Wikipedia:WikiProject Ancient Near East

Chronology

• Note that the whole short/long/middle/etc chronology controversy only affects dates BEFORE the Fall of Babylon. The date of the fall is used to anchor the floating chronology that extends pretty solidly back to the Akkadian Empire. So if you see a Neo-Assyrian etc article listing Short or Middle chronology you can clean that up. I've been doing that when I edit one of those articles. Caveat - you can make a case for a few rulers/events right around the Fall being affected such as very early Kassite or 1st Sealand rulers. Use your judgment on those. The steam has pretty much come out of the whole ANE chronology battle, especially with the whole basis ie the Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa etc now looking much softer. What I have been doing when I write or reboot an article is to set it solely in Middle Chronology (Babylon falls 1595 BC), not that I think it is correct but because it is important to have a common basis across ANE articles. I've been using the format "c. 1844-1831 BC (MC)" so if someone REALLY wants to read about the whole chronology battle there is a wikilink for them to follow.Ploversegg (talk) 20:59, 3 February 2025 (UTC)

• The chronology used in articles needs to be standardized to the middle chronology where applicable (or use the most commonly cited dates). Conflicting dates in other chronologies should also be provided, preferrably in a note or something to that effect to avoid clutter. Ichthyovenator (talk) 12:59, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Tertiary Sources

• A number of the early/prominent ANE articles were largely cribbed from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. We have been weeding that out over the years but there are still a few articles that are heavily infested. To my knowledge the main offenders are Babylon, Ur, Nippur, and Lagash, though there may be non-site articles equally problematic that I am unaware of. If someone felt inspired a good task would be to rewrite/reref the bad parts of one.Ploversegg (talk) 12:51, 31 March 2023 (UTC)
• We are starting to see the overuse of Tertiary Sources like "World History Encyclopedia" and "Encyclopedia Iranica". Tertiary Sources should always be a last resort. They are third hand information. Always strive for primary or even secondary sources first.Ploversegg (talk) 12:51, 31 March 2023 (UTC)

Oriental Institute links

It appears that when the Oriental Institute recently changed its name (I know) their web site changeover broke some OI paper links. Some are ok, some are not. Oriental Institute Publication series appears to be all bad while Oriental Institute Communications work. I actually powered up and emailed them. Consider this a heads up about possible broken links and maybe having to do a ugly link fixing thing, hopefully not. Bonus - if you go to the new doc location the download there just wedges.Ploversegg (talk) 17:59, 28 April 2023 (UTC)

Unlocated cities

It amused me to refresh all the notable "lost cities" articles I could remember so I did Akkad, Akshak, Kesh, Ekallatum, Irisaĝrig, Kazallu, Diniktum, Hamazi, Lagaba, Rapiqum, Dūr-Abī-ešuḫ, Tummal, Larak, Opis, Šimānum, Garšana, Tikunani, Urum, Awan, Karaḫar, Marhaši, Apiak, Qaṭṭunān, Apišal, and Washukanni. And Simurrum which I'm not 100% sure was a site vs area but since it was destroyed at least 9 times seems notable. And I might as well mention Karkar and Enegi which I didn't work on. I feel like I've forgotten a couple though so if this comes to you let me known or feel free. Thanks.Ploversegg (talk) 19:45, 14 June 2023 (UTC)

WikiProject

• {{WikiProject Ancient Near East}} – project banner, to be placed on the talk pages of all relevant articles
• {{User WikiProject Ancient Near East}}: – userbox for use on userpages

For use in articles

• {{Ancient Mesopotamia}} – navbox template on topics relating to ancient Mesopotamia
• {{Ancient Mesopotamian royal titles}} – navbox template for common Mesopotamian royal titles
• {{Ancient Near East}} – timeline of the ancient Near East
• {{Ancient Syria and Mesopotamia}} – chronology of empires and dynasties in ancient Syria and Mesopotamia
• {{Assyrian kings}} – navbox template for the kings of Assyria
• {{Babylonian kings}} – navbox template for the kings of Babylon
• {{History of Anatolia}} – timeline of Anatolian history
• {{Hittite kings}} – navbox template for the kings of the Hittites
• {{Hittite tree}} – family tree of the Hittites during the New Kingdom
• {{Near East Neolithic}} – timeline of the Neolithic in the ancient Near East
• {{Rulers of the Ancient Near East}} – chronology of empires and rulers in the ancient Near East
• {{Sumerian King List}} – navbox template version of the Sumerian King List