Includes bibliographical references (p. 219-227) and index.

Introduction / William R. Polk -- Theft of time / Angela H.M. Schuster -- Erasing the past : looting of archaeological sites in Southern Iraq / Micah Garen and Marie-Hâeláene Carleton -- A short history of the Iraq National Museum / Usam Ghaidan and Anna Paolini -- A museum is born / Lamia al-Gailani Werr -- In the beginning / Ralph Solecki -- Dawn of civilization / Harriet Crawford -- Small treasures of the Iraq Museum / Fiorella Ippolitoni Strika -- The lion hunt stela / Diana McDonald -- The Warka vase / Diana McDonald -- From village to empire : the rise of Sumer and Akkad / Paul Collins -- Akkadian victory stela / Diana McDonald -- Akkadian head of a king / Diana McDonald -- The birth of writing, the dawn of literature / Robert D. Biggs -- Cylinder seal impression / Diana McDonald -- Babylonians and Assyrians / Julian Reade -- Assyrian ivory lioness from Nimrud / Diana McDonald -- From the Kassite temple of Karaindash / Diana McDonald -- In the wake of Alexander the Great / Elisabetta Valtz Fino -- Alexander the Great coin / Diana McDonald -- The coming of Islam / Alastair E. Northedge -- Baghdad through the ages / Vincenzo Strika -- The ravages of war and the challenge of reconstruction / Selma al-Radi -- The recovery of the Nimrud gold / Diana McDonald -- The fall of Babylon / Zainab Bahrani.