Excavations on unpromising mounds in the Iraqi desert revealed Sumer’s earliest city. Surviving relics and a rebuilt temple ...

Mesopotamian Goddess Ishtar Credit: google lens As the fertility goddess, Ishtar was often associated with eggs, which were seen as a symbol of new life and rebirth.

The original Ishtar Gate (left, a 1980s replica ... “Turmoil descended upon the land,” mourned the Sumerian scribe. “The statues that were in the treasury were cut down . . . there were ...