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 Overview map of ancient Mesopotamia
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 The Three Angels Appearing to Abraham
“He lifted up his eyes and looked,
and behold, three men were standing in
front of him..” (Gen. 18:2),
Artist: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.
Date: 1726-1729, (Gen. 18:2)
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 Rebecca at the Well,
Artist: Nicolas Poussin,
Date: c. 1648
(larger image)  . The name comes from the Greek words μέσος "between" and ποταμός "river", referring to the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris (the Arabic term is بين نهرين Bayn Nahrain "between two rivers"). The fertile area watered by these two rivers is known as the "Cradle of Civilization," or " cradle of humanity" and it was here that the first literate societies developed.
The biblical Patriarch Abraham was from Ur in Mesopotamia.
10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, taking all sorts of choice gifts from his master; and he arose and went to Mesopotamia to the city of Nahor. 11 And he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time when women go out to draw water. 12 And he said, "O LORD, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. 13 Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. 14 Let the young woman to whom I shall say, 'Please let down your jar that I may drink,' and who shall say, 'Drink, and I will water your camels'—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master."
15 Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her water jar on her shoulder. 16 The young woman was very attractive in appearance, a maiden whom no man had known. She went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up. 17 Then the servant ran to meet her and said, "Please give me a little water to drink from your jar." 18 She said, "Drink, my lord." And she quickly let down her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink. 19
When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, "I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking." 20 So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water, and she drew for all his camels. 21 The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether the LORD had prospered his journey or not. Genesis 24:10-21 ESV |
"Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, (Acts 7:2)
28 Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. 30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.
31 Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. Genesis 11:28-31 ESV |
 A Mesopotamian pendant 29 And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. 30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.
31 Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. Genesis 11:29-31 ESV
There has never been a political entity called Mesopotamia, nor does Mesopotamia have any definite boundaries; the name is simply a convenient one invented by Greek historians to refer to a broad geographical area.
History
Mesopotamia has been home to some of the world's major ancient civilizations, succeeding the major prehistoric cultures such as Ubaid and Jemdet Nasr, including the Sumerian city states, and the Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian Empires. |
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Some of the important historical Mesopotamian leaders were Ur-Nammu (king of Ur), Sargon (established the Akkadian Empire), Hammurabi (established the Babylonian Empire) and Tiglath-Pileser I (established the Assyrian Empire).
"Ancient Mesopotamia" is taken to include the period from the late 4th millennium BC until the rise of the Achaemenids in the 6th century BC. This long period may be divided in:
- Pre-Pottery Neolithic:
- Jarmo (ca. 7000 BCE-? BCE)
- Pottery Neolithic:
- Hassuna (ca. 6000 BCE-? BCE), Samarra (ca. 5500 BCE-4800 BCE) and Halaf (ca. 6000 BCE-5300 BCE) "cultures"
- Chalcolithic or Copper age:
- Ubaid period (ca. 5900 BCE–4000 BCE)
- Uruk period (ca. 4000 BCE–3100 BCE)
- Jemdet Nasr period (ca. 3100 BCE–2900 BCE)
- Early Bronze Age
- Early Dynastic Sumerian city-states (ca. 2900 BCE–2350 BCE)
- Akkadian Empire (ca. 2350 BCE–2193 BCE).
- Third dynasty of Ur ("Sumerian Renaissance" or "Neo-Sumerian Period") (ca. 2119 BCE–2004 BCE)
- Middle Bronze Age
- Early Assyrian kingdom (20th to 18th c. BCE)
- First Babylonian Dynasty (18th to 17th c. BCE)
- Late Bronze Age
- Kassite dynasty, Middle Assyrian period (16th to 12th c. BCE)
- Bronze Age collapse (12th to 11th c. BCE)
- Iron Age
- Neo-Hittite or Syro-Hittite regional states (11th–7th c. BCE)
- Neo-Assyrian Empire (10th to 7th c. BCE)
- Neo-Babylonian Empire (7th to 6th c. BCE)
- Classical Antiquity
- Achaemenid Assyria (6th to 4th c. BCE)
- Seleucid Mesopotamia (4th to 1st c. BCE)
- Parthian Mesopotamia (3rd c. BCE to 3rd c. CE)
- Roman Mesopotamia (2nd c. CE)
- Sassanid Mesopotamia (3rd to 7th c. CE)
- Islamic conquest of Persian Mesopotamia (7th c.CE)
Dates are approximate for the second and third millennia BCE; compare Chronology of the Ancient Near East.
Language and writing
The earliest written language in Mesopotamia was Sumerian, a language isolate. Later a Semitic language, Akkadian, came to be the dominant language, although Sumerian was retained for administrative, religious, literary, and scientific purposes. Different varieties of Akkadian were used until the end of the Neo-Babalonian period. |
| Then Aramaic, which had already become common in Mesopotamia, became the official language of the Achaemenid Empire. Akkadian fell into disuse, although both it and Sumerian were still used in temples for some centuries.
Development of writing
Mesopotamia was one of the first, if not the first, place in the world where writing developed. The earliest form of writing was pictographic, based on pictures that represented objects or ideas. In the late 4th millennium BC this system became more simplified and abstract, developing into cuneiform, a syllabary writing system. This form of writing eventually spread across much of the Near East. Akkadians, Elamites, Hittites and Assyrians all wrote with this system. Cuneiform script was written on clay tablets with a reed stylus, which produced the characteristic wedge shape of cuneiform writing. It has also suggested that Sumerian was an invented language, perhaps used for religious, scientific or literary purposes.
Royal libraries and museums
One of the largest collections of cuneiform writing comes from the archives of Ashurbanipal, the leader of Assyria. Around 650 BC he decided to create a library in Nineveh. As all temples in Babylonia had libraries, he sent his scribes to collect tablets from them. If a temple was unwilling to give away a tablet, the scribes had to make a copy. Soon the royal library in Nineveh was the largest in Assyria. Much of what we know about ancient Mesopotamia today comes from this library.
The Babylonian king Nebuchadrezzar II founded a museum where important statues, objects and some tablets were displayed. This is an example of Babylonian literature.
Science and technology
Mesopotamian people developed many technologies, among them metalworking, glassmaking, textile weaving, food control, and water storage and irrigation. They were also one of the first Bronze age people in the world. Early on they used copper, bronze and gold, and later they used iron. Palaces were decorated with hundreds of kilograms of these very expensive metals. Also, copper, bronze, and iron were used for armor as well as for different weapons such as swords, daggers, and spears. They also made weapons from gold, but most likely these were used only for decoration.
Mathematics
The Mesopotamians used a sexagesimal (base 60) numeral system. This is the source of the current 60-minute hour and 24-hour day, as well as the 360 degree circle. The Sumerian calendar also measured weeks of seven days each. This mathematical knowledge was used in mapmaking.
Astronomy
The Babylonian astronomers were very interested in studying the stars and sky, and could predict eclipses and solstices. In astronomy everything was seen to have some purpose, usually related to religion and omens.
In ancient Mesopotamia eclipses were considered as bad omens, but only the ones that were seen counted. If an eclipse was not seen in the royal city, then that the omen had nothing to do with the king or his country.
Constellations still in use today, such as Leo, Taurus, Scorpius, Auriga, Gemini, Capricornus and Sagittarius were picked out by Sumerian and Babylonian astronomers. The constellations were useful in determining the planting and harvesting of crops, and in calculating time.
Mesopotamians also have the distinction of originating astrology. However, most of what we now think of as astrology developed during the decline of their civilization.
Medicine
Approximately a thousand cuneiform tablets of medical content are preserved from Mesopotamia, and many more doubtless remain to be discovered. The range of domains which medical tablets cover is extremely broad, from gynaecology to infections to psychiatric conditions.
There are two main categories of medical tablet: 'therapeutic' and 'diagnostic'. Both types are divided into different entries by horizontal lines drawn across the tablet by the scribe.
The function of therapeutic tablets is to instruct the therapist on how to effect an appropriate cure. A typical entry reads "If a man is afflicted with X, to cure him do Y". Sometimes entries on therapeutic tablets include a diagnosis: "If a man is afflicted with X, (then) he suffers from (disease) Y, to cure him do Z". In the absence of a diagnosis, it can be difficult to separate symptoms from diseases.
The primary function of diagnostic tablets is to identify which supernatural agency was responsible for the patient contracting a particular ailment. A typical entry reads "If a man suffers from X, god Y is responsible".
Given that in Mesopotamian culture ill fortune (including ill health) presupposed disfavour on the part of the gods, healing had a strong religious dimension, and prayers were recited asking for deliverance. Alongside prayers, rituals were performed and incantations were recited. Some incantations, as in other cultures, were gobbledygook.
Medical remedies were also much used. While these might seem to modern eyes to represent the 'rational' side of Mesopotamian healing, versus 'irrational' ritual based cures, no such cleavage probably existed in the ancient mind.
Medical remedies (potions, plasters, suppositories were among the modes of application) were mostly plant based. Many nasty looking substances listed as ingredients in pharmaceutical prescriptions, such as "sailor's dung" or "live lizard" were actually secret names of plants. This is deduced (among other means) by a tablets which list plants and nasty substances in parallel columns.
Though the ancient names of many plants are known, it is difficult to identify them. The only book-length attempt at identifications (A Dictionary of Assyrian Botany, published posthumously by Reginald Campbell Thompson), is extremely erudite but overly sanguine. Many identifications proposed there do not stand up to closer scrutiny.
A consequence of the difficulty in identifying plants is that it is difficult to gauge the level of efficacy of the prescriptions. However, in some cases the ancient therapist has been vindicated: honey was used on wounds and sores, and it is now known to have antiseptic properties. Rituals probably served important psychological functions.
Surgery was practised, but the number of currently known tablets giving instructions for operations is small.
There were different types of therapist, each probably with different specialisms, but the differences between them are still subject of debate. There were also specialist veterinarians, but at present little is known about them. Little is known about payment.
Letters instructing that nobody should drink out of the same cup as a diseased person show that there was an awareness of the dangers of contagion already in the early second millennium BCE.
Books which those interested in Mesopotamian medicine may wish to consult include:
- Babylonisch-assyrische Diagnostik by Nils P. Heeßel (Ugarit-Verlag, 2000)
- Birth in Babylonia and the Bible by Marten Stol (Brill, 2000)
- Diagnoses in Assyrian and Babylonian Medicine by JoAnn Scurlock and Burton R. Andersen (Illinois University Press, 2005).
These books contain references to further reading, as do articles in Le Journal des Médecines Cunéiformes mentioned above.
Religion
Mesopotamian religion is the oldest religion recorded. Mesopotamians believed that the world was a flat disc, surrounded by a huge, holed space, and above that, heaven. They also believed that water was everywhere, the top, bottom and sides, and that the universe was born from this enormous sea. Mesopotamian religion was highly polytheistic, that is people believed in many gods.
Although the beliefs described above were held in common among Mesopotamians, there were also regional variations. The Sumerian word for universe is an-ki, which refers to the god An and the goddess Ki. Their son was Enlil, the air god. They believed that Enlil was the most powerful god. He was the chief god of the Pantheon, as the Greeks had Zeus and the Romans had Jupiter. The Sumerians also posed philosophical questions, such as: Who are we?, Where are we?, How did we get here?. They attributed answers to these questions to explanations provided by their gods.
If someone was sick they prayed to the gods so that person would recover. As mentioned above, the Mesopotamian doctors were not medically advanced, so instead people asked help from the gods.
Primary gods and goddesses
- An was the Sumerian god of the sky, later known as Anu. He was married to Ki, but in some other Mesopotamian religions he has a wife called Uraš.
- Marduk was the principal god of Babylon. The people glorified him, so he would allow Babylon to rise into a great empire from a small state.
- Gula, or in other places Ninishina, was the goddess of healing. When somebody was sick, she was one of the goddess they prayed to.
- Nanna (some places called Suen, Nanna-Suen or Sin) was the moon god. He was one of the sons of Enlil. Some say this is the true origin of Islam,
- Utu (also called Šamaš or Sahamash) was the sun god.
- Ishtar was the goddess of love and of sex.
- Enlil was the most powerful god in Mesopotamian religion. His wife was Ninlil, and his children were Inanna, Iškur, Nanna-Suen, Nergal, Ninurta, Pabilsag, Nushu, Utu, Uraš Zababa and Ennugi.
- Nabu was the Mesopotamian god of writing. He was very wise, and was praised for his writing ability. In some places he was believed to be in control of heaven and earth.
- Iškur (or Adad) was the god of storms.
- Ninurta was the Sumerian god of war. He was also the god of heros.
- Inanna, the Sumerian goddess of love and war, was also the wife of Ninurta.
- Pazuzu, also known as Zu, was an evil god, who stole the tablets of Enlil’s destiny, and is killed because of this. He also brought diseases which had no known cure.
Was "Allah" the biblical God or a pagan god in Arabia during PRE-ISLAMIC times?
ims claim that Allah in PRE-ISLAMIC times was the biblical God of the Patriarchs, Prophets, and The Twelve Apostles. The issue is thus one of continuity. Was "Allah" the biblical God or a pagan god in Arabia during PRE-ISLAMIC times? The Muslim's claim of continuity is essential to their attempt to convert Jews and Christians for if "Allah" is part of the flow of divine revelation in Scripture, then it is the next step in biblical religion. Thus we should all become Muslims. But, on the other hand, if Allah was A PRE-ISLAMIC PAGAN DEITY, then its core claim is refuted. Religious claims often fall before the results of hard sciences such as archeology. We can endlessly speculate about the past or go and dig it up and see what the evidence reveals. This is the only way to find out the truth concerning THE ORIGINS OF ALLAH. As we shall see, the hard evidence demonstrates that the god Allah was a pagan deity. In fact, he was the Moon-god who was married to the sun goddess and the stars were his daughters.
When the popularity of the Moon-god waned elsewhere, the Arabs remained true to their conviction that the Moon-god was the greatest of all gods. While they worshipped 360 gods at the Kabah in Mecca, the Moon-god was the chief deity. Mecca was in fact built as a shrine for the Moon-god.
The evidence reveals that the temple of the Moon-god was active even in the Christian era! Evidence gathered from both North and South Arabia demonstrate that Moon-god worship was clearly active even in Muhammad's day and was still the dominant cult. According to numerous inscriptions, while the name of the Moon-god was Sin, his title was al-ilah, i.e. "the deity," meaning that he was the chief or high god among the gods. As Carleton S. Coon pointed out, "The god Il or Ilah was originally a phase of the Moon God." The Moon-god was called al-ilah, i.e. the god, which was shortened to Allah IN PRE-ISLAMIC TIMES. The pagan Arabs even used Allah in the names they gave to their children. For example, both Muhammad's father and uncle had Allah as part of their names.
The fact that they were given such names by their pagan parents proves that Allah was the title for the Moon-god even in Muhammad's day. Prof. Coon goes on to say, "Similarly, under Mohammed's tutelage, the relatively anonymous Ilah, became Al-Ilah, The God, or Allah, the Supreme Being."
This fact answers the questions, "Why is Allah never defined in the Qur'an? Why did Muhammad assume that the pagan Arabs already knew who Allah was?" Muhammad was raised in the religion of the Moon-god Allah. But he went one step further than his fellow pagan Arabs. While they believed that Allah, i.e. the Moon-god, was the greatest of all gods and the supreme deity in a pantheon of deities, Muhammad decided that Allah was not only the greatest god but the only god.
The Muslim's claim that Allah is the God of the Bible and that Islam arose from the religion of the prophets and apostles is refuted by solid, overwhelming archeological evidence. Islam is nothing more than A REVIVAL of the ancient Moon-god cult. It has taken the symbols, the rites, the ceremonies, and even the name of its god from the ancient pagan religion of the Moon-god.
As such, it is sheer idolatry and must be rejected by all those who follow the Torah and Gospel.
www.answering-islam.org
Demons
The belief in demons was also a large part of ancient Mesopotamian religion. People were afraid of bad souls, so they set up many statues and painted pictures to scare away those unwanted ghosts. Like gods, there were different demons with their own names and specializing in different evil actions.
Burials
Archeologists found hundreds of graves in some parts of Mesopotamia. These graves tell us many things about Mesopotamian burial habits. In the city of Ur, most people were buried in family graves under their houses. Children were put in big jars and were taken to the family chapel. Other people were just buried into common city graveyards. A few people were wrapped in mats and carpets. In most graves some belongings of the people were with them, and there were 17 graves with very precious objects in them so it is assumed that these were royal graves.
Ziggurats
Ziggurats were huge temples built to worship the gods. They were built from clay and mud and had three or four parts. They were very high so that at times of flood they would stay dry. Many workers were required to build a ziggurat. There had to be enough people to dig clay, make bricks, and carry those bricks and put them together. The bricks were made from mud and crushed reeds. Only the Ur ziggurat survived because the builders in the later years learnt that firing the clay would make the bricks last longer.
Culture
Music and songs
Music and songs were a large part of Mesopotamian entertainment. Some were written for the gods but many were written to describe important events. Although music and songs amused kings and rulers, they were also enjoyed by ordinary people who liked to sing and dance in their homes or in the marketplaces. Songs were sung to children who passed them on to their children. Thus songs were passed on through many generations until someone wrote them down. These songs provided a means of passing on through the centuries highly important information about historical events that were eventually passed on to us.
The Oud (Arabic:العود) is a small, stringed musical instrument. The oldest pictorial record of the Oud dates back to the Uruk period in Southern Mesopotamia over 5000 years ago. It is on a cylinder seal currently housed at the British Museum and acquired by Dr. Dominique Collon. The image depicts a female crouching with her instruments upon a boat, playing right-handed. This instrument appears hundreds of times throughout Mesopotamian history and again in ancient Egypt from the 18th dynasty onwards in long- and short-neck varieties.
The oud is regarded as a precursor to the European lute. Its name is derived from the Arabic word العود al-‘ūd 'the wood', which is probably the name of the tree from which the oud was made. (The Arabic name, with the definite article, is the source of the word 'lute'.)
Games
Games were also popular, especially for royalties. The other people did not have any games, or else did not have time for them. A beautiful board game was found in one of the royal graves of Ur. Nobody knows for sure how to play it because the rules were not found. There are only suggestions of playing it.
Family life
Life was very hard for ordinary people in ancient Mesopotamia, partly because many babies died of incurable diseases. Most boys had to go to work with their fathers and had their own part of the work to do. Girls had to stay home with their mothers to learn housekeeping and cooking, and to look after the younger children. Some boys from richer families were able to go to school. Unusual for that time in history, women had rights. They could own property and, if they had good reason, get a divorce.
Agriculture
Food supply in Mesopotamia was quite rich due to the location of the two rivers from which its name is derived, Tigris and Euphrates. Although land nearer to the rivers was fertile and good for crops, portions of land further from the water were dry and largely uninhabitable. This is why the development of irrigation was very important for settlers of Mesopotamia. Other Mesopotamian innovations include the control of water by dams and the use of aqueducts. Early settlers of fertile land in Mesopotamia used wooden plows to soften the soil before planting crops such as barley. onions, grapes, turnips, and apples. Mesopotamian settlers were some of the first people to make beer and wine. The unpredictable Mesopotamian weather was often hard on farmers; crops were often ruined so backup sources of food such as cows and lambs were also kept.
Tigris and Euphrates
The two rivers surrounding ancient Mesopotamia were the Tigris and the Euphrates. These two rivers made the dry land fertile. Most ordinary people were quite poor and so these two rivers were very important to them. Yearly rainfall was low so river water was their only water supply. People had to irrigate their lands, otherwise crops would dry out. So they had to collect and control water with dams. If a dam was built in a high place, the dammed water did not go further down. This caused a problem for the lower cities, resulting many wars in that region.
Government
Kings
Most kings in Ancient Mesopotamia were thought to be chosen by a god, be a son of a god, or be a god himself. They were helping the gods by running the state. Most kings named themselves “king of the universe” or “great king”. Another common name was “shepherd”, as kings had to look after their people. Nebuchadnezzar was the most powerful king in Babylonia. He was thought to be the son of the god Nabu. He married the daughter of Cyaxeres, so the Median and the Babylonian dynasties had a familial connection. Nebuchadnezzar’s name means: Nabo, protect the crown! Belshedezzar was the last king of Babylonia. He was the son of Nabonidus whose wife was Nictoris, the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar. The first king of the first dynasty of Ur (around 2560) was Mesanepada. He made Ur Sumer’s main city.
First Dynasty of Ur c. 2563-2387 B.C.
- 2563-2524: Mesannepadda
- 2523-2484: A'annepadda
- 2483-2448: Meskiagnunna
- 2447-2423: Elulu
- 2422-2387: Balulu
Dynasty of Lagash c. 2494-2342 B.C.
- 2494-2465: Ur-Nanshe
- 2464-2455: Akurgal
- 2454-2425: Ennatum
- 2424-2405: Enannatum I
- 2402-2375: Entemena
- 2374-2365: Enannatum II
- 2364-2359: Enentarzi
- 2358-2352: Lugal-anda
- 2351-2342: Uru-inim-gina
Dynasty of Uruk c. 2340-2316 B.C.
- 2340-2316: Lugal-zaggesi
- Dynasty of Akkad c. 2334-2154 B.C.
- 2334-2279: Sargon
- 2278-2270: Rimush
Power
When Assyria grew into an empire, it was divided into smaller parts, called provinces. Each of these were named after their main cities, like Nineveh, Samaria, Damascus and Arpad. They all had their own governor who had to make sure everyone paid their taxes; he had to call up soldiers to war, and supply workers when a temple was built. He was also responsible for the laws being enforced. In this way it was easier to keep control of an empire like Assyria. Although Babylon was quite a small state in the Sumerian, it grew tremendously throughout the time of Hammurabi's rule. He was known as “the law maker”, and soon Babylon became one of the main cities in Mesopotamia. It was later called Babylonia, which meant, the gateway of the gods. It also became one of the greatest centers of learning.
Warfare
The civilizations, and within them city-states, of Mesopotamia had many wars, amongst each other for land and power. They also fought for the rivers’ control, transportation, irrigation, and for places they could get timber, stone and metal. When empires were created, they went to war more with foreign countries. King Sargon, for example conquered all the cities of Sumer, some cities in Mari, and then went to war with northern Syria. Many Babylonian palace walls were decorated with the pictures of the successful fights and the enemy, whether desperately escaping, or hiding amongst reeds. A king in Sumer, Gilgamesh, was thought two-thirds god and only one third human. There were legendary stories and poems about him, which were passed on for many generations, because he had many adventures that were believed very important, and he won lots of wars and battles.
Laws
King Hammurabi, as mentioned above, was famous for his set of laws, The Code of Hammurabi (created ca. 1780 BC), which is one of the earliest sets of laws found and one of the best preserved examples of this type of document from ancient Mesopotamia. For more information, see Hammurabi and Code of Hammurabi.
Architecture
The study of ancient Mesopotamian architecture is based on available archaeological evidence, pictorial representation of buildings and texts on building practices. Scholarly literature usually concentrates on temples, palaces, city walls and gates and other monumental buildings, but occasionally one finds works on residential architecture as well. Archaeological surface surveys also allowed for the study of urban form in early Mesopotamian cities. Most notably known architectural remains from early Mesopotamia are the temple complexes at Uruk from the 4th millennium BC, temples and palaces from the Early Dynastic period sites in the Diyala River valley such as Khafajah and Tell Asmar, the Third Dynasty of Ur remains at Nippur (Sanctuary of Enlil) and Ur (Sanctuary of Nanna), Middle Bronze Age remains at Syrian-Turkish sites of Ebla, Mari, Alalakh, Aleppo and Kultepe, Late Bronze Age palaces at Bogazkoy (Hattusha), Ugarit, Ashur and Nuzi, Iron age palaces and temples at Assyrian (Kalhu/Nimrud, Khorsabad, Nineveh), Babylonian (Babylon), Urartian (Tushpa/Van Kalesi, Cavustepe, Ayanis, Armavir, Erebuni, Bastam) and Neo-Hittite sites (Karkamis, Tell Halaf, Karatepe). Houses are mostly known from Old Bablylonian remains at Nippur and Ur. Among the textual sources on building construction and associated rituals, Gudea's cylinders from the late 3rd millennium are notable, as well as the Assyrian and Babylonian royal inscriptions from the Iron Age.
Houses
The houses of rich people were very big. They had two or three floors, with a roof, (which could also be used as a place to live). They had a large courtyard around the house. In the house there were a few bedrooms, a reception room, a chapel, a kitchen, a lavatory and a tomb under the house. The houses of ordinary people were much simpler, with only a couple of rooms in it.
The Palace
The palaces of the kings in Mesopotamia were huge buildings, which were beautifully decorated. Most walls had pictures carved into ivory, about great victories of the Mesopotamians. They also had large sculptures at entrances, to protect the king from demons and other evil spirits. Most furniture was also made from ivory, because it was easy to decorate and carve into shape. Their palaces contained large amount of metals as well. Bronze and gold was used the most for decorations on the walls, the rooms, the sculptures and the throne. Palaces were also the main centers of the government.
Economy
There was a large difference in money and wealth between rich and ordinary people. Ordinary people were highly dependant on their crops, because they had very little money. Rich people had many slaves and usually lots of money.
Silver coins were not pure silver. About 87% of the coin was silver.
Travel
Most people in Mesopotamia traveled by water rather than by foot, because it was much more convenient. They made boats from reeds, and it was easy to get through swampy areas, too. Later, when the use of wheels was invented, chariots were used, especially rich people, to look around the city with the pull of a couple of horses.
More recent history
The region then came under the rule of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, apparently as two satrapies, Babylonia in the south and Athura (from Assyria) in the north. During this time, 500-330 BC, Persia, an Indo-European language-speaking nation, became the pre-eminent power of the world. 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, until just before its elimination by Greater Armenia in 42 BC.
Most of Mesopotamia then became part of the Parthian Empire of Persia, which lasted until 224 AD. Ctesiphon was made the capital of the Parthian Empire. However, part in the northwest became Roman. Under the Tetrarchy this part was divided into two provinces: 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, the 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.
In the early 7th century AD, the caliphs of the Arab Empire came to power in Damascus and annexed all of the Sassanid Empire. Consequently Mesopotamia was reunited under the Arabs, but governed as two provinces: northern, with Mosul (also known as Nineveh) as its capital, and southern, with Baghdad as its capital. Later Baghdad also became the caliphal capital. Baghdad was the seat of the Arab Empire until 1258.
From 1508-1534 AD, the Persian Safavids took control of Mesopotamia.
In 1535 AD, Ottoman Turks took over Baghdad. During the reign of the Ottoman, Mesopotamia was ruled as three separate vilayats, or territories: Mosul, Baghdad, and Basra, which included the territory that is now present-day Kuwait.
At the end of World War I Mesopotamia was briefly occupied by the British, who set up the government of what is now present day Syria and Iraq under one hashemite ruler. In 1920 the nation-state of Iraq was created by the British, with its present-day borders and including the territory that is now known as Kuwait. Kuwait, which had originally been a part of the Basra province under Ottoman rule, declared its independence from Iraq in 1961.
References
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- Edzard, Dietz Otto; 2004. Geschichte Mesopotamiens. Von den Sumerern bis zu Alexander dem Großen, München, ISBN 3-406-51664-5
- Hrouda, Barthel and Rene Pfeilschifter; 2005. Mesopotamien. Die antiken Kulturen zwischen Euphrat und Tigris. München 2005 (4. Aufl.), ISBN 3-406-46530-7
- Joannès, Francis; 2001. Dictionnaire de la civilisation mésopotamienne, Robert Laffont.
- Korn, Wolfgang; 2004. Mesopotamien - Wiege der Zivilisation. 6000 Jahre Hochkulturen an Euphrat und Tigris, Stuttgart, ISBN 3-8062-1851-X
- Kuhrt, Amélie; 1995. The Ancient Near East: c. 3000-330 B.C. 2 Vols. Routledge: London and New York.
- Liverani, Mario; 1991. Antico Oriente: storia, società, economia. Editori Laterza: Roma.
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External links
- Mesopotamia — introduction to Mesopotamia from the British Museum Retrieved 04/16/2009
- By Nile and Tigris, a narrative of journeys in Egypt and Mesopotamia on behalf of the British museum between the years 1886 and 1913, by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge, 1920 (a searchable facsimile at the University of Georgia Libraries; DjVu & layered PDF format) Retrieved 04/16/2009
- A Dweller in Mesopotamia, being the adventures of an official artist in the Garden of Eden, by Donald Maxwell, 1921 (a searchable facsimile at the University of Georgia Libraries; DjVu & layered PDFPDF (7.53 MB) format) Retrieved 04/16/2009
- Mesopotamian Archaeology, by Percy S. P. Pillow, 1912 (a searchable facsimile at the University of Georgia Libraries; DjVu & layered PDFPDF (12.8 MB) format) Retrieved 04/16/2009
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