Ancient Mesopotamia

Introduc on.

Image of ancient Mesopotamian se lement and ci es.

Mesopotamia is a historical area of West Asia situated within the Tigris-Euphrates rivers, in the
northern part of what is often called the ‘fertile crescent’. Today, this area is mainly situated in Iraq and
the ancient region also covered some areas of modern Turkey, Kuwait and Syria.
Mesopotamia was dominated from the beginning of recorded history (about 3100BC), by two
main groups, the Sumerians and Akkadians right up to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, when it was
conquered by the Persian empire. Mesopotamia was next conquered by Alexander the great in 332 BC,
and subsequently it became part of the Greek Seleucid Empire.
Mesopotamia has been called the cradle of civilisation. It is the site of the earliest developments
of the Neolithic revolution from about10,000 BC. Although other sites have claim to have earlier
development such as Catalhoyuk in Turkey. Mesopotamia boasts a continuous history of settlement.
Many of the most important inventions are identified with the region (the wheel, planting of crops, the
development of writing, maths, astronomy and agriculture). Mesopotamia
Around 150 BC, Mesopotamia was under the control of the Parthian Empire. It was then
disputed between the Parthian and Roman Empires. In 226 AD, the eastern regions of Mesopotamia
fell to the Sassanid Persians. The division of the region between the Roman (Byzantine Empire from

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 395 AD) and Sassanid Empires lasted until the 7th century, when Arabs conquered both Persia and
Mesopotamia.

 Mesopotamian civiliza ons formed on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

 Early civiliza ons began to form around the me of the Neolithic Revolu on—12,000-10,000 BC.

 Some of the major Mesopotamian civiliza ons include the Sumerian, Assyrian, Akkadian, and
Babylonian civiliza ons.

 Evidence shows extensive use of technology, literature, legal codes, philosophy, religion, and
architecture in these socie es.

Sumerians

Let’s start with Sumer. We believe Sumerian civiliza on first took form in southern
Mesopotamia around 4000 BC—or 6000 years ago—which would make it the first urban
civiliza on in the region. Mesopotamians are noted for developing one of the first wri en scripts
around 3000 BC: wedge-shaped marks pressed into clay tablets. This cuneiform—another way to
say wedge-shaped—script was also adapted by surrounding peoples to write their own languages
for roughly 2000 years, un l Phoenician, which the le ers you are reading now are based on,
began to become the dominant script in the first millennium BC. Cuneiform is also the script that
one of the world’s first great works of literature, The Epic of Gilgamesh, was wri en in.
Mesopotamians used wri ng to record sales and purchases, to write le ers to one another, and to
tell stories. The incredibly important inven on of the wheel is also credited to the Sumerians; the
earliest discovered wheel dates to 3500 BC in Mesopotamia.
Sumerians built ships that allowed them to travel into the Persian Gulf and trade with other
early civiliza ons, such as the Harappans in northern India. They traded tex les, leather goods, and
jewelry for Harappan semi-precious stones, copper, pearls, and ivory.

Sumerian religion was polytheis c—or worshipped mul ple gods—many of which were
anthropomorphic—they took human-like form. Temples to these gods were constructed atop
massive ziggurats which were in the centers of most ci es. These structures would have taken
thousands of people many years to construct.

Akkadian Empire

Around 3000 BC, the Sumerians had significant cultural interchange with a group in northern
Mesopotamia known as the Akkadians—named a er the city-state of Akkad. The Akkadian
language is related to the modern languages of Hebrew and Arabic. These languages are known as
Semi c languages. The term Semi c comes from the biblical character Shem, a son of Noah, the
purported progenitor of Abraham and, accordingly, the Jewish and Arab people.

T Around 2334 BC, Sargon of Akkad came to power and established what might have been the
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world’s first dynas c empire. The Akkadian Empire ruled over both the Akkadian and Sumerian
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speakers in Mesopotamia and the Levant—modern day Syria and Lebanon. The Empire of Akkad
collapsed in 2154 BC, within 180 years of its founding.
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Assyrian Empire
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a Assyria is named for its original capital, the ancient city of Ašur—also known as Ashur—in
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northern Mesopotamia. Ashur was originally one of a number of Akkadian-speaking city states
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ruled by Sargon and his descendents during the Akkadian Empire. Within several hundred years of
a collapse of the Akkadian Empire, Assyria had become a major empire.
the
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For much of the 1400 years from the late twenty-first century BCE un l the
E late seventh century BC, the Akkadian-speaking Assyrians were the dominant power
m in Mesopotamia, especially in the north. The empire reached its peak near the end
p of this period in the seventh century. At that me, the Assyrian Empire stretched
i from Egypt and Cyprus in the west to the borders of Persia—modern-day Iran—in
r the east. The major excep ons to Assyrian dominance were the Babylonian Empire
e established by Hammurabi and some more chao c dark ages where there wasn’t a
dominant power.
i
s

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 Babylon

M
Babylon was a minor city-state in central Mesopotamia for a century a er it was founded in 1894
a
BC. Things changed with the reign of Hammurabi, from 1792 to 1750 BC. He was an efficient ruler,
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establishing a centralized bureaucracy with taxa on. Hammurabi freed Babylon from foreign rule
and then conquered the whole of southern Mesopotamia, bringing stability and the name of
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Babylonia to the region.
f

One of the most important works of this First Dynasty of Babylon was the
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compila on in about 1754 BC of a code of laws, called the Code of
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Hammurabi, which echoed and improved upon the earlier wri en laws of
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Sumer, Akkad, and Assyria. It’s similar to the Sumerian king Ur-Nammu of
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Ur’s code, wri en from 2100 to 2050 BC. Hammurabi’s code is one of the
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oldest deciphered wri ngs of significant length in the world. Wri en in about
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1754 BC by the sixth king of Babylon, Hammurabi, the Code was wri en on
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stone stele—slabs—and clay tablets. The Code consists of 282 laws with
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scaled punishments depending on social status, adjus ng "an eye for an eye,
a
a tooth for a tooth". For example, if a person from a noble class broke an
enslaved person’s arm, they would have to pay a fine, whereas if a noble
a
person broke another noble person's arm, the offending noble would have
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their arm broken. Some have seen the Code as an early form of
cons tu onal government, the presump on of innocence, and the ability to
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present evidence in one's case.
h
e
The Babylonian Empire established by Hammurabi lasted for 260 years un l

t Babylon got sacked by invaders in 1531 BC. In the period between 626 BCE and 539

i BC, Babylon asserted itself again over the region with the Neo-Babylonian Empire.

m This new empire was overthrown in 539 BCE by the Persians.

o
f

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ca. 8000–7000 B.C.
The first evidence of domesticated grains (wheat and barley) and animals (sheep,
goat, pig, and cattle) are found at Jarmo. Baked clay female figures occur at
Mureybet.
 ca. 7000–6000 B.C.
The earliest pottery is made and used for preparing, serving, and storing food. A
particular style of pottery found in northern Mesopotamia is named after the site
of Hassuna where it was first identified. It is decorated with incised lines and is
lightly fired.
 ca. 6000–5000 B.C.
Some early types of handmade pottery, particularly the styles named after the
sites of Samarra and Halaf, are painted with elaborate polychrome geometric
designs. Clay impressions of carved stamp seals are found at Sabi Abyad in
northeastern Syria. These sealings, originally applied to a variety of containers,
are thought to indicate some measure of administrative control.
 ca. 5000–4000 B.C.
Ubaid culture, characterized by its distinctive painted pottery made on a slow
wheel, arises in the south. As the culture spreads, local pottery styles are
replaced throughout Mesopotamia extending into the eastern Mediterranean,
Iran, and the Arabian Peninsula. Throughout the period, a sequence of ever
more massive mud-brick temples is constructed at the site of Eridu.
 ca. 4000–3500 B.C.
Smaller Ubaid villages gradually give way to fewer but larger settlements in the
south. From this emerges the Uruk culture, marked by mass-produced pottery
made on a fast wheel or in a mold.
 ca. 3500–3000 B.C.
Cities emerge throughout the region, with the largest concentration in the south.
These cities are centered around monumental mud-brick temples set on high
platforms. At the largest city, Uruk, walls and massive columns of some
buildings are decorated with mosaics of colored stone or clay cones embedded in
plaster. Stone carving reaches new heights of artistry, with representations of
humans, animals, and possibly deities. They are shown both in the round and in
relief and range from tiny amulets to nearly lifesize sculpture. An increasingly
centralized economy and stratified society generates new administrative
practices. Variously shaped clay tokens used for record keeping slowly disappear
with the development of cuneiform writing, which uses a reed stylus to incise
and later impress signs on clay tablets. Accompanying these changes, stamp
seals are largely replaced by cylinder seals, which allow for a wider repertoire of
designs and motifs. Representational images such as the “priest king,” found at
Uruk, are also attested on seals and carvings in Egypt and Iran.
 ca. 2900–2350 B.C.
The first palaces are built throughout Mesopotamia during the Early Dynastic
period, indicating a new emphasis on royal authority. Politically, the landscape
is controlled by a series of rivalrous city-states ruled by Sumerian speakers.
Excavated objects and texts demonstrate the existence of long-distance trade
between Sumer and the Persian Gulf region, Iran, Afghanistan, and the cities of
the Indus Valley. At the city of Ur , this trade is revealed in spectacular fashion
in graves containing objects made of imported gold, silver, lapis lazuli, and
carnelian.
 ca. 2350–2150 B.C.
From Akkad, a site yet to be identified, King Sargon unifies much of
Mesopotamia and northern Syria through conquest. Akkadian, a Semitic
language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew, becomes the lingua franca of
the new administrative apparatus that maintains the world’s first empire. The
arts of this period acquire a new naturalistic dynamism. Seals and relief carvings
include novel mythological and narrative scenes. On the stele of Naram-Sin,
Sargon’s grandson, the king, wearing a horned helmet—a symbol usually
reserved for divinity—is shown defeating his enemies in a landscape setting.
 ca. 2112–2004 B.C.
After nearly two centuries of rule, the Akkadian empire disintegrates and local
kings in southern Mesopotamia reassert their independence. In the city-state of
Lagash, Gudea rebuilds many temples and installs finely carved diorite statues of
himself ( 59.2) to demonstrate his piety before the gods. When southern
Mesopotamia is reunited under the kings of Ur, Sumerian is reintroduced as the
administrative and literary language. Ziggurats, large mud-brick stepped towers
surmounted by a shrine, are built at Ur and other cities. Metal foundation figures
show the ruler carrying baskets of earth in a pious act of temple building. Later
poetic accounts describe the sacking of Ur at the end of this period by the
Elamites from the east.

Mesopotamia Poli cs.

Early Poli cs.

Early Mesopotamian poli cal structures are largely unknown un l wri en history is available. Even
later chronological history is difficult to reliably acertain, given the problems assigning our modern
da ng system to ancient da ng forms reliably.

What is certainly known is that from about 10,000 BC, small farming communi es based on
agriculture started to form in many places across the region. However, pastoralism remained
widespread at the same me.

Within the next 3 millennia, more centres appear, such as Samarra, Jericho, and Tel Halaf in the
north and Eridu in the south, possibly indica ng a migra on of popula on from the north to the
south.

From 6500 BC the Ubaid culture began to dominate the south of Mesopotamia, up un l about
3500 BC. Villages grew and became permanent. From 5000 BC the culture spread to the north,
either through adop on or conquest and assimila on. This is disputed by historians. Li le evidence
of warfare is found in this period and most weapons could as easily have been used for hun ng.
The first cuneiform wri ngs come from this period leading it to be called the ‘proto-literate’
period. Poli cally, the development of social classes and strata are generally thought to come from
this period and that tribes were led by chiefs and the first priesthood was developed.

The geography of Mesopotamia had a profound impact on the poli cal development of the region.
Among the rivers and streams, the Sumerian people built the first ci es with irriga on canals
which were separated by vast areas of open desert or swamp where nomadic pastoral tribes lived.
Communica on among the isolated ci es was difficult and, at mes, dangerous. Each Sumerian
city became a city state, indipendent of the others and protec ve of its independence. At mes
one city would try to conquer and unify the region, but such efforts were resisted and failed for
centuries. As a result, the poli cal history of Sumer is one of almost constant warfare. Eventually
Sumer was unified by king Eanntum, but the unifica on failed to last as the Akkadians conquered
Sumer in 2331 BC only a genera on later. The Akkadian Empire was the first successful empire to
last beyond a genera on and see the peaceful succession of kings. The empire was rela vely short-
lived, as the Babylonians conquered them within only a few genera ons.

The Nature of Kingship

The Mesopotamians believed their kings and queens were descended from the city gods but,
unlike the ancient Egyp ans, they didn’t believe their kings were real gods. Most kings named
themselves "king of the universe" or "great king". Another common name was "shepherd", as
kings had to look a er their people.

The Sumerian dynas c period

The en re Early Dynas c period is generally dated to 2900–2350 BC The Sumerians were firmly
established in Mesopotamia by the middle of the 4th millennium BC By the 3rd millennium BC,
these towns developed into complex socie es. Irriga on and other means of exploi ng food
sources were being used to amass large surpluses. Huge building projects were being undertaken
by rulers, and poli cal organiza on was becoming ever more sophis cated. Throughout the
millennium, the various ci es, Kish, Uruk, Ur and Lagash vied for power and gained hegemony at
various mes. Nippur and Girshu were important religious centres, as was Eridu at this point. This
was also the me of Gilgamesh, a semi-historical king of Uruk, and the subject of the famous Epic
of Gilgamesh. By 2600 BC, the logographic script had developed into a decipherable syllabic script.

The contemporary sources from the Early Dynas c period do not allow the reconstruc on of a
poli cal history. Royal inscrip ons only offer a glimpse of the military conflicts and rela ons among
the different city-states. Instead, rulers were more interested in glorifying their pious acts, such as
the construc on and restora on of temples and offerings to the gods.

texts from Shuruppak, da ng to in circa 2500 BC seem to confirm the existence of a league of
ci es. Member ci es of the alliance included Umma, Lagash, Uruk, Nippur, and Adab. Kish may
have had a leading posi on, whereas Shuruppak may have been the administra ve centre. This
alliance seems to have focused on economic and military collabora on, as each city would dispatch
soldiers to the league. The primacy of Kish is illustrated by the fact that its king, Mesillim (c. 2500
BC) acted as arbitrator in a conflict between Lagash and Umma. However, it is not certain whether
Kish held this elevated posi on during the en re period, as the situa on seems to have been
different during later conflicts between Lagash and Umma. Later, rulers from other ci es would use
the tle 'King of Kish' to strengthen their hegemonic ambi ons and possibly also because of the
symbolic value of the city.
The texts of this period also reveal the first diplomacy. For example, the peace treaty between of
the city of Lagash and Uruk, recorded on a clay tablet, represents the oldest known agreement of
this kind. Tablets from Girsu record gi s between the royal court and foreign states.
The first recorded war in history took place in Mesopotamia in around 2700 B.C between Sumer
and Elam. The Sumerians, under the command of Enmebaragesi, the King of Kish, defeated the
Elamites and is recorded "carried away as spoils the weapons of Elam”. The royal inscrip ons from
Lagash also men on wars against other Lower Mesopotamian city-states, as well as against
kingdoms farther away. These conflicts show that already there was a trend toward stronger states
domina ng larger territories. For example, king Eanntum of Lagash was able to defeat Mari and
Elam around 2450 B.C. Enshakushanna of Uruk seized Kish and imprisoned its king Embi-Ishtar
around 2350 B.C. This phase of warring city-states came to an end with the emergence of the
Akkadian Empire under the rule of Sargon of Akkad in 2334 B.C.
The Akkadian period

The Akkadian period is generally dated to 2350–2170 BC. Around 2334 BC, Sargon became king of
Akkad in northern Mesopotamia. He proceeded to conquer an area stretching from the Persian
border into modern-day Syria. The Akkadians were a Semi c people and the Akkadian language
came into widespread use as the lingua franca during this period, but wri ng remained in the
Sumerian language. The Akkadians further developed the Sumerian irriga on system with the
incorpora on of large diversion dams into the design to facilitate the reservoirs and canals
required to transport water vast distances. The dynasty con nued un l around c. 2154 BC, and
reached its zenith under Naram-Sin, who was the first ruler to claim divinity for themselves.
The Akkadian Empire lost power a er the reign of Naram-Sin, and eventually was invaded by the
Gu . For half a century the Gu controlled Mesopotamia, especially the south, but they le few
inscrip ons, so they are not well understood. The Gu hold loosened on southern Mesopotamia,
where the second dynasty of Lagash came into prominence. Its most famous ruler was Gudea, who
le many statues of himself in temples across Sumer.
Eventually the Gu were overthrown by U u-Hengal of Uruk, and the various city-states again vied
for power. Power over the area finally went to the city-state of Ur, which founded a kingdom
(2112–2004 BC) and conquered the Sumerian region. Its second king, Shulgi may have devised the
Code of Ur-Nammu, one of the earliest known law codes (three centuries before the more famous
Code of Hammurabi). Around 2000 BC, the power of Ur waned. Sumer's long-standing rivals to the
east, the Elamites, finally overthrew Ur. In the north, Assyria remained free un l the very end of
the 19th century BC. 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 civiliza on as
their own.

Old Assyrian Period

Of the early history of the kingdom of Assyria, li le is posi vely known. The Assyrian king list
men ons rulers going back to the 23rd and 22nd century BC. The earliest king named, Tudiya,
appears to have lived in the mid-23rd century BC, according to the king list. Tudiya concluded a
treaty for the use of a trading post in the Levant (modern Lebanon and Israel). Apart from this
reference to trading ac vity, nothing further has yet been discovered about Tudiya. He was
succeeded by Adamu and then a further thirteen rulers about all of whom nothing is yet known.
These early kings from the 23rd to late 21st centuries BC, who are recorded as kings who lived in
tents were likely to have been semi nomadic pastoralist rulers, nominally independent but subject
to the Akkadian Empire, who dominated the region and at some point during this period became
fully urbanised and founded the city of Ashur. A king named Ushpia (c. 2030 BC) is credited with
dedica ng temples to the god Ashur in the city of Ashur. In around 1975 BC Puzer-Ashur I, founded
a new dynasty, and his successors such le inscrip ons regarding the building of temples to many
gods in Assyria.

Babylonia was founded as an independent state by an Amorite chie ain in 1894 BC. For over a
century a er its founding, it was a minor and rela vely weak state, overshadowed by older and
more powerful states. Hammurabi (1792 BC to 1750 BC), the Amorite ruler of Babylon, turned
Babylon into a major power and eventually conquered Mesopotamia and beyond. He is famous for
his code of law and conquests, but he is also famous due to the large amount of records that exist
from the period of his reign. A er the death of Hammurabi, the first Babylonian dynasty lasted for
another century and a half, but his empire quickly fell, and Babylon once more became a small
state. The Amorite dynasty ended in 1595 BC, when Babylonia fell to the Hi te king Mursilis.
Unlike the south of Mesopotamia, the na ve Akkadian kings of Assyria repelled Amorite advances
during the 20th and 19th centuries BC. However this changed in 1813 BC when an Amorite king
named Shamshi-Adad I, took the throne of Assyria. Although claiming descendency from the
na ve Assyrian king Ushpia. Shamshi-Adad I created a regional empire in Assyria, maintaining and
expanding the established colonies in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) and Syria. His successors were
eventually conquered by Hammurabi, king of Babylon.

Middle Assyrian Period and Empire

The Middle Assyrian period begins c. 1720 BC with the ejec on of Amorites and Babylonians from
Assyria by a king called Adasi. The na on remained rela vely strong and stable, peace was made
with the Kassite rulers of Babylonia, and Assyria was free from Hi te, Hurrian, Gu an, Elamite and
Mitanni threat. King Eriba-Adad I 1392 BC - 1366), and his successors founded a powerful Assyrian
Empire that came to dominate Mesopotamia and much of the ancient world (including Babylonia,
Asia Minor, Iran, the Levant and parts of the Caucasus and Arabia) The empire endured un l 1076
BC with the death of king Tiglath-Pileser I. During this period Assyria became a major power,
becoming a rival to Egypt.

Kassite dynasty of Babylon

Although the Hi tes overthrew Babylon, another people, the Kassites, took it as their capital (c.
1650–1155 BC). They were the longest las ng dynasty in Babylon, reigning for over four centuries.
They le few records, so this period is unfortunately obscure. They are of unknown origin; what
li le we have of their language suggests it is a language isolate. Although Babylonia maintained its
independence through this period, it was not a power in the Near East, and mostly sat out the
large wars fought between Egypt, the Hi te Empire, as well as independent peoples in the region.
They did, however, fight against their long standing rival to the east, Elam. Babylonia found itself
under Assyrian and Elamite domina on for much of the later Kassite period. In the end, the
Elamites conquered Babylon, bringing this period to an end.

The Hurrians
The Hurrians were a people who se led in northwestern Mesopotamia and southeast Anatolia in
1600 BC. By 1450 BC they established a medium-sized empire under a ruling class, and temporarily
made tributary vassals out of kings in the west, making them a major threat for the Pharaoh’s in
Egypt un l their overthrow by Assyria. The Hurrian language is related to the later Urar an, but
there is no conclusive evidence these two languages are related to any others.
Hi tes
By 1300 BC the Hi tes, a western Indo-European people who dominated most of Asia Minor from
their capital of Ha usa. The Hi tes came into conflict with the Assyrians from the mid-14th to the
13th centuries BC, losing territory to the Assyrian kings of the period. However they endured un l
being finally swept aside by the Phrygians, who conquered their homelands in Asia Minor. The
Phrygians were prevented from moving south into Mesopotamia by the Assyrian king Tiglath-
Pileser I. The Hi tes fragmented into a number of small states, which endured in the region for
many centuries.

Bronze Age collapse

Records from the 12th and 11th centuries BC are sparse in Babylonia, which had been overrun
with new se lers, namely the Arameans, Chaldeans and Sutu. Assyria however, remained a
compact and strong na on, which con nued to provide much wri en record. The 10th century BC
is even worse for Babylonia, with very few inscrip ons. Mesopotamia was not alone in this
obscurity: the Hi te Empire fell at the beginning of this period and very few records are known
from Egypt and Elam. This was a me of invasion and upheaval by many new people throughout
the Near East, North Africa, The Caucasus, Mediterranean and Balkan regions.

Neo-Assyrian Empire
The Neo-Assyrian Empire is usually considered to have begun with the accession of Adad-nirari II,
in 911 BC, las ng un l the fall of Nineveh at the hands of the Babylonians, Medes, Scythians and

Cimmerians in 612 BC. The empire was the largest and most powerful the world had yet seen. At
its height Assyria conquered Egypt as well as Babylonia, Chaldea, Elam, Media, Persia, Urartu,
Phoenicia, Aramea/Syria, Phrygia, the Hi tes, Hurrians, northern Arabia, Gu um, Israel, Judah,
Moab, Edom, Corduene, Cilicia, Mannea and parts of Ancient Greece (such as Cyprus), and
defeated and/or exacted tribute from Scythia, Cimmeria, Lydia and Ethiopia.
Neo-Babylonian Empire
The Neo-Babylonian Empire or Second Babylonian Empire was a period of Mesopotamian history
which began in 620 BC and ended in 539 BC. During the preceding three centuries, Babylonia had
been ruled by Assyria. The Assyrians had managed to maintain Babylonian loyalty through the
Neo-Assyrian period, whether through gran ng of increased privileges, or militarily, but that finally
changed a er 627 BC with the death of the last strong Assyrian ruler, Ashurbanipal, and Babylonia
rebelled under Nabopolassar the following year, in alliance with king Cyaxeres of the Medes, and
the city of Ninevah was sacked in 612 BC, Assyria fell by 605 BC and the seat of empire was
transferred to Babylonia for the first me since Hammurabi.
Neo-Babylonian Empire

Classical An quity to Late An quity

Ninevah was destroyed and the Medes and Babylonians ruled Assyria. Babylon and Media
themselves fell under Persian rule in the 6th century BC (Cyrus the Great).
For two centuries of Achaemenid (Persian) rule both Assyria and Babylonia flourished, becoming a
major source of manpower for the army and a breadbasket for the economy. Aramaic (the
language spoken by Jesus), remained the lingua franca of the Achaemenid Empire, much as it had
done in Assyrian mes. Mesopotamia fell to Alexander the Great in 330 BC and remained under
Greek rule for another two centuries, with Seleucia as its capital from 305 BC. Mesopotamian
Map of ancient Mespotamian se lements.
Map of Modern Iraq

Poli cs Exercises.
(Answer ques ons in your exercise book)

7th Century relief showing King Ashurbanipal in a chariot with 3 attendants.

Mesopotamian king portrayed as a master of animals from circa 3000BC

Mesopotamian Priest-king with a brimmed round hat and large beard, excavated in Uruk and dated
to 3300 BC.

1). Look at the three sculptures above. What can we tell about kings and the nature of kingship in
Mesopotamia?

2). Look at the document on Mespotamian politics. What do you think is the reason we do not have
a complete chronology of early Mesopotamian politics?

3). Look at the map of Ancient Mesopotamian and the map of modern Iraq. Compare the maps. Draw
on the map of modern Iraq as many of the ancient settlements as you can (in the correct place).

4). Do a short piece of research (300 words) on one of the following:

Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (10,000–8700 BC)
Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (8700–6800 BC)
Jarmo (7500–5000 BC)
Hassuna (~6000 BC)
Samarra (~5700–4900 BC)
Halaf cultures (~6000–5300 BC)
Ubaid period (~6500–4000 BC)
Uruk period (~4000–3100 BC)
Jemdet Nasr period (~3100–2900 BC)
Hittite mesopotamia
The city of Sumer
The Hammurabi law code
Sargon the Great
Median and Babylonian Assyria (605 to 549 BC)
Persian Babylonia,
Achaemenid Assyria (6th to 4th centuries BC)
Seleucid Mesopotamia (4th to 2nd centuries BC)