Course: Superpowers of the Ancient World: the Near East

John Garstang cleverly navigated strict Ottoman rules on removing antiquities from their Empire by making casts of some major archaeological finds. This video traces the history of the Hittite collection …

The historical theme to this week has been war and the the ensuing peace. Here Alex investigates a more modern equivalent of the uneasy truce that existed between the Egyptians …

Here is the treaty of Khadesh in more detail. Both sides acknowledge that they have been at war, but this treaty ends animosity between the two sides. Surprisingly, the treaty …

After the indecisive battle of Khadesh, both sides move away form direct contact, until in 1258BC, a treaty is signed between the two superpowers. The main reason for this appears …

Despite Suppluliuma’s remarkable expansion, he wasn’t yet a Great King in the Superpowers Club. To accomplish this, he had to enter the International arena: Syria-Palestine.  Hatti Vs Mitanni This was …

At the end of the third millennium BCE, the Hittites appeared within the curve of Halys river, and by the early 2nd Millenium had established their capital Hattusa, near modern …

And so we have come to the end of this course, but hopefully not the end of your engagement with us and each other. We would love you to join …

As previously mentioned, Hittite is an Indo-European language, and therefore some similarities exist between it and the European languages we speak today. On this course we have people from all …

The Hittites were relatively unknown until the beginning of the 20th century. A handful of biblical references and a few stele written in cuneiform were all linguists has to go …

In the final week we see how one superpower is wiped off the map and the final two ready themselves for a bloody battle for survival in what was to …

Ian Shaw looks at cutting edge military technology of the last bronze age in the ancient Near East. The two main technological drivers during this period were the chariot and …

This unnamed statue head in the Garstang Museum of Archaeology could well be one of this week’s most important individuals. Although, at first sight, we have little to go on …

In this video, Magnus will spell out a sentence he has found in an accountants clay tablet. He demonstrates how cuneiform was actually written by scribes with the help of …

Here Dr Steven Snape takes a closer look at the dagger from the Garstang Museum of Archaeology. Compare Steven’s approach to your own. It is interesting to hear Steven speak, …

The Akkadian counting system The cuneiform counting system is relatively simple, probably easier for most of us than Roman numerals GDFL Licence Akkadian Plurals The cuneiform symbol above is ‘mes’. …