William Frej & Diana K. McDonald, Iraq: Under an Ancient Sun

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Iraq: Under an Ancient Sun offers a striking present-day view of some of the world’s oldest cities in Mesopotamia, the “Cradle of Civilization.” Even today, thousands of years after reaching their historic pinnacles, these cities offer an incredible vision of the splendor and magnificence of Mesopotamia’s ancient world. This visually stunning book features 132 duotone photographs by award-winning photographer William Frej, who documents twenty-three ancient cities in present-day Iraq, from Eridu in the south to Erbil in the north. In some places, the most visible remains of the ancient city are tells—huge mounds created by generations of human habitation that are now covered in dust and sand. At other sites, such as Ur, ziggurats have been largely restored and show their scale and the architectural skills involved in creating urban settings more than 5,000 years ago. And at Babylon, original architectural elements and reconstructions combine to reveal a vision of one of history’s most famous cities.

In addition to Frej’s photographs, Iraq features a foreword by renowned scholar Willem McLoud and an introduction by William Frej, which sets the stage for the visual journey within. In his essay, Zaid Ghazi Saadallah, Director of the Mosul Cultural Museum, offers his perspectives on contemporary preservation activities that highlight the resilience of Iraq in rebuilding its cultural heritage after years of conflict. Historical context is provided by an essay by art historian Diana K. McDonald, who surveys the history of the region from Sumer in the fourth millennium BCE through the Akkadian Empire, Babylonia, and, to the north, Assyria and the cities of the Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Empires. Iraq is a book that informs, inspires, and enlightens readers about a place where human civilization began.

About the Photographer & Contributor

William Frej has an academic background and professional experience in architecture and city planning with degrees from the University of Arizona and U.C. Berkeley. In the mid-1980s, he and his wife traveled extensively in the mountain regions of Nepal, Pakistan, and northern India. He then served as a career diplomat with the US Agency for International Development (USAID), living and working in Indonesia, Poland, Kazakhstan, and Afghanistan. His photographic work is held in numerous public and private collections worldwide and has been featured in exhibitions at galleries and museums in the United States, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, and Mexico. His photography is also represented in private collections, including the Dunbarton Oaks Museum, and in special collections at the University of California, Berkeley, Columbia University, Duke University, University of New Mexico, University of Notre Dame, Stanford University, and Yale University. Frej is the author of five multi-award-winning books: Maya Ruins Revisited: In the Footsteps of Teobert Male (Peyton Wright/University of Oklahoma Press, 2020); Seasons of Ceremonies: Rites and Rituals in Guatemala and Mexico (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2021); Travels Across the Roof of the World: A Himalayan Memoir (George F. Thompson Publishing, 2022); Blurred Boundaries: Perspectives on Rock Art of the Greater Southwest Museum of New Mexico Press, 2023); and Unforgotten: Ancient Cities from a Distant Past (George F. Thompson Publishing, 2025). The Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition awarded the Silver Medal to Travels Across the Roof of the World in 2023.

Frej lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and his website is www.williamfrejphotography.com.

Diana K. McDonald, PhD, is an art historian and lecturer who taught at Columbia University and was on the Fine Arts Faculty of Boston College for seventeen years. She received her undergraduate degree from Harvard and her PhD from Columbia University. Dr. McDonald worked at the Ancient Near Eastern Department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, curated and lectured at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, at Emory University’s Michael C. Carlos Museum, at the National Museum of Indonesia in Jakarta, where she was a Henry Luce Scholar, and for the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage when she lived in Poland. Dr. McDonald has written numerous articles and book chapters, including nine essays for The Looting of the Iraq Museum, Baghdad (Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2005), the essay “Ishtar, Lions and Love” in A Legacy of Learning in Near Eastern Archaeology (Archaeopress, 2025), and a chapter in Aphrodite and the Gods of Love (MFA Publications, 2011). She has curated private collections and is a Great Courses Professor, with her own thirty-six-lecture series: “30 Masterpieces of the Ancient World.”