Agaparthea

According to the fictional online novel, "Realms of Xanadu", written by Eric Wadley, Agaparthea was an ancient city uncovered in Southeastern Iraq in 1956. The city is believed to be over 5,000 years old, although many artifacts and ruins were destroyed in the Iraqi Civil War. This city remained unrecorded, and was researched by Dr. Tony Hochard and his wife June and daughter Eileen in the mid 1950's. Unlike original speculations as to Agaparthea's location, the city was ultimately found to be lying on the banks of the Euphrates river. "It’s amazing we found it at all considering how far off our estimates were. It wasn’t until my daughter began researching the hieroglyphs on the pottery fragments we uncovered earlier that we realized we were looking along the wrong river," said June.

Other references to the "dominant river" found on hieroglyphs in Sumer and Ur are referring to the Euphrates; although during the time of Agaparthea, the dominant river would have been the Tigris. "Without Eileen we would have never considered the reversal,” said June. “Even though she is only 17, her expertise with languages has been invaluable to our efforts."

History (brief)

Some time during the early 4th millennium BC, nomadic farmers and hunters settled on the banks of the Tigris to till the fertile land surrounding the banks. Over a short period of time, the city grew and spawned advanced societal patterns unlike others of the time; and thrived for almost one thousand years. Even though there are definite records of Agaparthea's defensive military successes, there are none that show the city's external military prowess. According to recovered texts, the citizens of Agaparthea almost never attempted to conquer surrounding areas. This lack of an offensive military is uncharacteristic of city-states during the same era; which led archaeologists to believe that the records were actually lost.

By the end of the 4th millennium, Agaparthea was one of the most powerful city-states in the area, rivaling the economies of Sumer and Ur. Preliminary excavation work done by Dr. Hochard and his crew revealed that the city did not last to see the 3rd millennium BC; much of Agaparthea was destroyed in a single event. The cause of the destruction is still largely unknown, although it is likely that a celestial body such as an asteroid likely hit the city at some point.

ources

* [http://www.archetypal.com/xanadu/archeology/article_archaeology.htm Archaeology Monthly Magazine, 1958] "Revealing the findings at Agaparthea"
* [http://www.archetypal.com/xanadu/lexicon/index.html Lexicon of Xanadu]