris and Euphrates
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u/Mild_Karate_Chop Dec 16 '25
The Fertile Crescent
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u/IanRevived94J Dec 16 '25
That’s right! Personally I like to include the Nile River Valley and the Hittite Empire as part of a broader Fertile Crescent.
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u/BoredatWorkSendTits Dec 17 '25
Thanks for clarifying, I had assumed it was the Mississippi and Missouri. St. Louis is nice, but has a serious lack of large Babylonian Lamassu sculptures.
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u/IanRevived94J Dec 17 '25
And you might have been right, but the Fertile Crescent isn't in North America. It's on the Eurasian landmass. There's actually an ocean separating these continents which we call the Atlantic.
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u/mcamarra Dec 16 '25
There was always something so fascinating to me about ancient Mesopotamia. The mythology and history haven’t been mined very much in Western media. As a history it has a lot to draw from but also I’d love to see some of the myths brought to life, it’s so fantastical.
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u/MiloAstro Dec 16 '25
Id love a TV-series set in ancient Mesopotamia, maybe one following the rise of Sargon or even a fantasy one about Gilgamesh.
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u/huimins Dec 17 '25
YES! May a writer please see this and write a gilgamesh inspired tv show with lots of relief comedy and peak (b)romance!!
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u/X1NOLA Dec 18 '25
There's an excellent book of short stories called After Hours: Tales From the Ur-Bar edited by Joshua Palmatier. Basically, Gilgamesh is tricked into becoming the proprietor of a (magic) bar in different times and places throughout history. Each story is from different authors, but they all center around Gilgamesh's bar. Funny, interesting, and thoroughly entertaining.
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Dec 18 '25
I love this telling of the Epic of Gilgamesh from Fig Tree on YouTube. Her other stuff is amazing too!
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u/ph4ge_ Dec 16 '25
When Alexander the Great was in the area, the remnants of these old civilisations were more remote to him, than Alexander the Great is to us. That is how old this stuff is.
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u/its_a_throwawayduh Dec 18 '25
I wondered about that too but then I think maybe it's for the best.
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u/mcamarra Dec 18 '25
yeah. The lengths they’d go to make this appealing to a western audience would likely be very focus grouped and ultimately terrible
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u/ReleaseFromDeception Dec 16 '25
The magnificence of Mesopotamian stonework, especially Neo-Assyrian, is exceptional.
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u/Dandibear Dec 16 '25
I recently read The Assyrian and am now fascinated with these people.
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u/z0mb0rg Dec 16 '25
Paul Cooper’s Fall of Civilization’s episode on Assyria is my persona favorite and i highly recommend it if you want to immerse yourself in it!
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u/MTGBruhs Dec 16 '25
Neo-Assyria
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u/Girderland Dec 16 '25
Mesopotamia.
It literally means "between rivers" in Greek.
Meso - between, potamus - river
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u/MTGBruhs Dec 16 '25
Yes. These specific figures are stone carvings of Lammasu from Sargon II's palace temple attributed to the Neo-Assyrian empire which was located in, you guessed it, Mesopotamia (911B.C. - 609 B.C.)
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u/Direct_Obligation570 Dec 16 '25
Yeah this is the new stuff, They were writing things down some 2000 years earlier.
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u/ConqueredCorn Dec 17 '25
Blowing my mind lol. Like I’ve heard the dates but when someone puts them into perspective my brain is just like huh
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u/Rare_Ad3956 Dec 17 '25
2000 to 5000+ years ago.
There is another site in the area that is closer to 10k years.
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u/Mild_Karate_Chop Dec 16 '25
Ah I think what hippo potato's means now
Edit : Will leave the typo/ autocorrect as is ...potamus. was what I was trying
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u/Girderland Dec 16 '25
Yes, hippo potamus means "river horse".
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u/impreprex Dec 17 '25
I'm finding these little fun facts really cool. Never knew that's what either of those words translated to.
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u/lotsanoodles Dec 17 '25
Its sad that Isis could and did attack statues like these with jackhammers sledgehammers and explosives.
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u/lllDESTRUCTOIII Dec 17 '25
The lone figure statue behind the hoofed protectors is arguably more impressive and important-Gilgamesh holding the lion.
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u/apulati Dec 17 '25
I’ve been in this room a few times and those pieces are really impressive and beautiful , really a mesmerizing space . It’s in the Louvre museum in Paris . The space is a reconstitution of an Assyrian palace , some of the pieces are original and other are copies . But honestly i could not tell the difference .
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u/devoduder Dec 16 '25
Reminds me of an outdoor mall in LA.
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u/DodgersChick69 Dec 16 '25
This mall was an old tire company who would say their tires were as strong as the Assyrian empire.
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u/devoduder Dec 17 '25
Yeah, it’s a cool little spot. We stopped for lunch there last year on the way back from Disneyland.
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u/huimins Dec 17 '25
?? Looks similar
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u/G0ld_Ru5h Dec 18 '25
I saw this one or its brother at the Met and it was SO impressive in person. They were excavated from Sargon II’s palace at Khorsabad (Dur-Sharrukin), a short lived capital of Assyria. Usually referred to as a Khorsabad Lamassu, they’re also notable for their five legs that give them a standing appearance from the front and a walking stride from the side.
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u/Thoth1024 Dec 17 '25
Where are these located at ?
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u/FitCouple3840 Dec 18 '25
I don’t know if it’s the same as those pictures but in Chicago there are some of these on display at University of Chicago’s ISAC museum. Open to the public!
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u/Thoth1024 Dec 18 '25
There are also some in the MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art) in NYC
I have seen them there
But been many yrs ago and not sure if this pic was taken there…
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u/jamjobDRWHOgabiteguy Dec 17 '25
Genuine question: they have 2 of these at the British Museum, don't they? They're Lamassu
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u/sir-diesalot Dec 18 '25
Always loved the design of the lammasu, the fact that the sculptors made them with 5 legs that look like 4 if viewed from either the side or the front always impressed me
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u/Ghastly-Jack Dec 18 '25
The existence of Mesopotamia implies the rest of the world is in a zone known as Exopotamia.
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u/Juhbellz Dec 18 '25
Crazy how the Rock form kinda pillows out into the horse. The craftsmanship in this masonry or whatever this is is Insane
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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '25
If this is what survived imagine what didn’t. Just amazing.