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Mesopotamia


Written by      First published June 24, 2009      Last modified October 29, 2011

Bound by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is Mesopotamia (aka the Euphrates Valley), which in antiquity entailed Akkad to the north and Sumer to the south, and later Assyria to the north and Babylonia to the south 1:1. The first permanent Mesopotamian settlements formed in the 5th millennium BC. Sumerian culture flourishing in the 4th and 3rd millennia.
Akkad was the first large hegemonic territory in Mesopotamia, flourishing at the end of the 3rd millennium. Next, Mesopotamia was dominated by Assyria and Babylonia. Romans misleadingly labeled all of Mesopotamia as Chaldea. In fact, Chaldea was a small part of southern Mesopotamia that accrued grew to form Neo-Babylonia (625-539 BC) 2:1.
Assyria, with a length of about 350 miles and a width ranging from 190 to 330 miles [totaling ~75000 square miles, the approximate size of Nebraska], is shut off to the north, northeast, and northwest by mountain ranges and retains for a considerable portion of its extent, and particularly towards the east, a rugged aspect. … Babylonia, with a length of about 300 miles and a maximum breadth of almost 125 miles [totaling ~23000 square miles, the approximate size of West Virginia], developed an astounding fertility [due to the Tigris' overflow]. According to the statement of Herodotus, grain yielded a return of “two hundred fold and even up to three hundred fold” while “the blade of the wheat plant and the barley plant if often four fingers in breadth, and the stalks of the millet and sesame are surprisingly tall.” [see Book 1 § 193, 440 BC] 2:6-7
Mesopotamia was the cradle of civilization due to the convergence of three factors: riverine trade; hospitable climate; and fertile soil. The Euphrates River (aka Purattu or the great river) was a very docile river. However, the agility of the Tigris (aka Idiklat or the rapid) gave it command over riverine trade. In northern Assyria, the Kurdish mountains run near the Tigris below Mosul (ancient Nineveh). The temperate climate there is much like Western Europe. In southern Assyria, the north mountains give way to unbroken alluvial plains with unrelenting heat and minimal rain.
Continuing further south into northern Babylonia, a Mediterranean climate returns and the river banks of Baghdad (near Babylon) were lined with palms. In southern Babylonia, the land is mostly consumed by reed-riddled marshes. Winter rains swell the Tigris and its tributaries, causing fatal annual floods while leaving behind fertile soil deposits 1:3;2:7. A flood not only destroyed what was in its path, but due to the loose alluvial soil could cause the river to change its watercourse (a catastrophic event for a riverside settlement) 1:4. Rampant flooding was overcome by canals that defused the riverine deluge, irrigated the soil and provided navigable waterways.

Pre-Historic Mesopotamia

Middle Paleolithic 78,000 – 28,000 BC
First Trace of Life 65,000 BC The first trace of human life in Mesopotamia is the ~65,000 BC Shanidar Man, a Middle Paleolithic Neanderthal buried in Shanidar Cave. This reveals that Neanderthals buried their dead instead of leaving them out in the open.
Upper Paleolithic 28000 – 10000 BC
Mesolithic Period 12500-10200 BC Mesolithic humans were hunter-gatherers who lived in caves mostly but also built seasonal settlements. Near Shanidar Cave is a Zawi-Chemi, a cave that was used for shelter during this period.
Neolithic Period 9500-5600 BC
10,000 – 6,000 BC		 Humans underwent the Neolithic Revolution by shifting from hunter-gatherers to food-proucers. Permanent villages were built and agriculture began. The first shrines and cult figures were made. Trade developed, particularly of obsidian.

Chalcolithic Mesopotamia: City-States in the 4th Millenium

Major developments in the 4th Millenium BC in Mesopotamia were the first cities and urbanization, and also the development of writing.

In Chalcolithic Mesopotamia (5600-3500 BC; or 6000 – 3000 BC), surplus food production allowed lifestyles to develop and villages to urbanize. The Chalcolithic is marked by: the use of native copper in pace of stone; a myriad of painted pottery cultures; the growth of land and river trade; and the interaction of distant cultures. Southern Mesopotamia was slower to develop, lacking any settlements during Northern Mesopotamia’s Neolithic era and only being settled during the North’s Chalcolithic era.
Based on pottery, in Northern Mesopotamia was the Hassuna (5500 – 5000 BC, contemporary with Samarrra), Halaf (5000 – 4000 BC, contemporary with Ubaid, typified at Tell Halaf) and Jemdet Nasr (3200 – 3000 BC) cultures; and in Southern Mesopotamia was the Samarra (typified at Sawwan), Eridu, Obeid/Ubaid (typified at Ubaid 0-2) and Uruk (4000 – 3200 BC) cultures. Southern cultures spread north along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to permeate the whole of Mesopotamia.
Ubaid Era 5000 BC Beginning in the Ubaid period, there is differentiation in the size of settlements. Some may have had a small circle of subsidiary villages around them. The end of the Ubaid period was characterized throughout the Near East by a regression of the number of settlements, and a number were destroyed and abandoned. Ubaid culture replaced Halaf culture throughout Mesoptamia. In the north was the North Ubaid culture; in the south was Ubaid 3-4.
Ubaid → Uruk The early 4th millenium heralds the start of the Uruk period and a vast increase in the number and size of settlements, especially in central and south Babylonia. The increase in population is likely undue solely to indigenous population growth; it likely involved in sedentarization of previously undetectable semi-nomadic people, and the arrival of outsiders for climatic or other reasons.
Sumerians Arrive 3600 BC

Sumerians arrived in Mesopotamia ~3,600 BC and settled in city of Uruk. They were of Asian origin but further detail is open to dispute. They founded city-states whose political, social and economic epicenter was the local temple dedicated to the city’s main deity. The ensi (governor) ruled the city as the represented of the chief deity.

Sumer was responsible for inventing: a pictographic script that was the prototype for cuneiform; mathematical numbers and multiplication tables; instrumental music, including the lyre; the wheel, quickening trade via the first carts; terracotta cone mosaics, used to decorate walls of monumental temples; the cylinder seal, allowing infinite bands of reliefs onto wet clay.
Uruk Period 4th Millenium During the Uruk period, the city Uruk in the extreme south of Mesopotamia underwent tremendous development. The number of people seems to have been almost equal in central and southern Mesopotamia, but in central Babylonia they lived in three centers of 30 to 50 hectares, while in the south one site alone dominated with a size of 70 hectares: Uruk.
Uruk → Late Uruk Urban growth exploded, particularly in the south of Babylonia at and around Uruk. The center of Babylonia underwent a negligible increase in permanently settled population and is attributable to natural growth.
Late Uruk Period 3800 – 3000 BC Uruk underwent further urbanization. The Uruk expansion brought Uruk culture to both north and south Mesopotamia by the Late Uruk period.
Jemdet Nasr Period 3100 – 2900 BC The political landscape of southern Mespotomia was characterized by city-states constantly interacting and competing with one another. Regarding the broader Near East, there was no longer cultural hegemony exuding from Babylonia; the Near East underwent a reversion to local traditions and certain skills became rare including writing. Within southern Mesopotamia itself, however, written sources actually increased thus illuminating more detail than ever to modern scholars. The Early Dynastic Era commenced when cultural contacts between Babylonia and the rest of the Near East reemerged and the Early Dynastic Era reemerged.

While the north of Mesopotamia had been settled earlier, it was only in the Ubaid period that permanent agricultural settlements formed in Sumer. The Early, Middle and Late Uruk periods saw a tremendous increase in the number of sites. The former two periods saw the north of Sumer predominate in terms of number of settlements, but environmental factors or perhaps even conflict drove the extreme south to dominate in the Late Uruk era with the most settlements and also the largest settlement, which was at Uruk. The Early Dynastic era heralded hyper-urbanization, as evidenced by a sharp decrease in the number of settlements and a tremendous expansion of certain urban centers in the extreme south to a scale of a hundred hectares or more.
These changes reveal that Sumerian society transformed from predominantly nomadic to significantly settled, perhaps due to changing environmental conditions that allowed agriculture and husbandry to flourish. This was a significant restructure in and of itself, but then gave way to yet another revolution when hyper-urbanization resulted in the expansion of sites into massive cities that dominated the landscape, and likely drew in most remaining nomads who would have been caught between potentially hostile city states. While at the start, society was largely on the move and only transiently settled (perhaps between bouts of sheep and goat grazing), by the end of the Early Dynastic era it was urbanized and centralized in a few large cities.

First Superpowers in the 3rd Millenium

Sumerian city-states, early Akkadians and Akkadian empire. Scholars more or less labeled major periods of the third millenium according to the Sumerian King List.

Early Dynastic Era 2900 – 2350 BC

Population grew, and urbanization accelerated. City-states needed more cultivated land, causing territorial disputes. This led to the need for military prowess. Power within the city-states secularized, shifting from the temple to the military. The head of the military was an appointed official chosen in times of need; this position developed into palatial kingship. At the end of the Early Dynastic period, the usurper Uru’inimgina of Lagash tried to unite the temple and kingship by assigning earthly goods to the temple and placing himself and his wife as chief temple administrators.

Royal inscription began in the Early Dynastic period; these new texts originated with simple royal names and titles, and grew to include important yearly information on the ruler as a warrior and builder. The largest group of Early Dynastic inscriptions was found at Lagash. Detailed in their description of the Lagash-Umma border conflict, these texts allowed modern scholars for the first time in Near East history to narrate an event based on contemporary sources. Another find important for understanding the Early Dynastic era, particularly the late Early Dynastic, is the cache of tablets from Palace G at Ebla.
Unprecedented Power 2334 – 2004 BC The last centuries of the third millenium brought government in Mesopotamia on a larger scale than ever before. City-states were temporarily abolished and replaced by provinces under the control of a central government, and the new government systematically campaigned further than ever before. The first city-state to rise to this albeit brief power was Akkad in northern Babylonia in the 24th and 23rd centuries. After its collapse, a period of decentralization ensued until Ur in the far south rose in the 21st century, bringing the nearly-dead Sumerian language and the surrounding culture back to prominence along with it. The two states Akkad and Ur shared a number of characteristics: they were both founded via military means in Babylonia proper and surrounding regions; they pursed policies of political, administrative and ideological centralization; and they collapsed due to internal opposition and external forces, especially from the Elamites to the east.
Ascension of Sargon 2334 BC Sargon of Akkad ascends to the throne.
Akkadian Empire 2334 – 2200 BC

Under Sargon and his successors, the state enacted a number of bureaucratic innovations including: organizing the state into provinces, formerly independent city-states, run by local elites now called governors (Sumerian ENSI2); standardized weights and measures; standardized accounting, including the use of Akkadian instead of Sumerian; state-wide system of taxation; installing the king’s daughter as the priestess of Inanna at Uruk.
Naram-Sin Rules 2254 – 2218 BC
Akkadian → Gutian Under Naram-Sin’s son Shar-kali-sharri, the empire clearly began to struggle to maintain its hold on Mesopotamia. Reasons for the collapse of Akkad include unrest in the south and threats from the east, namely the Guti. After Shar-kali-sharii, the Sumerian King List asks Who was king? Who was not king? followed by a quick succession of reigns. Mesopotamia fragmented politically into various city-states.
Gutian Period 2200 – 2100 BC Gutian kings claimed control over some regions in the south, including Nippur, while various other city-states in the south re-asserted their political independence, including Uruk and Lagash. The Lagash king Gudea had manufactured countless statuettes of himself, making these a diagnostic of the era.
Ur III Period 2100 – 2000 BC

Ur-Nammu and his successors, particularly Shulgi, enacted reforms much like those enacted by Sargon. These reforms created a strong state and included: organizing the territory into provinces; standardization of weights and measures; standardization of accounting, including a return to the use of Sumerian instead of Akkadian, though Sumerian was no longer the lingua franca of southern Mesopotamia; a state-wide taxation system (Sumerian bala); and a continuation of the age-old tradition of installing the king’s daughter as the priestess of Inanna at Ur, and not transferring the position until her natural death. These reforms led to a surge in cuneiform documents, with major repositories at the provincial capitals Nippura, Umma, Lagash and the state capital at Ur. In addition to these reforms, Ur-Nammu created the first law code.

The Ur III documents depict a stable state, but the administrative records reveal a shaky transition from Ur-Nammu’s grandson Amar-Suen to his great-grandson or grandson Shu-Sin (the nephew or brother of Amar-Suen). By Ibbi-Sin’s third year, various provincial centers stopped using Ur III year names, indicating their rising independence and state archives like Drehem ceased. By his eighth year, Nippur stopped using Ur’s year names. The loss of the religious capital suggests that Ur had undergone a recension to a mere city-state. Reasons for Ur’s collapse parallel Akkad’s — pressure from the East (Elamites); pressure from the hostile Westerners (likely nomads) described in communications; and economic pressure.
Fall of Ur 2004 BC
Ur III → Recension With the collapse of Ur, former provincial capitals like Isin and Babylon, as well as other cities like Larsa, managed to assert their independence.

International Superpowers in the 2nd Millenium

Scholars largely organized the 3rd millenium according to the Sumerian King List, but major periods of the 2nd and 1st millenia were organized by linguistic classifications.

With the advent of the 2nd millenium, writing in cuneiform became a common skill known from southwestern Iran to central Anatolia and western Syria.

Babylonian state; law, mathematics. Internationalism; el Amarna, Egypt, Hittites, Hurrians (Mittani state), Assyrians, Babylonians.

Early Bronze Age 2017 – 1595 BC

Landscape characterized mostly by warring city-states, though the beginnings of later empires began in Assur (later heralding Assyria) and the creating of the Hittite state.

There are two stories occurring at this time: the overall picture, controlled by Isin and Larsa and dominated by their warring; and the beginning of Assyrian and Babylonian superpowers, relatively unimportant at this time except in the context of later events.

Mursili’s destructions of Yamkhad’s capital Aleppo and Babylonia’s capital Babylon, and the collapse of Hittite power due to internal instability, led to a power vacuum in Syria, Mesopotamia and Anatolia and thus the beginning of a Dark Age with scant textual sources.
Old Babylonia 1900 – 1600
Dark Age 1590 – 1490
Late Bronze Age
Dark Age 1100 – 900 BC The use of iron, the alphabet (Aramization) and domesticated camels began during the dark age.

Rise and Fall of Empires in the 1st Millenium

The Assyrian and Babylonian empires reigned supreme, with marked conflicts with Levantine states and Egypt. Mesopotamia ceased to exist as a political unit when it was conquered by the Persians and Medes. By the start of the first millenium, the political situation had settled and an entirely new network of states had arisen. Assyria was dominant, and other prominent states were Babylonia, Urartu (a new state in eastern Anatolia), Elam and Egypt. Among the many smaller states were some from the 2nd millenium: Phoenician harbor cities and the Neo-Hittite states. There were some entirely new states as well: Aram in Syria, Israel, Judah, Phrygians and Lydians in Anatolia, and various states in the Zagros mountains. By the 9th century sources exist for a wide geographic region, and by the 7th century Assyria was so powerful that all the Near East may be studied through its sources.

Neo-Assyria 1000 – 610 BC
Battle of Qarqar 853 BC Battle between Assyrian king Shalmaneser III and western coalition.
Urartu Unifies ~850 BC Assyria, Babylonia and Elam continued from the 2nd millenium and were joined by the new-comer Urartu, unified by Sarduri I.
714 BC Raid by Assyrian king Sargon II ends Urartian threat.
Battle of Halule 691 BC Battle between Assyrian king Sennacherib and Elamite king Humban-nimena.
Susa Sacked 646 BC Assyrian king Assurbanipal sacks Susa.
Neo-Babylonia 626 – 539 BC Nabopolassar founds Neo-Babylonian dynasty.
Collapse After the fall of the Neo-Babylonian state, why was there no Mesopotamian replacement? What were the Mesopotamian views on political/cultural collapse? What are modern views on such collapses?
• Outsiders? • Or maybe not? • Or maybe so? Why does Mespotamia cease to be a political entity? A Mesopotamian state? After Neo-Assyria. Why? It was part of Persia or other empires.
Mesopotamian Collapse After the fall of the Neo-Babylonian state, why was there no Mesopotamian replacement? What were the Mesopotamian views on political/cultural collapse? They viewed it as the fault of a given king, and that the gods ended the state as punishment; another state would come to take its place. What are modern views on such collapsed? It may have been outsiders, though most of these (ie, the Amorites) assimilated into Mesopotamia. When Neo-Babylonia collapsed, it was all of Mesopotamia which was now competing with other cultures. Cuneiform was passé when it had once been standard. Mesopotamia no longer had a position of authority. Thus, while Mesopotamian civilization did not collapse with the end of Neo-Babylonia, it was already competing with too many outside forces and was on the decline. With the last cuneiform tablet in the first century AD, the civilization of Mesopotamia was truly dead until it was rediscovered in the 19th century by European explorers.
Persian Rule 539 – 332 BC
Cyrus II 559 – 530 BC Also known as Cyrus of Anshan.
Cambyses II 529 – 522 BC
Darius I 521 – 486 BC

Islamic Conquest

Battle of Qadisiyya AD 637 Opened the rich territory of Mesopotamia, the under Persian control, to the invading Muslim army. However, the territory was only gradually absorbed and Islamized.
Caliph Mansur In 762 he founded Baghdad, which by the tenth century had a population estimated at 1.5 million and a luxury trade reaching from the Baltic Sea to China. Baghdad also had a vigorous scientific and intellectual life, with centers for translations of Greek works and scientific experiments.

Mongol Rule

1258 Mongol attack on Baghdad by Hulagu
1401 Another even more devastating attack by Timur the Lame

Marr, Phoebe. The Modern History of Iraq, 2nd Edition. 2004. Westview Press. Boulder, Colorado.
Leick, Gwendolyn. 2001. Mesopotamia: The Invention of the City. Penguin Group.
1 Contenau, Georges. 1955. Everyday Life in Babylon and Assyria. Chatham, Great Britain: W. & J. Mackay & Co. Ltd.

2Jastrow, Morris. 1915. The Civilization of Babylonia and Assyria. Philadelphia and London: J. B. Lippincott Company.


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