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Mesopotamia
(Redirected from Mesopotamian)
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Mesopotamia (Greek: Μεσοποταμία, translated from Old Persian Miyanrudan "between rivers"; Aramaic name being Beth Nahrain "house of rivers") is a region of Southwest Asia. Strictly speaking, it is the alluvial plain lying between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers comprising parts of Iraq, Turkey, and Syria. More commonly, the term includes these river plains in totality as well as the surrounding lowland territories bounded by the Syrian Desert to the west, the Arabian Desert to the south, the Persian Gulf to the southeast, the Zagros Mountains to the east and the Caucasus mountains to the north. Mesopotamia is famous for being the site of some of the oldest civilizations in the world.
Background
Writings from Mesopotamia (Uruk, modern Warka) are among the earliest known in the world, giving Mesopotamia a reputation of being the "Cradle of Civilization." The age of Sumerian writing is about on a par with Egyptian hieroglyphs, and some yet older inscriptions are known, probably ranking as proto-writing (Old European script, Naqada [1]).
City states and Imperial glory
Mesopotamia was settled and conquered by numerous ancient civilizations. It is very important to remember that the dates for events in ancient Mesopotamia are still controversial, and several different methods and standards of dating exist. The ones listed herein should be taken only as an estimate.
- Mesopotamia was home to some of the oldest major ancient civilizations, including the Sumerians, Akkadians, Persians, Babylonians and Assyrians.
- The Sumerians are generally regarded as the first group of people in Mesopotamia, although scholars dispute when they might have arrived. The fertile crescent was inhabited with several distinct, flourishing cultures between the end of the last ice age (c. 10,000 BCE) and around 5000 BCE. These include the Ubaid culture and the Sarmatian culture near today's Iranian border. In general, complex societies began developing around 6000; still, by that time Jericho was already a bustling city complete with irrigation techniques. It is hard to tell where the Sumerians might have come from because the language Sumerian is unrelated to any other known language. Their mythology includes many references to the surrounding area but little clue as to their place of origin. The Sumerian language is identifiable from the period of 3200-2900 onward. The sumerians are also the first formal astronomers known throughout history. They were considered to have thought that there were 10 planets, which although was not correct it was quite acurate for their time.
- In the mid-4th throughout the 3rd millenniums BCE, various city-states gained increased power at various times. Eridu, Uruk, Ur, Lagash, and Girsu were all important urban centers. Especially in the 4th millennium, Uruk was one of the most important centers in the region. It is during this period that Uruk and some other urban centers began really experimenting with writing, invented the wheel, and stepped up metal production and stonework. According to mythology, Uruk was said to have been home to Gilgamesh, the most famous of Mesopotamian heroes.
- By the time of the 3rd millennium, these urban centers had developed into increasingly complex societies. Irrigation and other means of exploiting food sources are being used to amass surpluses of food, huge building projects are being undertaken by rulers, and political organization is becoming evermore sophisticated.
- In the middle of the 3rd millennium, King Sargon established the Dynasty of Agade (sometimes called Akkad) in Mesopotamia. It was the first time the entire area was united under centralized rule. The Akkadians were a Semitic people; the first tangible documentation of Akkadian language comes from c. 2300. Sumerian was retained as an important language for administrative and literary purposes, but otherwise Akkadian dominated the scene. The Dynasty continued until around c. 2000, and included such famous rulers as Naram-Sin.
- After the rule of the Dynasty ended, various city-states vied for power. At the same time, a people called the Gutians invaded from the Zagros mountains and took over for a short period.
- Power over the area finally went to the city-state of Ur, when the Third Dynasty of Ur (Ur III) was founded. State control over industry reached an level never again seen in the region. Famous Ur III rulers include Utuhegal, Ur-Nammu, and Shulgi, who devised one of the earliest known lawcodes (in the spirit of the later, more famous, Hammurabi).
- The Mitanni were an eastern Indo-European people (belonging to the linguistic "satem" group) who settled in northern Mesopotamia circa 1600 BC South-East of Turkey and by circa 1450 BC established a medium-size empire east, north and west, and temporarily made tributary vassals out of kings in the west, even as far as Kafti (minoic Crete) and making them a major threat for the Pharaoh.
- By 1300 BC they had been reduced to their homeland and the status of vassal of the Hatti (the Hittites), a western Indo-European people (belonging to the linguistic "kentum" group) who dominated most of Asia Minor from their capital of Hattutshash (modern Turkey) and threatened Egypt even more.
- Meanwhile the Kassites established a strong realm, Sangar, in southern Mesopotamia, with Babel as its capital, not touched by Mitanni or Hittites. But the Elamites threatened or invaded them.
- Chaldaean New Babylonia circa 600 BC.
Later history
- The region ceased to be a major power house since its inclusion in the Persian Empire of the Achaemenids, apparently as two satrapies, Babylonia in the south and Athura (from Assyria) in the north. During this time Persia became the pre-imminent power of the world. Persians who had separated from Babylon and settled in the Iranian plateau, now captured their old land, and under their empire, mathematics and astronomy flourished; this would later heavily influence the Greeks.
- After the conquest of all Persia by the Hellenizing Macedonian king Alexander the Great, the satrapies were part of the major diadochy, the Seleucid Empire, almost until its elimination by Greater Armenia in 42 BC.
- Most of Mesopotamia then became part of the Parthian Empire of Persia. Ctesiphon was made to be the capital of the Parthian Empire.
However part, in the northwest, became Roman. Under the Tetrarchy, this was divided into two provinces, called Osrhoene (around Edessa; roughly the modern-day border between Turkey and Syria) and Mesopotamia (a bit more northeast).
- During the time of the Persian Empire of Sassanids, their much larger share of Mesopotamia was called Del-e Iranshahr meaning "Iran's Heart" and the metropol Ctesiphon (facing ancient Seleukia across the Tigris), the capital of Persia, was situated in Mesopotamia.
- Since the early caliphs annexed all Persia and advanced even further, Mesopotamia was reunited, but governed as two provinces: northern Mesopotamia (with Mosul) and southern Iraq (with Baghdad, a city built by Persians, the later caliphal capital).
List of links
Overview map of ancient Mesopotamia
These civilizations arose from earlier settlements and cultures which were among the first to make use of agriculture.
Early cities in this region include:
Further reading
The content of this page is retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamian under GFDL
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