Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia (Gk '[the land] between the rivers')
This region of the Near East is defined by the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers together with their tributaries (especially the Khabur and Balik for the Euphrates, the Diyala/Hamrin and Upper Zab for the Tigris). Although both rivers have their headwaters in Anatolian mountains to the north, these highlands are normally excluded from Mesopotamia proper. The latter is further divided into the northern piedmont, where rainfall agriculture is widely possible Assyria to the Syrian middle Euphrates) and the southern Alluvial zones where irrigation is required for farming (Babylonia or Sumer or Akkad); the Karun drainage of southwestern Iran (see Susa, Elam) might also be considered a part of Mesopotamia.
Aceramic Neolithic village life appeared in Syrian Mesopotamia (e.g. Abu Hureyra) somewhat earlier than in northeastern Mesopotamia (e.g. Maghzaliya, Qermez Dere); the latter area is still poorly known during this period. Development of irrigation techniques by the late (ceramic) Neolithic (beginning c.6000 BC) permitted farming communities to colonize central and southern Mesopotamia (Samarran and Ubaid cultures respectively; see also Choga Mami); the parallel northern Mesopotamian sequence includes Hassuna and Halaf cultures, with 'Ubaid material culture supplanting the Halaf around 4500 BC. Already in the 6th millennium BC at least some communities were using tokens and seals to record transactions (Sabi Abyad).
Clay; H. 2 in. (5.3 cm)
Purchase, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Gift, 1988 (1988.433.1)
Important elements of this culture also appeared in Elam, northern Mesopotamia, and the adjoining mountains (see Uruk expansion, Proto-Elamite). The Mesopotamian tradition developed significantly during the 3rd millenium BC (Early Dynastic period) of Sumerian city-states (see also Royal Cemetry of Ur, Kish, Asmar, Kharaje, Tello). Although northern Mesopotamia lagged behind the south (see Ninevite 5), cities eventually (2600 BC) appeared here as well (see Assur, Leilan, Taya).
When the Akkadians emerged as a political force in the south (c.2300 BC) they imposed themselves on the north as well (Brak, Ebla). The Ur III kingdom (2050 BC) also controlled northern territories, although many northern cities had declined by this time. The ziggurat, a characteristic Mesopotamian architectural feature, took its final form during Ur III times, as did many pieces of classic Mesopotamian literature.
Two centuries of competing kingdoms, often under the rule of Amorite kings, followed in the south (Isin-larsa), Mari and further west (Aleppo, Qatna); merchant families of Assur operated a system of trading colonies in Anatolia (Karum, Kanesh), and the Gulf Trade was active (see Dilmun, Magan). Hammyrabi of Babylon then bested his rivals to create a large empire around 1760 BC, but the entire region soon entered a period of decline (a 'dark age'); a Hittite raid of Babylon in 1595 BC brought Hammurabi's Old Babylonian Dynasty to a close.
A Kassite dynasty then imposed itself on Babylonia (see Aqar Kuf), governing a revitalized regional kingdom for some five centuries; the region went into an extended decline after the 11th century BC. To the north, Hurrian kings assembled the Mitanni kingdom, which stretched across northern Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean (see Nuzi, Alalakh), and came into conflict with Egyptians and Hittites.
Assur revolted and then destroyed Mitanni by the early 13th century BC, creating a small empire in northern Mesopotamia (see middle Assyrian). This empire retracted under the pressure of Aramaean incursions, but then expanded beyond its former frontiers in the 9th century BC, reaching its greatest extent in the mid 7th century BC when the Neo-Assyrian kings ruled all Mesopotamia and Elam to the Mediterranean and Egype (see also Nimrud, Khor-Sabad, Nineveh).
When the neo-Babylonian king, in alliance with the Medes, overthrew the Assyrian yoke late in the 7th century BC, Babylon established its own suzerainty over much of the former Assyrian territory. Perhaps best remembered for Nebuchadnezzar's sacking of Jerusalem and the deportation into exile of its inhabitants in 586 BC, this empire collapsed in its turn when the Achaemenid Persians conquered Babylon in 539 BC. The Achaemenids created an empire on a far vaster scale than previously attempted, controlling lands from Central Asia and northwestern India to Egypt and Thrace.
Although Parsagadae and then Persepolis were its dynastic seats, the Persians exercised administrative rule from Susa and babylon. Mesopotamia then passed into the hands of other empires - the Seleucids, Parthians, Sassanians and Moslems. Unable to withstand these waves of foreign domination, the Mesopotamian tradition gradually dissolved, the last dated cuneiform text falling around AD 75.
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