The cuneiform tablet from the 6th century BC shows an aerial view map of Mesopotamia — roughly modern-day Iraq — and what the Babylonians believed lay beyond the known world at the time.

Cuneiform uses wedge-shaped symbols – which describe the early creation of the world. The map also showcased Mesopotamia, the land of the rivers, and a historical area of the Middle East.

Rashid's must-read, millennia-spanning history, cleverly wrought from tablets written in the world's oldest script ...