Lecturer in the Heritage of the Middle East @UniofLeicester. Researching ancient Mesopotamia. Playwright, poet, and Babylonian liver diviner.
Oxford, England
Joined April 2013
- Tweets379
- Following385
- Followers1.2K
- Likes444
Selena Wisnom retweeted
My latest for @NatGeo Stones and Bones newsletter is on the Amarna letters nationalgeographic.com/histo… @news_ub
Selena Wisnom retweeted
My review of Selena Wisnom’s The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia & the Making of the Modern World.
If you have time to read just one history book this summer, then make it this one, because, with all the firsts achieved by ancient Mesopotamia, there really isn’t much point in picking up the story from a later point.
The OG of Civs:
Selena Wisnom retweeted
Leicester expert’s tale of ancient library makes The Telegraph’s greatest books of 2025 list
👉 le.ac.uk/news/2025/december/…
#CitizensOfChange | @LSWisnom
Selena Wisnom retweeted
We went from “what good are the humanities?” to “suddenly, no one can read” in about a year, and it's no coincidence that we're suddenly awash in misinformation and lack of critical thinking. This is WHY we need the humanities. This is what they prevent.
Selena Wisnom retweeted
Who are you throwing Overboard!? 🌊
👇Comment below👇
Don't forget to buy your tickets here:classicsforall.org.uk/news-a…
#overboard #cfa #classics #debate #history #ancienthistory
Selena Wisnom retweeted
There’s a lot to worry about in the world. But that’s nothing new. The ancient Babylonians and Assyrians were very big on worrying, and also very proactive about trying to deal with it, says @LSWisnom. What can we learn from them to assuage our anxieties? historyextra.substack.com/p/…
Selena Wisnom retweeted
When I read history or mythology of the region I search for this map of the Mediterranean that’s tilted by 90 degrees. It somehow makes the Mediterranean Sea look even smaller and is confusing to look at buuuut it forces me to look at the region differently. Source: buff.ly/31JaIig
Selena Wisnom retweeted
The appearance of Neo-Assyrian reliefs is not what it was in antiquity. Although they have largely disappeared, we can see in this relief from Sargon II's capital of Dur-Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad). One can clearly see red pigment on the reliefs,
Selena Wisnom retweeted
The oldest known map ever found.city plan for #Nippur, 1500 B.C. It is inscribed a map of the countryside around the #Mesopotamian city of Nippur, near the modern city of Diwaniyah.
📷 #Ancient_artifacts.
Selena Wisnom retweeted
Happy Assyrian New Year, Akitu 6775 🤍💙
Akitu is the New Year's Day of the Babylonian and Assyrian civilizations. Which is considered the most important feast in ancient Iraq, and one of the oldest feasts and celebrations in history.
The date and beginning of this holiday dates back to the middle of the third millennium BC in the Sumerian city of Ur in southern Iraq.
Every year, the inhabitants of Mesopotamia used to celebrate this feast, which falls on the Babylonian calendar on April 1, as a result of the spring equinox and the increase in the waters of the Tigris River, and two weeks after that, the increase in the waters of the Euphrates River, as all agricultural work begins on this date.
And this feast was received by the ancient Iraqis with activities, masquerade parties, singing and dancing as well as wailing and crying in some of its rituals. At the beginning of the agricultural business.
Selena Wisnom retweeted
The State Board of Antiquities and Heritage of #Baghdad announced about the discovery of the French Team in the ancient City of Larsa, they have completed the palace of #Sin_Iddinam. #archaeology.
Selena Wisnom retweeted
Free, online, semi-intensive courses in Phoenician and Punic (elementary and advanced) organised by the @instclasstudies in collaboration with @oxfordlinguists and the @OCHJSnews. Deadline for applications: 22 March.
ics.sas.ac.uk/study-and-trai…
