The Cradle of Civilization - Mesopotamia

After we arrived at some unearthly hour of the morning and woke up our grumpy and rude hotellier we slept into the heat of the day, a sweltering 50 degrees C. When we woke up we went downstairs where we found a restaurant serving good food for a change.


mmm spinach and fenugreek with lamb, lentils and tomato and lots and lots of rice as usual.


Then we ventured outside into the soaring mesopotamian heat. Takes yer eyeballs out so it does. We took a short walk up the road to the tomb of the Prophet Daniel. An important holy figure for Muslims, Christians and Jews. Daniel was a Jew who had been taken to serve in the Royal Babylonian Court. He became an interpreter of dreams and he interpreted a dream for the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, warning that he was going to be attacked. On hearing this his attackers fled. Later, after Babylon had been taken by the Medes under King Darius he was thrown into the pit of lions for refusing to obey the law. However, he survived and as a result King Cyrus issued a decree to peoples saying:
'Peace be multiplied unto you. I make a decree, that in all the dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel; for He is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall be even unto the end; He delivereth and rescueth, and He worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth; who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.'


When I got inside the tomb there was a door in front of the actual inner chamber.


Daniels Tomb. Camera peeking over the door.


Ruth and Hannah outside Daniels Tomb.


Inside the Tomb building, which had seperate entrances for men and women, alot of people were praying, sleeping, chatting and chilling out. Thats what they do round 'ere dont ya know.


Up the road in the boiling heat.


Back at the hotel Ruth sings us a quaint wee chorus about Daniel. She gets an incalculable glow when she sings Sunday School songs. She knows them all you know!


Outside the hotel Ruth and Hannah pose with some Elamites.


We took a taxi to Choga Zanbil - an ancient Elamite Ziggurat!!!!


"you wot?"







And there it was right in front of us. Made out of clay bricks that looked pretty new. Presumably well preserved by the desert heat, which is in fact just like being in a kiln. It were proper roasting! We were the only people there apart from one man who seemed to work there.


Phew! I thought the heat would break my camera!



The pyramid has 5 levels.



Cuneiform! I've read about this.








Mesopotamia. Its very hot and arid. However, there are great big rivers flowing through here down to the Persian Gulf. Around the rivers there is vegetation. But the desert is not far away. It is because of the rivers and the vegetation that ancient civilizations developed here. In fact this was the cradles of civilization where agriculture and economy were first developed.