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Mesopotamia, 2800 – 539 BCE
The Importance of Rivers
 The most successful (i.e. long-lasting, powerful,
wealthy) early cultures were born near major rivers
 Nile
 Yellow
 Indus
 Tigris / Euphrates
 Access to water, fertile land, and a good climate
provided stability, allowing the people to focus their
energies in other directions
Mesopotamia - The First
“Civilization”
 Rose in the Fertile Crescent, between the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers, the same region as the oldest cities
 This is not a single, continuous empire, but a series of
groups who rose to dominance.
 Very influential on concurrent and later cultures.
The Sumerians – 2800-2370 BCE
 The region was dominated by a series of city-states,
each controlling approximately 100 square miles
 Main ones were Uruk, Ur, Lagash, and Eridu
 These cities fought over water rights and borders, with
stronger ones conquering weaker ones and absorbing
their territory
 This expansion led to the development of kingdoms
 First civilization to develop writing
 Cuneiform – started as
pictographs, then simplified over
time
 This concept was exported to
Egypt, Greece, and other nearby
groups
 Initially for record-keeping, so only
nouns, numbers
 Later evolved to abstract thoughts,
all features of language as we know
it
 Written with a wedge-
shaped stylus into a slab
of clay; later inscribed
in stone or painted.
 Also invented the wheel during this
period
Why does the invention of writing
change everything?
Social Order
 The city-states were ruled by Kings, who were believed
to be divinely appointed
 Chief administrator, law-giver, judge, and soldier
 The entire apparatus of government was believed to
have been created by the gods
 King and nobility owned most of the land
 Free clients – men and women who worked for the
nobility in exchange for use of land
 Commoners – free citizens who owned land
 Craftsmen, merchants, traders, administrators of legal
and tax system
 Slaves
The Akkadians - 2334 or 2270-2193
BCE
 Under a series of kings, the city-state of Akkad began
to grow in wealth and power
 The region conquered completely by King Sargon, in
either 2334 or 2270 BCE
 He had been cupbearer to the previous king, Ur-Zababa
of Kish. He killed the king, usurped the throne, and
then conquered all of Mesopotamia
 In official versions of the story, his seizure of the throne
was divinely ordained
 Rule may have been cruel; his dynasty was short-lived.
 Respected religious
 As Sargon conquered
other city-states, he
installed Akkadian
governors to rule,
instead of native
Sumerians
traditions, even
installing himself as
head priest of Anu, a
sky-god
 Language of the empire
became Akkadian
 First known ruler to keep
a standing army
More Turmoil
 For the next 200 years, different groups, both from
within and without Mesopotamia vied for power
 2125 BCE – Ur rose to dominance, with rulers
extending its borders; like the Akkadians, this power
was brief
 2004 BCE – Elamites sacked Ur
Amorites – Babylon – 2000-1595
BCE
 The Amorites were a people from West of the
Euphrates
 Overthrew a series of Akkadian kings, eventually
establishing power over all of Mesopotamia
 Ruled out of the city of Babylon, thus also called the
Old Babylonian dynasty
 They kept the Sumerian language and writing for
religious purposes, but spoke a Semitic dialect in
everyday use
 Freed citizens from
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forced labour
Freed up royal land for
use by the people
Changed the economy
by encouraging
merchants and larger
trade systems, and
lowering or eliminating
taxes
Culturally and
religiously, the region
kept the older traditions
Established a clear code
of law
Hammurabi – ruled 1792-1750 BCE
 He ascended the throne of
Babylon in 1792 BCE and
immediately established it as
the leading city of the region
 Is responsible for the Code
of Hammurabi, the one of
the oldest known written
legal codes.
 Code was said to be divinely
inspired
 Set down consequences for
breaking the law, with
consequences changing with
rank
Assyria – 911-605 BCE
 The Assyrian kingdoms, north
of Babylon, were ruled by
Assyrian monarchs as vassals
to Babylon under Hammurabi,
but his successors quickly lost
power
 In the period of turmoil with
the conquering of Babylon by
the Hittites, the Assyrians
managed to remain
independent and fairly strong,
while most of Mesopotamia
experienced turmoil
 Beginning in 911 BCE, the Assyrian kings waged a
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series of campaigns to conquer their neighboring
states.
Assurnasirpal II (883-859 BCE)led his army to reunite
Mesopotamia, building heavily fortified towns, but
also collecting samples of plants for gardens in the
capital
His successors would continue the expansion of the
empire
Under the Assyrians, the kings were also the chief
priests
This period saw a new resurgence of art, culture, and
wealth, with vast trade routes
 Overextended themselves, and could not control their
empire
 Babylon regained power briefly in 605, but the entire
region fell to the Persians in 539 BCE