Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is a vast region located in southwest Asia, stretching from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. The region is now home to modern-day Iraq, and includes parts of Kuwait, Syria, Turkey and Iran.

The word "mesopotamia" is formed from the ancient words meso, meaning "middle," and potamos, or "river," as the region is situated in the valley formed by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

Mesopotamia forms the northern part of the Fertile Crescent—a rich agricultural area that also includes the Nile River Valley—which is known as “cradle of civilization” for the number of important innovations that defined the beginnings of human civilization.

Humans first settled in Mesopotamia in the Paleolithic era. By 14,000 B.C., people in the region lived in small settlements with circular houses.

Five thousand years later, during the Neolithic Revolution (also called the Agricultural Revolution), these settlements formed farming communities after the domestication of animals and the development of agriculture, most notably irrigation techniques that took advantage of the proximity of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

Scattered agricultural communities started in the northern part of the ancient Mesopotamian region and spread south, continuing to grow for several thousand years until forming what modern humans would recognize as cities, which were considered the work of the Sumer people.

Uruk was the first of these cities, dating back to around 3200 B.C. It was a walled, mud-brick metropolis—built on the riches brought from trade and conquest—and featured public art, large buildings with columns and monumental temples. At its peak, it had a population of some 50,000 citizens.

Sumerians are also responsible for the earliest form of written language—the cuneiform language—with which they kept detailed clerical records.

By 3000 B.C., Mesopotamia was firmly under the control of the Sumerian people. Sumer contained several decentralized city-states—Eridu, Nippur, Lagash, Uruk, Kish and Ur.

The first king of a united Sumer is recorded as Etana of Kish. Etana was followed by Meskiaggasher, the king of the city-state Uruk. A warrior named Lugalbanda took control around 2750 B.C.

Gilgamesh, the legendary subject of the Epic of Gilgamesh, is said to be Lugalbanda’s son. Gilgamesh is believed to have been born in Uruk around 2700 B.C.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is considered to be the earliest great work of literature and the inspiration for some of the stories in the Bible. In the epic poem, Gilgamesh goes on an adventure with a friend to the Cedar Forest, the land of the Gods in Mesopotamian mythology.

When his friend is slain, Gilgamesh goes on a quest to discover the secret of eternal life, finding: "Life, which you look for, you will never find. For when the gods created man, they let death be his share, and life withheld in their own hands."

King Lugalzagesi was the final king of Sumer, falling to a man known as Sargon the Great of Akkad, a Semitic people, in 2334 B.C. They were briefly allies, conquering the city of Kish together, but Lugalzagesi’s mercenary Akkadian army was ultimately loyal to Sargon.

The Akkadian Empire existed from 2234-2154 B.C. under the leadership of Sargon. It was considered the world’s first multicultural empire with a central government.

Little is known of Sargon’s background, but Akkadia was a city that Sargon himself established. Sargon expanded his empire through military means, conquering all of Sumer. Under Sargon, trade beyond Mesopotamian borders grew, and architecture became more sophisticated, notably the appearance of ziggurats, flat-topped buildings with a pyramid shape and steps.

In 2100 B.C. the city of Ur attempted to establish a dynasty for a new empire. The ruler Ur-Namma, the king of the city of Ur, brought the Sumerians back into control.

Under Ur-Namma, the first known written code of law, the Code of Ur-Nammu, appeared. Ur-Namma was attacked and defeated in 2004 B.C.

Choosing Babylon as the capital, a group known as the Amorites took control of Mesopotamia and established Babylonia. Kings were considered deities, and the most famous of these was Hammurabi, who ruled 1792–1750 B.C.

Hammurabi expanded the empire through military conquests, and the Babylonians were almost continually at war. His most famous contribution is his written list of laws, better known as the Code of Hammurabi, devised around 1772 B.C.

Hammurabi’s innovation was not just writing down the laws for everyone to see, but making sure that everyone throughout the empire followed the same legal codes, so governors in different areas could not enact their own laws. The list of laws also featured recommended punishments to ensure that every citizen had the right to the same justice.

The Hittites, who were centered around modern-day Turkey and Syria, conquered the Babylonians around 1595 B.C.

Smelting and metalwork were significant contributions of the Hittites, allowing for more sophisticated weaponry that lead them to expand the empire even further. Their attempts to keep the technology to themselves eventually failed, and other empires became a match for them.

The Hittites pulled out shortly after sacking Babylon, and the Kassites took control of the city. Hailing from the mountains east of Mesopotamia, their period of rule saw immigrants from India and Europe arriving, and travel sped up thanks to the use of horses with chariots and carts.

The Kassites abandoned their own culture after a couple of generations of dominance, allowing themselves to be absorbed into Babylonian civilization.

The Assyrian Empire under the leadership of Ashur-uballit I rose around 1365 B.C. in the areas between the lands controlled by the Hittites and the Kassites.

Around 1220 B.C., the Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta I aspired to rule all of Mesopotamia and seized Babylon. The Assyrian Empire continued to expand over the next two centuries, moving into modern-day Palestine and Syria.

Under the rule of Ashurnasirpal II in 884 B.C., the empire created a new capitol, Nimrud, built from the spoils of conquest and brutality that made Ashurnasirpal II a much-hated figure.

His son Shalmaneser spent the majority of his reign fighting off an alliance between Syria, Babylon and Egypt, and conquering Israel. One of his sons rebelled against him, and Shalmaneser sent another son, Shamshi-Adad, to fight for him. Three years later, Shamshi-Adad ruled.

A new dynasty arose in 722 B.C. when Sargon II seized power. Modeling himself on Sargon the Great, he divided the empire into provinces and kept the peace.

His undoing came when the Chaldeans attempted to invade and Sargon II sought an alliance with them. The Chaldeans made a separate alliance with the Elamites, and together they took Babylonia.

Sargon II lost to the Chaldeans but switched to attacking Syria and parts of Egypt and Gaza, embarking on a spree of conquest before eventually dying in battle against the Cimmerians from Russia.

Ashurbanipal is considered to be the final great leader of the Assyrian empire. Ruling from 669 to 627 B.C., Ashurbanipal is best remembered for creating Mesopotamia’s first library in what is now Nineveh, Iraq. It's the world’s oldest known library, predating the Library of Alexandria by several hundred years.

Nebuchadnezzar II reigned over the Babylonian Empire from c. 605–561 B.C. In addition to vastly expanding his empire's borders, Nebuchadnezzar is known for his ornate architecture, especially the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Walls of Babylon and the Ishtar Gate.

Under his rule, women and men had equal rights. Nebuchadnezzar is also responsible for the conquest of Jerusalem, which he destroyed in 586 B.C., taking its inhabitants into captivity and slavery. Because of this action, Nebuchadnezzar appears in the Old Testament.

Persian Emperor Cyrus II seized power in 539 B.C. during the reign of Nabonidus, who was such an unpopular king that Mesopotamians did not rise to defend him during Cyrus II's invasion.

Babylonian culture is considered to have ended under Persian rule, following a slow decline in the use of cuneiform writing and other cultural hallmarks.

By the time Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire in 331 B.C., most of the great cities of Mesopotamia no longer existed and the culture had been long overtaken. Eventually, the region was taken by the the ancient Romans in A.D. 116, and again by Arabic Muslims in A.D. 651.

Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic, with followers worshipping several main gods and thousands of minor gods.

The three main gods were Ea (Sumerian: Enki), the god of wisdom and magic; Anu (Sumerian: An), the sky god; and Enlil (Ellil), the god of earth, storms and agriculture and the controller of fates. Ea is the creator and protector of humanity in both the Epic of Gilgamesh and the story of the Great Flood.

In the latter story, Ea made humans out of clay, but the God Enlil sought to destroy humanity by creating a flood. Ea had the humans build an ark and mankind was spared. If this story sounds familiar, it should: Mesopotamian religious stories about the Garden of Eden, Noah's Ark, the Great Flood, and the Creation of the Tower of Babel found their way into the Bible, and Mesopotamian religion influenced both Christianity and Islam.

Each Mesopotamian city had its own patron god or goddess, and most of what we know of them has been passed down through clay tablets describing Mesopotamian religious beliefs and practices. A painted terracotta plaque from 1775 B.C. gives an example of the sophistication of Babylonian art, portraying either the goddess Ishtar or her sister Ereshkigal, accompanied by night creatures.

While making art predates civilization in Mesopotamia, the innovations there include creating art on a larger scale, often in the context of their grandiose and complex architecture, and frequently employing metalwork.

One of the earliest examples of metalwork in art comes from southern Mesopotamia, a silver statuette of a kneeling bull from 3000 B.C. Before this, painted ceramics and limestone were the most common art forms.

Another metal-based work, a goat standing on its hind legs and leaning on the branches of a tree, featuring gold and copper along with other materials, was found in the Great Death Pit at Ur and dates to 2500 B.C.

Mesopotamian art often depicted its rulers and the glories of their lives. Also created around 2500 B.C. in Ur is the intricate Standard of Ur, a shell and limestone structure that features an early example of complex pictorial narrative, depicting a history of war and peace.

Among the most dynamic forms of Mesopotamian art are the reliefs of the Assyrian kings in their palaces, notably from Ashurbanipal’s reign around 635 B.C. One famous relief in his palace in Nimrud shows him leading an army into battle, accompanied by the winged god Assur.

Ashurbanipal is also featured in multiple reliefs that portray his frequent lion-hunting activity. An impressive lion image also figures into the Ishtar Gate in 585 B.C., during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II and fashioned from glazed bricks.

Mesopotamian art returned to the public eye in the 21st century when museums in Iraq were looted during military conflicts in Iraq. Many pieces went missing, including a 4,300-year-old bronze mask of an Akkadian king, jewelry from Ur, a solid gold Sumerian harp, 80,000 cuneiform tablets and numerous other irreplaceable items.

Given its long, rich history stretching back to the Neolithic era, it's no surprise that Mesopotamia is credited with many of the inventions and innovations that define human civilization. Some of these include: