History of Mesopotamia

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Map showing the extent of Mesopotamia

The history of

Early Bronze Age, for which reason it is often called a cradle of civilization
.

Short outline of Mesopotamia

Main articles: Mesopotamia and Geography of Mesopotamia
Area of the Fertile Crescent, circa 7500 BC, with main archaeological sites of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period. At that time, the area of Mesopotamia proper was not yet settled by humans.

Mesopotamia (

Classical Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, Bēṯ Nahrēn) means "Between the Rivers". The oldest known occurrence of the name Mesopotamia dates to the 4th century BC, when it was used to designate the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers. The name Mesopotamia itself was presumably translated from the term already current in the area-probably in Aramaic and apparently was understood to mean the land lying "between the (Euphrates and Tigris) rivers" in modern-day Iraq.[1]

Later and in the broader sense, the historical region included not only the area of present-day Iraq, but also parts of present-day Iran, Syria and Turkey.[2][3][4][5][6][7] 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.[8][9][10] A further distinction is usually made between Upper or Northern Mesopotamia and Lower or Southern Mesopotamia.[11]

Arab Muslim conquests in the 7th century AD, with Arabic names like Syria, Jezirah and Iraq being used to describe the region after that date.[7][12][nb 1]

Chronology and periodization

Further information:
Dating methodologies in archaeology

Two types of chronologies can be distinguished: a

stratigraphy – the order in which layers were deposited. In general, newer remains are deposited on top of older material. Absolute chronologies are established by dating remains, or the layers in which they are found, through absolute dating methods. These methods include radiocarbon dating and the written record that can provide year names or calendar dates
.

By combining absolute and relative dating methods, a chronological framework has been built for Mesopotamia that still incorporates many uncertainties but that also continues to be refined.

Old Babylonian periods.[15] While reigns of kings can be securely dated for the 1st millennium BC, there is an increasingly large error margin toward the 2nd and 3rd millennia BC.[14]

The chronology for much of the third and second millennia BC is subject to much debate. Based on different estimates for the length of periods for which still very few historical documents are available, so-called Ultra-long, Long,

Middle, Short and Ultra-short Chronologies have been proposed by various scholars, varying by as much as 150 years in their dating of specific periods.[16][17] Despite problems with the Middle Chronology, this chronological framework continues to be used by many recent handbooks on the archaeology and history of the ancient Near East.[14][18][19][20][21] A study from 2001 published high-resolution radiocarbon dates from Turkey supporting dates for the 2nd millennium BC that are very close to those proposed by the Middle Chronology.[22][nb 2]

Prehistory

Main article: Prehistory of Mesopotamia

Pre-Pottery Neolithic period

Roughly built stone walls surrounding T-shaped stone pillars under a modern steel walkway and roof in a hilly landscape
Overview of Göbekli Tepe with modern roof to protect the site against the weather

The early Neolithic human occupation of Mesopotamia is, like the previous Epipaleolithic period, confined to the foothill zones of the Taurus and Zagros Mountains and the upper reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates valleys. The Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) period (10,000–8,700 BC) saw the introduction of agriculture, while the oldest evidence for animal domestication dates to the transition from the PPNA to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB, 8700–6800 BC) at the end of the 9th millennium BC. This transition has been documented at sites like Abu Hureyra and Mureybet, which continued to be occupied from the Natufian well into the PPNB.[23][24] The so-far earliest monumental sculptures and circular stone buildings from Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey date to the PPNA/Early PPNB and represent, according to the excavator, the communal efforts of a large community of hunter-gatherers.[25][26]

  • Inside the Shanidar Cave, where the remains of eight adults and two infant Neanderthals, dating from around 65,000–35,000 years ago were found, northern Iraq.
    Inside the Shanidar Cave, where the remains of eight adults and two infant Neanderthals, dating from around 65,000–35,000 years ago were found, northern Iraq.
  • Skeletal remains of Shanidar II, c. 60,000 to 45,000 BCE. Iraq Museum
    Skeletal remains of Shanidar II, c. 60,000 to 45,000 BCE. Iraq Museum
  • Reconstitution of housing in Aşıklı Höyük, Upper Mesopotamia, modern Turkey.
    Reconstitution of housing in Aşıklı Höyük, Upper Mesopotamia, modern Turkey.
  • Jar in calcite alabaster, Syria, late 8th millennium BC.
    Jar in calcite alabaster, Syria, late 8th millennium BC.
  • Mace-head, late 8th millennium BC.
    Mace-head, late 8th millennium BC.
  • Alabaster pot Mid-Euphrates region, 6500 BC, Louvre Museum
    Alabaster pot Mid-Euphrates region, 6500 BC, Louvre Museum
  • Alabaster pot, Mid-Euphrates region, 6500 BC, Louvre Museum
    Alabaster pot, Mid-Euphrates region, 6500 BC, Louvre Museum
  • Female statuette, 8th millennium BC, Syria.
    Female statuette, 8th millennium BC, Syria.

Chalcolithic period

Ubaid culture
in the southeast, which later expanded to encompass the whole region.

The Fertile Crescent was inhabited by several distinct, flourishing cultures between the end of the last ice age (c. 10,000 BC) and the beginning of history. One of the oldest known Neolithic sites in Mesopotamia is Jarmo, settled around 7000 BC and broadly contemporary with Jericho (in the Levant) and Çatalhöyük (in Anatolia). It as well as other early Neolithic sites, such as Samarra and Tell Halaf were in northern Mesopotamia; later settlements in southern Mesopotamia required complicated irrigation methods. The first of these was Eridu, settled during the Ubaid period culture by farmers who brought with them the Samarran culture from the north.

Halaf culture (Northwestern Mesopotamia)

Main article: Halaf culture

Pottery was decorated with abstract geometric patterns and ornaments, especially in the Halaf culture, also known for its clay fertility figurines, painted with lines. Clay was all around and the main material; often modelled figures were painted with black decoration. Carefully crafted and dyed pots, especially jugs and bowls, were traded. As dyes, iron oxide containing clays were diluted in different degrees or various minerals were mixed to produce different colours.

Hassuna culture (Northern Mesopotamia)

Main article: Hassuna culture

The Hassuna culture is a Neolithic archaeological culture in northern Mesopotamia dating to the early sixth millennium BC. It is named after the type site of Tell Hassuna in Iraq. Other sites where Hassuna material has been found include Tell Shemshara.

Samarra culture (Central Mesopotamia)

Main article: Samarra culture
Female statuette, Samarra culture, 6000 BC

The Samarra culture is a Chalcolithic archaeological culture in northern Mesopotamia that is roughly dated to 5500–4800 BCE. It partially overlaps with the Hassuna and early Ubaid.

Ubaid culture (Southern Mesopotamia)

Main article:
Ubaid culture

The Ubaid period (c. 6500–3800 BC)[27] is a prehistoric period of Mesopotamia. The name derives from Tell al-'Ubaid in Southern Mesopotamia, where the earliest large excavation of Ubaid period material was conducted initially by Henry Hall and later by Leonard Woolley.[28]

In South Mesopotamia the period is the earliest known period on the alluvial plain although it is likely earlier periods exist obscured under the alluvium.[29] In the south it has a very long duration between about 6500 and 3800 BC when it is replaced by the Uruk period.[30]

Northern expansion of Ubaid culture

Uruk period "King-Priest"
Louvre Museum.[33]

In North Mesopotamia the period runs only between about 5300 and 4300 BC.

Halaf period and the Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period and succeeded by the Late Chalcolithic period. The new period is named Northern Ubaid to distinguish it from the proper Ubaid in southern Mesopotamia,[34] and two explanations were presented for the transformation. The first maintain an invasion and a replacement of the Halafians by the Ubaidians; however, there is no hiatus between the Halaf and northern Ubaid that excludes the invasion theory.[35][36] The most plausible theory is a Halafian adoption of the Ubaid culture.[35][34][36][37]

Uruk period

Main article: Uruk period

Named after the Sumerian city of Uruk, this period saw the emergence of urban life in Mesopotamia.

Sumerian civilization took form in the Uruk period (4th millennium BC), continuing into the Jemdet Nasr and Early Dynastic periods

.[38]

The late Uruk period (34th to 32nd centuries) saw the gradual emergence of the

Early Bronze Age
; it may also be called the "Protoliterate period".

Third millennium BC

Jemdet Nasr period

Main article: Jemdet Nasr period
Administrative tablet in Proto-cuneiform, Jemdet Nasr period 3100–2900 BC, probably from the city of Uruk.

The Jemdet Nasr period, named after the type-site Jemdet Nasr, is generally dated to 3100–2900 BC.[39] It was first distinguished on the basis of distinctive painted monochrome and polychrome pottery with geometric and figurative designs.[40] The cuneiform writing system that had been developed during the preceding Uruk period was further refined. While the language in which these tablets were written cannot be identified with certainty for this period, it is thought to be Sumerian. The texts deal with administrative matters like the rationing of foodstuffs or lists of objects or animals.[41] Settlements during this period were highly organized around a central building that controlled all aspects of society. The economy focused on local agricultural production and sheep-and-goat pastoralism. The homogeneity of the Jemdet Nasr period across a large area of southern Mesopotamia indicates intensive contacts and trade between settlements. This is strengthened by the find of a sealing at Jemdet Nasr that lists a number of cities that can be identified, including Ur, Uruk and Larsa.[42]

Early Dynastic period

Main article: Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia)
Golden helmet of Meskalamdug, possible founder of the First Dynasty of Ur, 26th century BCE.

The entire Early Dynastic period is generally dated to 2900–2350 BC according to the

logographic script
which arose last half of the 4th millennium BC.

By the 3rd millennium BC, these

city-states Kish, Uruk, Ur and Lagash vied for power and gained hegemony at various times. Nippur and Girsu were important religious centers, as was Eridu at this point. This was also the time 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 cuneiform syllabic
script.

Chronology of the main dominations

The chronology of this era is particularly uncertain due to difficulties in our understanding of the text, our understanding of the material culture of the Early Dynastic period and a general lack of radiocarbon dates for sites in Iraq. Also, the multitude of city-states makes for a confusing situation, as each has its own history. In the past, the Sumerian King List was considered to be an important historical source, but recent scholarship has dismissed the utility of this text up to the point that it should not be used at all for the reconstruction of Early Dynastic political history.[45]

Banquet scene, Khafajah, c. 2650-2550 BC.

Lugal-Zage-Si
.

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),[46] but Sumerian continued to be used as a sacred, ceremonial, literary and scientific language in Mesopotamia until the 1st century AD.

Akkadian Empire

Main article: Akkadian Empire
Map of the Akkadian Empire (brown) and the directions in which military campaigns were conducted (yellow arrows)
Map of the Third Dynasty of Ur (brown) and its sphere of influence (red)

The Akkadian period is generally dated to 2350–2170 BC according to the

diversion dams into the design to facilitate the reservoirs and canals required to transport water vast distances.[47] The dynasty continued until around c. 2154 BC, and reached its zenith under Naram-Sin
, who began the trend for rulers to claim divinity for themselves.

The Akkadian Empire lost power after the reign of Naram-Sin, and eventually was invaded by the

Guti from the Zagros Mountains. For half a century the Guti controlled Mesopotamia, especially the south, but they left few inscriptions, so they are not well understood. The Guti hold loosened on southern Mesopotamia, where the second dynasty of Lagash came into prominence. Its most famous ruler was Gudea
, who left many statues of himself in temples across Sumer.

Ur III period

Main article: Third Dynasty of Ur

Eventually the Guti were overthrown by Utu-hengal of Uruk, and the various city-states again vied for power. Power over the area finally went to the city-state of Ur, when Ur-Nammu founded the Ur III Empire (2112–2004 BC) and conquered the Sumerian region. Under his son Shulgi, state control over industry reached a level never again seen in the region. 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, and the Amorites came to occupy much of the area, although it was Sumer's long-standing rivals to the east, the Elamites, who finally overthrew Ur. In the north, Assyria remained free of Amorite control until 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 civilization as their own.

Second millennium BC

Old Assyrian Period

Of the early history of the kingdom of Assyria, little is positively known. The

Sumuabum
during the reign of Erishum I.

Isin-Larsa, Old Babylonian and Shamshi-Adad I

Cylinder seal and modern impression. Presentation scene, ca. 2000–1750 B.C. Isin-Larsa
Further information:
First Babylonian Empire
Anubanini rock relief
(Isin-Larsa period)[49]
Original relief.
Components of the relief.

The next two centuries or so, called the

Amorite
ruled states also became important in the north.

Sumuabum in 1894 BC. For over a century after its founding, it was a minor and relatively weak state, overshadowed by older and more powerful states such as Isin, Larsa, Assyria and Elam. However, 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 law code and conquests, but he is also famous due to the large amount of records that exist from the period of his reign. After the death of Hammurabi, the first Babylonian dynasty lasted for another century and a half, but his empire quickly unravelled, and Babylon once more became a small state. The Amorite dynasty ended in 1595 BC, when Babylonia fell to the Hittite king Mursilis, after which the Kassites
took control.

Unlike the south of Mesopotamia, the native 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

Asia Minor and Syria. His son Ishme-Dagan I continued this process, however his successors were eventually conquered by Hammurabi, a fellow Amorite from Babylon. The three Amorite kings succeeding Ishme-Dagan were vassals of Hammurabi, but after his death, a native Akkadian vice regent Puzur-Sin overthrew the Amorites of Babylon and a period of civil war with multiple claimants to the throne ensued, ending with the succession of king Adasi
c. 1720 BC.

Middle Assyrian Period and Empire

The Middle Assyrian period begins c. 1720 BC with the ejection of Amorites and Babylonians from Assyria by a king called

Amorite land, sacking and dominating Babylon, Canaan/Phoenicia and becoming a rival to Egypt
.

Kassite dynasty of Babylon

Main article: Kassites

Although the Hittites overthrew Babylon, another people, the

Elamites
conquered Babylon, bringing this period to an end.

Hurrians

Cylinder seal,ca. 16th–15th century BC, Mitanni
Main article: Mitanni

The Hurrians were a people who settled in northwestern Mesopotamia and southeast Anatolia in 1600 BC. By 1450 BC they established a medium-sized empire under a Mitanni ruling class, and temporarily made tributary vassals out of kings in the west, making them a major threat for the Pharaoh in Egypt until their overthrow by Assyria. The Hurrian language is related to the later Urartian, but there is no conclusive evidence these two languages are related to any others.

Hittites

Main article: Hittites

By 1300 BC the Hurrians had been reduced to their homelands in

Neo-Hittite
states, which endured in the region for many centuries.

Bronze Age collapse

Main article:
Bronze Age collapse

Records from the 12th and 11th centuries BC are sparse in Babylonia, which had been overrun with new

Chaldeans and Sutu
. Assyria however, remained a compact and strong nation, which continued to provide much written record. The 10th century BC is even worse for Babylonia, with very few inscriptions. Mesopotamia was not alone in this obscurity: the Hittite Empire fell at the beginning of this period and very few records are known from Egypt and Elam. This was a time of invasion and upheaval by many new people throughout the Near East, North Africa, The Caucasus, Mediterranean and Balkan regions.

First millennium BC

Neo-Assyrian Empire

Main article: Neo-Assyrian Empire
Assyrian Crown-Prince, ca. 704–681 BC. Nineveh, Mesopotamia. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Neo-Assyrian Empire is usually considered to have begun with the accession of Adad-nirari II, in 911 BC, lasting until 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 the

Mannea and parts of Ancient Greece (such as Cyprus), and defeated and/or exacted tribute from Scythia, Cimmeria, Lydia, Nubia, Ethiopia
and others.

Neo-Babylonian Empire

Main article: 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 their fellow

Chaldean chieftain the following year. In alliance with king Cyaxares of the Medes, and with the help of the Scythians and Cimmerians the city of Nineveh was sacked in 612 BC, Assyria fell by 605 BC and the seat of empire was transferred to Babylonia for the first time since Hammurabi
.

Classical Antiquity to Late Antiquity

After the death of

Persian rule in the 6th century BC (Cyrus the Great
).

For two centuries of Achaemenid rule both Assyria and Babylonia flourished,

Islamic conquest of the mid-7th century AD, Mesopotamia saw an influx of non native Arabs and later also Turkic peoples. The city of Assur
was still occupied until the 14th century, and Assyrians possibly still formed the majority in northern Mesopotamia until the Middle Ages. Assyrians retain Eastern Rite Christianity whereas the Mandaeans retain their ancient gnostic religion and Mesopotamian Aramaic as a mother tongue and written script to this day. Among these peoples, the giving of traditional Mesopotamian names is still common.

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ Finkelstein 1962, p. 73
  2. ^ "history of Mesopotamia | Definition, Civilization, Summary, Agriculture, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-04-30.
  3. ^ "How Mesopotamia Became Iraq (and Why It Matters)". Los Angeles Times. 1990-09-02. Retrieved 2022-04-30.
  4. ^ Wood, Michael (2010-11-10). "The Ancient World | Mesopotamia". the Guardian. Retrieved 2022-04-30.
  5. S2CID 224788984
    .
  6. ^ Miquel et al. 2011.
  7. ^ a b Foster & Polinger Foster 2009, p. 6
  8. ^ a b Canard 2011
  9. ^ Wilkinson 2000, pp. 222–223
  10. ^ Matthews 2003, p. 5
  11. ^ a b Miquel et al. 2011
  12. ^ Bahrani 1998
  13. ^ a b Matthews 2003, pp. 65–66
  14. ^ a b c van de Mieroop 2007, p. 4
  15. ^ van de Mieroop 2007, p. 3
  16. ^ Brinkman 1977
  17. ^ Gasche et al. 1998
  18. ^ Kuhrt 1997, p. 12
  19. ^ Potts 1999, p. xxix
  20. ^ Akkermans & Schwartz 2003, p. 13
  21. ^ Sagona & Zimansky 2009, p. 251
  22. ^ Manning et al. 2001
  23. ^ Moore, Hillman & Legge 2000
  24. ^ Akkermans & Schwartz 2003
  25. ^ Schmidt 2003
  26. ^ Banning 2011
  27. ISBN 978-1-885923-66-0
    p. 2; "Radiometric data suggest that the whole Southern Mesopotamian Ubaid period, including Ubaid 0 and 5, is of immense duration, spanning nearly three millennia from about 6500 to 3800 B.C."
  28. ^ Hall, Henry R. and Woolley, C. Leonard. 1927. Al-'Ubaid. Ur Excavations 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  29. ^ Adams, Robert MCC. and Wright, Henry T. 1989. 'Concluding Remarks' in Henrickson, Elizabeth and Thuesen, Ingolf (eds.) Upon This Foundation - The ’Ubaid Reconsidered. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press. pp. 451-456.
  30. ^ a b Carter, Robert A. and Philip, Graham. 2010. 'Deconstructing the Ubaid' in Carter, Robert A. and Philip, Graham (eds.) Beyond the Ubaid: Transformation and Integration in the Late Prehistoric Societies of the Middle East. Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. p. 2.
  31. ^ "Site officiel du musée du Louvre". cartelfr.louvre.fr.
  32. ISBN 9780931464966
    .
  33. ^ "Site officiel du musée du Louvre". cartelfr.louvre.fr.
  34. ^
    ISBN 9781405137232
    .
  35. ^
    ISBN 9780141938257
    .
  36. ^
    ISBN 9780521796668
    .
  37. ISBN 9780826332547
    .
  38. ^ Crawford 2004, p. 75
  39. ^ Pollock 1999, p. 2
  40. ^ Matthews 2002, pp. 20–21
  41. ^ Woods 2010, pp. 36–45
  42. ^ Matthews 2002, pp. 33–37
  43. ^ a b Pruß 2004
  44. ^ Woolley 1965, p. 9
  45. ^ Marchesi, Gianni (2010). "The Sumerian King List and the Early History of Mesopotamia". M. G. Biga - M. Liverani (Eds.), ana turri gimilli: Studi dedicati al Padre Werner R. Mayer, S. J., da amici e allievi (Vicino Oriente - Quaderno 5; Roma): 231–248.
  46. ^ Woods 2006
  47. ^ "Ancient Irrigation". Archived from the original on 2019-05-03. Retrieved 2013-04-23.
  48. ^ Saggs, The Might, 24.
  49. ^ Potts 1999, p. 318.

Notes

  1. ^ This page will use Mesopotamia in its widest geographical and chronological sense.
  2. ^ This page will use the Middle Chronology.

Bibliography

Further reading

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_Mesopotamia&oldid=1216695951"