The Ancient Near East (Ancient Origins)A gorgeous Collector's Edition. Exploring the ancient origins of Sumer, we find the beginnings of civilisation as we know it now, with language, cities, religious conviction, organised society, and a wealth of culture revealed in clay tablets collected in ancient libraries. Between the rivers of the Tigris and the Euphrates rose a powerful force just before the Ancient Egyptians and Chinese, later to be succeeded by Babylon, a powerful city state in