Timeline of ancient Mesopotamia
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Ancient Mesopotamia was settled and conquered by numerous ancient civilizations. It is very important to remember that the dates for events in ancient Mesopotamia are still controversial, and several different methods and standards of dating exist chronology of the Ancient Near East]]), therefore, dates contained herein are only estimates. Mesopotamia has been home to some of the oldest major civilizations, including the Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians.
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[edit] Prehistory
The Fertile Crescent was inhabited with several distinct, flourishing cultures between the end of the last ice age (c. 10,000 BC) and the beginning of history. These include the Ubaid culture and the Uruk period. One of the oldest known Neolithic sites in Mesopotamia is Jarmo, settled around 7000 BC and broadly contemporary with Jericho and Çatal Hüyük (Anatolia). It as well as other early Neolithic sites were in north Mesopotamia; late Sumerian settlements in southern Mesopotamia required complicated irrigation methods.
[edit] Sumer
The Sumerians were firmly established in Mesopotamia by the middle of the 4th millennium BC, although scholars dispute when they arrived. It is hard to tell where the Sumerians might have come from because the language Sumerian is a language isolate, unrelated to any other known language. Their mythology includes many references to the area of Mesopotamia but little clue regarding their place of origin, perhaps indicating that they had been there for a long time. The Sumerian language is identifiable from the period of 3200–2900 onward.
In the mid-4th throughout the 3rd millennium BC, various city-states gained power at various times. Eridu, Uruk, Ur, Lagash, Kish, Nippur, and Girsu were all important urban centers. Especially in the 4th millennium, Uruk was one of the most important centers in the region. It is during this period that Uruk and some other urban centers started experimenting with writing, invented the wheel, and stepped up metal production and stonework. This was also the time of Gilgamesh, a semi-historical king of Uruk, and the subject of the famous Epic of Gilgamesh.
By the 3rd millennium, these urban centers had developed into increasingly complex societies. Irrigation and other means of exploiting food sources were being used to amass large surpluses, huge building projects were being undertaken by rulers, and political organization was becoming evermore sophisticated.
The chronology of this era is particularly uncertain, as it was early in the history of writing. Also, the multitude of city-states made for a confusing situation, as each had its own history. The Sumerian king list is one record of the political history of the period. It starts with mythological figures with improbably long reigns, but later rulers have been authenticated with archaeological evidence. The first of these is Enmebaragesi of Kish. However, one complication of the Sumerian king list is that although dynasties are listed in sequential order, some of them actually ruled at the same time over different areas.
[edit] Akkadian Empire
In 2334 BC (short chronology), Sargon established the Dynasty of Agade (sometimes called Akkad) in Mesopotamia. He conquered an area stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranian, including Mesopotamia, Elam, Mari, and Ebla, and the entire area was united under centralized rule. The Akkadians were a Semitic people; the Akkadian language became dominant in this period. The Dynasty continued until around c. 2200, and included the famous ruler Naram-Sin.
The Akkadian Empire lost power after the reign of Naram-Sin, and eventually was invaded by the Guti from the Zagros Mountains. For a century they controlled Mesopotamia, but they left few inscriptions, so are not well understood.
[edit] Third dynasty of Ur
Eventually the Guti were overthrown by Utuhegal of Uruk, and various city-states vied for power. Power over the area finally went to the city-state of Ur, when the Third Dynasty of Ur (Ur III) was founded. State control over industry reached a level never again seen in the region. Famous Ur III rulers include Ur-Nammu, who conquered the empire, and Shulgi, who devised one of the earliest known law codes (in the spirit of the later, more famous, Code of Hammurabi).
In c. 2000 BC, the power of Ur waned, and the Amorites, nomads from the desert beyond Mesopotamia, came to ocupy much of the area. However, it was the continual enemy of Sumer, Elam, that finally overthrew Ur. This marked the end of city-states ruling empires in Mesopotamia, and the end of Sumerian dominance, but the succeeding rulers adopted much of Sumerian civilization as their own.
[edit] Isin-Larsa period
The next two centuries or so were dominated by the cities of Isin and Larsa in the south of Mesopotamia, as the two cities vied for dominance. However, they also marked the growth of power in the north of Mesopotamia. Up until this point, the north had little or no writing and fewer big cities, but in this period, the cities of Assur and Eshnunna became important and participated in wars and diplomacy with the south.
[edit] Old Babylonian Empire
In the end, a city and dynasty that seemed minor during the wars of Isin and Larsa came to power. Hammurabi (r. 1792-1750 BC, short chronology), ruler of Babylon, conquered Mesopotamia. He is justly famous for his law code and conquests, but he is also famous due to the large amount of records that exist from the period of his reign.
After the death of Hammurabi, the Babylonian dynasty lasted for another century, but many of the lands conquered by Hammurabi became independent and Mesopotamia was again a patchwork of competing principalities. The dynasty ended in 1595 BC, when Babylonia fell to the Hittites.
[edit] Kassite dynasty
Although the Hittites overthrew Babylon, another people, the Kassites, took it as their capital (1595-1157 BC). They have the distinction of being the longest lasting dynasty in Babylon, reigning for over four centuries. They left few records, and so this period is unfortunately obscure. In the north, Assyria was an important power, and threatened Kassite rule.
Although Mesopotamia maintained its independence through this period, it was not a power in the Near East, and mostly sat out the large wars fought over the Levant between Egypt, the Hittite Empire, and Mitanni (see below), as well as independent peoples in the region. Assyria participated in these wars toward the end of the period, but the Kassites in Babylon did not, although they did fight (as always) with Elam to the east. In the end, the Elamites conquered Babylon, bringing this period to an end.
[edit] Hurrians
The Hurrians were a people who settled in northern Mesopotamia circa 1600 BC South-East of Turkey and by circa 1450 BC established a medium-sized empire called Mitanni, and temporarily made tributary vassals out of kings in the west, making them a major threat for the Pharaoh in Egypt.
By 1300 BC they had been reduced to their homeland and the status of vassal of the Hatti (the Hittites), a western Indo-European people (belonging to the linguistic "kentum" group) who dominated most of Asia Minor in modern Turkey from their capital of Hattusa.
[edit] Dark age of Mesopotamia
Records from the 12th and 11th centuries BC are sparse, but Assyria and Babylon remained important. The 10th century is even worse, with very few inscriptions. Mesopotamia was not alone in this obscurity: the Hittite empire fell at the beginning of this period and the Egyptians left few records. This was a time of invasion by many new people throughout the Near East.
[edit] Assyria
[edit] Neo-Babylonian empire
- Chaldaean New Babylonia circa 600 BC......
