Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia[a] is a historical region of

West Asia situated within the Tigris–
Euphrates river system, in the northern
part of the Fertile Crescent. Today,
Mesopotamia is known as present-day
Iraq.[1][2] In the broader sense, the
historical region of Mesopotamia included
parts of present-day Iran, Kuwait, Syria,
and Turkey.[3][4]
 Mesopotamia

Map showing the extent of Mesopotamia. Shown

are Washukanni, Nineveh, Hatra, Assur, Nuzi,
Palmyra, Mari, Sippar, Babylon, Kish, Nippur, Isin,
Lagash, Uruk, Charax Spasinu and Ur, from north to
south.

A modern satellite view of Mesopotamia (October

2020).

The Sumerians and Akkadians (including

Assyrians and Babylonians), each
originating from different areas,
dominated Mesopotamia from the
beginning of recorded history (c. 3100 BC)
to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, when it
was conquered by the Achaemenid
Empire. Mesopotamia was next conquered
by Alexander the Great in 332 BC, and after
his death, it became part of the Greek
Seleucid Empire.

Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest

developments of the Neolithic Revolution
from around 10,000 BC. It has been
identified as having "inspired some of the
most important developments in human
history, including the invention of the
wheel, the planting of the first cereal crops,
and the development of cursive script,
mathematics, astronomy, and agriculture".
It is recognised as the cradle of some of
the world's earliest civilizations.[5]

Around 150 BC, Mesopotamia was under

the control of the Parthian Empire. It
became a battleground between the
Romans and Parthians, with western parts
of the region coming under ephemeral
Roman control. In 226 AD, the eastern
regions of Mesopotamia fell to the
Sassanid Persians. The division of the
region between the Roman (Byzantine
Empire from 395 AD) and Sassanid
Empires lasted until the 7th century
Muslim conquest of Persia of the
Sasanian Empire and Muslim conquest of
the Levant from Byzantines. A number of
primarily neo-Assyrian and Christian native
Mesopotamian states existed between the
1st century BC and 3rd century AD,
including Adiabene, Osroene, and Hatra.

Etymology

The regional toponym Mesopotamia

(/ˌmɛsəpəˈteɪmiə/, Ancient Greek:
Μεσοποταμία '[land] between rivers';
Arabic: ‫ ِب اَل د ٱلَّر اِف َد ْي ن‬Bilād ar-Rāfidayn or ‫َب ْي ن‬
‫ ٱلَّنْه َر ْي ن‬Bayn an-Nahrayn; Persian: ‫میان‌رودان‬
miyân rudân; Syriac: ‫ ܒܝܬ ܢܗ̈ܪܝܢ‬Beth
Nahrain "(land) between the (two) rivers")
comes from the ancient Greek root words
μέσος (mesos, 'middle') and ποταμός
(potamos, 'river')[6] and translates to '(land)
between rivers', likely being a calque of the
older Aramaic term, with the Aramaic term
itself likely being a calque of the Akkadian
birit narim. It is used throughout the Greek
Septuagint (c. 250 BC) to translate the
Hebrew and Aramaic equivalent Naharaim.
An even earlier Greek usage of the name
Mesopotamia is evident from The Anabasis
of Alexander, which was written in the late
2nd century AD but specifically refers to
sources from the time of Alexander the
Great. In the Anabasis, Mesopotamia was
used to designate the land east of the
Euphrates in north Syria.

The Akkadian term biritum/birit narim

corresponded to a similar geographical
concept.[7] Later, the term Mesopotamia
was more generally applied to all the lands
between the Euphrates and the Tigris,
thereby incorporating not only parts of
Syria but also almost all of Iraq and
southeastern Turkey.[8] The neighbouring
steppes to the west of the Euphrates and
the western part of the Zagros Mountains
are also often included under the wider
term Mesopotamia.[9][10][11]
A further distinction is usually made
between Northern or Upper Mesopotamia
and Southern or Lower Mesopotamia.[2]
Upper Mesopotamia, also known as the
Jazira, is the area between the Euphrates
and the Tigris from their sources down to
Baghdad.[9] Lower Mesopotamia is the
area from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf and
includes Kuwait and parts of western
Iran.[2]

In modern academic usage, the term

Mesopotamia often also has a
chronological connotation. It is usually
used to designate the area until the
Muslim conquests, with names like Syria,
Jazira, and Iraq being used to describe the
region after that date.[8][12] It has been
argued that these later euphemisms are
Eurocentric terms attributed to the region
in the midst of various 19th-century
Western encroachments.[12][13]

Geography

The Tigris river flowing through the

region of modern Mosul in Upper
Mesopotamia.
 Mesopotamian Marshes at night,
southern Iraq; reed house (Mudhif)
and narrow canoe (Mashoof) in the
water. Mudhif structures have been
one of the traditional types of
structures, built by the Marsh people
of southern Mesopotamia for at least
5,000 years. A carved elevation of a
typical mudhif, dating to around 3,300
BCE was discovered at Uruk.[14]

Mesopotamia encompasses the land

between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers,
both of which have their headwaters in the
neighboring Armenian highlands. Both
rivers are fed by numerous tributaries, and
the entire river system drains a vast
mountainous region. Overland routes in
Mesopotamia usually follow the Euphrates
because the banks of the Tigris are
frequently steep and difficult. The climate
of the region is semi-arid with a vast
desert expanse in the north which gives
way to a 15,000-square-kilometre
(5,800 sq mi) region of marshes, lagoons,
mudflats, and reed banks in the south. In
the extreme south, the Euphrates and the
Tigris unite and empty into the Persian
Gulf.

The arid environment ranges from the

northern areas of rain-fed agriculture to
the south where irrigation of agriculture is
essential.[15] This irrigation is aided by a
high water table and by melting snows
from the high peaks of the northern
Zagros Mountains and from the Armenian
Highlands, the source of the Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers that give the region its
name. The usefulness of irrigation
depends upon the ability to mobilize
sufficient labor for the construction and
maintenance of canals, and this, from the
earliest period, has assisted the
development of urban settlements and
centralized systems of political authority.

Agriculture throughout the region has been

supplemented by nomadic pastoralism,
where tent-dwelling nomads herded sheep
and goats (and later camels) from the river
pastures in the dry summer months, out
into seasonal grazing lands on the desert
fringe in the wet winter season. The area is
generally lacking in building stone,
precious metals, and timber, and so
historically has relied upon long-distance
trade of agricultural products to secure
these items from outlying areas.[16] In the
marshlands to the south of the area, a
complex water-borne fishing culture has
existed since prehistoric times and has
added to the cultural mix.

Periodic breakdowns in the cultural

system have occurred for a number of
reasons. The demands for labor has from
time to time led to population increases
that push the limits of the ecological
carrying capacity, and should a period of
climatic instability ensue, collapsing
central government and declining
populations can occur. Alternatively,
military vulnerability to invasion from
marginal hill tribes or nomadic pastoralists
has led to periods of trade collapse and
neglect of irrigation systems. Equally,
centripetal tendencies amongst city-states
have meant that central authority over the
whole region, when imposed, has tended
to be ephemeral, and localism has
fragmented power into tribal or smaller
regional units.[17] These trends have
continued to the present day in Iraq.
History

One of 18 Statues of Gudea, a

ruler around 2090 BC

The prehistory of the Ancient Near East

begins in the Lower Paleolithic period.
Therein, writing emerged with a
pictographic script, Proto-cuneiform, in the
Uruk IV period (c. late 4th millennium BC).
The documented record of actual
historical events — and the ancient history
of lower Mesopotamia — commenced in
the early-third millennium BC with
cuneiform records of early dynastic kings.
This entire history ends with either the
arrival of the Achaemenid Empire in the
late 6th century BC or with the Muslim
conquest and the establishment of the
Caliphate in the late 7th century AD, from
which point the region came to be known
as Iraq. In the long span of this period,
Mesopotamia housed some of the world's
most ancient highly developed, and
socially complex states.

The region was one of the four riverine

civilizations where writing was invented,
along with the Nile valley in Ancient Egypt,
the Indus Valley civilization in the Indian
subcontinent, and the Yellow River in
Ancient China. Mesopotamia housed
historically important cities such as Uruk,
Nippur, Nineveh, Assur and Babylon, as
well as major territorial states such as the
city of Eridu, the Akkadian kingdoms, the
Third Dynasty of Ur, and the various
Assyrian empires. Some of the important
historical Mesopotamian leaders were Ur-
Nammu (king of Ur), Sargon of Akkad
(who established the Akkadian Empire),
Hammurabi (who established the Old
Babylonian state), Ashur-uballit I and
Tiglath-Pileser I (who established the
Assyrian Empire).
Scientists analysed DNA from the 8,000-
year-old remains of early farmers found at
an ancient graveyard in Germany. They
compared the genetic signatures to those
of modern populations and found
similarities with the DNA of people living in
today's Turkey and Iraq.[18]
Periodization

After early starts in Jarmo (red dot, circa 7500

BC), the civilization of Mesopotamia in the 7th–
5th millennium BC was centered around the
Hassuna culture in the north, the Halaf culture in
the northwest, the Samarra culture in central
Mesopotamia and the Ubaid culture in the
southeast, which later expanded to encompass
the whole region.

Overview map in the 15th century BC

showing the core territory of Assyria
with its two major cities Assur and
Nineveh wedged between Babylonia
downstream and the states of Mitanni
and Hatti upstream.
Pre- and protohistory
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)[19]
Early Bronze Age
 Early Dynastic period (~2900–2350
BC)
Akkadian Empire (~2350–2100 BC)
Third Dynasty of Ur (2112–2004
BC)
Middle Bronze Age
Isin-Larsa period (19th to 18th
century BC)
First Babylonian dynasty (18th to
17th century BC)
Minoan eruption (c. 1620 BC)
Late Bronze Age
Old Assyrian period (16th to 11th
century BC)
 Middle Assyrian period
(c. 1365–1076 BC)
Kassites in Babylon,
(c. 1595–1155 BC)
Late Bronze Age collapse (12th to
11th century BC)
Iron Age
Syro-Hittite states (11th to 7th
century BC)
Neo-Assyrian Empire (10th to 7th
century BC)
Neo-Babylonian Empire (7th to 6th
century BC)
Classical antiquity
Fall of Babylon (6th century BC)
Achaemenid Babylonia,
Achaemenid Assyria (6th to 4th
century BC)
Seleucid Mesopotamia (4th to 3rd
century BC)
Parthian Babylonia (3rd century BC
to 3rd century AD)
Osroene (2nd century BC to 3rd
century AD)
Adiabene (1st to 2nd century AD)
Hatra (1st to 2nd century AD)
Roman Mesopotamia (2nd to 7th
centuries AD), Roman Assyria (2nd
century AD)
 Late Antiquity
Asōristān (3rd to 7th century AD)
Muslim conquest (mid-7th century
AD)

Language and writing

The Code of Hammurabi is a

Babylonian legal text
composed c. 1755–1750 BC. It
is the longest, best-organised,
and best-preserved legal text
from the ancient Near East. It
is written in the Old Babylonian
dialect of Akkadian,
purportedly by Hammurabi,
sixth king of the First Dynasty
of Babylon.
The earliest language written in
Mesopotamia was Sumerian, an
agglutinative language isolate. Along with
Sumerian, Semitic languages were also
spoken in early Mesopotamia.[20]
Subartuan,[21] a language of the Zagros
possibly related to the Hurro-Urartuan
language family, is attested in personal
names, rivers and mountains and in
various crafts. Akkadian came to be the
dominant language during the Akkadian
Empire and the Assyrian empires, but
Sumerian was retained for administrative,
religious, literary and scientific purposes.
Different varieties of Akkadian were used
until the end of the Neo-Babylonian period.
Old Aramaic, which had already become
common in Mesopotamia, then became
the official provincial administration
language of first the Neo-Assyrian Empire,
and then the Achaemenid Empire: the
official lect is called Imperial Aramaic.
Akkadian fell into disuse, but both it and
Sumerian were still used in temples for
some centuries. The last Akkadian texts
date from the late 1st century AD.

Early in Mesopotamia's history (around the

mid-4th millennium BC) cuneiform was
invented for the Sumerian language.
Cuneiform literally means "wedge-shaped",
due to the triangular tip of the stylus used
for impressing signs on wet clay. The
standardized form of each cuneiform sign
appears to have been developed from
pictograms. The earliest texts (7 archaic
tablets) come from the É, a temple
dedicated to the goddess Inanna at Uruk,
from a building labeled as Temple C by its
excavators.

The early logographic system of cuneiform

script took many years to master. Thus,
only a limited number of individuals were
hired as scribes to be trained in its use. It
was not until the widespread use of a
syllabic script was adopted under Sargon's
rule[22] that significant portions of the
Mesopotamian population became
literate. Massive archives of texts were
recovered from the archaeological
contexts of Old Babylonian scribal
schools, through which literacy was
disseminated.

Akkadian gradually replaced Sumerian as

the spoken language of Mesopotamia
somewhere around the turn of the 3rd and
the 2nd millennium BC (the exact dating
being a matter of debate),[23] but Sumerian
continued to be used as a sacred,
ceremonial, literary, and scientific
language in Mesopotamia until the 1st
century AD.
Literature

Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem from

ancient Mesopotamia, regarded as
the earliest surviving notable
literature.

Libraries were extant in towns and temples

during the Babylonian Empire. An old
Sumerian proverb averred that "he who
would excel in the school of the scribes
must rise with the dawn." Women as well
as men learned to read and write,[24] and
for the Semitic Babylonians, this involved
knowledge of the extinct Sumerian
language, and a complicated and
extensive syllabary.

A considerable amount of Babylonian

literature was translated from Sumerian
originals, and the language of religion and
law long continued to be the old
agglutinative language of Sumer.
Vocabularies, grammars, and interlinear
translations were compiled for the use of
students, as well as commentaries on the
older texts and explanations of obscure
words and phrases. The characters of the
syllabary were all arranged and named,
and elaborate lists were drawn up.
Many Babylonian literary works are still
studied today. One of the most famous of
these was the Epic of Gilgamesh, in twelve
books, translated from the original
Sumerian by a certain Sîn-lēqi-unninni, and
arranged upon an astronomical principle.
Each division contains the story of a single
adventure in the career of Gilgamesh. The
whole story is a composite product,
although it is probable that some of the
stories are artificially attached to the
central figure.
Science and technology

Mathematics

Clay tablet, mathematical, geometric-

algebraic, similar to the Euclidean
geometry. From Shaduppum Iraq.
2003–1595 BC. Iraq Museum.

Mesopotamian mathematics and science

was based on a sexagesimal (base 60)
numeral system. This is the source of the
60-minute hour, the 24-hour day, and the
360-degree circle. The Sumerian calendar
was lunisolar, with three seven-day weeks
of a lunar month. This form of
mathematics was instrumental in early
map-making. The Babylonians also had
theorems on how to measure the area of
several shapes and solids. They measured
the circumference of a circle as three
times the diameter and the area as one-
twelfth the square of the circumference,
which would be correct if π were fixed at 3.
The volume of a cylinder was taken as the
product of the area of the base and the
height; however, the volume of the frustum
of a cone or a square pyramid was
incorrectly taken as the product of the
height and half the sum of the bases. Also,
there was a recent discovery in which a
tablet used π as 25/8 (3.125 instead of
3.14159~). The Babylonians are also
known for the Babylonian mile, which was
a measure of distance equal to about
seven modern miles (11 km). This
measurement for distances eventually
was converted to a time-mile used for
measuring the travel of the Sun, therefore,
representing time.[25]

Algebra

The roots of algebra can be traced to the

ancient Babylonia[26] who developed an
advanced arithmetical system with which
they were able to do calculations in an
algorithmic fashion.

The Babylonian clay tablet YBC 7289

(c. 1800–1600 BC) gives an approximation
of √2 in four sexagesimal figures,
1 24 51 10, which is accurate to about six
decimal digits,[27] and is the closest
possible three-place sexagesimal
representation of √2 :
The Babylonians were not interested in
exact solutions, but rather approximations,
and so they would commonly use linear
interpolation to approximate intermediate
values.[28] One of the most famous tablets
is the Plimpton 322 tablet, created around
1900–1600 BC, which gives a table of
Pythagorean triples and represents some
of the most advanced mathematics prior
to Greek mathematics.[29]

Astronomy

From Sumerian times, temple priesthoods

had attempted to associate current events
with certain positions of the planets and
stars. This continued to Assyrian times,
when Limmu lists were created as a year
by year association of events with
planetary positions, which, when they have
survived to the present day, allow accurate
associations of relative with absolute
dating for establishing the history of
Mesopotamia.

The Babylonian astronomers were very

adept at mathematics and could predict
eclipses and solstices. Scholars thought
that everything had some purpose in
astronomy. Most of these related to
religion and omens. Mesopotamian
astronomers worked out a 12-month
calendar based on the cycles of the moon.
They divided the year into two seasons:
summer and winter. The origins of
astronomy as well as astrology date from
this time.

During the 8th and 7th centuries BC,

Babylonian astronomers developed a new
approach to astronomy. They began
studying philosophy dealing with the ideal
nature of the early universe and began
employing an internal logic within their
predictive planetary systems. This was an
important contribution to astronomy and
the philosophy of science and some
scholars have thus referred to this new
approach as the first scientific
revolution.[30] This new approach to
astronomy was adopted and further
developed in Greek and Hellenistic
astronomy.

In Seleucid and Parthian times, the

astronomical reports were thoroughly
scientific; how much earlier their advanced
knowledge and methods were developed
is uncertain. The Babylonian development
of methods for predicting the motions of
the planets is considered to be a major
episode in the history of astronomy.
The only Greek-Babylonian astronomer
known to have supported a heliocentric
model of planetary motion was Seleucus
of Seleucia (b. 190 BC).[31][32][33] Seleucus
is known from the writings of Plutarch. He
supported Aristarchus of Samos'
heliocentric theory where the Earth rotated
around its own axis which in turn revolved
around the Sun. According to Plutarch,
Seleucus even proved the heliocentric
system, but it is not known what
arguments he used (except that he
correctly theorized on tides as a result of
Moon's attraction).
Babylonian astronomy served as the basis
for much of Greek, classical Indian,
Sassanian, Byzantine, Syrian, medieval
Islamic, Central Asian, and Western
European astronomy.[34]

Medicine

Medical recipe concerning poisoning.

Terracotta tablet, from Nippur, Iraq.
The oldest Babylonian texts on medicine
date back to the Old Babylonian period in
the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. The
most extensive Babylonian medical text,
however, is the Diagnostic Handbook
written by the ummânū, or chief scholar,
Esagil-kin-apli of Borsippa,[35] during the
reign of the Babylonian king Adad-apla-
iddina (1069–1046 BC).[36]

Along with contemporary Egyptian

medicine, the Babylonians introduced the
concepts of diagnosis, prognosis, physical
examination, enemas,[37] and
prescriptions. In addition, the Diagnostic
Handbook introduced the methods of
therapy and aetiology and the use of
empiricism, logic, and rationality in
diagnosis, prognosis and therapy. The text
contains a list of medical symptoms and
often detailed empirical observations
along with logical rules used in combining
observed symptoms on the body of a
patient with its diagnosis and
prognosis.[38]

The symptoms and diseases of a patient

were treated through therapeutic means
such as bandages, creams and pills. If a
patient could not be cured physically, the
Babylonian physicians often relied on
exorcism to cleanse the patient from any
curses. Esagil-kin-apli's Diagnostic
Handbook was based on a logical set of
axioms and assumptions, including the
modern view that through the examination
and inspection of the symptoms of a
patient, it is possible to determine the
patient's disease, its aetiology, its future
development, and the chances of the
patient's recovery.[35]

Esagil-kin-apli discovered a variety of

illnesses and diseases and described their
symptoms in his Diagnostic Handbook.
These include the symptoms for many
varieties of epilepsy and related ailments
along with their diagnosis and
prognosis.[39]

Technology

Mesopotamian people invented many

technologies including metal and copper-
working, glass and lamp making, textile
weaving, flood control, water storage, and
irrigation. They were also one of the first
Bronze Age societies in the world. They
developed from copper, bronze, and gold
on to iron. Palaces were decorated with
hundreds of kilograms of these very
expensive metals. Also, copper, bronze,
and iron were used for armor as well as for
different weapons such as swords,
daggers, spears, and maces.

According to a recent hypothesis, the

Archimedes' screw may have been used by
Sennacherib, King of Assyria, for the water
systems at the Hanging Gardens of
Babylon and Nineveh in the 7th century BC,
although mainstream scholarship holds it
to be a Greek invention of later times.[40]
Later, during the Parthian or Sasanian
periods, the Baghdad Battery, which may
have been the world's first battery, was
created in Mesopotamia.[41]
Religion and philosophy

The Burney Relief, First Babylonian

dynasty, around 1800 BC

The Ancient Mesopotamian religion was

the first recorded. Mesopotamians
believed that the world was a flat disc,[42]
surrounded by a huge, holed space, and
above that, heaven. They also believed that
water was everywhere, the top, bottom and
sides, and that the universe was born from
this enormous sea. In addition,
Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic.
Although the beliefs described above were
held in common among Mesopotamians,
there were also regional variations. The
Sumerian word for universe is an-ki, which
refers to the god An and the goddess
Ki.[43] Their son was Enlil, the air god. They
believed that Enlil was the most powerful
god. He was the chief god of the
pantheon.

Philosophy

The numerous civilizations of the area

influenced the Abrahamic religions,
especially the Hebrew Bible; its cultural
values and literary influence are especially
evident in the Book of Genesis.[44]

Giorgio Buccellati believes that the origins

of philosophy can be traced back to early
Mesopotamian wisdom, which embodied
certain philosophies of life, particularly
ethics, in the forms of dialectic, dialogues,
epic poetry, folklore, hymns, lyrics, prose
works, and proverbs. Babylonian reason
and rationality developed beyond empirical
observation.[45]

Babylonian thought was also based on an

open-systems ontology which is
compatible with ergodic axioms.[46] Logic
was employed to some extent in
Babylonian astronomy and medicine.

Babylonian thought had a considerable

influence on early Ancient Greek and
Hellenistic philosophy. In particular, the
Babylonian text Dialogue of Pessimism
contains similarities to the agonistic
thought of the Sophists, the Heraclitean
doctrine of dialectic, and the dialogs of
Plato, as well as a precursor to the
Socratic method.[47] The Ionian
philosopher Thales was influenced by
Babylonian cosmological ideas.
Culture

King Meli-shipak I (1186–1172 BC)

presents his daughter to the goddess
Nannaya. The crescent moon
represents the god Sin, the sun the
Shamash and the star the goddess
Ishtar.[48][49]

Festivals

Ancient Mesopotamians had ceremonies

each month. The theme of the rituals and
festivals for each month was determined
by at least six important factors:
1. The Lunar phase (a waxing moon
meant abundance and growth, while
a waning moon was associated with
decline, conservation, and festivals of
the Underworld)
2. The phase of the annual agricultural
cycle
3. Equinoxes and solstices
4. The local mythos and its divine
Patrons
5. The success of the reigning Monarch
6. The Akitu, or New Year Festival (first
full moon after spring equinox)
7. Commemoration of specific historical
events (founding, military victories,
 temple holidays, etc.)

Music

The Queen's gold lyre from the Royal

Cemetery at Ur. c. 2500 BCE. Iraq
Museum

Some songs were written for the gods but

many were written to describe important
events. Although music and songs
amused kings, they were also enjoyed by
ordinary people who liked to sing and
dance in their homes or in the
marketplaces.
Songs were sung to children who passed
them on to their children. Thus songs were
passed on through many generations as
an oral tradition until writing was more
universal. These songs provided a means
of passing on through the centuries highly
important information about historical
events.

Games

Jemdet Nasr Cylinder presenting a

hunting scene with two lions and an
antelope. c. 3100 to 2900 BC.

Hunting was popular among Assyrian

kings. Boxing and wrestling feature
frequently in art, and some form of polo
was probably popular, with men sitting on
the shoulders of other men rather than on
horses.[50]

They also played a board game similar to

senet and backgammon, now known as
the "Royal Game of Ur".

Family life

The Babylonian marriage market by the 19th-century

painter Edwin Long
Mesopotamia, as shown by successive
law codes, those of Urukagina, Lipit Ishtar
and Hammurabi, across its history became
more and more a patriarchal society, one
in which the men were far more powerful
than the women. For example, during the
earliest Sumerian period, the "en", or high
priest of male gods was originally a
woman, that of female goddesses.
Thorkild Jacobsen, as well as others, have
suggested that early Mesopotamian
society was ruled by a "council of elders"
in which men and women were equally
represented, but that over time, as the
status of women fell, that of men
increased. As for schooling, only royal
offspring and sons of the rich and
professionals, such as scribes, physicians,
temple administrators, went to school.
Most boys were taught their father's trade
or were apprenticed out to learn a trade.[51]
Girls had to stay home with their mothers
to learn housekeeping and cooking, and to
look after the younger children. Some
children would help with crushing grain or
cleaning birds. Unusually for that time in
history, women in Mesopotamia had
rights. They could own property and, if
they had good reason, get a
divorce.[52]: 78–79
Burials

Hundreds of graves have been excavated

in parts of Mesopotamia, revealing
information about Mesopotamian burial
habits. In the city of Ur, most people were
buried in family graves under their houses,
along with some possessions. A few have
been found wrapped in mats and carpets.
Deceased children were put in big "jars"
which were placed in the family chapel.
Other remains have been found buried in
common city graveyards. 17 graves have
been found with very precious objects in
them. It is assumed that these were royal
graves. Rich of various periods, have been
discovered to have sought burial in
Bahrein, identified with Sumerian
Dilmun.[53]

Economy

Mining areas of the ancient West

Asia.

Sumerian temples functioned as banks

and developed the first large-scale system
of loans and credit, but the Babylonians
developed the earliest system of
commercial banking. It was comparable in
some ways to modern post-Keynesian
economics, but with a more "anything
goes" approach.[46]

Agriculture

Irrigated agriculture spread southwards

from the Zagros foothills with the Samara
and Hadji Muhammed culture, from about
5,000 BC.[54]

In the early period down to Ur III temples

owned up to one third of the available land,
declining over time as royal and other
private holdings increased in frequency.
The word Ensi was used to describe the
official who organized the work of all
facets of temple agriculture. Villeins are
known to have worked most frequently
within agriculture, especially in the
grounds of temples or palaces.[55]

The geography of southern Mesopotamia

is such that agriculture is possible only
with irrigation and with good drainage, a
fact which had a profound effect on the
evolution of early Mesopotamian
civilization. The need for irrigation led the
Sumerians, and later the Akkadians, to
build their cities along the Tigris and
Euphrates and the branches of these
rivers. Major cities, such as Ur and Uruk,
took root on tributaries of the Euphrates,
while others, notably Lagash, were built on
branches of the Tigris. The rivers provided
the further benefits of fish (used both for
food and fertilizer), reeds, and clay (for
building materials). With irrigation, the
food supply in Mesopotamia was
comparable to that of the Canadian
prairies.[56]

A map of the Fertile Crescent

including the location of ancient
Mesopotamia between the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers.
The Tigris and Euphrates River valleys
form the northeastern portion of the
Fertile Crescent, which also included the
Jordan River valley and that of the Nile.
Although land nearer to the rivers was
fertile and good for crops, portions of land
farther from the water were dry and largely
uninhabitable. Thus the development of
irrigation became very important for
settlers of Mesopotamia. Other
Mesopotamian innovations include the
control of water by dams and the use of
aqueducts. Early settlers of fertile land in
Mesopotamia used wooden plows to
soften the soil before planting crops such
as barley, onions, grapes, turnips, and
apples. Mesopotamian settlers were some
of the first people to make beer and wine.
As a result of the skill involved in farming
in the Mesopotamian region, farmers did
not generally depend on slaves to
complete farm work for them, but there
were some exceptions. There were too
many risks involved to make slavery
practical (i.e. the escape/mutiny of the
slaves). Although the rivers sustained life,
they also destroyed it by frequent floods
that ravaged entire cities. The
unpredictable Mesopotamian weather was
often hard on farmers; crops were often
ruined so backup sources of food such as
cows and lambs were also kept. Over time
the southernmost parts of Sumerian
Mesopotamia suffered from increased
salinity of the soils, leading to a slow
urban decline and a centring of power in
Akkad, further north.

Trade

Mesopotamian trade with the Indus Valley

civilisation flourished as early as the third
millennium BC.[57] Starting in the 4th
millennium BC, Mesopotamian
civilizations also traded with ancient Egypt
(see Egypt–Mesopotamia relations).[58][59]
For much of history, Mesopotamia served
as a trade nexus – east-west between
Central Asia and the Mediterranean
world[60] (part of the Silk Road), as well as
north–south between the Eastern Europe
and Baghdad (Volga trade route). Vasco
da Gama's pioneering (1497–1499) of the
sea route between India and Europe and
the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869
impacted on this nexus.[61][62]

Government

The geography of Mesopotamia had a

profound impact on the political
development of the region. Among the
rivers and streams, the Sumerian people
built the first cities along with irrigation
canals which were separated by vast
stretches of open desert or swamp where
nomadic tribes roamed. Communication
among the isolated cities was difficult and,
at times, dangerous. Thus, each Sumerian
city became a city-state, independent of
the others and protective of its
independence. At times one city would try
to conquer and unify the region, but such
efforts were resisted and failed for
centuries. As a result, the political history
of Sumer is one of almost constant
warfare. Eventually Sumer was unified by
Eannatum, but the unification was tenuous
and failed to last as the Akkadians
conquered Sumer in 2331 BC only a
generation later. The Akkadian Empire was
the first successful empire to last beyond
a generation and see the peaceful
succession of kings. The empire was
relatively short-lived, as the Babylonians
conquered them within only a few
generations.

Kings

7th-century BC relief depicting

Ashurbanipal (r. 669–631 BC) and
three royal attendants in a chariot.
The Mesopotamians believed their kings
and queens were descended from the city
gods, but, unlike the ancient Egyptians,
they never believed their kings were real
gods.[63] Most kings named themselves
"king of the universe" or "great king".
Another common name was "shepherd",
as kings had to look after their people.

Power

When Assyria grew into an empire, it was

divided into smaller parts, called
provinces. Each of these were named after
their main cities, like Nineveh, Samaria,
Damascus, and Arpad. They all had their
own governor who had to make sure
everyone paid their taxes. Governors also
had to call up soldiers to war and supply
workers when a temple was built. He was
also responsible for enforcing the laws. In
this way, it was easier to keep control of a
large empire. Although Babylon was quite
a small state in Sumer, it grew
tremendously throughout the time of
Hammurabi's rule. He was known as "the
lawmaker" and created the Code of
Hammurabi, and soon Babylon became
one of the main cities in Mesopotamia. It
was later called Babylonia, which meant
"the gateway of the gods." It also became
one of history's greatest centers of
learning.

Warfare

Campaign in the Mesopotamian

Marshes of southern Babylonia during
the reign of Ashurbanipal. Showing
Assyrian soldiers on boat chasing
enemies trying to run away; some are
hiding in the reeds

The Standard of Ur; 2600 BC (the

Early Dynastic Period III); shell, red
limestone and lapis lazuli on wood;
height: 21.7 cm, length: 50.4 cm;
discovered at the Royal Cemetery at
Ur (Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq)
With the end of the Uruk phase, walled
cities grew and many isolated Ubaid
villages were abandoned indicating a rise
in communal violence. An early king
Lugalbanda was supposed to have built
the white walls around the city. As city-
states began to grow, their spheres of
influence overlapped, creating arguments
between other city-states, especially over
land and canals. These arguments were
recorded in tablets several hundreds of
years before any major war—the first
recording of a war occurred around 3200
BC but was not common until about 2500
BC. An Early Dynastic II king (Ensi) of Uruk
in Sumer, Gilgamesh (c. 2600 BC), was
commended for military exploits against
Humbaba guardian of the Cedar Mountain,
and was later celebrated in many later
poems and songs in which he was
claimed to be two-thirds god and only one-
third human. The later Stele of the Vultures
at the end of the Early Dynastic III period
(2600–2350 BC), commemorating the
victory of Eannatum of Lagash over the
neighbouring rival city of Umma is the
oldest monument in the world that
celebrates a massacre.[64] From this point
forwards, warfare was incorporated into
the Mesopotamian political system. At
times a neutral city may act as an
arbitrator for the two rival cities. This
helped to form unions between cities,
leading to regional states.[63] When
empires were created, they went to war
more with foreign countries. King Sargon,
for example, conquered all the cities of
Sumer, some cities in Mari, and then went
to war with cities in modern-day Syria.
Many Assyrian and Babylonian palace
walls were decorated with the pictures of
the successful fights and the enemy either
desperately escaping or hiding amongst
reeds.

The Neo-Babylonian kings used

deportation as a means of control, like
their predecessors, the Assyrians. For the
Neo-Babylonian kings, war was a means to
obtain tribute, plunder, sought after
materials such as various metals and
quality wood) and prisoners of war which
could be put to work as slaves in the
temples which they built. The Assyrians
had displaced populations throughout
their vast empire, however, this particular
practice under the Babylonian kings would
appear to have been more limited, only
being used to establish new populations in
Babylonia itself. Though royal inscriptions
from the Neo-Babylonian period don't
speak of acts of destruction and
deportation in the same boastful way royal
inscriptions from the Neo-Assyrian period
do, this however, does not prove that the
practice ceased or that the Babylonians
were less brutal than the Assyrians, since
there is evidence that the city Ascalon was
destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar II in 604
BC.[65][66]

Laws

City-states of Mesopotamia created the

first law codes, drawn from legal
precedence and decisions made by kings.
The codes of Urukagina and Lipit-Ishtar
(the Code of Lipit-Ishtar) have been found.
The most renowned of these was that of
Hammurabi, as mentioned above, who
was posthumously famous for his set of
laws, the Code of Hammurabi (created
c. 1780 BC), which is one of the earliest
sets of laws found and one of the best
preserved examples of this type of
document from ancient Mesopotamia. He
codified over 200 laws for Mesopotamia.
Examination of the laws show a
progressive weakening of the rights of
women, and increasing severity in the
treatment of slaves.[67]

Art

The art of Mesopotamia rivalled that of

Ancient Egypt as the most grand,
sophisticated and elaborate in western
Eurasia from the 4th millennium BC until
the Persian Achaemenid Empire
conquered the region in the 6th century
BC. The main emphasis was on various,
very durable, forms of sculpture in stone
and clay; little painting has survived, but
what has suggests that painting was
mainly used for geometrical and plant-
based decorative schemes, though most
sculpture was also painted.

The Protoliterate period, dominated by

Uruk, saw the production of sophisticated
works like the Warka Vase and cylinder
seals.The Guennol Lioness is an
outstanding small limestone figure from
Elam of about 3000–2800 BC, part man
and part lion.[68] A little later there are a
number of figures of large-eyed priests
and worshippers, mostly in alabaster and
up to a foot high, who attended temple cult
images of the deity, but very few of these
have survived.[69] Sculptures from the
Sumerian and Akkadian period generally
had large, staring eyes, and long beards on
the men. Many masterpieces have also
been found at the Royal Cemetery at Ur (c.
2650 BC), including the two figures of a
Ram in a Thicket, the Copper Bull and a
bull's head on one of the Lyres of Ur.[70]
From the many subsequent periods before
the ascendency of the Neo-Assyrian
Empire Mesopotamian art survives in a
number of forms: cylinder seals, relatively
small figures in the round, and reliefs of
various sizes, including cheap plaques of
moulded pottery for the home, some
religious and some apparently not.[71] The
Burney Relief is an unusual elaborate and
relatively large (20 x 15 inches) terracotta
plaque of a naked winged goddess with
the feet of a bird of prey, and attendant
owls and lions. It comes from the 18th or
19th century BC, and may also be
moulded.[72] Stone stelae, votive offerings,
or ones probably commemorating
victories and showing feasts, are also
found from temples, which unlike more
official ones lack inscriptions that would
explain them;[73] the fragmentary Stele of
the Vultures is an early example of the
inscribed type,[74] and the Assyrian Black
Obelisk of Shalmaneser III a large and
solid late one.[75]

The conquest of the whole of

Mesopotamia and much surrounding
territory by the Assyrians created a larger
and wealthier state than the region had
known before, and very grandiose art in
palaces and public places, no doubt partly
intended to match the splendour of the art
of the neighbouring Egyptian empire. The
Assyrians developed a style of extremely
large schemes of very finely detailed
narrative low reliefs in stone for palaces,
with scenes of war or hunting; the British
Museum has an outstanding collection.
They produced very little sculpture in the
round, except for colossal guardian
figures, often the human-headed lamassu,
which are sculpted in high relief on two
sides of a rectangular block, with the
heads effectively in the round (and also
five legs, so that both views seem
complete). Even before dominating the
region they had continued the cylinder seal
tradition with designs which are often
exceptionally energetic and refined.[76]
Bronze head of an Akkadian ruler, discovered
in Nineveh in 1931, presumably depicting
either Sargon of Akkad or Sargon's grandson
Naram-Sin.[77]

Striding lions from the Processional Street of

Babylon.
Lamassu, initially depicted as a goddess in
Sumerian times, when it was called Lamma,
it was later depicted from Assyrian times as
a hybrid of a human, bird, and either a bull or
lion—specifically having a human head, the
body of a bull or a lion, and bird wings, under
the name Lamassu.[78][79]
Assyrian ornaments and patterns, illustrated
in a book from 1920

Detail of Nebuchadnezzar II's Building

Inscription plaque of the Ishtar Gate, from
Babylon
Artist's impression of a hall in an Assyrian
palace from The Monuments of Nineveh by
Austen Henry Layard, 1853

A Neo-Assyrian relief of Ashur as a feather

robed archer holding a bow instead of a ring
(9th-8th century BC)
The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III. The
king, surrounded by his royal attendants and
a high-ranking official, receives a tribute from
Sua, king of Gilzanu (north-west Iran), who
bows and prostrates before the king. From
Nimrud
"Winged genie", Nimrud c. 870 BC, with
inscription running across his midriff.

Architecture

The study of ancient Mesopotamian

architecture is based on available
archaeological evidence, pictorial
representation of buildings, and texts on
building practices. Scholarly literature
usually concentrates on temples, palaces,
city walls and gates, and other
monumental buildings, but occasionally
one finds works on residential architecture
as well.[80] Archaeological surface surveys
also allowed for the study of urban form in
early Mesopotamian cities.

Brick is the dominant material, as the

material was freely available locally,
whereas building stone had to be brought
a considerable distance to most cities.[81]
The ziggurat is the most distinctive form,
and cities often had large gateways, of
which the Ishtar Gate from Neo-
Babylonian Babylon, decorated with beasts
in polychrome brick, is the most famous,
now largely in the Pergamon Museum in
Berlin.

The most notable architectural remains

from early Mesopotamia are the temple
complexes at Uruk from the 4th
millennium BC, temples and palaces from
the Early Dynastic period sites in the Diyala
River valley such as Khafajah and Tell
Asmar, the Third Dynasty of Ur remains at
Nippur (Sanctuary of Enlil) and Ur
(Sanctuary of Nanna), Middle Bronze Age
remains at Syrian-Turkish sites of Ebla,
Mari, Alalakh, Aleppo and Kultepe, Late
Bronze Age palaces at Hattusa, Ugarit,
Ashur and Nuzi, Iron Age palaces and
temples at Assyrian (Kalhu/Nimrud,
Khorsabad, Nineveh), Babylonian
(Babylon), Urartian (Tushpa/Van, Kalesi,
Cavustepe, Ayanis, Armavir, Erebuni,
Bastam) and Neo-Hittite sites (Karkamis,
Tell Halaf, Karatepe). Houses are mostly
known from Old Babylonian remains at
Nippur and Ur. Among the textual sources
on building construction and associated
rituals are Gudea's cylinders from the late
3rd millennium are notable, as well as the
Assyrian and Babylonian royal inscriptions
from the Iron Age.
The Ishtar gate was constructed in about
575 BCE by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II.
Pergamon Museum, Berlin

The walls of Babylon, in Babylon

Ziggurat of Ur

Ziggurat of Dur-kuriagalzu in 2010

A suggested reconstruction of the
appearance of a Sumerian ziggurat

The alleged Abraham house in Ur

References

Notes

a. Turkish: Mezopotamya; Ancient Greek:

Μεσοποταμία Mesopotamíā; Arabic: ‫ِب اَل د‬
‫ ٱلَّر اِف َد ْي ن‬Bilād ar-Rāfidayn or ‫ َب ْي ُ‌ن ٱْلَن ْه َر ْي ن‬Bayn
ul-Nahrayn; Classical Syriac: ‫ܒܝܬ ܢܗ̈ܪܝܢ‬, Bēṯ
Nahrēn

Citations

1. Seymour, Michael (2004). "Ancient

Mesopotamia and Modern Iraq in the
British Press, 1980–2003" (https://www.jst
or.org/stable/10.1086/383004) . Current
Anthropology. 45 (3): 351–368.
doi:10.1086/383004 (https://doi.org/10.10
86%2F383004) . ISSN 0011-3204 (https://w
ww.worldcat.org/issn/0011-3204) .
JSTOR 10.1086/383004 (https://www.jstor.
org/stable/10.1086/383004) .
S2CID 224788984 (https://api.semanticsch
olar.org/CorpusID:224788984) . Archived
(https://web.archive.org/web/2022043001
4407/https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.108
6/383004) from the original on 30 April
2022. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
2. Miquel, A.; Brice, W.C.; Sourdel, D.; Aubin, J.;
Holt, P.M.; Kelidar, A.; Blanc, H.; MacKenzie,
D.N.; Pellat, Ch. (2011), "ʿIrāḳ", in Bearman,
P.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel,
E.; Heinrichs, W.P. (eds.), Encyclopaedia of
Islam, Second Edition, Leiden: Brill Online,
OCLC 624382576 (https://www.worldcat.or
g/oclc/624382576)
3. Sissakian, Varoujan K.; Adamo, Nasrat; Al-
Ansari, Nadhir; Mukhalad, Talal; Laue, Jan
(January 2020). "Sea Level Changes in the
Mesopotamian Plain and Limits of the
Arabian Gulf: A Critical Review" (https://ww
w.researchgate.net/publication/34006675
9) . Journal of Earth Sciences and
Geotechnical Engineering. 10 (4): 88–110.
4. Pollock, Susan (1999), Ancient
Mesopotamia. The Eden that never was,
Case Studies in Early Societies, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, p. 1, ISBN 978-
0-521-57568-3
5. Milton-Edwards, Beverley (May 2003). "Iraq,
past, present and future: a thoroughly-
modern mandate?" (https://web.archive.or
g/web/20101208112958/http://www.histor
yandpolicy.org/papers/policy-paper-13.htm
l) . History & Policy. United Kingdom.
Archived from the original (http://www.histo
ryandpolicy.org/papers/policy-paper-13.ht
ml) on 8 December 2010. Retrieved
9 December 2010.
6. Hogg, Hope Waddell (1911).
"Mesopotamia" (https://en.wikisource.org/
wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannic
a/Mesopotamia) . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.).
Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 18 (11th ed.).
Cambridge University Press. pp. 179–187.
7. Finkelstein, J.J. (1962), "Mesopotamia",
Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 21 (2):
73–92, doi:10.1086/371676 (https://doi.or
g/10.1086%2F371676) , JSTOR 543884 (ht
tps://www.jstor.org/stable/543884) ,
S2CID 222432558 (https://api.semanticsch
olar.org/CorpusID:222432558)
8. Foster, Benjamin R.; Polinger Foster, Karen
(2009), Civilizations of ancient Iraq,
Princeton: Princeton University Press,
ISBN 978-0-691-13722-3
 9. Canard, M. (2011), "al-ḎJazīra, Ḏjazīrat Aḳūr
or Iḳlīm Aḳūr", in Bearman, P.; Bianquis, Th.;
Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs,
W.P. (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second
Edition, Leiden: Brill Online,
OCLC 624382576 (https://www.worldcat.or
g/oclc/624382576)
10. Wilkinson, Tony J. (2000), "Regional
approaches to Mesopotamian archaeology:
the contribution of archaeological surveys",
Journal of Archaeological Research, 8 (3):
219–267, doi:10.1023/A:1009487620969
(https://doi.org/10.1023%2FA%3A1009487
620969) , ISSN 1573-7756 (https://www.wo
rldcat.org/issn/1573-7756) ,
S2CID 140771958 (https://api.semanticsch
olar.org/CorpusID:140771958)
11. Matthews, Roger (2003), The archaeology
of Mesopotamia. Theories and approaches,
Approaching the past, Milton Square:
Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-25317-8
12. Bahrani, Z. (1998), "Conjuring
Mesopotamia: imaginative geography a
world past", in Meskell, L. (ed.),
Archaeology under fire: Nationalism,
politics and heritage in the Eastern
Mediterranean and Middle East, London:
Routledge, pp. 159–174, ISBN 978-0-415-
19655-0
13. Scheffler, Thomas (2003). " 'Fertile
crescent', 'Orient', 'Middle East': the
changing mental maps of Southeast Asia".
European Review of History. 10 (2): 253–
272. doi:10.1080/1350748032000140796
(https://doi.org/10.1080%2F135074803200
0140796) . S2CID 6707201 (https://api.se
manticscholar.org/CorpusID:6707201) .
14. Broadbent, G., "The Ecology of the Mudhif",
in: Geoffrey Broadbent and C. A. Brebbia,
Eco-architecture II: Harmonisation Between
Architecture and Nature, WIT Press, 2008,
pp 15–26
15. Emberling 2015, p. 255.
16. Emberling 2015, p. 256.
17. Thompson, William R. (2004) "Complexity,
Diminishing Marginal Returns, and Serial
Mesopotamian Fragmentation" (Vol 3,
Journal of World-Systems Research)
18. "Migrants from the Near East 'brought
farming to Europe' " (https://www.bbc.co.u
k/news/science-environment-11729813) .
BBC. 10 November 2010. Archived (https://
web.archive.org/web/20101213144452/htt
p://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environm
ent-11729813) from the original on 13
December 2010. Retrieved 10 December
2010.
19. Pollock, Susan (1999), Ancient
Mesopotamia. The Eden that never was,
Case Studies in Early Societies, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, p. 2, ISBN 978-
0-521-57568-3
20. "Ancient History in depth: Mesopotamia" (ht
tps://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/cultur
es/mesopotamia_gallery_03.shtml) . BBC
History. Archived (https://web.archive.org/
web/20170628234445/http://www.bbc.co.
uk/history/ancient/cultures/mesopotamia_
gallery_03.shtml) from the original on 28
June 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
21. Finkelstein, J.J. (1955). "Subartu and
Subarian in Old Babylonian Sources".
Journal of Cuneiform Studies. 9 (1): 1–7.
doi:10.2307/1359052 (https://doi.org/10.2
307%2F1359052) . JSTOR 1359052 (http
s://www.jstor.org/stable/1359052) .
S2CID 163484083 (https://api.semanticsch
olar.org/CorpusID:163484083) .
22. Guo, Rongxing (2017). An Economic Inquiry
into the Nonlinear Behaviors of Nations:
Dynamic Developments and the Origins of
Civilizations (https://books.google.com/bo
oks?id=Nz8UDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA23) .
Palgrave Macmillan. p. 23.
ISBN 9783319487724. Archived (https://we
b.archive.org/web/20210414130750/http
s://books.google.com/books?id=Nz8UDgA
AQBAJ&pg=PA23) from the original on 14
April 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2019. "It was
not until the widespread use of a syllabic
script was adopted under Sargon's rule that
significant portions of Sumerian population
became literate."
23. Woods C. 2006 "Bilingualism, Scribal
Learning, and the Death of Sumerian". In
S.L. Sanders (ed) Margins of Writing,
Origins of Culture: 91–120 Chicago [1] (htt
p://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/OIS2.pdf)
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/201
30429121058/http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/O
IS2.pdf) 29 April 2013 at the Wayback
Machine
24. Tetlow, Elisabeth Meier (28 December
2004). Women, Crime and Punishment in
Ancient Law and Society: Volume 1: The
Ancient Near East (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=ONkJ_Rj1SS8C&pg=PA75) .
A&C Black. p. 75. ISBN 9780826416285.
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/202
00522152934/https://books.google.com/b
ooks?id=ONkJ_Rj1SS8C&pg=PA75) from
the original on 22 May 2020. Retrieved
20 June 2015.
25. Eves, Howard (1969). An Introduction to the
History of Mathematics (https://archive.or
g/details/introductiontohi00eves_0) . Holt,
Rinehart and Winston. p. 31 (https://archiv
e.org/details/introductiontohi00eves_0/pag
e/31) . ISBN 9780030745508.
26. Struik, Dirk J. (1987). A Concise History of
Mathematics (https://archive.org/details/c
oncisehistoryof0000stru_m6j1) . New York:
Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0-486-60255-
4.
27. Fowler and Robson, p. 368. Photograph,
illustration, and description of the root(2)
tablet from the Yale Babylonian Collection
(http://it.stlawu.edu/%7Edmelvill/mesomat
h/tablets/YBC7289.html) Archived (http
s://web.archive.org/web/2012081305403
6/http://it.stlawu.edu/%7Edmelvill/mesoma
th/tablets/YBC7289.html) 2012-08-13 at
the Wayback Machine High resolution
photographs, descriptions, and analysis of
the root(2) tablet (YBC 7289) from the Yale
Babylonian Collection (http://www.math.ub
c.ca/%7Ecass/Euclid/ybc/ybc.html)
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/202
00712173830/http://www.math.ubc.ca/~c
ass/Euclid/ybc/ybc.html) 12 July 2020 at
the Wayback Machine
28. Boyer 1991, "Mesopotamia" p. 30:
"Babylonian mathematicians did not
hesitate to interpolate by proportional parts
to approximate intermediate values. Linear
interpolation seems to have been a
commonplace procedure in ancient
Mesopotamia, and the positional notation
lent itself conveniently to the rile of three.
[...] a table essential in Babylonian algebra;
this subject reached a considerably higher
level in Mesopotamia than in Egypt. Many
problem texts from the Old Babylonian
period show that the solution of the
complete three-term quadratic equation
afforded the Babylonians no serious
difficulty, for flexible algebraic operations
had been developed. They could transpose
terms in an equations by adding equals to
equals, and they could multiply both sides
by like quantities to remove fractions or to
eliminate factors. By adding to
they could obtain for
they were familiar with many simple forms
of factoring. [...]Egyptian algebra had been
much concerned with linear equations, but
the Babylonians evidently found these too
elementary for much attention. [...] In
another problem in an Old Babylonian text
we find two simultaneous linear equations
in two unknown quantities, called
respectively the "first silver ring" and the
"second silver ring.""
29. Joyce, David E. (1995). "Plimpton 322" (htt
p://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/mathhist/pli
mpnote.html) . Archived (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20110308060531/http://aleph0.
clarku.edu/~djoyce/mathhist/plimpnote.ht
ml) from the original on 8 March 2011.
Retrieved 3 June 2022. "The clay tablet with
the catalog number 322 in the G. A.
Plimpton Collection at Columbia University
may be the most well known mathematical
tablet, certainly the most photographed
one, but it deserves even greater renown. It
was scribed in the Old Babylonian period
between −1900 and −1600 and shows the
most advanced mathematics before the
development of Greek mathematics."
30. D. Brown (2000), Mesopotamian Planetary
Astronomy-Astrology, Styx Publications,
ISBN 90-5693-036-2.
31. Otto E. Neugebauer (1945). "The History of
Ancient Astronomy Problems and
Methods", Journal of Near Eastern Studies
4 (1), p. 1–38.
32. George Sarton (1955). "Chaldaean
Astronomy of the Last Three Centuries
B.C.", Journal of the American Oriental
Society 75 (3), p. 166–173 [169].
33. William P.D. Wightman (1951, 1953), The
Growth of Scientific Ideas, Yale University
Press p.38.
34. Pingree (1998)
35. H.F.J. Horstmanshoff, Marten Stol, Cornelis
Tilburg (2004), Magic and Rationality in
Ancient Near Eastern and Graeco-Roman
Medicine, p. 99, Brill Publishers, ISBN 90-
04-13666-5.
36. Stol 1993, p. 55.
37. Friedenwald, Julius; Morrison, Samuel
(January 1940). "The History of the Enema
with Some Notes on Related Procedures
(Part I)". Bulletin of the History of Medicine.
Johns Hopkins University Press. 8 (1): 77.
JSTOR 44442727 (https://www.jstor.org/st
able/44442727) .
38. H.F.J. Horstmanshoff, Marten Stol, Cornelis
Tilburg (2004), Magic and Rationality in
Ancient Near Eastern and Graeco-Roman
Medicine, pp. 97–98, Brill Publishers,
ISBN 90-04-13666-5.
39. Stol 1993, p. 5.
40. Stephanie Dalley and John Peter Oleson
(January 2003). "Sennacherib, Archimedes,
and the Water Screw: The Context of
Invention in the Ancient World", Technology
and Culture 44 (1).
41. Twist, Jo (20 November 2005), "Open
media to connect communities" (http://new
s.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4450052.st
m) , BBC News, archived (https://web.archi
ve.org/web/20190517132329/http://news.
bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4450052.stm)
from the original on 17 May 2019, retrieved
6 August 2007
42. Lambert, W.G. (2016). Ancient
Mesopotamian Religion and Mythology:
Selected Essays (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=dTLWQddp8zwC&pg=PA111) .
The Cosmology of Sumer & Babylon. Mohr
Siebeck. p. 111. ISBN 978-3161536748.
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/202
20501165046/https://books.google.com/b
ooks?id=dTLWQddp8zwC) from the
original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 8 July
2019.
43. Hetherington, Norriss S. (2014).
Encyclopedia of Cosmology (Routledge
Revivals) : Historical, Philosophical, and
Scientific Foundations of Modern
Cosmology. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.
p. 399. ISBN 9781317677666.
44. Bertman, Stephen (2005). Handbook to life
in ancient Mesopotamia (Paperback ed.).
Oxford [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press. p. 312.
ISBN 978-0-19-518364-1.
45. Giorgio Buccellati (1981), "Wisdom and Not:
The Case of Mesopotamia", Journal of the
American Oriental Society 101 (1), pp. 35–
47.
46. Dow, Sheila C. (April 2005). "Axioms and
Babylonian thought: A reply" (https://www.t
andfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0160347
7.2005.11051453) . Journal of Post
Keynesian Economics. 27 (3): 385–391.
doi:10.1080/01603477.2005.11051453 (htt
ps://doi.org/10.1080%2F01603477.2005.11
051453) . S2CID 153637070 (https://api.se
manticscholar.org/CorpusID:153637070) .
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/202
00803222653/https://www.tandfonline.co
m/doi/abs/10.1080/01603477.2005.11051
453) from the original on 3 August 2020.
Retrieved 7 December 2019.
47. Giorgio Buccellati (1981), "Wisdom and Not:
The Case of Mesopotamia", Journal of the
American Oriental Society 101 (1), pp. 35–
47 43.
48. Black & Green 1992, pp. 156, 169–170.
49. Liungman 2004, p. 228.
50. Karen Rhea Nemet-Nejat (1998), Daily Life
in Ancient Mesopotamia
51. Rivkah Harris (2000), Gender and Aging in
Mesopotamia
52. Kramer, Samuel Noah (1963). The
Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and
Character (https://archive.org/details/sume
rianstheirhi00samu) . The Univ. of Chicago
Press. ISBN 978-0-226-45238-8.
53. Bibby, Geoffrey and Phillips, Carl (1996),
"Looking for Dilmun" (Interlink Pub Group)
54. Richard Bulliet; Pamela Kyle Crossley;
Daniel Headrick; Steven Hirsch; Lyman
Johnson; David Northup (1 January 2010).
The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History
(https://books.google.com/books?id=jvsVS
qhw-FAC&pg=PA29) . Cengage Learning.
ISBN 978-0-538-74438-6. Archived (https://
web.archive.org/web/20210414161613/htt
ps://books.google.com/books?id=jvsVSqh
w-FAC&pg=PA29) from the original on 14
April 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
55. H.W.F. Saggs – Professor Emeritus of
Semitic Languages at University College,
Cardiff (2000). Babylonians (https://books.
google.com/books?id=BPdLxEyHci0C&pg=
PA58) . University of California Press.
ISBN 978-0-520-20222-1. Archived (https://
web.archive.org/web/20210414130752/htt
ps://books.google.com/books?id=BPdLxEy
Hci0C&pg=PA58) from the original on 14
April 2021. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
56. Roux, Georges, (1993) "Ancient Iraq"
(Penguin).
57. Wheeler, Mortimer (1953). The Indus
Civilization (https://books.google.com/boo
ks?id=9cs7AAAAIAAJ) . Cambridge history
of India: Supplementary volume (3 ed.).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
(published 1968). p. 111.
ISBN 9780521069588. Archived (https://we
b.archive.org/web/20210410083125/http
s://books.google.com/books?id=9cs7AAA
AIAAJ) from the original on 10 April 2021.
Retrieved 10 April 2021. "In calculating the
significance of Indus contacts with
Mesopotamia, it is obvious that the
economic vitality of Mesopotamia is the
controlling factor. Documentary evidence
there vouches for vigorous commercial
 activity in the Sarginid and Larsa phases
[...]"
58. Shaw, Ian. & Nicholson, Paul, The Dictionary
of Ancient Egypt, (London: British Museum
Press, 1995), p. 109.
59. Mitchell, Larkin. "Earliest Egyptian Glyphs"
(https://archive.archaeology.org/9903/new
sbriefs/egypt.html) . Archaeology.
Archaeological Institute of America.
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/201
21227081007/http://www.archaeology.org/
9903/newsbriefs/egypt.html) from the
original on 27 December 2012. Retrieved
29 February 2012.
60. Bryce, James (1886). "The Relations of
History and Geography" (https://books.goo
gle.com/books?id=YIEkAQAAIAAJ) .
Littell's Living Age. 5. Boston: Littell and Co.
169: 70. Archived (https://web.archive.org/
web/20210411224831/https://books.googl
e.com/books?id=YIEkAQAAIAAJ) from the
original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 10 April
2021. "There was also an important trade
route through central Asia, which coming
down through Persia and Mesopotamia to
the Levant, reached the sea in northern
Syria [...]. These trade routes assumed
enormous importance in the earlier Middle
Ages, and upon them great political issues
turned."
61. Bulliet, Richard; Crossley, Pamela Kyle;
Headrick, Daniel R.; Hirsch, Steven W.;
Johnson, Lyman L.; Northrup, David (2009).
"Interregional Patterns of Culture and
Contact". The Earth and Its Peoples: A
Global History (https://books.google.com/b
ooks?id=8kfAAgAAQBAJ) (6 ed.). Cengage
Learning (published 2014). p. 279.
ISBN 9781305147096. Archived (https://we
b.archive.org/web/20210411224830/http
s://books.google.com/books?id=8kfAAgAA
QBAJ) from the original on 11 April 2021.
Retrieved 10 April 2021. "Eurasia's overland
trade faded, and merchants, soldiers, and
explorers took to the seas."
62. Brebbia, Carlos A.; Martinez Boquera, A.,
eds. (28 December 2016). Islamic Heritage
Architecture (https://books.google.com/bo
oks?id=q37zDQAAQBAJ) . Volume 159 of
WIT transactions on the built environment.
Southampton: WIT Press (published 2016).
p. 111. ISBN 9781784662370. Retrieved
10 April 2021. "[...] the Silk Road [...] passed
through central Asia and Mesopotamia.
When the Suez Canal was inaugurated in
1869, trade was diverted to the sea [...]."
63. Robert Dalling (2004), The Story of Us
Humans, from Atoms to Today's Civilization
64. Winter, Irene J. (1985). "After the Battle is
Over: The 'Stele of the Vultures' and the
Beginning of Historical Narrative in the Art
of the Ancient Near East". In Kessler,
Herbert L.; Simpson, Marianna Shreve.
Pictorial Narrative in Antiquity and the
Middle Ages. Center for Advanced Study in
the Visual Arts, Symposium Series IV. 16.
Washington DC: National Gallery of Art. pp.
11–32. ISSN 0091-7338 (https://www.world
cat.org/search?fq=x0:jrnl&q=n2:0091-733
8) .
65. Beaulieu 2005, pp. 57–58.
66. Stager 1996, pp. 57–69, 76–77.
67. Fensham, F. Charles (19620, "Widow,
Orphan, and the Poor in Ancient near
Eastern Legal and Wisdom Literature"
(Journal of Near Eastern Studies Vol. 21,
No. 2 (Apr. 1962)), pp. 129–139
68. Frankfort 1970, pp. 24–37.
69. Frankfort 1970, pp. 45–59.
70. Frankfort 1970, pp. 61–66.
71. Frankfort 1970, Chapters 2–5.
72. Frankfort 1970, pp. 110–112.
73. Frankfort 1970, pp. 66–74.
74. Frankfort 1970, pp. 71–73.
75. Frankfort 1970, pp. 66–74, 167.
76. Frankfort 1970, pp. 141–193.
77. M. E. L. Mallowan, "The Bronze Head of the
Akkadian Period from Nineveh (https://ww
w.jstor.org/stable/4241589) Archived (http
s://web.archive.org/web/2020042100495
3/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4241589)
21 April 2020 at the Wayback Machine",
Iraq Vol. 3, No. 1 (1936), 104-110.
78. Leick, Gwendolyn (2002). A Dictionary of
Ancient Near Eastern Mythology (https://bo
oks.google.com/books?id=_pqEAgAAQBAJ
&pg=PA109) . Routledge. pp. 109–110.
ISBN 978-1-134-64102-4. Archived (https://
web.archive.org/web/20211121170406/htt
ps://books.google.com/books?id=_pqEAgA
AQBAJ&pg=PA109) from the original on
21 November 2021. Retrieved 10 March
2022.
79. "Livius.org" (https://www.livius.org/la-ld/la
massu/lamassu.html) . Archived (https://w
eb.archive.org/web/20140601064047/htt
p://www.livius.org/la-ld/lamassu/lamassu.
html) from the original on 1 June 2014.
Retrieved 10 March 2022.
80. Dunham, Sally (2005), "Ancient Near
Eastern architecture", in Daniel Snell (ed.), A
Companion to the Ancient Near East,
Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 266–280, ISBN 978-
0-631-23293-3
81. "Mesopotamia" (http://www.worldhistory.or
g/Mesopotamia/) . World History
Encyclopedia. Archived (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20210410223519/https://www.
worldhistory.org/Mesopotamia/) from the
original on 10 April 2021. Retrieved 21 July
2017.

Sources

Beaulieu, P. A. (2005). "World Hegemony,

900–300 BCE". In Snell, D. C. (ed.). A
Companion to the Ancient Near East.
Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-
1405160018.
Black, Jeremy; Green, Anthony (1992).
Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient
Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary (h
ttps://books.google.com/books?id=05L
XAAAAMAAJ&q=Inana) . The British
Museum Press. ISBN 978-0-7141-1705-
8.
Boyer, Carl B. (1991). A History of
Mathematics (https://archive.org/detail
s/historyofmathema00boye) (2nd ed.).
John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-
54397-8.
Emberling, Geoff (2015).
"Mesopotamian cities and urban
process, 3500–1600 BCE". In Yoffee,
Norman (ed.). Early Cities in Comparative
Perspective, 4000 BCE–1200 CE (https://
books.google.com/books?id=SQS7BwA
AQBAJ) . The Cambridge World History.
Vol. 3. Cambridge University Press.
ISBN 978-0-521-19008-4.
Frankfort, Henri (1970). The Art and
Architecture of the Ancient Orient.
Pelican History of Art (4th ed.). Penguin
(now Yale History of Art). ISBN 0-14-
056107-2.
Liungman, Carl G. (2004). Symbols:
Encyclopedia of Western Signs and
Ideograms. Lidingö, Sweden: HME
Publishing. ISBN 978-91-972705-0-2.
Pingree, David (1998). "Legacies in
Astronomy and Celestial Omens". In
 Dalley, Stephanie (ed.). The Legacy of
Mesopotamia. Oxford University Press.
pp. 125–137. ISBN 978-0-19-814946-0.
Stager, L. E. (1996). "The fury of
Babylon: Ashkelon and the archaeology
of destruction". Biblical Archaeology
Review. 22 (1).
Stol, Marten (1993). Epilepsy in
Babylonia. Brill Publishers. ISBN 90-
72371-63-1.

Further reading

Algaze, Guillermo, 2008 Ancient

Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization:
the Evolution of an Urban Landscape.
University of Chicago Press.
ISBN 9780226013770
Atlas de la Mésopotamie et du Proche-
Orient ancien, Brepols, 1996 ISBN 2-503-
50046-3.
Bottéro, Jean; 1987. (in French)
Mésopotamie. L'écriture, la raison et les
dieux, Gallimard, coll. « Folio Histoire »,
ISBN 2-07-040308-4.
Bottéro, Jean (15 June 1995).
Mesopotamia: Writing, Reasoning, and
the Gods (https://archive.org/details/me
sopotamia00jean) . Translated by
Bahrani, Zainab; Van de Mieroop, Marc.
University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-
0226067278.
Edzard, Dietz Otto; 2004. Geschichte
Mesopotamiens. Von den Sumerern bis
zu Alexander dem Großen, München,
ISBN 3-406-51664-5
Hrouda, Barthel and Rene Pfeilschifter;
2005. Mesopotamien. Die antiken
Kulturen zwischen Euphrat und Tigris.
München 2005 (4. Aufl.), ISBN 3-406-
46530-7
Joannès, Francis; 2001. Dictionnaire de
la civilisation mésopotamienne, Robert
Laffont.
Korn, Wolfgang; 2004. Mesopotamien –
Wiege der Zivilisation. 6000 Jahre
Hochkulturen an Euphrat und Tigris,
Stuttgart, ISBN 3-8062-1851-X
Matthews, Roger; 2005. The early
prehistory of Mesopotamia – 500,000 to
4,500 BC, Turnhout 2005, ISBN 2-503-
50729-8
Oppenheim, A. Leo; 1964. Ancient
Mesopotamia: Portrait of a dead
civilization. The University of Chicago
Press: Chicago and London. Revised
edition completed by Erica Reiner, 1977.
Pollock, Susan; 1999. Ancient
Mesopotamia: the Eden that never was.
 Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Postgate, J. Nicholas; 1992. Early
Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at
the dawn of history. Routledge: London
and New York.
Roux, Georges; 1964. Ancient Iraq,
Penguin Books.
Silver, Morris; 2007. Redistribution and
Markets in the Economy of Ancient
Mesopotamia: Updating Polanyi, Antiguo
Oriente 5: 89–112.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related

to Mesopotamia.
 Wikivoyage has a travel guide for
Ancient Mesopotamia.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for
Mesopotamia (Region).
Ancient Mesopotamia (https://www.worl
dhistory.org/Mesopotamia/) – timeline,
definition, and articles at World History
Encyclopedia
Mesopotamia (http://www.mesopotami
a.co.uk/) – introduction to
Mesopotamia from the British Museum
By Nile and Tigris, a narrative of journeys
in Egypt and Mesopotamia on behalf of
the British museum between the years
1886 and 1913 (https://web.archive.org/
web/20070721235759/http://fax.libs.ug
a.edu/DS49xB8x1920/) , by Sir E. A.
Wallis Budge, 1920 (a searchable
facsimile at the University of Georgia
Libraries; DjVu & layered PDF (https://we
b.archive.org/web/20081121055457/htt
p://fax.libs.uga.edu/DS49xB8x1920/1f)
format)
Mesopotamian Archaeology (http://fax.li
bs.uga.edu/DS69x5xH236M/) Archived
(https://web.archive.org/web/20050215
054649/http://fax.libs.uga.edu/DS69x5x
H236M/) 15 February 2005 at the
Wayback Machine, by Percy S. P.
Handcock, 1912 (a searchable facsimile
at the University of Georgia Libraries;
 DjVu & "layered PDF format" (https://we
b.archive.org/web/20051007220405/htt
p://fax.libs.uga.edu/DS69x5xH236M/1f/
mesopotamian_archaeology.pdf) (PDF).
Archived from the original (http://fax.lib
s.uga.edu/DS69x5xH236M/1f/mesopot
amian_archaeology.pdf) (PDF) on 7
October 2005. Retrieved 19 September
2005. (12.8 MB))

Portals: Asia History

Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Mesopotamia&oldid=1198332292"
This page was last edited on 23 January 2024, at
21:07 (UTC). •
Content is available under CC BY-SA 4.0 unless
otherwise noted.