Paul Collins is the Jaleh Hearn Curator for Ancient Near East at the Ashmolean Museum, and a Fellow of Jesus College and Wolfson College, Oxford University

Reviews
Reclining cow, Jemdet Nasr period, 3300–3000 BC, Uruk, Iraq. Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, Photo: Olaf M. Tessmer; © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museen

The Mesopotamian city that can claim to be the cradle of civilisation

Uruk may not be as well known as Babylon or Ninevah, but layers of complex, urban life have been uncovered there over the course of the 20th century

7 Feb 2020
Features
’Ram caught in thicket’, from the Royal Cemetery of Ur, (c. 2500–2400 BC), Sumerian, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia.

Mythical beasts in Mesopotamia

What do sculpted animals in Mesopotamian art tell us about the relationship between gods and men?

3 Jun 2017
Previews

First Look: ‘Discovering Tutankhamun’ at the Ashmolean Museum

The Ashmolean Museum will offer a new perspective on a famous archaeological find this summer

20 Jul 2014

Current Issue

April 2021

In the news

A specially designed vehicle transports the mummy of King Seqenenre Taa from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square to the new Museum of Egyptian Civilization on 3 April 2021.

In Egypt, a motorcade of mummies says more about the modern nation than the ancient past

The recent move of the royal mummies in Cairo was a made-for-TV extravaganza

Will the real William Shakespeare please stand up? The effigy above the playwright’s grave in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon.

Is this what Shakespeare really looked like?

A dumpy effigy in a church in Stratford-upon-Avon has been mocked for centuries, but new research claims it’s the most accurate likeness of the playwright there is

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The Apollo 40 under 40 podcast: Mohamad Hafez

The Syrian-born, US-based artist talks to Gabrielle Schwarz about his sculptural dioramas of cities ravaged by war – and offers a message of hope for the future

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The week in art news – Jean-Luc Martinez appointed ‘interim’ president of the Louvre

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The week in art news – V&A revises plan to restructure departments

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