The Antiquitarian

	Sign In Sign-Up

This Site emphasizes the Ancient Near East, primarly the Mesopotamia areas of Sumer and Akkad, its people and their cosmology, and their belief, theological and legal systems and is under slow development. .

	Objective: This Site emphasizes the Ancient Near East from its earlest beginnings until the end of the Ancient Near East era, around the time of Alexander the Great.
	History: The Why and How. An introduction to History. What it is and why, what it is not, and why Mesopotamia in general and Sumer, in particular, is where human history begins.
	Site Navigation: The placards on the left are major page links within this site. In most cases, these will also be a forwarding link and the end of the relevant paragraphs which accomplish the same purpose. The are indicated by <--NAME-->. Paragraphs may also include jumps to the references page. These are indicted by [NAME.###]. Intra- and inter-page links are usually indicated by "NAME" or "Name". In cases of an intra-site detour, such as History above, a back link is also included. In the event it fails or one is not present, please use the key of your browser.

	Ancient history begins in lower Mesopotamia with Sumer. However, the human story begins in pre-history, eons ago, at an unknown location, in the eras known as pre-history (before writing) and proto-history (early, primarily economic writing, such as inventories and business accounts). The Ancient Near East ("ANE" and sometimes "ANEast") has impacted our culture in this country in many ways from accounting & mathmatics to spirituality. The Ancient Near East
	[Pending]

	This section focuses on the ANE belief systems and its impact on their society and worldview.
	Theology is literally, the study of God, from the Greek words theo (God) and logy [logos?] (study). Western civilization and our heritage in this country is primarily based upon a revealed spirituality. The early ANE theology was predicated more on observation, such as the rising and setting of the sun and moon, and the way plants grew in the soil, and how human kind operated. Their perception of the gods and the cosmos was a refelction of society and a resulting pantheon. It should be emphasized, however, that although the focus was pantheistic and fundamentally different in other ways ,their spirituality was an intigral part of their lives and their world view. Theology

	This section's emphases Ancient Mesopotamian law and aspects of our current state, federal and constitutional law, focusing on their relationship to these ancient anticedents. Ancient Law
	We base our legal system upon rules of law rather than men. The fundamental reason is that our founding fathers adopted a representative-democratic form of government over the various alternatives which had been used in the past, drawing upon both the stengths and weakness of the various alternatives. Fundamentally, the ANE's government and judicial system was based upon a theocracy, usually embodied in the local or regional ruler who was considered a representative of the patron god or semi-diefied himself. Our concept is that through equal application of the law to all, we will approach the ideal of justice. Our ANE ancestors were not so restrained. As servants of the god's, they attempted to obtain justice by applying the will of the god's to their current circumstances.

	There are three general site links in this site and section. There are intra-site links, from page to page or within a page, and inter-site jumps to other reference sites. The third general site links are additional sites you may find of general interest, including news sites. A fourth area, References, contains hyperlink references to quoted, summarized and other specific page references. Internet references on the References page will also include hyperlinks to the cited work where I have either relied upon an internet cite or located one that is relevant.
	[pending]

	This is pretty much a standard FAQ page, covering long term comments or issues related to this site. Termporary or limited issue items will be covered in the news or general information/interests section.
	[pending]

This section, General Interest or general information, includes items of interest and information more of a short term nature that the FAQ area. It also will include comments, site status information and other things "not elsewhere classified."

This part of the site will include items relating to the site's primary focuses which are noted from news media as well as some hyperlinks to related news services and journals. It is currently under development.

The Generalist [Main Page]

Please submit all questions and comments to: mpilch@mailcity.com