Babylonians

Want to star in an Ancient World in London video, and learn about the stars at the same time? Then join Heritage Key and famed astronomy writer Paul Murdin at a cool London restaurant this Wednesday at 6:30pm, as the Secrets of the Universe author gives a special presentation on how ancient civilisations and British astronomers have discovered the cosmos.

The talk, entitled 'Unlocking the Wonders of Astronomy', will show how man's obsession with the heavens has endured for thousands of years, from the first cities of Sumer to the technological breakthroughs of today's most powerful nations. The presentation will be held at Cicada, a hip restaurant in the heart of the City of London.

We've come a long way from the time when Ugg would mutter inanities to Uggetta in the cave, present her with a wad of crushed up flowers and move in for the kiss- and if she resisted he would reach for his club, gives it the old 'knock on the head and drag away' routine. Nowadays, for example, we do all the inanities on dating websites or in noisy bars. The rules of romance and courting have been shifting rapidly in the last 50 years and now many people are so clueless as to what they are supposed to do that they're paying experts to teach them how to make that connection. Our expectations from marriage and our relationships are also different. How much has the nature of what is perceived as 'romantic' changed from the past? How much do we even know about what brought people together thousands of years ago?

Iran has followed through on its threat, lodged in October 2009, to sever ties with the British Museum in London over the Cyrus Cylinder.

The British Museum had agreed to lend the artefact – a 6th century Babylonian treasure, regarded as the world’s first declaration of human rights – to the National Museum of Tehran back in September, but then delayed the cylinder’s transfer citing the “political situation” in post-election Iran. Last week, the British Museum declared its intention to delay the loan of the Cyrus Cylinder once again, until the summer in order to complete research, sparking an outraged reaction from Iran’s state cultural organisation.

Before Herodotus, travel writing didn’t exist - nor did journalism. No-one had ever travelled anywhere with the sole intention of finding something out and writing it all down “so that human achievements may not become forgotten in time”. Travel writing was not so much a road less travelled, but a road never travelled at all. Not only did Herodotus change all that - but he set an extremely high benchmark for future writers of the genre, who are still struggling to beat his best-seller, The Histories. 

There can be few books – the Bible is perhaps one – that have proven a more popular travelling companion than The Histories. Herodotus would have been a modern publisher’s dream, an ancient literary sensation akin to morphing Hemingway, Kapuscinski, Theroux and Palin (Michael, not Sarah...), and one who could generate sales (and arguably as much fiction) to rival Dan Brown.

The Rosetta Stone and the Behistun inscriptions are both key to the decipherment of ancient languages that co-existed in time. What's also interesting is that they were both discovered in the middle of wars and by military personnel. There is something quite ironic about armies hell-bend on destruction and division instead finding these hidden codes to decipher ancient words, the study of which will go on to unite the world.

Dr Campbell Thompson investigated Behistun on behalf of the British Museum and published his findings in 1937. He stated that:

A Maltese explorer claims he may have solved one of Egypt's oldest mysteries. Mark Borda and Egyptian accomplice Mahmoud Marai, an adventure holiday planner, have discovered a large rock in the Western Desert, some 450 miles west of the Nile Valley - inscribed with a king's cartouche, royal images and hieroglyphs. Ancient Egyptians are thought never to have strayed past Dakhla Oasis, located around 200 miles from the river.