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Welcome to our journey through Mesopotamia, Iraq's cradle of civilization! At our core, we're driven by a passionate mission: to unveil the timeless allure of Mesopotamia and beckon travelers to discover its ancient wonders. Our goal is to open doors to the birthplace of human civilization, inviting adventurers, history enthusiasts, and culture seekers to immerse themselves in the richness of this historic land. We strive to offer immersive experiences that transcend mere sightseeing, aiming to forge connections between past and present, fostering understanding and appreciation for Mesopotamia's profound legacy. Through our tailored tours, we aspire to showcase the mesmerizing tapestry of archaeological marvels, diverse cultures, and warm hospitality that define this extraordinary region. Join us as we embark on an expedition to Mesopotamia, where the echoes of history resonate and where every step tells a story waiting to be heard.

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Creating Opportunities: We're dedicated to generating jobs and income for locals, providing employment in hospitality, guiding, and various tourism-related sectors.

Preserving Heritage: By promoting tourism, we actively contribute to conserving Iraq's rich cultural heritage, ensuring its preservation for generations to come.

Economic Boost: Through increased tourist spending, we drive economic growth within communities, benefiting local businesses and services.

Building Infrastructure: Our efforts improve local infrastructure, enhancing accessibility and convenience for both residents and visitors alike.

Cultural Exchange: We foster cultural exchange and understanding, encouraging interactions between visitors and locals for mutual appreciation and learning.

Sustainable Practices: We're committed to sustainable tourism, implementing eco-friendly initiatives that protect the environment and resources while benefitting local livelihoods.

Join us on a journey that not only explores the beauty of Iraq but also makes a meaningful impact on the lives of its communities. Together, let's create unforgettable experiences while supporting the heart and soul of this remarkable country.

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Ancient Mesopotamia

• 1 Understand
• 2.2 Akkad, Babylon and Assyria
• 2.3 Later cities

<a href=\"https://tools.wmflabs.org/wikivoyage/w/poi2gpx.php?print=gpx&amp;lang=en&amp;name=Ancient_Mesopotamia\" title=\"Download GPX file for this article\" data-parsoid=\"{}\"><img alt=\"Download GPX file for this article\" resource=\"./File:GPX_Document_rev3-20x20.png\" src=\"//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/GPX_Document_rev3-20x20.png\" decoding=\"async\" data-file-width=\"20\" data-file-height=\"20\" data-file-type=\"bitmap\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" class=\"mw-file-element\" data-parsoid='{\"a\":{\"resource\":\"./File:GPX_Document_rev3-20x20.png\",\"height\":\"20\",\"width\":\"20\"},\"sa\":{\"resource\":\"File:GPX Document rev3-20x20.png\"}}'/></a></span>"}'/> Mesopotamia is in the Middle East , mainly in present-day Iraq , with parts of it in Syria and Turkey and influence extending into what are now Iran and the Persian Gulf states. The name translates literally as 'between rivers', and an alternate term is the Land of the Two Rivers. The rivers involved are the Tigris and Euphrates; both rise in the mountains of Eastern Anatolia , run more-or-less parallel, then join near Basra to form the Shatt al-Arab which flows into the Persian Gulf.

As of mid-2024, most of the region is too dangerous to visit; see warnings in the Syria and Iraq articles.

Mesopotamia forms part of a historically important region called the Fertile Crescent ; the other main part is the Levant . The region was one of the cradles of civilisation, where farming and cities first arose.

Mesopotamia was one of the great Bronze Age civilizations, along with Ancient Egypt , Ancient China , the Indus Valley Civilisation and others. All of those built cities and empires, and developed or imported innovations such as bronze-working, irrigation, writing, glass, mathematics , natural science, measurements of time, city planning, and the wheel. Historians debate who was first with each, and Mesopotamia is a candidate for most of them.

Mesopotamia has a prominent role in the Abrahamic religions — Judaism , Christianity and Islam — and a shared history with the Holy Land . The Israelites' exile in Babylon around 600   BCE is well described in the Old Testament, and is one of the oldest Biblical events supported by historical records. Like many other ancient empires, Babylon primarily became known among Europeans through the Bible .

Most languages native to the region — including Akkadian which was the main language of the Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires, and Aramaic which became important later — were from the Semitic family which includes Arabic and Hebrew. Sumerian — spoken in Sumer and used by priests and scholars for centuries after Akkadian replaced it in general use — was a language isolate, unrelated to any other known language.

The land later became a subject under many empires: the Hittites , the Hellenic Empire of Alexander the Great and his successors, the Roman Empire and its successor the Byzantine Empire , various incarnations of the Persian Empire , the Mongol Empire , the Caliphate of Baghdad (see Islamic Golden Age ), the Ottoman Empire , and the British Empire .

Mesopotamia has been devastated by war many times in history, including in the 21st century. Iraq and Syria are, as of 2024, still dangerous destinations; see warnings in those articles.

Destinations

This article focuses on the great Mesoptamian civilisations of the Bronze Age; see Fertile Crescent for archeological sites dating back before those.

Sumer was the earliest known civilisation, starting before 5000 BCE. Quite likely it was the first to enter the Bronze Age, and the first to evolve from city-states to an empire.

Not far from those were other Sumerian cities:

Akkad, Babylon and Assyria

Around 2270 BCE, the Sumerians were conquered by the Akkadian Empire. The later empires of the region all spoke Akkadian and had their main cities north of Sumer.

Many of the cities listed were smashed by the Medes around 610 BCE as the Assyrian Empire fell.

Both Nimrud and Nineveh were severely damaged by the so-called Islamic State during the 2014-17 Civil War.

Later cities

The Assyrian Empire fell in about 610 BCE, with the Medes and the Mittani picking up many of the pieces. Then the region was taken by Persia around 539 BCE, and Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire, including this area, around 330 BCE. Some cities in Mesopotamia were built after those events.

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Ancient Mesopotamia - an overview

• Studying Mesopotamia at Cambridge
• Mesopotamian Research at Cambridge
• Online Resources for Mesopotamia

Ancient Mesopotamia , the land of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, now lies mostly in modern Iraq and northeastern Syria, together with southeastern Turkey and western Iran. More than five thousand years ago, the world's first literate and urban society arose in this region. Mesopotamia was diverse and endlessly changing. After the early historical cultures of Sumer and Akkad, the region was later dominated by the great empires of Assyria and Babylonia and was in constant interaction with the contemporary cultures of Anatolia (modern Turkey), northwest Syria, the Levant, Egypt, Iran and the Gulf.

Mesopotamian history is the first chapter in the history of the western world. After the first flourishing of urban culture, associated particularly with the spectacular temple architecture and the earliest written archives excavated at Uruk in the south of Iraq, the Early Dynastic period saw rival city-states vying for control of the irrigated land of south Mesopotamia and extending their economic and cultural influences to neighbouring lands. The dynasty founded by Sargon of Akkad and the Third Dynasty of Ur each united the region under one ruler for a century or more, and later all the south fell under the control of Hammurabi of Babylon, an achievement he celebrated by promulgating his laws and inscribing them on his famous Stele (now in the Louvre).

What is special about Mesopotamia is that the bare bones of this political history can be fleshed out with deep insights into both the social and economic conditions and the religious, scientific and literary traditions, from the wealth of cuneiform documents which survive from public and private libraries and archives. We have the personal correspondence received or dictated by figures such as Hammurabi of Babylon or Sargon of Assyria, and everyday legal and commercial transactions which allow us to approach the reality behind the propaganda the kings have left us and see into the lives of farmers and merchants. The scribal classes have left us the original record of their astronomical and mathematical expertise, and the handbooks of diviners and exorcists give us an insight into those branches of contemporary science. In a very real sense, ancient Mesopotamia is a long first chapter in the history of the western world.

Britain has been a centre for Assyriology since the early days of exploration, study and research in Mesopotamia. It has a lengthy tradition of active fieldwork, beginning with the explorations of Layard at Nimrud and Nineveh in the 1840s, continuing through the 1920s-1950s with the research of Sir Max Mallowan at Nimrud, Arpachiyah, Tell Brak and Chagar Bazar, Sir Leonard Woolley at Ur, and Seton Lloyd at Tell Uqair, Eridu and Tell Hassuna. In Iraq during the 1960s-1980s, British archaeological teams excavated at Tell al-Rimah, Abu Salabikh, Umm Dabaghiyah, Choga Mami, and on numerous rescue projects, embracing modern scientific techniques. The unrivalled collections of tablets and artifacts in the British Museum in particular have inspired generations of scholars.

Click for more information on Mesopotamian languages and archaeology .

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(Formerly Kurdistan Iraq Tours)

30 YEARS​ JOURNEYING THROUGH THE CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION

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Explore Mesopotamia

The cradle of civilization

WHY TRAVEL WITH EXPLORE MESOPOTAMIA?

Explore Mesopotamia is the only locally and internationally registered Tour Company in the region. We have been hosting world travelers for over 30 years. In the world of Adventure Travel—experience matters—especially in the Middle East! We custom design every tour to meet the needs and desires of our guests. We can provide the highest level of luxury or, if budget is an issue, we will make the magic of Mesopotamia come alive at a price you can afford. We attend to every detail from the moment you set foot at the airport until the moment you depart. If you want the best — travel with the best! Tell us what you want to see and where you want to go, and we will do our utmost to make it happen.

MESOPOTAMIA

Mesopotamia  ​(from the Greek, meaning 'between two rivers') was an ancient region located in the eastern Mediterranean bounded in the northeast by the Zagros Mountains and in the southeast by the Arabian Plateau, corresponding to today's Iraq, mostly, but also parts of modern-day Iran, Syria, and Turkey. Our service includes modern ‘airport to airport” transportation, the finest hotels and restaurants and the services of an experienced tour coordinator who will be with you throughout the journey. Lectures are provided on Kurdish history and Archeological and Historic Sites. You will also have the opportunity to interact with local residents and experience the culture firsthand including a taste of local entertainment. Our Company is well known for its attention to detail and special requests, ensuring that your visit will be AN INCREDIBLE JOURNEY!

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Explore all of mesopotamias tours with us​

Mesopotamia Tourism offers multi day tours through the country either with our own theme focused itinerary or a customized tour if needed. Our itineraries cover most important topics to understand a country that was covered dominantly by negative news outlets focussing on war, conflict and corruption. The past years the security of the country changed and the borders are open again for visitors.

Now is the best time to rediscover the land of 1000 and 1 nights and it’s beautiful people in a different way. Come and get to know Iraq in a way you will not see in the media. We help you to understand and connect with this country that will make you feel travel through time.

What does our Multi-Day Tour service include?

• Accommodation
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• Breakfast & Dinner (not incl. Alcoholic beverage)
• Entry fees (Archaeological sites & Museums)
• Tailored Guidebook from Mesopotamia Tourism*

*Traveling through Iraq and trying to understand its rich history of over thousands of years can be overwhelming. No other region housed so many different capitals for empires like the land between the Euphrates and Tigris. During our tour we will provide you with our custom-made Mesopotamia Tourism Guidebook which is specifically made for your itinerary.

Capitals Of Mesopotamia - 8 Days Central Iraq + Northwest Iraq + Kurdistan region

In this itinerary, we will take a route through the small and big capitals that existed through the past millennia. Some are to this day flourishing despite periods of ups and downs, while others remained abandoned in ruins.

Tour will start in Baghdad and will end in Erbil and will take 8 days.

Lalesh + Assyrian Monuments

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World History Edu

• Ancient Mesopotamia

Ancient Mesopotamia: 9 Greatest Cities

by World History Edu · June 4, 2020

Ancient Mesopotamia cities

Ancient Mesopotamia, the cradle of mankind’s civilization, was home to some of the most well-known ancient empires and city-states in the world. The region, which is located in southwest Asia, was most famous for the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. In fact, many of the Mesopotamian cities (i.e. Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Persian, etc) that we are about to explore relied heavily on those rivers.  Inhabitants of those cities made immense contributions to agricultural technology, legal codes, science, philosophy and religion of future civilizations.

Here is a look at 9 of the greatest cities of ancient Mesopotamia that changed the world forever.

Ancient Mesopotamia cities – Uruk

Uruk was an ancient city-state of the Sumer people (i.e. Sumerians). Dating back to about 3200 BC, the city is generally considered as one of the first civilized cities to spring up in the region.

Situated in southern Mesopotamia, Uruk took about 300 years to reach its zenith in 2900 BC. Littered with a host of mud brick houses, Uruk is believed to have had about 50-80 thousand inhabitants, making it the largest city on earth at the time.

The city’s developed agricultural and administrative structures made it possible for such large population to thrive. Up until the Akkadians came unto the scene, the city of Uruk’s boundaries stretched very far; it gulped up several neighboring cities around the Euphrates River.

The city of Akkad was the largest city among the Akkadians (the Akkadian Empire). It came to greatness starting around 2400 BC, after Sumerian city states in the south went into decline. This resulted in Akkadian language replacing Sumerian language.

Under Sargon the Great , the city-state of Akkad (as well as the Empire itself) developed in leaps and bounds. Sargon was able to make Akkad the center of his expanding empire, bringing in people from the north as well.

Akkad was not much different from other Sumerian cities. The city had similar religious beliefs and local system of governance as that of Uruk. Owing to its multicultural environment and central government structure, Akkad was able to build upon several Sumerian technologies in irrigation, sailing, and literature.

Ancient Mesopotamia cities | Ashurbanipal with officials from the city

Nineveh was famous because it contributed immensely to the development of local government structures and legal codes for the Assyrians. Its tag as the greatest city to emerge from the Assyrian Empire is rightly deserved.

Nineveh’s path to greatness was largely carved out by King Sennacherib around 700 BC.  Subsequent rulers made Nineveh famous because of their immense contributions to the development of local government structures and legal codes in the city. The city spent a great deal of resources in building irrigation canals, which propelled the city’s agricultural produce to even greater heights.

Inhabitants of the city were kept relatively safe by the city walls, which spanned about 6 miles long. About 15 large gates were strategically placed to control the movement of people in and out of the city. The Great Walls of Nineveh also fortified the city, preventing invaders from sacking the city.

It’s been estimated that the library of Nineveh, built by King Ashurbanipal, had about 20,000 clay tablets. The library helped in disseminating knowledge and good agricultural practices throughout the city.

Hammurabi receiving the laws from Code of Hammurabi

In some regard, the city-state of Babylon was the greatest city in ancient Mesopotamia. Babylon also became famous due to it being mentioned a number of times in both Christian and Islamic literature.

In archaeological terms, Babylon is famous simply because of two renowned kings – Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar. King Hammurabi (reign – 1792 – 1750 BC) was credited with the introduction of the Hammurabi Code (around 1755 BC) – one of the world’s first legal codes that pronounced just punishments on offenders, regardless of gender or social status.

As for Nebuchadnezzar, his story abounds in the Christian Bible. The King was a deeply polytheist ruler who stretched the boundaries of the empire into other parts of the region. Nebuchadnezzar and subsequent rulers from the Semitic dynasty reinforced the need for equal rights for women and men in the city of Babylon.

The ancient city of Babylon, located in modern-day Baghdad, was also famous for housing the Hanging Gardens of Babylon – one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World . Legend has it that the garden, which was filled with all sorts of trees and flowers, was built as a gift for the Nebuchadnezzar’s wife, Amytis of Media.

As the capital city of the Babylonian Empire, Babylon’s population of over 250,000 made it the largest city in the world at the time.

ASSUR ( ASHUR )

Archaeologists today commonly believe that the Mesopotamian city of Assur was situated around the western part of the Tigris River. The city of Assur burst onto the scenes after the Assyrian Empire was formed. It was the first capital of the Assyrians.

Doubling as the religious and administrative hub of the Assyrians, Assur held a very significant place in ancient Mesopotamia. Archaeological evidences from the ruins today even point to the fact that there was a god called “Assur”, the god of war.  It was believed that the god accompanied the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal in all his war campaigns.

Located in the heart of the Assyrian Empire, Nimrud was a very influential city in the 13th and 14th centuries BC. Similar to Assur, the city of Nimrud had one of the most advanced architectures in the region at the time. After a few centuries on the top, Nimrud declined only for it to be revived by subsequent Assyrian emperors starting around the 10th century BC.

Historians and archaeologists state that Nimrud became the capital of the Assyrian Empire around 884 BC. The ruler behind the elevation of the city to prominence was King Ashunasirpal II. The king, as well as his descendants, was known for building spectacular palaces in the city.

Ancient Mesopotamia cities | The lamassu in Persepolis, ancient Persian Empire

Persepolis comes in on our list of greatest Mesopotamia cities because it was one of the most important (if not the most important) cities in the Persian Empire (also known as the Achaemenid Empire ).

Located in present-day Iran (southeastern Iran), the city’s name “Persepolis” is actually Greek for “Persian city”.

It is generally believed that Persepolis was built by Cyrus the Great of Persia in 515 BC. Cyrus went ahead and made the city the economic and political hub of the Persian Empire. His descendants, such as Darius I and Xerxes I , followed in his footsteps and developed Persepolis into one of the greatest cities in the world at the time.

Persepolis’ architecture marvels such as the Throne Hall and Apadana Palace drew people from all over the region into the Persian Empire.

Artwork of Ur-Namma (right) with the goddess Nanna, goddess of the moon

The Sumerian city-state of Ur came into prominence around 2100 BC, after the decline of the Akkadian Empire. The city was propelled to its zenith by two kings – Ur-Namma and Shulgi. Owing to their immense contributions, city’s inhabitants took to deifying them.

Ur-Namma (reign – 2047 – 2030 BC) for example was the one who built the famous Ziggurat of Ur – shrine of the god Nanna – in the 21st century BC. The Ziggurat of Ur –pyramid-like structure – can be found in present-day Dhi Qar Province in Iraq.

The city of Ur worshiped Nanna as their patron god. Nanna was also the god of the moon in many Mesopotamian city-states.

During Ur-Namma, the Sumerian city of Ur also witnessed the first known code of law – the Code of Ur- Nammu. It is believed that the code precedes the Code of Hammurabi by a whopping 300-400 years

In the 18th century BC, Ur went into decline, allowing it to be incorporated into the empire of the first dynasty of Babylonia (the Amorites).

HATTUSA (HATTUSHA)

Sphinx Gate entrance of the city of Hattusa

Not only was the city of Hattusa the capital city of the Hittites (located in the Anatolian region of Turkey), it was also the artistic and religious hub of the Hattian people.

The city’s geographic conditions enabled greater access to timber. They inhabitants also planted wheat, barley and lentils.

From the evidence we have today, the first inhabitants came to the area around the sixth millennium BC. Over centuries, the place became a central trading spot that drew people in from Assur in Assyria.

Like many ancient cities, Hattusa had several major religious deities. For example the god Teshub was the god of storm. And the goddess of the sun was known as Hebat. The Rockshrine remains at Yazilikaya paint a detailed picture about the type of gods and goddesses (i.e. “the thousand gods of Hatti”) that prevailed in Hattusa. Prior to its ultimate demise in 1200 BC, Hattusa reached a population of about 50,000 people.

Hattusa’s present-day location is at Boğazkale District of the Çorum Province, close to Ankara, Turkey. The ancient city of Hattusa entered the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986.

Tags: Akkad Babylon Code of Hammurabi Hattusa Mesopotamia cities Nimrud Persepolis Ur Uruk

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How Mesopotamia Became the Cradle of Civilization

By: Patrick J. Kiger

Updated: August 6, 2024 | Original: November 10, 2020

While human civilization developed in many places around the world, it first emerged thousands of years ago in the ancient Middle East. 

“We see the first cities, the first writing and first technologies originating in Mesopotamia,” says  Kelly-Anne Diamond , a visiting assistant history professor at Villanova University, whose expertise includes ancient Near Eastern history and archaeology.

Mesopotamia’s name comes from the  ancient Greek word  for “the land between the rivers.” That’s a reference to the  Tigris and Euphrates rivers , the twin sources of water for a region that lies mostly within the borders of modern-day Iraq, but also included parts of Syria, Turkey and Iran.

The presence of those rivers had a lot to do with why Mesopotamia developed complex societies and innovations such as writing, elaborate architecture and government bureaucracies. The regular flooding along the Tigris and the Euphrates made the land around them especially fertile and ideal for growing crops for food. That made it a prime spot for the Neolithic Revolution , also called the Agricultural Revolution, that began to take place almost 12,000 years ago.

That revolution “transformed human life across the planet, but it was in Mesopotamia where this process began,” Diamond explains.

With people cultivating plants and domesticating animals, they were able to stay in one place and form permanent villages. Eventually, those small settlements grew into early cities, where a lot of the  characteristics of civilization —such as concentrations of population, monumental architecture, communication, division of labor, and different social and economic classes—developed.

But the emergence and evolution of civilization in Mesopotamia also was influenced by other factors—in particular, changes in climate and the natural environment, which compelled the region’s inhabitants to become more organized in order to cope.

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How Nature Nurtured Civilization

Civilization didn’t develop in exactly the same way throughout the region, according to Hervé Reculeau , an associate professor of Assyriology at the University of Chicago and an expert in the history of ancient Mesopotamia. As he explains, urban societies developed independently in Lower Mesopotamia, an area in what is now southern Iraq where the early civilization of Sumer was located, and Upper Mesopotamia, which includes Northern Iraq and part of present-day western Syria.

One factor that helped civilization to develop in both places was the climate of Mesopotamia, which 6,000 to 7,000 years ago, was wetter than that part of the Middle East is today.

“The earliest cities of southern Mesopotamia developed on the margins of a great marsh that provided an abundance of natural resources for construction (reed) and food (wild game and fish), with water easily accessible for small-scale irrigation that could be organized at a local level and did not require the supervision of large-scale state structures,” Reculeau writes. Additionally, he notes, the marsh provided a connection to sea routes on the Persian Gulf, which made it possible for people who lived in the south to eventually develop long-distance trade with other places.

In Upper Mesopotamia, the rainfall was reliable enough that farmers didn’t have to do much irrigation, according to Reculeau. They also had access to mountains and forests, where they could hunt for game and cut down trees for wood. Their areas also had land routes to places to the north beyond the mountains, where they could obtain materials such as  obsidian , a type of rock that can be used in jewelry or for making cutting tools.

According to the British Museum , early Mesopotamian farmers’ main crops were barley and wheat. But they also created gardens shaded by date palms, where they cultivated a wide variety of crops including beans, peas, lentils, cucumbers, leeks, lettuce and garlic, as well as fruit such as grapes, apples, melons and figs. They also milked sheep, goats and cows to make butter, and slaughtered them for meat.

Eventually, the agricultural revolution in Mesopotamia led to what Diamond describes as the next big step in progress, the Urban Revolution.

Roughly 5,000 to 6,000 years ago in Sumer, villages evolved into cities. One of the earliest and most prominent was  Uruk , a walled community with  40,000 to 50,000 inhabitants . Others included  Eridu ,  Bad-tibira ,  Sippar , and  Shuruppak , according to the  Ancient History Encyclopedia .

The Sumerians developed what may have been the earliest system of writing as well as sophisticated art, architecture, and complex government bureaucracies to supervise agriculture, commerce and religious activity. Sumer also became a  hotbed of innovation , as the Sumerians took inventions that other ancient peoples developed, from pottery to textile weaving, and figured out how to do them on an industrial scale.

Meanwhile, Upper Mesopotamia developed its own  urban areas such as  Tepe Gawra , where researchers have discovered brick temples with intricate recesses and pilasters, and found other evidence of a sophisticated culture.

How Environmental Change Made Mesopotamian Civilization Evolve

According to Reculeau, climate shifts may have played a role in the development of Mesopotamian civilization. Roughly around 4,000 B.C., “the climates slowly became drier and the rivers more unpredictable,” he explains. “The marsh retreated from Lower Mesopotamia, leaving behind settlements now surrounded by lands that needed to be irrigated, requiring added work, and possibly greater coordination.”

Because they had to work harder and in a more organized fashion to survive, Mesopotamians gradually developed a more elaborate system of government. As Reculeau explains: “The bureaucratic apparatus that appeared first to manage the goods and people of the temples in the marshland cities increasingly became the tools of a royal power [that] found its justification in the support of the gods, but also in its ability to get things done.” 

That all led to the development of a social structure in which the elites either coerced workers or obtained their labor by providing meals and wages.

“In a sense, the famed Sumerian agrarian system, its city-states and the associated control of land, resources and people were in part the result of people adapting to more adverse conditions, because the riches of the marshes had started to become more scarce,” Reculeau says.

In Upper Mesopotamia, by contrast, people coped with a drier climate by going in the opposite direction socially. That area saw “the devolution to a less complex social organization, relying on villages and their small-scale solidarity,” Reculeau explains.

Mesopotamia eventually saw the rise of empires such as Akkad and Babylonia , whose capital city of Babylon became one of the largest and most advanced in the ancient world.

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Beautiful Babylon: Jewel of the Ancient World

Ruled by Hammurabi, restored by Nebuchadrezzar, conquered by Cyrus—this city in the heart of Mesopotamia was both desired and despised, placing it at the center stage of the dawn of history.

Mesopotamia—“the land between two rivers”—gave birth to many of the world’s first great cities. The splendid city of Babylon, located between the waters of the Euphrates and the Tigris some 60 miles south of Baghdad, was one of them. Unlike the many towns that fell and disappeared, Babylon was resilient, rising from its own ashes time and again, even as new conquerors invaded and took over. The pleasure its occupiers enjoyed came at a price, however, since the highly desired Babylon would always be seen as a prize for the taking.

Babylon has resonated in Judeo-Christian culture for centuries. The books of the Old Testament recount the exile of the Jews to Babylon following the sack of Jerusalem, by whose waters they “sat down and wept.” By the time of the New Testament, the city had become a potent symbol: the corrupt earthly twin city to the pure, heavenly New Jerusalem.

Outside the biblical tradition, Babylon intrigued Greek and Roman writers, who added to the rich store of legends that have come down to the present day. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote about Babylon in the fifth century B.C. A number of inconsistencies in his account have led many scholars to believe that he never traveled there and that his text may be closer to hearsay than historical fact. Popular tales of Babylon’s fantastic structures, like the Tower of Babel and the Hanging Gardens, may also be products of legends and confusion. Yet to historians and archaeologists, Babylon is a real bricks-and-mortar place at the center of the vibrant Mesopotamian culture that it dominated for so many centuries.

Timeline: Transfers of Power

19th-16th centuries B.C. The Amorites, including King Hammurabi, reign. The Hittites later conquer the city.

16th-11th centuries B.C. The Kassites conquer Babylon. Later, Chaldeans and Aramaeans struggle to control the city.

11th-7th centuries B.C. A period of Assyrian rule is ended by the Chaldeans, who will flourish under Nebuchadrezzar II.

7th-6th centuries B.C. Babylon’s golden age under Chaldean rule is ended by the Persian king Cyrus the Great in 539 B.C.

To the 7th century A.D. Macedonians, Seleucids, and Sasanians control Babylon until the arrival of Islam.

City of Cities

The site of Babylon was first identified in the 1800s in what is now Iraq. Later excavations, undertaken by the German archaeologist Robert Koldewey in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, established that the city had been built and rebuilt several times, most notably on a lavish scale by its king, Nebuchadrezzar II (reigned 605-561 B.C.). Koldewey’s finds revealed an ancient locus of culture and political power. These excavations unearthed what was to become one of the most magnificent Babylonian landmarks built by Nebuchadrezzar II: the dazzling blue Ishtar Gate, now reconstructed and on display at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

Babylon first rose to prominence in the late Bronze Age, around the beginning of the second millennium B.C., when it was occupied by people known as the Amorites. A series of strong Amorite kings—including King Hammurabi, famous for compiling the world’s first legal code—enabled Babylon to eclipse the Sumerian capital, Ur, as the region’s most powerful city. Although Babylon declined after Hammurabi’s death, its importance as the capital of southern Mesopotamia, now known as Babylonia, would linger for millennia.

For the rest of the second millennium B.C., constant struggles popped up over control of Babylon. It was successively occupied by Hittites and Kassites; later, Chaldean tribesmen fought for dominance with another tribe, the Aramaeans from Syria (a tribe that had also sparred with Israel). By 1000 B.C., the Assyrians, who had established a powerful empire in northern Mesopotamia, gained the upper hand. But despite periods of stable rule, Babylon would always fall to someone else. Given this pattern of constant conquest—Cyrus the Great in the sixth century B.C., and Alexander the Great two hundred years later—it is perhaps more helpful to see the city not as one Babylon, but as several Babylons, the product of traditions built over thousands of years.

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The Babylonians themselves were keenly aware of the great antiquity of their civilization. One of Nebuchadrezzar’s successors, Nabonidus, is now known to modern historians as “the archaeologist king.” A learned man, he restored the region’s ancient architectural and cultural traditions, especially those from the Akkadian Empire, which had dominated Mesopotamia in the third millennium B.C.—a period that, from the perspective of his own era, would have already seemed in the distant past.

Bigger and Better

Babylon’s Golden Age

Babylon enjoyed its heyday during the seventh and sixth centuries B.C., when it was believed to be the largest city in the world. A new dynasty founded by a tribe known as the Chaldeans had wrested control from the Assyrians in the early 600s B.C. The second ruler of the Chaldean line became notorious for both cruelty and opulence: Nebuchadrezzar II, the king who sacked Jerusalem and sent the captive Jews to the capital of his new and increasingly powerful regional empire.

A successful military man, Nebuchadrezzar used the wealth he garnered from other lands to rebuild and glorify Babylon. He completed and strengthened the city’s defenses, including digging a moat and building new city walls. Beautification projects were on the agenda as well. The grand Processional Way was paved with limestone, temples were renovated and rebuilt, and the glorious Ishtar Gate was erected. Constructed of glazed cobalt blue bricks and embellished with bulls and dragons, the city gate features an inscription, attributed to Nebuchadrezzar, that says: “I placed wild bulls and ferocious dragons in the gateways and thus adorned them with luxurious splendor so that people might gaze on them in wonder.”

Babylonian citizens saw their city as a paradise—the center of the world and symbol of cosmic harmony that had come into existence when its supreme divinity, the god Marduk, defeated the forces of chaos. The spread of the cult of Marduk across Mesopotamia was proof of Babylon’s prestige. No ancient city was so desired and feared, so admired and denigrated.

But in the Hebrew tradition, Nebuchadrezzar was a tyrant, and Babylon a torment. The king had conquered Jerusalem in the early sixth century B.C. and exiled the Hebrews to Babylon. The Bible says that he also stole sacred objects from the Jewish temple and took them back to Babylon to place in the temple of Marduk.

To punish his disrespect, the Bible recounts in the Book of Daniel how Nebuchadrezzar’s line will fall. In the story, Belshazzar, the successor to the throne, holds a feast served on the sacred vessels looted from Jerusalem. During the festivities a ghostly hand appears, and strange writing appears on the wall, forming the mysterious words: Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin. The exile Daniel is brought in by the terrified king to interpret the writing on the wall. Daniel reads it as: “God has numbered the days of your kingdom ... [it] is given to the Medes and Persians.”

Daniel’s prediction did come to pass: In 539 B.C., Babylon fell to the Persian king Cyrus the Great, and the Jews returned home from exile. The city would be conquered two centuries later by Alexander the Great in 331. Although Alexander had planned to make Babylon the capital of his empire, he died before that came to pass. The great city would eventually be abandoned by his successors, and the splendors of Babylon would pass into the realm of legend.

Confusions and Truths

One of the most famous stories about Babylon is that of the Tower of Babel, a story that some biblical scholars believe may be based on a mistranslation, or ingenious pun. The Book of Genesis tells how the survivors of the Great Flood wanted to build a tower that would reach the heavens, but God smites the builders for their arrogance and disperses them over the Earth, where they are forced to speak many different languages.

The story originates in a Hebrew belief that the name Babel was formed from the Hebrew word meaning confusion, or mixing up (and from which the English word “babble” is derived). Ironically, this interpretation was itself a confusing of languages. In Akkadian, the root of the words Babylon and Babel does not mean to mix; it means “gateway of the gods.”

Archaeologists believe that the tower referenced in the Bible story may be the Etemenanki, a giant ziggurat in Babylon dedicated to Marduk. Its name means, suggestively, the “temple of the foundation of heaven and earth,” which dovetails with the names mentioned in the story. When it was surveyed in 1913, the Etemenanki revealed that the tower that supposedly reached right up to the heavens would have been, in reality, nearer 200 feet in height.

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Another colorful story to come out of the ancient city is that of the fabulous Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. There are many theories surrounding the gardens, from their exact location to the identities of their builders. Some suggest the gardens formed a part of the royal palace in Babylon itself, while others believe they were built in another city altogether. One origin story claims that Nebuchadrezzar had them built for his wife, Amytis.

In the course of Koldewey’s excavations of the ancient city, his team identified a mysterious structure in one corner of Babylon’s southern palace. It was made of 14 long rooms with vaulted ceilings laid out in two rows. A complex of wells and channels were found at the site. Even amid the academic atmosphere of this project, a certain willingness to believe in Babylon’s fantastic stories lingered. Was this the infrastructure that supplied the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon? The scholarly consensus has a rather more prosaic theory as to this structure’s role: a storehouse used for the distribution of sesame oil, grain, dates, and spices.

So where in the city could those famous gardens have been? Perhaps nowhere at all. There is no text from Nebuchadrezzar II’s time that refers to the building of any such gardens. The Greek historian Herodotus did not mention them, either. The only written references come much later, from scholars such as Diodorus Siculus, Quintus Curtius, Strabo, and Flavius Josephus, all writing at a time after Babylon had been abandoned.

It is, perhaps, little surprise that so much confusion surrounds Babylon when texts by Greek and Roman authors often confused Assyrians with Babylonians. When the first-century B.C. writer Diodorus Siculus describes the walls of Babylon, he actually appears to be describing the walls of Nineveh, capital of the Assyrian Empire. He describes a hunting scene that resembles no artwork found on the palaces in Babylon. It does, however, fit descriptions of the hunting reliefs discovered on Assyrian palaces in Nineveh.

This confusion may be due, in part, to the fact that some kings of Assyria, such as Sennacherib (reigned 704-681 B.C.), held the title of king of Babylon. More intriguingly still, a depiction of that Assyrian king found on a bas relief in Nineveh shows leafy gardens watered by an aqueduct. Could it be, then, that the famous gardens were in Nineveh all along?

Inconvenient historical realities have never discouraged rulers from reshaping the history of Babylon in their own image and generating new myths in the process. One of the most brazen examples is not from antiquity, but from the 1980s, when Saddam Hussein—then dictator of Iraq—set out to create a reconstruction of its royal palace. Like his predecessors, he left behind inscriptions on his building projects. On some of the bricks Hussein had inscribed in Arabic: Built by Saddam, son of Nebuchadrezzar, to glorify Iraq.

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Mesopotamian Palaces

Welcome to our exploration of Mesopotamian palaces and citadels, where we delve into the opulent residences and fortified structures that stood as symbols of power, grandeur, and governance in ancient Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia, known as the "Cradle of Civilization," was home to magnificent palaces and imposing citadels that showcased the architectural brilliance and political might of its rulers.

In this section of our website, we invite you to step into the world of Mesopotamian palaces and citadels, where each structure tells a tale of royal authority and cultural significance. From majestic palaces adorned with intricate reliefs to towering citadels safeguarding the cities, these architectural wonders reveal the splendor and complexity of ancient Mesopotamian civilization.

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