We would hold trials based on the Code of Hammurabi, meting out harsh punishments like cutting off hands (with red markers. We’d make our own signature seals so we could sign clay tablets like pros.

We would roll out the clay and practice writing in cuneiform. It was always one of their favorite subjects. I stared at pictures of winged lions, freaky dragons, and dudes with righteous curly beards and massive hats, and I wondered why I couldn’t be cool like the Mesopotamians.įast forward a few decades, when I became a teacher myself: Every year, my students and I would embark on a unit about Mesopotamia. I marveled at the mysteries of cuneiform writing. Is there any cooler word? When I was a kid, I loved learning about those step pyramids. There is so much to love about Mesopotamian mythology. Sarwat Chadda knows the stories better than I do, and he is about to take you on a thrill ride you will never forget! Without a doubt, the stories of Sumer, Babylon and the rest of the Fertile Crescent are my favorite myths that I’ve never written about. It doesn’t get any more ‘Old School’ than Mesopotamia. You Want Mythology? Let’s Get Old School!

To succeed, they'll have to conquer sly demons, treacherous gods, and their own darkest nightmares. Now all they have to do is retrieve the Flower of Immortality to save Manhattan from being wiped out by disease. He's got Belet, the adopted daughter of Ishtar, the goddess of love and war, on his side, and a former hero named Gilgamesh, who has taken up gardening in Central Park. But all that is blown to smithereens when Nergal comes looking for him, thinking that Sik holds the secret to eternal life.Turns out Sik is immortal but doesn't know it, and that's about to get him and the entire city into deep, deep trouble. Thirteen-year-old Sik wants a simple life going to school and helping at his parents' deli in the evenings. Characters from the Epic of Gilgamesh populate this high-stakes contemporary adventure in which all of Manhattan is threatened by the ancient god of plagues. Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents CITY OF THE PLAGUE GOD, an adventure based on ancient Mesopotamian mythology written by Sarwat Chadda, author of the Ash Mistry series.

City of the plague god series in order