Emma Marriott

Sargon, king of Akkad

painted tombs of the Valley of the Kings.

last great pharaoh, Rameses III

Damascus and Israel,

Ten Lost Tribes of Israel

Nineveh the Middle East’s first organized library,

Tyre, Sidon and Berot

Phoenician dyes and – most notably – its famous purple textiles became much sought after (purple fabrics were increasingly associated with superior social status). Indeed the name Phoenicia is derived from the Greek word for ‘purple’.

Harappa, Mohenjo-daro and Dholavira

Indus script, formed of around 400 different signs and found largely on soapstone stamp seals, has yet to be deciphered, so that many important questions about the Indus civilization still remain unanswered.