(Ancient Civilizations) Sherman Hollar - Mesopotamia (Ancient Civilizations) - Rosen Education Service (2011)

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mesopotamia / edited by Sherman Hollar.—1st ed.

p. cm.—(Ancient civilizations)
“In association with Britannica Educational Publishing, Rosen Educational Services.”
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-61530-575-9 (eBook)
1. Iraq—Civilization—To 634—Juvenile literature. I. Hollar, Sherman.
DS71.M545 2011
935—dc22
2011007580
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C ON TE N TS
IntroductIon 6
chapter 1 M
MesopotaMIa—the BIrthplace of cIvIlIzatIon 10
chapter 2 s
suMerIan cIvIlI
IvIlIzatIon 31
chapter 3 t
the fIrst KKIngdo
IngdoM of BaBylon 50
chapter 4 t
the assyrIans and the chaldeans 61
conclusIon 75
glossary 77
for More InforMatIon 79
BIBlIography 82
Index 84
INTRODUCTION
I
n approximately 1750 bc the Babylonian
king Hammurabi had a shiny black
basalt stela (pillar) placed in the capital
city of Babylon. This astonishing object con-
tained nearly 300 laws. By today’s standards,
some of them seem shockingly cruel, such
as number 195: If a son strike his father, his
hands shall be hewn off. Or 196: If a man put
out the eye of another man, his eye shall be
put out. Some even seem downright unfair—
if a patient died during surgery, according to
law 218, the doctor’s hands would be cut off.
It can be hard to believe that this code of
laws was a great advance in human civiliza-
tion. But Hammurabi was saying, in effect,
that the king does not hold all the power.
People have a right to live in a society where
clear laws apply to everyone.
It is not surprising that this innovation in
legal thought came from a land where so much
change had come before. After all, Babylonia
was located in Mesopotamia—the home of
the world’s first civilizations. Mesopotamia—
Greek for “between rivers”—is located
between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers,
in what is now Iraq. These rivers would over-
flow each year, leaving behind enriched soil.
6
IntroductIon
Starting around 10,000 bc, wandering tribes-

people began to grow crops on the fertile
land. They gradually stayed in one place, sow-
ing seeds and domesticating animals. Towns,
then cities, began to grow.
Mesopotamia is located at the cross-
roads between Asia, Africa, Europe, and the
Arabian Peninsula. That allowed the people
A group of schoolchildren visit

the site of Ancient Babylon in
1998. Karim Sahib/AFP/
Getty Images
7
MesopotaMIa
of this region to trade grain for other goods

and get new ideas from other peoples.
A sense of these lively, vivid people
comes down to us from their writing. They
engraved wedge-shaped letters on small clay
tablets in the world’s earliest known form of
writing, cuneiform. They wrote great stories
in cuneiform. They also had a strong sense
of private property and would hire scribes to
write contracts and keep documents about
every object they owned, including items as
small as shoes.
In this volume you will learn about four
major Mesopotamian civilizations.
The first was Sumer, which began about
3300 bc. The Sumerians contributed to the
development of the calendar, metalworking,
the wheeled cart, and the potter’s wheel. They
also created the classic Epic of Gilgamesh.
The second great empire you’ll learn
about is Babylonia. The Babylonians added
to the knowledge of astronomy, mathemat-
ics, and law. Their greatest king, Hammurabi,
came to rule in about 1792 bc. Aside from his
laws, Hammurabi is credited with expanding
his empire.
In about 1400 bc the Assyrians of the
north freed themselves from Babylon’s con-
trol. Fierce and warlike, they were the first
8
IntroductIon
to use horses as cavalry. They built roads

and organized a mail service for commu-
nication. Despite their ferocity, their art
and architecture were magnificent. The
Assyrian king Sargon II built a 1,000-room
palace near Assyria’s capital, Nineveh. Huge
human-headed winged bulls and lions, carved
in alabaster, guarded the gates of Assyrian
palaces and temples. The Assyrians also pre-
served cuneiform texts in great libraries.
Next, the Chaldeans took over and rebuilt
Babylon into a rich and gorgeous city starting
around 606 bc. An example of the city’s beau-
ties was the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, an
ancient wonder of the world. The Chaldeans
also made progress in astronomy and math.
But in 539 bc, they became a part of the
Persian Empire.
The people of ancient Mesopotamia
made vital contributions to a broad range of
fields, including government, law, literature,
architecture, and astronomy, among many
others. Perhaps Hammurabi’s rule seems
harsh, but the idea of sharing a code of laws is
deeply ingrained today in every civilized soci-
ety. For that, we owe a debt to the people of
Mesopotamia.
9
CHAPTER 1
Mesopotamia—
The Birthplace
of Civilization
T
he area between the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers in what is now Iraq
is the site of ancient Mesopotamia,
birthplace of the world’s first civilizations.
The name is Greek for “land between the
rivers.” As the muddy streams flooded and
receded, their silt built a plain with rich soil,
ideal for agriculture. Tradition locates the
biblical Garden of Eden in Mesopotamia.
The nomadic peoples of the Arabian
Desert on the west and what are now Iran
and Turkey on the east and north coveted
the fertile river basin. From the earliest times
successive tribes swept into it and fought to
possess it, founding their nations and then
falling in turn before more powerful foes.
Since 1840 groups of archaeologists have
excavated sites in Mesopotamia and have
found signs that there were primitive set-
tlements here as far back as 10,000 bc. In
about 3300 bc the Sumerians, a non-Semitic
people from the east, abandoned their wan-
dering tent-dwelling existence and settled in
10
MesopotaMIa—the BIrthplace of cIvIlIzatIon
As Mesopotamian people have been doing for thousands of years, an

Iraqi man collects the wheat harvest. This field is near the marshes
crossing the southern Iraqi town of al-Azeir. Essam Al-Sudani/AFP/
Getty Images
an area called the Plain of Shinar. Here they

tilled the soil, built houses, and constructed
irrigation systems, draining marshes and dig-
ging canals, dikes, and ditches. The need for
cooperation on these large irrigation projects
led to the growth of government and law. The
Sumerians are thus credited with forming the
earliest of the major ancient civilizations of
this region.
11
MesopotaMIa
This model represents an early brick dwelling from the ancient

Mesopotamian settlement of Jericho, around 5000 Bc. The walls are
of packed mud blocks, made of fine clay mixed with straw. SSPL via
Getty Images
Geography of Mesopotamia
The flat Mesopotamian plain is very fertile.
The land was built up of mud and clay depos-
ited by two great rivers, the Tigris and the
Euphrates. These twin rivers come down from
mountains in the north, cut southeastward
through hilly grasslands, and finally cross the
plain they created to reach the Persian Gulf.
Tigris River
The streams that join to form the Tigris

River begin in high mountains that rim Lake
12
This map shows the course of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
13
MesopotaMIa
Van in eastern Turkey. Leaving Turkey, the

Tigris touches the northeastern border of
Syria and then flows southeastward across
Iraq. In Iraq it is joined by tributaries from
the east—principally the Great Zab, Little
Zab, and Diyala. The Euphrates, west of the
Tigris, runs in the same general direction.
In ancient times the two rivers had sepa-
rate mouths. Now they meet in a swamp in
southern Iraq and form a single stream, the
Shatt al ’Arab, which flows into the head
of the Persian Gulf. The Tigris, 1,180 miles
(1,900 kilometers) long, is shorter than the
Euphrates, but it is more important commer-
cially because its channel is deeper.
The Tigris was the great river of the king-
dom of Assyria. The ancient city of Assur,
which gave its name to Assyria, stood on its
banks, as did Nineveh, Assyria’s splendid
capital. Much later the Macedonian general
Seleucus built his capital city Seleucia on
the Tigris, and across the river from Seleucia
the Parthian kings built Ctesiphon. The
chief cities on the river today are Baghdad,
the capital of Iraq, and Mosul, farther
upstream. Basra, on the Shatt al ’Arab, is
Iraq’s major port.
Since ancient times the people of
Mesopotamia have depended on the water of
14
the two rivers to irrigate their hot, dry land.

The soil itself is largely a gift of the rivers,
which deposit tremendous quantities of silt
on their lower course and in the northern part
of the Persian Gulf. As a result of these depos-
its, ruins of cities that were once gulf ports
now lie far inland.
Euphrates River
The longest river of western Asia is the

1,700-mile (2,700-kilometer) Euphrates.
It begins in the high mountains of east-
ern Turkey, crosses eastern Syria, and then
flows southeastward through the length
of Iraq. Because of Iraq’s hot, dry climate
much of the river’s water is lost through
evaporation and use for irrigation. The river
receives most of its water from winter rains
and snowfall. It is navigable only by flat-
bottomed riverboats.
The Tigris runs almost parallel with the
Euphrates and together they form a great,
agriculturally productive alluvial plain—that
is, a plain made of silt, sand, clay, and gravel
that is deposited by rivers. There are two
flood periods each year. The major tributaries
of the Euphrates are the Balikh, Al Khabur,
and Gharraf Channel.
15
MesopotaMIa
Fishermen return from work on a flat boat in the Euphrates River in

southern Iraq in 2003. Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images
16
Peoples of the Region

Three main peoples contributed to the civi-
lization of Mesopotamia. The earliest were
the Sumerians. They lived in a small county-
sized area located around the mouths of the
two rivers in a land called Sumer (in the Bible,
Shinar). These non-Semitic people, who
probably came from Anatolia (Asia Minor) in
about 3300 bc, developed a culture that spread
to nearby Semitic peoples. By 1800 bc politi-
cal power had moved north up the Euphrates
to the Semitic city of Babylon in Akkad. The
entire plain then became known as Babylonia.
Centuries later the center of power moved
north once more to warlike Assyria, in the
rolling hill country of the upper Tigris Valley.
Before the Sumerians appeared on the
land, it had been occupied by a non-Semitic
people, referred to as Ubaidians. Their
name comes from the village of Al Ubaid,
in which their remains were first found by
archaeologists.
The Ubaidians settled the region between
4500 and 4000 bc. They drained the marshes
and introduced agriculture. They also
developed trade based on small handicraft
industries such as metalwork, leather goods,
and pottery.
17
MesopotaMIa
18
Excavations have uncovered Ubaidian

remains throughout southern Mesopotamia.
The hallmark of the period was a painted
pottery decorated with geometric and some-
times floral and animal designs in dark paint
on a buff or drab clay. Many vessels seem to
have been made on a slow wheel, and they
had loop handles and spouts (the first histori-
cal occurrence of these).
The World’s First Cities

In ancient Mesopotamia, a land of blazing
sun and very little rainfall, irrigation was
vital for farming. Centuries before the
beginning of known history, the Sumerians
undertook the stupendous task of building
embankments to control the floodwaters
of the Euphrates River. Gradually they
drained the marshes and dug irrigation
canals and ditches. Large-scale cooperation
was needed to build the irrigation works,
keep them in repair, and apportion
the water.
Ancient frieze of a Mesopotamian man hold-

ing a piece of pottery. Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/
Getty Images
19
MesopotaMIa
The rich soil produced abundant crops

of barley, emmer (a kind of wheat), beans,
olives, grapes, and flax.
For the first time there was a surplus to
feed city workers such as artists, craftsmen,
and merchants. This great change in living
habits brought about civilization—defined
as a city-based society held together by eco-
nomic enterprises. There were no nations
then, only small city-states. At a time when
only the most rudimentary forms of trans-
portation and communication were available,
the city-state was the most governable type of
human settlement. City-states were ruled by
leaders, called ensis, who were probably autho-
rized to control the local irrigation systems.
The Sumerians built their villages on arti-
ficial mounds to protect them from floods.
Very early they learned to make bricks in
molds and dry them in the sun or bake them
in kilns. Their sturdy houses were small and
crowded close together on narrow lanes.
Some were two or more stories high. The
whole city was surrounded by a wall for
protection. Outside the wall were the poor
people’s huts, built of reeds that were plas-
tered with clay.
Each Sumerian city rose up around the
shrine of a local god. As a reflection of a
20
Whole emmer wheat. Armstrong Studios/FoodPix/Getty Images
21
MesopotaMIa
city’s wealth, its temple became an elaborate

structure. The temple buildings stood on a
spacious raised platform reached by stair-
cases and ramps. From the platform rose the
temple tower, called a ziggurat (holy moun-
tain), with a circular staircase or ramp around
the outside. On the temple grounds were
quarters for priests, officials, accountants,
musicians, and singers; treasure chambers;
storehouses for grain, tools, and weapons;
and workshops for bakers, pottery makers,
brewers, leatherworkers, spinners and weav-
ers, and jewelers.
There were also pens for keeping the
sheep and goats that were destined for sacri-
fice to the temple god.
Horses and camels were still unknown,
but sheep, goats, oxen, donkeys, and dogs
had been domesticated. The plow had been
invented, and the wheel, made from a solid
piece of wood, was used for carts and for
shaping pottery. Oxen pulled the carts and
plows; donkeys served as pack animals. Bulky
goods were moved by boat on the rivers and
canals. The boats were usually hauled from
An Iraqi woman, wearing traditional clothes and

jewelry, plays a Sumerian musical instrument
during an exhibition at the ministry of culture in
Baghdad in 2006. Sabah Arar/AFP/Getty Images
22
23
MesopotaMIa
the banks, but sails also were in use. Before

3000 bc the Sumerians had learned to make
tools and weapons by smelting copper with
tin to make bronze, a much harder metal
than copper alone.
Mud, clay, and reeds were the only mate-
rials the Sumerians had in abundance. Trade
was therefore necessary to supply the city
workers with materials. Merchants went out
One of the oldest known bronze relief bowls from ancient Mesopotamia
is displayed here. Behrouz Mehri/AFP/Getty Images
24
in overland caravans or in ships to exchange

the products of Sumerian industry for wood,
stone, and metals. There are indications
that Sumerian sailing vessels even reached
the valley of the Indus River in India. The
chief route, however, was around the Fertile
Crescent, between the Arabian Desert and
the northern mountains. This route led up
the valley of the two rivers, westward to Syria,
and down the Mediterranean coast.
Mesopotamian Clothing
From statues and other evidence, it is clear
that the people of Mesopotamia were very
concerned about fashion. In the early years
of the Sumerian civilization, both sexes
wore sheepskin skirts with the skin turned
inside and the wool combed into decorative
tufts. These wraparound skirts were pinned
in place and extended from the waist to the
knees or, for more important persons, to the
ankles. The upper part of the torso was bare
or clothed by another sheepskin cloaking
the shoulders. From about 2500 bc a woven
woolen fabric replaced the sheepskin, but
the tufted effect was retained, either by sew-
ing tufts onto the garment or by weaving
loops into the fabric. At this time, also, long
25
MesopotaMIa
cloaks were worn, and materials included

felted wool and leather.
Both sexes seem to have often worn large
wigs. They also both wore elaborate golden
jewelry encrusted with semiprecious stones,
including brooches, earrings, hair orna-
ments, and neck chains. A different style
of dress is evident in Mesopotamian sculp-
tures dating after about 2370 bc . Both men
and women were clothed in a large piece of
wool or linen draped around the body over
a skirt. This garment, similar to a shawl, was
characteristically edged with fringe. For
men, the fabric was arranged so that the
fullness was at the rear, leaving the sword
arm free.
The dress worn in Mesopotamia by the
Babylonians (2105–1240 bc ) and the Assyrians
(1200–540 bc ) included two basic garments
for both sexes: the tunic and the shawl, each
cut from one piece of material. The knee- or
ankle-length tunic had short sleeves and a
round neckline. Over it were draped one or
more shawls held in position by a broad belt.
Decoration was rich, in chiefly geometric
This frieze from the Iraq Museum shows fashion-

able Mesopotamian men with well-tended beards
and elegant clothes. AFP/Getty Images
26
27
MesopotaMIa
allover patterns or in borders. Women wore

a short skirt as underwear, men a loincloth.
Sandals or boots for both sexes was made
from fabric or soft leather.
Both men and women grew their hair
long. It was carefully curled and ringleted,
with false hair added if needed. Perfumes,
oils, and black dye were used on the hair. Men
grew long, carefully tended curled beards. A
band of metal or fabric encircled the brow, or
a woolen, felt, or leather cap was worn.
Akkad
Akkad was an ancient region in what is
now central Iraq. Akkad was the north-
ern (or northwestern) division of ancient
Babylonian civilization. The region was
located roughly in the area where the
Tigris and Euphrates rivers are clos-
est to each other, and its northern limit
extended beyond the line of the modern
cities of Al-Fallujah and Baghdad. The early
inhabitants of this region were predomi-
nantly Semitic, and their speech is called
An ancient Iraqi bronze statuette depicting a

standing woman in a position of prayer on display
in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo in 2009. AFP/
Getty Images
28
29
MesopotaMIa
Akkadian. To the south of the region of

Akkad lay Sumer.
The name of Akkad was taken from the
city of Agade, which was founded by the
Semitic conqueror Sargon in about 2300
bc. Sargon united the various city-states in
the region and extended his rule to encom-
pass much of Mesopotamia. After the fall of
Sargon’s dynasty in about 2150 bc, the central
Iraq region was ruled by a state jointly com-
posed of Sumerians and Akkadians.
Under the kings of Akkad, Akkadian
became a literary language that was writ-
ten with the cuneiform system of writing.
Akkadian is the oldest Semitic dialect still
preserved.
30
CHAPTER 2
Sumerian Civilization
A
mong many other achievements,
the Sumerians contributed to the
development of metalworking,
wheeled carts, and potter’s wheels. They may
have invented the first form of writing. They
engraved pictures on clay tablets in a form of
writing known as cuneiform. The tablets were
used to keep the accounts of the temple food
storehouses. By about 2500 bc these picture-
signs were being refined into an alphabet.
A richly decorated object called the Stanard of Ur was found in the

royal cemetery at Ur, an important city in southern Mesopotamia.
It dates to about 2500 Bc. Its two main panels depict scenes of peace
(shown) and war in mosaic inlays of lapis lazuli, shell, colored stone,
and mother-of-pearl. Courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum
31
MesopotaMIa
The Sumerians developed the first cal-

endar, which they adjusted to the phases of
the Moon. The lunar calendar was adopted
by the Semites, Egyptians, and Greeks. An
increase in trade between Sumerian cities
and between Sumeria and other, more distant
regions led to the growth of a merchant class.
The Sumerian
Writing System
Whether the Sumerians were the first to
develop writing is uncertain, but theirs is the
oldest known writing system. The clay tab-
lets on which they wrote were very durable
when baked. Archaeologists have dug up
many thousands of them—some dated ear-
lier than 3000 bc.
The earliest writing of the Sumerians
was picture writing similar in some ways to
Egyptian hieroglyphs. They began to develop
their special style when they found that on
soft, wet clay it was easier to impress a line
than to scratch it. To draw the pictures they
used a stylus—probably a straight piece of
reed with a three-cornered end.
An unexpected result came about: the
stylus could best produce triangular forms
(wedges) and straight lines. Curved lines
32
suMerIan cIvIlIzatIon
People have kept track of the days by the march

of daylight and darkness and of the changing
seasons in order to know when to plant crops
and to get ready for winter. Sometimes they
kept the record by notching a stick or knot-
ting a cord once every day. They also watched
the changing positions of the Sun and stars, the
changes of the Moon, and the habits of plants
and animals. The making of an exact calendar,
however, has perplexed humankind for ages
because the natural divisions of time by days
(Earth cycle), months (lunar cycle), and years
(solar cycle) do not fit together perfectly.
The Sumerians were the first people to
make a calendar. They used the phases of the
Moon, counting 12 lunar months as a year. To
make up for the difference between this year
and the solar year of the seasons, they inserted
an extra month in the calendar about every
four years. The early Egyptians, Greeks, and
Semitic peoples copied this calendar.
The seven-day week, which has no astro-
nomical basis, was also apparently first
observed in Mesopotamia. It was introduced to
Rome in the 1st century ad by Persian astrolo-
gers who associated each day with a different
planet; when Christianity became the official
religion of Rome in the 4th century, the seven-
day week was adopted by the state and spread
throughout the Roman Empire.
33
MesopotaMIa
therefore had to be broken up into a series

of straight strokes. Pictures lost their form
and became stylized symbols. This kind of
writing on clay is called cuneiform, from the
Latin cuneus, meaning “wedge.”
A tremendous step forward was accom-
plished when the symbols came to be
associated with the sound of the thing
shown rather than with the idea of the thing
itself. Each sign then represented a syllable.
Although cuneiform writing was still used
long after the alphabet appeared, it never
fully developed an alphabet.
Sumerian Schools
Cuneiform was difficult to learn. To master
it children usually went to a temple school.
Using a clay tablet as a textbook, the teacher
wrote on the left-hand side, and the pupil
copied the model on the right. Any mistakes
could be smoothed out. The pupil began
by making single wedges in various posi-
tions and then went on to groups of wedges.
Thousands of groups had to be mastered.
Stylus found in 1924 at the ancient Sumerian city

of Kish, revealing the method used in making
cuneiform signs. Mansell/Time & Life Pictures/
Getty Images
34
Caption TK
35
MesopotaMIa
The most widely used and historically signifi-

cant writing system of the ancient Middle East
was called cuneiform. The writing system was
in use at least by the end of the 4th millennium
bc, and during the 3rd millennium the pictures
that it used became fairly standardized linear
drawings.
Cuneiform was not a language. It was, like
Egyptian hieroglyphics and the Chinese system
of ideographs, or ideograms, a picture-writing
system that used symbols. As the symbols
gained acceptance throughout the Middle
East, they could be understood by all ethnic
groups even though the groups spoke different
languages and dialects.
The earliest known documents in cuneiform
were written by the Sumerians of southern
Mesopotamia, who assigned their own word-
sounds to the symbols. Later, the Akkadians
adopted the symbols but pronounced them as
corresponding Akkadian words. Cuneiform
thus passed successively from one people to
another. The Akkadians were succeeded by the
Babylonians, and they by the Assyrians.
The expansion of cuneiform writing out-
side Mesopotamia began during the 3rd
millennium bc, when the country of Elam,
in what is now southwestern Iran, adopted
the system. The Hurrians of northern
Mesopotamia adopted Akkadian cuneiform
36
The Flood Tablet, 11th cuneiform tablet in a series

relating the Gilgamesh epic, from Nineveh, 7th
century Bc; in the British Museum, London. ©
Photos.com/Jupiterimages
37
MesopotaMIa
in about 2000 bc and passed it to the Hittites,

who had invaded Asia Minor about that time.
In the 2nd millennium cuneiform became the
universal medium of written communication
among the nations of the Middle East.
The Assyrian and Babylonian empires fell
in the 7th and 6th centuries bc. By this time
Aramaic was becoming the common language
of the area, and Phoenician script came into
general use. Cuneiform was used less and
less, though many priests and scholars kept
the writing form alive until the 1st century
ad. Cuneiform owes its disappearance largely
to the fact that it was a nonalphabetic way of
writing. It could not compete successfully with
the alphabetic systems being developed by the
Phoenicians, Israelites, Greeks, and other peo-
ples of the Mediterranean.
Finally the pupil was assigned a book to copy,

but the work was slow and laborious. Many
first chapters of all the important Sumerian
works have been handed down from stu-
dents’ tablets, but only fragments of the rest
of the books survive.
A statue of a scribe from the Sumerian era, in the

collection of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad. AFP/
Getty Images
38
39
MesopotaMIa
The pupils also studied arithmetic. The

Sumerians based their number system on 10,
but they multiplied 10 by 6 to get the next
unit. They multiplied 60 by 10, then multi-
plied 600 by 6, and so on. (The number 60
has the advantage of being divisible by 2, 3,
4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, and 30.) The Sumerians
also divided the circle into 360 degrees. From
these early people came the word dozen (a
fifth of 60) and the division of the clock to
measure hours, minutes, and seconds.
The Sumerians had standard measures,
with units of length, area, and capacity. Their
standard weight was the mina, made up of 60
shekels—about the same weight as a pound.
There was no coined money. Standard
weights of silver served as measures of value
and as a means of exchange.
From the earliest times the Sumerians
had a strong sense of private property. After
they learned to write and figure, they kept
documents about every acquired object,
including such small items as shoes. Every
business transaction had to be recorded.
Near the gates of the cities, scribes would
sit ready to sell their services. Their hands
would move fast over a lump of clay, turn-
ing the stylus. Then the contracting parties
added their signatures by means of seals. The
40
usual seal was an engraved cylinder of stone

or metal that could be rolled over wet clay.
In the course of time cuneiform was used
for every purpose, just as writing is today—for
letters, narratives, prayers and incantations,
dictionaries, even mathematical and astro-
nomical treatises. The Babylonians and
Assyrians adapted cuneiform for their own
In the Iraq Museum in Baghdad, four cylinder seals with representa-

tions of Gilgamesh and Enkidu from approximately 2500 Bc. Roger
Viollet/Getty Images
41
MesopotaMIa
Semitic languages and spread its use to neigh-

boring Syria, Anatolia, Armenia, and Iran.
Stories of Gods and Heroes

As the people in a city-state became familiar
with the gods of other cities, they worked
out relationships between them, just as the
Greeks and Romans did in their myths cen-
turies later. Sometimes two or more gods
came to be viewed as one. Eventually a rank-
ing order developed among the gods. Anu, a
sky god who originally had been the city god
of Uruk, came to be regarded as the greatest
of them all—the god of the heavens. His clos-
est rival was the storm god of the air, Enlil of
Nippur. The great gods were worshiped in the
temples. Each family had little clay figures of
its own household gods and small houses or
wall niches for them.
The Sumerians believed that their ances-
tors had created the ground they lived on
by separating it from the water. According
to their creation myth, the world was once
watery chaos. The mother of Chaos was
Tiamat, an immense dragon. When the gods
appeared to bring order out of Chaos, Tiamat
created an army of dragons. Enlil called the
winds to his aid. Tiamat came forward, her
42
mouth wide open. Enlil pushed the winds

inside her and she swelled up so that she
could not move. Then Enlil split her body
open. He laid half of the body flat to form
the Earth, with the other half arched over
it to form the sky. The gods then beheaded
Tiamat’s husband and created mankind from
his blood, mixed with clay.
The longest story is the Gilgamesh epic,
one of the outstanding works of ancient lit-
erature. The superhero Gilgamesh originally
appeared in Sumerian mythology as a legend-
ary king of Uruk. A long Babylonian poem
includes an account of his journey to the bot-
tom of the sea to obtain the plant of life.
Another searcher for eternal life was
Adapa, a fisherman who gained wisdom from
Ea, the god of water. The other gods were
jealous of his knowledge and called him to
heaven. Ea warned him not to drink or eat
while there. Anu offered him the water of life
and the bread of life because he thought that,
since Adapa already knew too much, he might
as well be a god. Adapa, however, refused and
went back to Earth to die, thus losing for him-
self and for mankind the gift of immortal life.
These legends somewhat resemble the Bible
story of Adam and Eve. It is highly probable,
in fact, that the ancient legends and myths
43
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of Mesopotamia supplied material that was

reworked by the biblical authors.
It was during the Sumerian era that a
great flood overwhelmed Mesopotamia.
So great was this flood that stories about it
worked their way into several ancient litera-
tures. The Sumerian counterpart of Noah
was Ziusudra, and from him was developed
the Babylonian figure Utnapishtim, whose
story of the flood was related in the Epic of
Gilgamesh. Immortal after his escape from
the flood, Utnapishtim was also the wise
man who told Gilgamesh where to find a
youth-restoring plant.
The Last of the Sumerians

Within a few centuries the Sumerians
had built up a society based in 12 city-
states: Kish, Uruk (in the Bible, Erech),
Ur, Sippar, Akshak, Larak, Nippur, Adab,
Umma, Lagash, Bad-tibira, and Larsa.
According to one of the earliest historical
documents, the Sumerian King List, eight
kings of Sumer reigned before the famous
flood. Afterwards various city-states by
turns became the temporary seat of power
until about 2800 bc, when they were united
under the rule of one king—Etana of Kish.
44
The fullest extant text of the Gilgamesh epic

is on 12 incomplete Akkadian-language tablets
found at Nineveh in the library of the Assyrian
king Ashurbanipal. The gaps that occur in
the tablets have been partly filled by various
fragments found elsewhere in Mesopotamia
and Anatolia. In addition, five short poems in
the Sumerian language are known; the poems
have been titled “Gilgamesh and Huwawa,”
“Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven,”
“Gilgamesh and Agga of Kish,” “Gilgamesh,
Enkidu, and the Netherworld,” and “The
Death of Gilgamesh.”
The Ninevite version of the epic begins
with a prologue in praise of Gilgamesh, part
divine and part human, the great builder and
warrior, knower of all things on land and
sea. In order to curb Gilgamesh’s seemingly
harsh rule, the god Anu caused the creation of
Enkidu, a wild man who at first lived among
animals. Soon, however, Enkidu was initi-
ated into the ways of city life and traveled to
Uruk, where Gilgamesh awaited him. Tablet
II describes a trial of strength between the
two men in which Gilgamesh was the victor;
thereafter, Enkidu was the friend and com-
panion (in Sumerian texts, the servant) of
Gilgamesh. In Tablets III–V the two men set
out together against Huwawa (Humbaba),
the divinely appointed guardian of a remote
45
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Gilgamesh is the best known of all ancient

Mesopotamian heroes. Numerous tales in the Akkadian
language have been told about Gilgamesh, and the
whole collection has been described as an odyssey—
the odyssey of a king who did not want to die. Stock
Montage/Archive Photos/Getty Images
46
cedar forest, but the rest of the engagement

is not recorded in the surviving fragments.
In Tablet VI Gilgamesh, who had returned
to Uruk, rejected the marriage proposal of
Ishtar, the goddess of love, and then, with
Enkidu’s aid, killed the divine bull that she
had sent to destroy him. Tablet VII begins
with Enkidu’s account of a dream in which
the gods Anu, Ea, and Shamash decided that
he must die for slaying the bull. Enkidu then
fell ill and dreamed of the “house of dust”
that awaited him. Gilgamesh’s lament for his
friend and the state funeral of Enkidu are nar-
rated in Tablet VIII. Afterward, Gilgamesh
made a dangerous journey (Tablets IX and
X) in search of Utnapishtim, the survivor of
the Babylonian flood, in order to learn from
him how to escape death. He finally reached
Utnapishtim, who told him the story of the
flood and showed him where to find a plant
that would renew youth (Tablet XI). But after
Gilgamesh obtained the plant, it was seized by
a serpent, and Gilgamesh unhappily returned
to Uruk. An appendage to the epic, Tablet
XII, related the loss of objects called pukku
and mikku (perhaps “drum” and “drumstick”)
given to Gilgamesh by Ishtar. The epic ends
with the return of the spirit of Enkidu, who
promised to recover the objects and then gave
a grim report on the underworld.
47
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48
After Etana, the city-states vied for domina-

tion; this weakened the Sumerians, and they
were ripe for conquest—first by Elamites,
then by Akkadians.
The Sumerians had never been very war-
like, and they had only a citizen army, called
to arms in time of danger. In about 2340 bc
King Sargon of Akkad conquered them and
went on to build an empire that stretched
westward to the Mediterranean Sea. The
empire, though short-lived, fostered art and
literature.
Led by Ur, the Sumerians again spread
their rule far westward. During Ur’s suprem-
acy (about 2150 to 2050 bc) Sumerian culture
reached its highest development. Shortly
thereafter the cities lost their indepen-
dence forever, and gradually the Sumerians
completely disappeared as a people. Their
language, however, lived on as the language
of culture. Their writing, their business
organization, their scientific knowledge,
and their mythology and law were spread
westward by the Babylonians and Assyrians.
Illustration of an advisor and the King of Ur.

Buyenlarge/Archive Photos/Getty Images
49
CHAPTER 3
The First Kingdom
of Babylon
T
he Sumerians were
conquered by their
Semitic neighbors.
But their civilization
was carried on by their
successors—the Akkadians,
Babylonians, Assyrians, and
Chaldeans.
Like the Sumerians,
the Babylonians made dis-
tinct contributions to the
growth of civilization. They
added to the knowledge of
astronomy, advanced the
knowledge of mathemat-
ics, and built the first great
capital city, Babylon. The
Dark stone pillar bear-
ing inscribed laws of
Hammurabi and an illustra-
tion of the king before the sun
god Shamash at the Louvre
Museum in Paris. Time &
Life Pictures/Getty Images
50
the fIrst KIngdoM of BaBylon
Babylonian King Hammurabi set forth the

Code of Hammurabi, the most complete com-
pilation of Babylonian law and one of the first
great law codes in the world.
The Reign of Hammurabi

During the first thousand years of its known
history, Babylon was a mere village. It became
the capital of the kingdom of Babylon in about
1894 bc. The kingdom’s brilliant First Dynasty
lasted 300 years and reached its greatest glory
under King Hammurabi. He spread the rule
of Babylon south into Sumer and west around
the Fertile Crescent into Syria. He was most
famous, however, for the code he published to
unify the legal practices in his empire.
The dates of Hammurabi’s life and reign
are uncertain. It is believed that he succeeded
his father, Sinmuballit, in 1792 bc. Knowledge
of the events of his life is derived from histor-
ical and building inscriptions, the prologue to
his laws, his correspondence, and other mate-
rials. The length of his reign is established by
what are called date formulas—the naming
of years for significant accomplishments or
acts of the king.
Hammurabi is credited with uniting
most of the area between the Tigris and the
51
MesopotaMIa
The archaeological site of Uruk on January 25, 2010. Uruk was

renowned for its walls, which were first built 4,700 years ago. Essam
Al-Sudani/AFP/Getty Images
Euphrates under one extensive empire for

the first time since Sargon of Akkad did so in
about 2300 bc. To do this, Hammurabi waged
several military campaigns. The purpose of
most of his operations was to gain control of
the Tigris and Euphrates waters, on which
agricultural productivity depended. Some
campaigns were over control of trade routes
or access to mines in Iran.
52
The king began his military campaigns

in 1787 by conquering the cities of Uruk and
Isin to the south. He then turned his atten-
tion to the northwest and east. The power
of Assyria prevented him from achieving any
significant results, and for 20 years no major
warlike activity was reported. He used the
time to fortify cities on his northern borders.
The last 14 years of Hammurabi’s reign
were overshadowed by war. In 1763 he
fought against a coalition east of the Tigris
that threatened to block access to metal-
producing areas in Iran. The same year he
conquered the city of Larsa, which enabled
him to take over the older Sumerian cities in
the south. He followed this victory with the
conquest of Mari, 250 miles (400 kilometers)
upstream on the Euphrates. During his last
two years the king concentrated on building
defense fortifications. By this time he was
a sick man, and the government was in the
hands of his son, Samsuiluna.
Hammurabi effected great changes in all
spheres of life. Most of his rule was given to
the establishment of law and order, religious
buildings, irrigation projects, and defense
works. He personally oversaw the adminis-
tration of government. In doing so he failed
to create a permanent bureaucratic system.
53
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The Code of Hammurabi is the most complete

remnant of Babylonian law. The background
to the code is the body of Sumerian law under
which city-states had lived for centuries. The
code itself was advanced far beyond ancient
tribal customs. The stela (a usually carved or
inscribed stone slab or pillar used for com-
memorative purposes) on which the code is
inscribed originally stood in Babylon’s temple
of Marduk, the national god. It was discovered
at the site of ancient Susa in 1901 by the French
archaeologist Jean-Vincent Scheil. He pre-
sented it to the Louvre.
The code consists of 282 case laws, or judi-
cial decisions, collected toward the end of
Hammurabi’s reign. The decisions deal with
such matters as family, marriage, and divorce;
tariffs; trade and commerce; prices; and crimi-
nal and civil law. From the code it is evident that
there were distinct social classes, each of which
had its rights and obligations. The right of pri-
vate property was recognized, though most of
the land was in the hands of the royal house.
Ownership of land brought with it the duty to
provide men for the army and public works.
Families were dominated by fathers.
Marriages were arranged by parents, and
54
A view of part of the Code of Hammurabi. Kean

Collection/Archive Photos/Getty Images
55
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control of the children by the father was unlim-

ited until marriage. Adoption was common,
either to ensure continuance of a family line or
to perpetuate a business.
In criminal law the ruling principle for
punishment was the ancient lex talionis, or
law of retaliation. Penalties were calculated
according to the nature of the offense. Capital
punishment was common, and the various
means of execution were prescribed, depending
on the nature of the crime. Neither impris-
onment nor forced labor is mentioned in the
code. Unintended manslaughter was punished
by a fine. Willful murder was not mentioned.
Carelessness and neglect in the performance
of work was severely punished. In general, the
penalties prescribed were an improvement
over the brutality of previous law.
This failure was a primary reason for the

rapid deterioration of his empire after his
death. Hammurabi’s accomplishments are
believed by historians to be exaggerated.
This is partly because of the fame he gained
when his law code was discovered. His lasting
achievement was to shift the main theater of
Mesopotamian history northward, where it
remained for 1,000 years.
56
Babylonian
Language and
Religion
Hammurabi made his
own Semitic language
official throughout
his kingdom and
raised the god of
Babylon, Marduk,
to first place
among the deities.
Scholars rewrote
old Sumerian myths and
gave Marduk, rather
than Enlil, credit for cre-
ating the universe. The
Babylonians’ chief female
deity was the ancient
mother goddess Innini of
Uruk, renamed Ishtar.
The goddess Ishtar in

ivory, 900-800 Bc. Time
& Life Pictures/Getty
Images
57
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The pyramidal, stepped temple towers known

as ziggurats were characteristic of the major
cities of Mesopotamia from approximately
2200 until 500 bc. A ziggurat was always built
with a core of mud brick and an exterior cov-
ered with baked brick. It had no internal
chambers and was usually square or rectangu-
lar, averaging either 170 feet (50 meters) square
or 125 × 170 feet (40 × 50 meters) at the base.
Approximately 25 ziggurats are known, being
equally divided among Sumer, Babylonia, and
Assyria.
58
No ziggurat is preserved to its original

height. Ascent was by an exterior triple stair-
way or by a spiral ramp, but for almost half of
the known ziggurats, no means of ascent has
been discovered. The sloping sides and terraces
were often landscaped with trees and shrubs.
The best-preserved ziggurat is at Ur (modern
Tall al-Muqayyar, Iraq). The largest, at Choghā
Zanbı̄l in Elam (now in southwestern Iran),
is 335 feet (102 meters) square and 80 feet (24
meters) high and stands at less than half its esti-
mated original height. A ziggurat, apparently of
great antiquity, is located at Tepe Sialk in mod-
ern Kāshān, Iran. The legendary Tower of Babel
has been popularly associated with the ziggurat
of the great temple of Marduk in Babylon.
Ziggurat at
Choghā Zanbı̄l
near Susa, Iran.
Robert Harding
Picture Library/
Sybil Sassoon
59
MesopotaMIa
As goddess of fertility, Ishtar could grant

her worshipers crops, lambs, or children. In
the hot midsummer month named for her
son Tammuz, vegetation dried up and people
fasted until he rose from the dead to make
the earth green again. The worship of Ishtar
(also called Astarte) and Tammuz spread
over southwestern Asia and reached Egypt
in the myth of Isis and Osiris. Later the dei-
ties appeared in Greece as Demeter and
Persephone.
60
CHAPTER 4
The Assyrians and
the Chaldeans
F
ormerly a dependency of Babylonia,
Assyria emerged as an independent
state in the 14th century bc, and in the
subsequent period it became a major power
in Mesopotamia. Famous for their cruelty
and fighting prowess, the Assyrians were also
monumental builders, as shown by archaeo-
logical sites at Nineveh, Assur, and Nimrud.
From the mid-8th to the late 7th century
bc, a series of strong Assyrian kings united
most of the Middle East, from Egypt to the
Persian Gulf, under Assyrian rule. The last
great Assyrian ruler was Ashurbanipal, who
died in 626 bc.
When Assyria declined, Babylon rose once
more to wealth and imperial power under
the great Chaldean king Nebuchadnezzar
II. This king is remembered in the Old
Testament for his destruction of Jerusalem
and the Babylonian captivity of the Jewish
people. In Babylonia, however, he was cele-
brated as the builder who made Babylon the
most splendid city in the world.
61
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Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria. Hulton Archive/Getty Images
The Kingdom of Assyria

After Hammurabi’s death, wave after wave
of Indo-European tribes invaded from the
northern mountains. For centuries the entire
civilized world was plunged into darkness.
62
the assyrIans and the chaldeans
The Hyksos invaded Egypt. The Kassites

overran Babylonia. The Hurrians occupied
the rest of the Fertile Crescent, from Assyria
into Palestine. This period has been called
the Middle Ages of antiquity. In about 1400
bc the Assyrians freed themselves from the
invaders’ rule. Then they extended their king-
dom northward.
Assyria took its name from its chief city,
Assur, on the upper Tigris. Lying north of
Babylonia, on the great trade route of the
Fertile Crescent, the country was frequently
invaded from the north as well as from the
south. Constant warfare made the Assyrians
fierce fighters, and traders who passed their way
were forced to pay them tribute for protection.
The Assyrians had long been under
the control of Babylon and had absorbed
Babylonian culture. Like the Babylonians
they were Semites, and their language was
almost identical with the Babylonians’. From
the Hittites of Anatolia they learned the use
of iron and developed powerful weapons to
build up a military state. From them they also
acquired horses and were the first to use them
in war as cavalry instead of for drawing chari-
ots. In order to strike terror into the hearts of
their enemies, they boasted of their cruelties.
63
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The citadel of Khorsabad in Assyria, as it may have appeared in

the time of Sargon II (722–705 Bc), is illustrated in a reconstruction
drawing by Charles Altman. Courtesy of the Oriental Institute, the
University of Chicago
Assyria’s greatest period of expansion

took place as the power of the Hittites
and Egyptians over Syria and Palestine
gradually weakened. The Assyrian king
Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727 bc) took
Damascus, in Syria. Sargon II (722–705 bc),
64
most famous of Assyrian kings, made Israel

an Assyrian province and carried into the
interior of his empire 30,000 Israelites (the
so-called Ten Lost Tribes of Israel). His son
Sennacherib (705–681 bc) conquered Sidon,
in Phoenicia, but Tyre resisted his assault.
Esarhaddon (681–668 bc) conquered Egypt.
Ashurbanipal (668–626 bc), the last of the
great Assyrian kings, subdued Elam, east
of Mesopotamia, and extended the empire
to its greatest size. Roads were built to
enable the Assyrian armies to subdue reb-
els quickly. A highly organized mail service
carried messages from the court to faraway
governors.
North of Nineveh, Sargon II built a pal-
ace far surpassing anything seen before his
day. It covered 25 acres (10 hectares) and had
nearly 1,000 rooms. Near it stood a seven-
story ziggurat temple. Sennacherib put up
three magnificent palaces in his capital at
Nineveh. The Babylonians had covered
their brick walls with glazed brickwork of
many colors, but the Assyrians faced theirs
with delicately carved slabs of limestone or
glowing alabaster. Colossal human-headed
winged bulls or lions, carved in alabas-
ter, stood guard outside the main gates of
65
MesopotaMIa
66
palaces and temples. The Assyrians pro-

duced little literature, but in great libraries
they preserved copies of Babylonian and
Sumerian works. They worshiped the old
Babylonian gods but gave their own god,
Assur, first place.
After the death of Ashurbanipal,
Assyria’s enemies joined forces. In 612 bc
the Babylonians and Medes completely
destroyed Nineveh. Six years later the
Assyrian empire collapsed.
The Chaldean Empire

After the fall of Assyria, Babylonia enjoyed
70 years of independence. The Chaldeans, a
little-known Semitic people, became the rul-
ing class of the New Babylonian, or Chaldean,
Empire. The most famous of their kings was
Nebuchadnezzar II (604–561 bc), who rebuilt
Babylon. The Chaldeans made great prog-
ress in science—particularly astronomy and
mathematics—and strongly influenced the
Greeks. From the towering ziggurat temples,
An Iraqi worker stands next to an ancient Assyrian

statue of a winged bull with a human face, at the
archaeological site of Nimrud, in northern Iraq.
Karim Sahib/AFP/Getty Images
67
MesopotaMIa
68
astrologer-priests read the stars. They could

even predict eclipses.
The original city of Babylon stood on
the right (west) bank of the Euphrates.
Nebuchadnezzar extended the city to the
left bank as well and built a stone bridge
across the river. The city was in the shape
of a square, surrounded by a massive tow-
ered wall. Palaces and temples were of vast
dimensions.
Nebuchadnezzar’s own great palace
achieved a touch of fairyland from its
famous Hanging Gardens, which the Greeks
counted as one of the Seven Wonders of the
World. The beautiful Gate of Ishtar spanned
Procession Street, which led to the Temple
of Marduk, chief god of Babylon. Near it
stood a great terraced ziggurat, built in seven
receding stories with a sloping ramp spiral-
ing around it to the top. This may have been
the original Tower of Babel described in the
Bible (Genesis 11:1–9), but it was only one
of many artificial “holy mountains” in and
around Babylon.
Visitors walk through the newly renovated

Ishtar Gate in 2008. AFP/Getty Images
69
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The Hanging Gardens of Babylon have long

since disappeared. They were said to have
70
been built by King Nebuchadnezzar in the 6th

century bc to please and console his favorite
wife, Amytis. Great terraces of masonry were
built one on top of the other. On these were
planted gardens of tropical flowers and trees
and avenues of palms. They were irrigated by
water pumped from
the Euphrates River.
Nebuchadnezzar and
his queen could sit in
the shade and look
down upon the beau-
ties of the city. The
walls of Babylon were
often included with
the Hanging Gardens
among the wonders
of Babylon. Built by
Ne b u c h a d n e z z a r,
they were faced
with glazed tile and
pierced by openings
fitted with magnifi-
cent brass gates.
A reconstruction of the
city of Babylon around
625 bc, with the Tower of
Babel in the distance and
the Hanging Gardens built
by King Nebuchadnezzar
in the foreground. Three
Lions/Hulton Archive/
Getty Images
71
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Later History of
Mesopotamia
Known for his military might,
Nebuchadnezzar II ultimately carried his
conquests to the border of Egypt, though
the days of his empire were numbered. He
died about 561 bc and was succeeded by
his son Awil-Marduk. In about 600 bc the
Indo-European peoples from the north-
ern grasslands, who later conquered and
settled all of Europe, started moving into
Mesopotamia and taking over this prized
territory. The first of these, the Medes,
took Assyria and then fell before Cyrus the
Great as the Persians spread their empire
to the Mediterranean; Babylon itself, capi-
tal of the Chaldean Empire, was taken by
the Persians without fighting in 539 bc. The
Persian Empire lasted more than two cen-
turies, until the conquests of Alexander the
Great. Alexander the Great died in Babylon
in 323 bc after adding Mesopotamia to his
many conquests.
Then Roman legions came, but in ad 363
they gave way before Persia, whose Sassanid
kings established their capital at Ctesiphon.
Finally the Arab Muslims took control of
Mesopotamia in the 7th century ad. They
72
soon developed into a major world power,

and their caliphs built dazzling Baghdad for
their capital.
The rise and fall of kings and nations
meant little to the farmers plowing the fer-
tile soil. Their rich crops paid for palaces and
temples and armies. The Mongol invasions
This engraving shows Macedonian king Alexander the Great in a

chariot at the head of his army as they triumphantly enter the city of
Babylon, 331 Bc. Stock Montage/Archive Photos/Getty Images
73
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began in the 13th century. Timur Lenk’s raid

in 1393 almost depopulated Baghdad. As
the Mongol armies poured in from the east,
they destroyed the precious canals as they
laid waste the countryside. The country did
not pass completely into the power of the
Ottoman Turks until 1638, but Mesopotamia
never regained its ancient fertility, wealth,
and splendor. The Ottoman rule lasted
until the end of World War I, when the new
nation of Iraq was formed with King Faysal
I on the throne. Since that time, Iraq has
experienced a number of upheavals, most
recently in the aftermath of the U.S.-led
invasion of Iraq starting in 2003, which led
to deposing its dictator, Saddam Hussein.
The Iraq War caused widespread death and
destruction, but a new Iraqi government has
been formed, adding another chapter to the
region’s long and ancient history.
74
Conclusion
S
cholars today continue to assess the
achievements of ancient Mesopotamian
civilization and strive to gain a clearer
understanding of how the civilization influ-
enced its neighbors and successors. The
complexity and highly varied nature of ancient
Mesopotamia have presented problems for
researchers, however, as the civilization had
numerous languages and cultures, its history is
broken up into many periods and eras, and it
had no permanent capital city. The variety of
ancient Mesopotamia stands out from other
civilizations with greater uniformity, particu-
larly that of Egypt.
While other civilizations may be better
known, it is difficult to overstate the impor-
tance of many of the accomplishments of
the ancient Mesopotamians. The Sumerians,
especially, made tremendous advances dur-
ing the centuries they tilled the land between
the Tigris and the Euphrates. Among other
contributions, they were responsible for the
first known system of writing, cuneiform;
the development of the city-state; and the
invention of the potter’s wheel, the sailboat,
75
MesopotaMIa
and the seed plow. Technical accomplish-

ments were perfected in the building of the
ziggurats, with their huge bulk, and in the
large and elaborate irrigation systems. Each
of the groups that conquered Mesopotamia
during the next 2,000 years absorbed and
enriched the Sumerian civilization. The
First Dynasty of Babylon advanced trade
and commerce and gave to the world one
of its first great law codes, the Code of
Hammurabi. At Nineveh the Assyrian king
Ashurbanipal established the first known
systematically collected library. Above all,
the literature of the ancient Mesopotamians
is one of their finest cultural achievements,
as the legends, myths, and epics they created
came to be echoed and re-echoed in distant
lands. Efforts by scholars and archaeologists
to shed more light on ancient Mesopotamia
should help bring about a fuller appreciation
of the achievements and creativity of these
remarkable people.
76
Glossary
alabaster A compact fine-textured usu-
ally white and translucent gypsum often
carved into vases and ornaments.
alluvial Composed of loose soil or sediments
eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water.
apportion To divide and share out accord-
ing to a plan.
bureaucratic Describes a government char-
acterized by specialization of functions,
adherence to fixed rules, and a hierarchy
of authority.
caliph A successor of Muhammad as tem-
poral and spiritual head of Islam; used as
a title.
coalition A temporary alliance of distinct
parties, persons, or states for joint action.
cuneiform Writing system composed of or
written in wedge-shaped characters.
eclipse The total or partial obscuring of one
celestial body by another.
ensis Leaders of city-states in ancient
Mesopotamia.
epic A long narrative poem in elevated style
recounting the deeds of a legendary or
historical hero.
ideogram A picture or symbol used in a
system of writing to represent a thing
or an idea, but not a particular word or
phrase for it.
77
MesopotaMIa
irrigation The watering of land by artificial

means to foster plant growth.
manslaughter The unlawful killing of a
human being without express or implied
malice.
navigable Deep and wide enough to be
traveled by boats or ships.
niche A recess in a wall especially for a statue.
odyssey An intellectual or spiritual wander-
ing or quest.
shekel Any of various ancient units of
weight; a unit of value based on a shekel
weight of gold or silver.
silt Loose sedimentary material, usually
deposited by a river.
smelt To melt or fuse (as ore) often with an
accompanying chemical change, usually
to separate the metal.
stela A carved or inscribed stone slab or pil-
lar used for commemorative purposes.
stylus An instrument used by the ancients
for writing on clay or waxed tablets.
tariff A schedule of duties imposed by a
government on imported, or in some
countries exported, goods.
ziggurat An ancient Mesopotamian temple
tower consisting of a lofty pyramidal
structure built in successive stages with
outside staircases and a shrine at the top.
78
For More Information
The Avalon Project
The Code of Hammurabi
Lillian Goldman Law Library
127 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
(203) 432-1608
Web site: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/ancient/
hammpre.asp
This project, run by Yale University,
includes a number of translations of
the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi
with helpful information about these
ancient laws.
The British Museum

Department of Ancient Mesopotamia
Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DG
United Kingdom
Web site: http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk
The British Museum houses an unparal-
leled collection of artifacts from ancient
Mesopotamia. They have information on
the culture, as well as artifacts displaying
ancient cuneiform.
The Canadian Society for Mesopotamian

Studies
University of Toronto
79
MesopotaMIa
4 Bancroft Ave, 4th Floor

Toronto, ON M5S 1C1
Canada
(416) 978 4531
Web site: http://projects.chass.utoronto.ca/
csms/main.html
The Canadian Society for Mesopotamian
Studies was founded in 1980 by a group
of specialists and interested public
who shared an interest in the archaeol-
ogy, literature, culture, and history of
Mesopotamia. Presently they hold lec-
tures and symposiums for the further
study of this ancient culture.
Journal of Cuneiform Studies (JCS)

Boston University
656 Beacon Street, 5th Floor
Boston, MA 02215-2010
(617) 353-6570
Web site: http://www.bu.edu/asor/pubs/jcs/
index.html
Founded in 1947, the Journal of Cuneiform Studies
presents technical and general articles on
the Mesopotamian writing system of cunei-
form. The journal is published once a year.
Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago

Collection: Mesopotamia
80
for More InforMatIon
1155 East 58th Street

Chicago, IL 60637
(773) 702-9514
Web site: http://oi.uchicago.edu/museum/
highlights/meso.html
The Oriental Institute of the University of
Chicago has an excellent collection of
artifacts due to expeditions to Iraq in the
early 1900s. The material that has been
brought back from these expeditions
forms one of the major world collections
covering in depth the civilizations of
ancient Mesopotamia.
Web Sites
Due to the changing nature of Internet links,
Rosen Educational Services has developed an
online list of Web sites related to the subject
of this book. This site is updated regularly.
Please use this link to access the list:
http://www.rosenlinks.com/ancv/meso
81
Bibliography
Apte, Sunita. Mesopotamia (Children’s
Press, 2010).
Danti, Michael D., and Zettler, Richard
L. Sumer and Its City-States
(Cobblestone, 2003).
Faiella, Graham. The Technology of
Mesopotamia (Rosen, 2006).
Fitterer Klingel, Cynthia, and Noyed,
Robert B. Ancient Mesopotamia
(Compass Point Books, 2003).
Gruber, Beth, and Wilkinson, T.J.
Ancient Iraq: Archaeology Unlocks the
Secrets of Iraq’s Past (National
Geographic, 2007).
Hunter, Erica C.D. Ancient Mesopotamia
(Chelsea House, 2007).
Landau, Elaine. The Assyrians (Millbrook
Press, 1997).
Malam, John. Mesopotamia and the Fertile
Crescent, 10,000 to 539 B.C. (Raintree
Steck-Vaughn, 1999).
Mehta-Jones, Shilpa. Life in Ancient
Mesopotamia (Crabtree, 2005).
Nardo, Don. Science, Technology, and
Warfare in Ancient Mesopotamia
(Lucent Books, 2009).
Oakes, Lorna. Mesopotamia (Rosen, 2009).
Reece, Katherine E. The Mesopotamians:
Conquerors of the Middle East (Rourke, 2005).
82
BIBlIography
Rustad, Martha E.H., and Hiti, Samuel.

The Babylonians: Life in Ancient Babylon
(Millbrook Press, 2010).
Schomp, Virginia. Ancient Mesopotamia:
the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians
(Franklin Watts, 2004.)
83
Index
A B
Adab, 44 Babylon, 17, 22, 26, 36, 38,
Adam and Eve, 43 41, 43, 44, 49, 50–60,
Adapa, 43 61, 63, 65, 67, 69, 71, 72
adoption, 56 Babylonia, 17, 58, 61, 63
Agade, 30 Bad-tibira, 44
Akkad, 17, 28–30, 36, 45, Baghdad, 14, 28, 73, 74
49, 50, 51, 52 Balikh, 15
Akshak, 44 Basra, 14
Alexander the Great, 72 Bible, 17, 43, 44, 61, 69
alphabet, 31, 34, 38
Amytis, 71 C
Anatolia, 17, 42, 45, 63
calendars, 32, 33
Anu, 42, 43, 45, 47
caliphs, 73
Arabian Desert, 10, 25
capital punishment, 56
Aramaic, 38
Chaldeans, 50, 61, 67–69, 72
archaeology, 10, 17, 32,
China, 36
54, 61, 76
Chogha Zanbil, 59
arithmetic, 40, 41,
Christianity, 33
50, 67
city-states, 20, 30, 42, 44,
Armenia, 42
49, 54, 75
Ashurbanipal, 45, 61, 65,
Code of Hammurabi, 51,
67, 76
54–56, 76
Asia Minor, 17, 38
coined money, 40
Assur, 14, 61, 63, 67
Ctesiphon, 14, 72
Assyrians, 14, 17, 22,
cuneiform, 30, 31, 34,
26, 36, 38, 41, 49,
36–38, 41, 75
50, 53, 58, 61, 62–67,
Cyrus the Great, 72
72, 76
Astarte, 60
astrology, 33, 69
D
astronomy, 33, 41, 50, 67 Damascus, 64
Awil-Marduk, 72 date formulas, 51
84
Index
Demeter, 60 Gharraf Channel, 15

divorce, 54 Gilgamesh, 43, 44,
Diyala, 14 45–47
Great Zab, 14
Greece, 10, 32, 33, 38, 42,
E
60, 67, 69
Ea, 43, 47
Egypt, 32, 33, 36, 60, 61,
H
63, 64, 65, 72, 75
Elam, 36, 49, 59, 65 Hammurabi, 51–56,
Enkidu, 45, 47 57, 62
Enlil, 42, 43, 57 Hanging Gardens, 69,
ensis, 20 70–71
Epic of Gilgamesh, 44 hieroglyphs, 32, 36
Erech, 44 Hittites, 38, 63, 64
Esarhaddon, 65 Hurrians, 36, 63
Etana, 44, 49 Hussein, Saddam, 74
Euphrates River, 10, 12, Huwawa, 45
14, 15, 17, 19, 28, 52, 53, Hyksos, 63
69, 71, 75
excavations, 10, 19, 32
I
ideograms, 36
F
India, 25
Fallujah, Al,28 Indus River, 25
Faysal I, 74 Innini, 57
Fertile Crescent, 25, 51, 63 Iran, 10, 36, 42, 52, 53, 59
floods, 10, 15, 19, 44, 47 Iraq, 10, 14, 15, 28, 30,
funerals, 47 59, 74
Iraq War, 74
irrigation, 11, 15, 19, 20, 53,
G
71, 76
Garden of Eden, 10 Ishtar, 47, 57, 59, 69
Gate of Ishtar, 69 Isin, 53
85
MesopotaMIa
Isis, 60 Marduk, 54, 57, 59, 69

Israelites, 38, 65 Mari, 53
marriage, 47, 54, 56
Medes, 67, 72
J
Mediterranean Sea, 25, 38,
Jerusalem, 61 49, 72
Mesopotamia
agriculture, 10, 15, 17, 19,
K
20, 22, 52, 60, 73
Kashan, 59 architecture, 11, 15, 19,
Kassites, 63 20, 22, 53, 58–59, 61,
kings, 14, 30, 43, 44, 45, 65, 67, 69, 71, 76
49, 50, 51–56, 57, 61, arts and crafts, 17, 19,
62, 64–65, 67, 69, 71, 20, 22, 25, 26, 31, 49, 75
72, 73, 76 birthplace of civiliza-
Kish, 44 tion, 10–30
Khabur, Al, 15 clothing, 25–28
family life, 42, 54, 56
geography, 12–15
L
language, 30, 31, 32, 34,
Lagash, 44 36–38, 40–42, 43, 45,
Larak, 44 47, 49, 67, 75, 76
Larsa, 44, 53 later history, 72–74
laws, 11, 49, 51, 53, 54–56, 76 peoples, 10, 14, 17–19,
leatherwork, 17, 22 20, 22, 30, 31–49,
lex talionis, 56 50–74
libraries, 45, 67, 76 religion, 20, 22, 41, 42,
Little Zab, 14 43,45, 47, 53, 54, 57,
Louvre, 54 59–60, 67, 69, 73
trade, 17, 22, 24–25, 32,
40, 52, 54, 56, 63, 76
M
metalwork, 17, 24, 31, 63, 71
Macedonia, 14 Middle Ages, 63
manslaughter, 56 mina, 40
86
Index
Mongols, 73–74 private property, idea of,

Mosul, 14 40, 54
Muslims, 72–73 Procession Street, 69
mythology, 42–43, 49, 57,
60, 76
R
Romans, 33, 42, 72
N
Nebuchadnezzar II, 61,
S
67, 69, 71, 72
Nimrud, 61 Samsuiluna, 53
Nineveh, 14, 45, 61, 65, Sargon, 30, 49, 52
67, 76 Sargon II, 64–65
Nippur, 42, 44 Sassanids, 72
Noah, 44 Scheil, Jean-Vincent, 54
nomads, 10 scribes, 40
Seleucia, 14
Seleucus, 14
O
Semites, 17, 28, 30, 32, 33,
Osiris, 60 42, 50, 57, 63, 67–69
Ottoman Turks, 74 Sennacherib, 65
Seven Wonders of the
World, 69
P
Shamash, 47
Palestine, 63, 64 Shatt al-Arab, 14
Parthia, 14 shekels, 40
Persephone, 60 Shinar, 17
Persian Gulf, 12, 14, 15, 61 Sidon, 65
Persians, 33, 72 silt, 10, 15
Phoenicia, 38, 65 Sinmuballit, 51
Phoenician script, 38 Sippar, 44
Plain of Shinar, 11 stylus, 32, 40
potter’s wheel, 19, 22, 75 Sumer, 17, 30, 51, 58
pottery, 17, 19, 22, 31, 75 Sumerian King List, 44
87
MesopotaMIa
Sumerians Tower of Babel, 59, 69

gods and heroes, 42–44 Turkey, 10, 14, 15
last, 44, 49 Tyre, 65
schools, 34, 38–42
writing system, 32, 34
U
Susa, 54
Syria, 14, 15, 25, 42, 51, 64 Ubaid, Al.17
Ubaidians, 17, 19
Umma, 44
T
underworld, 47
Tall al-Muqayyar, 59 Ur, 44, 49, 59
Tammuz, 60 Uruk, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47,
tariffs, 54 53, 57
temples, 22, 31, 42, 54, Utnapishtim, 44, 47
58–59, 65, 67, 69,
73, 76
W
Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, 65
Tepe Sialk, 59 World War I, 74
Tiamat, 42–43
Tiglath-Pileser III, 64
Z
Tigris River, 10, 12–15, 28,
51, 52, 53, 63, 75 ziggurats, 22, 58–59, 65,
Tigris Valley, 17 67, 69, 76
Timur Lenk, 74 Ziusudra, 44
88

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Published in 2012 by Britannica Educational Publishing

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Distributed exclusively by Rosen Educational Services.

Britannica Educational Publishing

Anthony L. Green: Editor, Compton’s by Britannica

Marilyn L. Barton: Senior Coordinator, Production Control

Rosen Educational Services

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Mesopotamia / edited by Sherman Hollar.—1st ed.

Starting around 10,000 bc, wandering tribes-

A group of schoolchildren visit

of this region to trade grain for other goods

to use horses as cavalry. They built roads

As Mesopotamian people have been doing for thousands of years, an

an area called the Plain of Shinar. Here they

This model represents an early brick dwelling from the ancient

The streams that join to form the Tigris

Van in eastern Turkey. Leaving Turkey, the

the two rivers to irrigate their hot, dry land.

The longest river of western Asia is the

Fishermen return from work on a flat boat in the Euphrates River in

Peoples of the Region

Excavations have uncovered Ubaidian

The World’s First Cities

Ancient frieze of a Mesopotamian man hold-

The rich soil produced abundant crops

Whole emmer wheat. Armstrong Studios/FoodPix/Getty Images

city’s wealth, its temple became an elaborate

An Iraqi woman, wearing traditional clothes and

the banks, but sails also were in use. Before

in overland caravans or in ships to exchange

cloaks were worn, and materials included

This frieze from the Iraq Museum shows fashion-

allover patterns or in borders. Women wore

An ancient Iraqi bronze statuette depicting a

Akkadian. To the south of the region of

A richly decorated object called the Stanard of Ur was found in the

The Sumerians developed the first cal-

People have kept track of the days by the march

therefore had to be broken up into a series

Stylus found in 1924 at the ancient Sumerian city

The most widely used and historically signifi-

The Flood Tablet, 11th cuneiform tablet in a series

in about 2000 bc and passed it to the Hittites,

Finally the pupil was assigned a book to copy,

A statue of a scribe from the Sumerian era, in the

The pupils also studied arithmetic. The

usual seal was an engraved cylinder of stone

In the Iraq Museum in Baghdad, four cylinder seals with representa-

Semitic languages and spread its use to neigh-

Stories of Gods and Heroes

mouth wide open. Enlil pushed the winds

of Mesopotamia supplied material that was

The Last of the Sumerians

The fullest extant text of the Gilgamesh epic

Gilgamesh is the best known of all ancient

cedar forest, but the rest of the engagement

After Etana, the city-states vied for domina-

Illustration of an advisor and the King of Ur.