Signs and Symbols of the Fertile Crescent

As early hunter-gatherer societies found ways to work the land, more permanent settlements began to appear, particularly in areas where crops would flourish. 

One such area was in Mesopotamia, the "Fertile Crescent" of land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now southern Iraq. 

From around 5000 BCE small farming villages in the region were gradually developing into towns and cities, giving birth to some of the earliest civilizations - the word civilization comes from the latin civis, which mean "citizen of a city". 

People were inventing written languages, building temples, palaces and complex dwellings, and creating complex societies in which signs and symbols were interwoven with the fabric of daily life.

More Signs and Symbols of the Fertile Crescent:

RECORD KEEPING

RELIGIOUS LIFE

ZIGGURATS

THE GODDESS ISTAR

BABYLON

LAMASSU