Ancient Stories

Introduction: One of the oldest of the epic myths of the ancient world tells the story of the Sumerian Goddess Inanna, and her strange, deadly  journey down to the Underworld Kur, ruled by her older sister Ereshkigal. This tale has survived through the millennia, told and retold in many languages, but no one has ever known exactly why the Daughter of the Moon undertook this dangerous journey. Her descent into Kur resulted...

Introduction. One of my favourite places here in my home town of Adelaide is the South Australian Museum and one of the museum’s most interesting rooms is the Ancient Egypt gallery, a room that I have visited countless times, I can tell you. One of the most beautiful and valuable of the museum’s possessions is the coffin and mummy of a woman called Renpit Nefert. She was bought by the museum in the 1890’s and judging from...