Summary of Ancient History                        التاريخ القديم

As early as about 1800 BC King Shamshi-Adad I of Assyria is thought to have established his capital, Shubat Enlil, at present-day Tell Leilan in the extreme northeast of Syria. The kingdom was later conquered by Hammurabi of Babylonia, and the region was long afterward influenced principally by Egypt and Babylon. Parts of the region were conquered successively by the Egyptians and the Hittites, and, in the 8th century BC, by Assyria. In the 6th century BC the region passed first to the Chaldeans and then to the Persians (538 BC. Alexander the Great made it a part of his empire in 333 and 332 BC, and at the close of the 4th century BC it was appropriated by Seleucus I, one of Alexander’s generals, who founded Antioch as the capital. During the 3rd century BC the Ptolemies of Egypt and the Seleucids contended for the possession of lower Syria and Palestine. Both areas, and much of western Asia, passed to the Seleucids, whose realm became known as the kingdom of Syria. In 64 BC Syria was made a Roman province.

After the far-flung Roman dominions were divided into two parts in ad 395, the Western Roman Empire with its capital at Rome and the Eastern, or Byzantine, Empire with its capital at Constantinople, Syria remained a Byzantine province for approximately 240 years. It was conquered in 636 by the Arabs and was quickly absorbed into their rapidly expanding Islamic empire. In 661 Damascus became the seat of the powerful Umayyad caliphs. At that time it was one of the most important and splendid cities of the Muslim world. Later it was supplanted by Baghdād in present-day Iraq.

In 1099 the Crusaders incorporated part of the region into the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem and part into the principality of Antioch. In a subsequent campaign (1174-1187), Saladin, sultan of Egypt, took Syria and overthrew the kingdom of Jerusalem. The many wars centering on Syria impoverished the land and its people; its ruin was completed by a Mongol invasion in 1260.

 

Hellenistic Age (4th-1st century bc), period between the conquest of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great and the establishment of Roman supremacy, in which Greek culture and learning were preeminent in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. It is called Hellenistic (Greek Hellas, “Greece”) to distinguish it from the Hellenic culture of classical Greece.

The Hellenistic world was dominated by three great monarchies founded by the successors of Alexander: Egypt under the Ptolemies; Syria, ruled by the Seleucids; and Macedonia under the Antigonid dynasty. The urban elite in these kingdoms spoke koine (common) Greek, which became the new international language, and their religion, art, and literature were a cosmopolitan blend of Greek and native elements. Many new cities were founded, most important of which was Alexandria in Egypt. Under the Ptolemies, who used their wealth to attract poets, scholars, artists, and scientists, the city became a great economic, cultural, and religious center. Systematic scholarship was encouraged at new institutes of learning, such as the famous Alexandrian Library, where studies in philology, grammar, prosody, lexicography, and literary criticism were pursued. Poetry, too, was marked by scholarship rather than inspiration, generally following models evolved in the more innovative Classical Age. Many advances were made in such sciences as empirical medicine, astronomy, and mathematics; it was the time of Euclid, Apollonius of Perga, Eratosthenes, Aristarchus of Sámos, Hipparchus, Hero of Alexandria, and Archimedes. The basic views of Hellenistic thinkers were not seriously challenged until the 16th century. Two of the main philosophical schools of the age were Stoicism and Epicureanism. The Stoics taught that one should live according to nature, which is the reason (Logos) that permeates all things. The sage who follows this advice will achieve apatheia, or freedom from suffering. The Epicureans held that all things are composed of atoms and the void and that a simple life is preferable to empty wealth and fame. Their goal was ataraxia, or tranquillity.

The religion of the Hellenistic Age combined the Greek gods with Eastern deities; a process known as syncretism, or the mixing of religions. The Hebrew bible was translated into Greek at Alexandria, and the language of the later New Testament was koine.

As the Hellenistic monarchies declined in the 2nd and 1st centuries bc, the Romans gradually extended their control over Greece and the Middle East. The Roman civilization that subsequently became dominant was in many ways a continuation of Hellenistic culture.

Contributed By:
Jay Bregman

Hittites (Hebrew Hittim), ancient people of Asia Minor and the Middle East, inhabiting the land of Hatti on the central plateau of what is now Anatolia, Turkey, and some areas of northern Syria. The Hittites, whose origin is unknown, spoke an Indo-European language. They invaded the region, which became known as Hatti, about 1900 bc and imposed their language, culture, and rule on the earlier inhabitants, a people speaking a non-Indo-European agglutinative language. The first town settled by the Hittites was Nesa, near present-day Kayseri, Turkey. Shortly after 1800 BC they conquered the town of Hattusas, near the site of present-day Boğazkale. Nothing more is known of Hittite history until, in the 17th century bc, the so-called Old Hittite Kingdom was founded by the Hittite leader Labarna (reigned about 1680-1650 bc), or Tabarna, and Hattusas became its capital. Labarna conquered nearly all of central Anatolia and extended his rule to the sea. His successors extended Hittite conquests into northern Syria. Mursili I (reigned about 1620-1590 bc), the second ruler after Labarna, conquered what is now Ḩalab (Aleppo), Syria, and raided Babylon about 1595 BC. Mursili’s assassination was followed by a period of internal strife and external weakness that ended during the reign of King Telipinu (reigned about 1525-1500 bc). To ensure the stability of the kingdom, he issued strict rules governing the royal succession. The law code may also have been compiled during his reign. Of Telipinu’s successors only the names are known.

About 1450 BC the so-called New Hittite Kingdom was founded. One of its most important members, the royal prince Suppiluliuma (reigned about 1380-1346 bc), usurped the throne during a period of foreign invasions. After liberating his country and defeating his main enemy, the kingdom of Mitanni in northern Mesopotamia, he led his armies farther into Syria. There his conquests were made easier by a weakening of Egyptian power during the reign of the pharaoh Amenhotep IV, or Akhenaton. Thus the Hittite Kingdom under Suppiluliuma became a great empire rivaling the power of Egypt, Babylonia, and Assyria. After the death of Suppiluliuma, the Hittites were largely able to maintain their empire, although only by constant warfare. During the 15th and 14th centuries bc their holdings extended westward to the Aegean Sea, eastward into Armenia, southeastward into upper Mesopotamia, and southward into Syria as far as present-day Lebanon.

During the last half of the 14th century bc, the Hittites continued to come into frequent conflict with Egypt. The two great powers struggled for control of Syria until a battle was fought in Kadesh, Syria, between the Hittite king Muwatalli (reigned about 1315-1296 bc) and the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II. Although Ramses claimed a great victory, the Hittites continued to maintain their hold on Syria. The Hittite king Hattusili III (reigned about 1289-1265 bc) concluded a treaty of peace and alliance with Ramses years later and subsequently gave him his daughter in marriage. Thereafter, relations between the Hittites and Egyptians remained friendly until the Hittite Empire fell shortly after 1200 bc to invaders called the Sea Peoples in Egyptian records.

The downfall of the empire was followed by confusion and conflict. Subsequently a number of Hittite city-states, the most famous of which was Carchemish, emerged in southeastern Anatolia and northern Syria. These states were peopled by an intermingled ethnic group, called Syro-Hittites, consisting primarily of the Hittites, of peoples from the former Hittite Empire, and the previous inhabitants of the two areas. The Syro-Hittite rulers used the Luwian language, in which hieroglyphics were employed for writing. Some of these city-states were conquered in the 10th century bc by the Aramaeans. Even after it was conquered, all of Syria was still called Hatti by the Assyrians. Both the city-states that were conquered by the Aramaeans and those that remained independent finally were made provinces of the Assyrian Empire under Sargon II about 715 bc.

The primary sources of information about the Hittites came from Egyptian records, notably those of the 19th Dynasty, and from certain passages in the Bible. The earliest of these passages, calling the Hittites “Sons of Heth,” possibly refers to the period of the Hittite Kingdom. Later passages allude to the Syro-Hittites.

In 1906 the royal archives of the Hittites themselves were discovered in excavations at Boğazkale. These discoveries cast doubt on many items of information gathered from Egyptian sources. For example, certain military engagements were mentioned as victories for the Hittites, whereas the Egyptian records identify the engagements as Hittite defeats. The importance of the discovery is that the archives made it possible to decipher the Hittite language, thus revealing information about previously unknown aspects of the culture, such as political organization, legislation, religion, and literature.

Most of the texts found in the archives were written in the Hittite language, but treaties and state letters were written in Akkadian, the international language of the period. Other texts were written in the Hurrian language of southeastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia, a language unrelated to any known linguistic group. The Hittites used the cuneiform system of writing taken from the Babylonians, but they also employed a system of hieroglyphs to inscribe a language closely related to Hittite, possibly a Luwian dialect. Although the hieroglyphs were used during the period of the empire, most inscriptions belong to the period after its downfall. The literature of the Hittites was highly developed, particularly in the form of historical records and stories.

The Hittite king acted as the supreme priest, military commander, and chief judge of the land. During the old kingdom he was assisted by the pankus, an advisory council of nobles, which later disappeared. The empire was administered by provincial governors acting as deputies of the king. Territories beyond the empire were frequently ruled as vassal kingdoms, and formal treaties were made with their rulers.

The most outstanding achievements of the Hittite civilization lay in the fields of legislation and the administration of justice. The law codes of the Hittites reveal a strong Babylonian influence, but their administration of justice was far more lenient than that of the Babylonians. The Hittites rarely resorted to the death penalty or to bodily mutilation, both of which were characteristic of other civilizations of the ancient Middle East. Furthermore, Hittite justice rested in the main on the principle of restitution rather than on retribution or vengeance. The penalty for thievery, for example, was restoration of the stolen object and payment of some additional recompense; restitution in kind was gradually replaced by payment of money.

The Hittite economy was basically agricultural. The principal crops were wheat and barley, and the chief animals were cattle and sheep. The Hittites also had mineral riches in the form of copper, lead, silver, and iron. Their metallurgical techniques were advanced for the time; they may have been the first people to work iron.

The Hittites worshiped a variety of gods. A recurrent phrase in state documents is an invocation to the “thousand gods of Hatti,” deities worshiped apparently throughout Asia Minor before and during the period of Hittite domination. Scholars have traced Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Hurrian, Luwian, and other foreign influences in the Hittite pantheon.

In the rock sanctuary of Yazilikaya, near Boğazkale, is a remarkable series of reliefs cut into rock. The reliefs depict two long processions of gods and goddesses advancing toward each other. The majority of the gods remain unidentified, but the two deities heading the procession are the storm god, or weather god, and the sun goddess, the chief deities worshiped by the Hittites. Excavations at the sanctuary revealed a temple built in front of one chamber; the other, smaller chamber seems to have been devoted to the cult of a deceased king.

Hittite mythology, like Hittite religion, represents a combination of elements that reflect the diversity of cults within the empire. Of special interest are certain epic poems containing myths, originally Hurrian with Babylonian motifs. These myths deal with several successive generations of gods who ruled the universe and with a monster who challenged the rule of the last king of the gods. They are similar to Greek myths contained in the Theogony by the Greek poet Hesiod and may have been their prototypes. How the myths might have reached Greece is not clear, but it is possible they were transmitted during the Mycenaean ascendancy in Greece (1400-1200 bc). Mycenaean Greeks are known to have been in western Anatolia then and to have traded with Hittite-held Syria. Hittite records refer to contacts between Hittite rulers and those of the kingdom of Ahhiyawā, which some scholars identify with the country of the Achaeans. Whether or not Hittite cultural elements were transmitted abroad, many of them survived in Anatolia until the first Roman penetration into Asia Minor in 190 bc. Such deities as the Great Mother and the storm god (called Jupiter Dolichenus by the Romans) were still worshiped at that time.

The art and architecture of the Hittites reveal the influence of nearly all the contemporary cultures of the ancient Near East, and especially of Babylonia. Nevertheless, the Hittites achieved a certain independence of style that renders their art distinct. Their building materials were generally stone and brick, but they also used wooden columns. Their often massive palaces, temples, and fortifications frequently were adorned by stylized and intricate carved reliefs on walls, gates, and entrances.

Contributed By:
Hans G. Güterbock

 Ancient Cities, Towns

Archives consist of articles that originally appeared in Collier's Year Book (for events of 1997 and earlier) or as monthly updates in Encarta Yearbook (for events of 1998 and later). Because they were published shortly after events occurred, they reflect the information available at that time. Cross references refer to Archive articles of the same year.

Archaeologists have announced the details of an extraordinary event-the discovery of a previously unknown ancient Near Eastern civilization, which may prove to be of great significance to biblical studies. Located in northern Syria, the civilization, named Ebla, was a virtual empire that flourished around 2400-2250 bc and rivaled Egypt and Mesopotamia, its major contemporaries, in scale.

Recently discovered by an Italian research team, after a dozen years' digging at a series of mounds south of Aleppo, Ebla was a powerful kingdom, whose influence extended from the Sinai peninsula to the Mesopotamian highlands. A wealthy commercial center, it traded in textiles and metal products with adjoining kingdoms. Its main city alone had a population of about 260,000.

Although the Italians had excavated portions of the palace-city earlier in the course of their work, it was the discovery, in late 1976, of archives containing some 15,000 inscribed clay tablets that provided the astonishing details of the kingdom's existence, including its name. The tablets, written in cuneiform, more than tripled the quantity of written records extant from this important early period of history, during which cities first evolved from the agricultural villages that dotted the ancient Near East. Not decipherable at first, the tablets eventually yielded up their secrets when archaeologists found a word list giving the same words in both Eblaite and Sumerian (a language known to scholars). Unlike Sumerian, the new language turned out to be a Semitic tongue, and this fact pointed to one of the most exciting dimensions of the find: a possible link between the Eblaites and another Semitic people—the Hebrews—who were to appear in Palestine some years later.

Although no one is claiming that the Eblaites were strictly ancestral to the Hebrews, the two Semitic-speaking peoples clearly shared the same tradition, and knowledge of the world of the Eblaites may yield a number of extraordinary insights into that period between Noah and Abraham which appears in the Bible as a series of tantalizingly brief genealogies. Paolo Matthiae, director of the excavations, was certain of the find's value. "We have found," he said, "the civilization that was the background to the people of the Old Testament."

Among the revelations contained on the tablets was the fact that Eblaite kings—like their Hebrew counterparts—were anointed with oil. Another important discovery was that many names later used by the Hebrews, such as Abraham, Esau, Saul, David, and Israel, appear on the tablets. Several kingdoms mentioned are identifiable with Old Testament names, and there are accounts of creation and of a great flood that resemble those in both Babylonian and Old Testament traditions. But Ebla has only begun to tell its story. Excavation of the immense palace has barely started, and of the 15,000 cuneiform tablets perhaps 10 percent have been translated to date. There is little doubt that important new revelations will be emerging from the ancient kingdom of Ebla for years to come.

Aram (Hebrew, “highland,” in contrast to the lowland of Canaan), ancient country northeast of Palestine, between the Lebanon Mountains and the Euphrates River, roughly corresponding to present-day Syria. The Aramaeans, a Semitic people, moved to this region some time in the late 2nd millennium bc. Their language was the Aramaic language.

Caesarea Philippi, ancient city of the Golan Heights section of Syria (now occupied by Israel), southwest of Damascus. The city was originally called Paneas because it was a center for the worship of the Greek god Pan. In the 1st century bc, Emperor Augustus of Rome gave the region to Herod the Great, king of Judea. The city was subsequently enlarged by Herod's son, Herod Philip the Tetrarch, who named it Caesarea in honor of the emperor (Caesar), adding Philippi (Latin, “of Philip”) to distinguish the town from Caesarea Palestinae, a seaport to the south. According to Matt. 16:13-20, it was near Caesarea Philippi that Jesus commanded the apostle Peter to care for Jesus' followers. The site is now occupied by the village of Bāniyās.

Ebla, ancient city of northern Syria, discovered in 1968 by the Italian archaeologist Paolo Matthiae at Tell Mardīkh, a 56-hectare (140-acre) mound south of Ḩalab (Aleppo). Excavating the site in 1975, Matthiae unearthed Ebla's royal archives, a collection of more than 14,000 inscriptions on clay tablets dating from 2500-2200 bc. Written in the cuneiform characters originated by the Sumerians of Mesopotamia, adapted to the language of Ebla's Semitic inhabitants, they show the city to have been an important commercial center ruled by a merchant aristocracy with an elected king. They also reveal the existence of a flourishing north Syrian civilization rivaling that of Egypt and Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium bc.

Galilee (Hebrew galil,”circle”), region, northern Israel. In ancient times the boundaries of the region were vague, but by the beginning of the Christian era, Galilee was a Roman province comprising all of what was then northern Palestine west of the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias). The region is generally mountainous and is divided geographically into Upper Galilee in the north and Lower Galilee in the south. Peaks in Upper Galilee attain heights of about 900 m (about 3,000 ft) above sea level, with Meron rising 1,208 m (3,963 ft); the terrain in the south is more level. The entire region is well watered; the mountain slopes are covered with shrubs, and grain is cultivated on the large plains. Upper Galilee was long famous for the cultivation of olives and grapes. During ancient times the area contained numerous towns and villages and was heavily populated with Syrians, Phoenicians, Arabs, Greeks, and Jews.

In the ad 20s, Galilee was the center of Jesus Christ's ministry. In ad70, Tiberias, one of the important cities in Galilee, became a center of rabbinical learning. In 1516, Galilee was included in the area that became the Ottoman province of Syria. After World War I, the League of Nations assigned the mandate for Palestine to Britain. In 1947, when the General Assembly of the United Nations partitioned Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state, Galilee was included in the Jewish sector and subsequently became part of Israel. In 1952 the Beit Natufa Dam, part of an irrigation system, was constructed here.

Palmyra, ancient city of Syria, in an oasis on the northern edge of the Syrian Desert, 240 km (150 mi) northeast of Damascus. The ruins of Palmyra are located 5 km (3 mi) west of the modern town of Tadmurīyah. Palmyra (meaning “Palm City”) was the Greek and Latin name of the place, but in more ancient times it bore a name similar to that of the modern town. In inscriptions dating to the time of King Tiglath-pileser I of Assyria, around 1100 bc, the city is called Tadmar. In the Bible it is called Tadmor (1 Kings 9:18 and 2 Chronicles 8:4).

According to tradition, Palmyra was founded by Solomon, king of ancient Israel. It was the easternmost city of Solomon's empire. Palmyra owed its prominence to its strategic location on the ancient trade routes between Egypt and the Persian Gulf.

The earliest surviving inscription from Palmyra dates from 32 bc. Palmyra was a prosperous caravan station in the 1st century bc. It became a Roman outpost and a major city-state within the Roman Empire in the 1st century ad. Its chief commercial rival was Petra, an ancient city in what is now southwestern Jordan. Palmyra prospered even more when the Romans conquered Petra in ad 106. The Roman emperors lavished favors on Palmyra. In 129 Emperor Hadrian restored many of its buildings and named it Hadriana Palmyra after himself. Septimius Severus (reigned 193-211) gave it the standing of a Roman colony. For the most part, however, Palmyra maintained a relatively independent and neutral position between the empire of Rome to the west and the empire of Parthia to the east.

Palmyra reached its high point in the 3rd century ad under its ruler Odenathus. An ally of Rome, Odenathus helped the Romans regain territory they had lost to King Shapur I of Persia (reigned 241-272). Upon the assassination of Odenathus, probably in 267, his widow, Zenobia, succeeded him. Within three years she extended her rule to all of Syria, to Egypt, and to most of Asia Minor. Her ambition led to war with Rome, and in 272 Emperor Aurelian captured her and sacked Palmyra. The city never recovered its importance and splendor.

Palmyra was conquered by Muslim Arabs in 634 and made an Arab fortress. In 1089 it was destroyed by an earthquake. Plundering hastened its decay, and it sank rapidly to the ruins that remain to this day.

Excavations were made at Palmyra by German archaeologists in 1902 and 1917 and by French archaeologists beginning in 1925. An account of the German work was published by German archaeologist Theodor Wiegand in 1932.

The chief structures of the ancient city included the temple of Bel, or Baal (1st century bc); the temple of Bel-shamin (1st century ad); the agora, or marketplace (2nd century ad); the theater and civic center; and the rectangular walled caravanserai, or inn for caravans. The temple of Bel, or Baal, also known as the temple of the Sun, still stands. Also still standing is the colonnade, nearly 1.6 km (1 mi) long, which originally consisted of some 1,500 Corinthian columns. The main street of the ancient city was the old caravan road. In Roman times it was transformed into a long and beautiful avenue adorned with colonnades and monumental arches.

Phoenicia, ancient designation of a narrow strip of territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, now largely in modern Lebanon. The territory, about 320 km (about 200 mi) long and from 8 to 25 km (5 to 15 mi) wide, was bounded on the east by the Lebanon Mountains. The southern boundary was Mount Carmel; the northern boundary was generally accepted to be the Eleutherus River, now called the Kabīr, which forms the northern boundary of Lebanon.

Although its inhabitants had a homogeneous civilization and considered themselves a single nation, Phoenicia was not a unified state but a group of city-kingdoms, one of which usually dominated the others. The most important of these cities were Simyra, Zarephath (Sarafand), Byblos, Jubeil, Arwad (Rouad), Acco (‘Akko), Sidon (Şaydā), Tripolis (Tripoli), Tyre (Sur), and Berytus (Beirut). The two most dominant were Tyre and Sidon, which alternated as sites of the ruling power.

The Phoenicians, called Sidonians in the Old Testament and Phoenicians by the Greek poet Homer, were Semites, related to the Canaanites of ancient Palestine. Historical research indicates that they founded their first settlements on the Mediterranean coast about 2500 bc. Early in their history, they developed under the influence of the Sumerian and Akkadian cultures of nearby Babylon. About 1800 bc Egypt, which was then beginning to acquire an empire in the Middle East, invaded and took control of Phoenicia. Beginning about 1400 bc raids of Egyptian territory by the Hittites weakened the Egyptian empire, giving the Phoenician cities an opportunity to revolt. By about 1200 bc the Phoenicians were independent of Egypt.

With self-rule, the Phoenicians became the most notable traders and sailors of the ancient world. The fleets of the coast cities traveled throughout the Mediterranean and even into the Atlantic Ocean, and other nations competed to employ Phoenician ships and crews in their navies. In connection with their maritime trade the city-kingdoms founded many colonies, notably Utica and Carthage in north Africa, on the islands of Rhodes and Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea, and Tarshish in southern Spain. Tyre was the leader of the Phoenician cities before they were subjugated, once again, by Assyria during the 8th century bc. When Assyria fell during the late 7th century bc, Phoenicia, except for Tyre, which succeeded in maintaining its independence until about 538 bc, was incorporated into the Chaldean Empire of Nebuchadnezzar II and, in 539 bc, became part of the Persian Empire. Under Persian rule Sidon became the leading city of Phoenicia.

When Alexander the Great of Macedonia invaded Asia and defeated Persia in 333 bc, Sidon, Arwad, and Byblos capitulated to Macedonia. Tyre again refused to submit, and it took Alexander a 7-month siege in 332 bc to capture the city. After this defeat the Phoenicians gradually lost their separate identity as they were absorbed into the Greco-Macedonian empire. The cities became Hellenized, and, in 64 bc, even the name of Phoenicia disappeared, when the territory was made part of the Roman province of Syria.

The most important Phoenician contribution to civilization was the alphabet. Purple dye, called Tyrian purple, and the invention of glass, are also ascribed to the Phoenicians. Their industries, particularly the manufacture of textiles and dyes, metalworking, and glassmaking, were notable in the ancient world, and Phoenician cities were famous for their pantheistic religion. Each city had its special deity, usually known as its Baal, or lord, and in all cities the temple was the center of civil and social life. The most important Phoenician deity was Astarte.

Further Reading:

Seleucia Pieria, ancient city of Syria founded in 300 bc by King Seleucus I, at the foot of the Pieria Mountains, north of the mouth of the Orontes River. The city was the seaport of Antioch and rose to great prominence during the wars between the Seleucids and the Ptolemies of Egypt for possession of Syria. The Romans officially recognized the independence of Seleucia about 70 bc. By the 5th century ad , the city had fallen into decay. The many ruins on the site of Seleucia attest to its former position of prominence and splendor.

Mesopotamia (Greek, “between the rivers”), one of the earliest centers of urban civilization, in the area of modern Iraq and eastern Syria between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

As the Tigris and Euphrates flow south out of Turkey, they are 400 km (250 mi) apart; the Euphrates runs south and east for 1,300 km (800 mi) and the Tigris flows south for 885 km (550 mi) before they join, reaching the Persian Gulf as the Shatt al Arab. The river valleys and plains of Mesopotamia are open to attack from the rivers, the northern and eastern hills, and the Arabian Desert and Syrian steppe to the west. Mesopotamia's richness always attracted its poorer neighbors, and its history is a pattern of infiltration and invasion. Rainfall is sparse in most of the region, but when irrigated by canals the fertile soil yields heavy crops. In the south, date palms grow, supplying rich food, useful fiber, wood, and fodder. Both rivers have fish, and the southern marshes contain wildfowl.

The need for self-defense and irrigation led the ancient Mesopotamians to organize and build canals and walled settlements. After 6000 bc the settlements grew, becoming cities by the 4th millennium bc. The oldest settlement in the area is believed to be Eridu, but the best example is Erech (Uruk) in the south, where mud-brick temples were decorated with fine metalwork and stonework, and growing administrative needs stimulated the invention of a form of writing, cuneiform. The Sumerians were probably responsible for this early urban culture, which spread north up the Euphrates. Important Sumerian cities, besides the two mentioned above, were Adab, Isin, Kish, Larsa, Nippur, and Ur (see Sumer).

About 2330 bc the region was conquered by the Akkadians, a Semitic people from central Mesopotamia. Their king Sargon I, called the Great (reigned about 2335-2279 bc), founded the dynasty of Akkad, and at this time the Akkadian language began to replace Sumerian. The Gutians, tribespeople from the eastern hills, ended Akkadian rule about 2218 bc, and, after an interval, the 3rd Dynasty of Ur arose to rule much of Mesopotamia. In Ur, Sumerian traditions had their final flower. Influxes of Elamites from the east eventually destroyed the city of Ur about 2000 bc. These tribes took over the ancient cities and mixed with the local people, and no city gained overall control until Hammurabi of Babylon (reigned about 1792-1750 bc) united the country for a few years at the end of his reign. At the same time, an Amorite family took power in Ashur to the north; both cities, however, fell soon after to newcomers. A raid launched in around 1595 bc by the Hittites from Turkey brought Babylon down, and for four centuries it was controlled by non-Semitic Kassites. Ashur fell to the Mitanni state, set up by Hurrians from the Caucasus, who were presumably relatives of the Armenians. The Hurrians had been in Mesopotamia for centuries, but after 1700 bc they spread in large numbers across the whole of the north and into Anatolia.

Kassite Babylonia flourished, based on a few cities and many small villages in a tribal pattern. Its kings wrote as equals to the pharaohs of Egypt and traded widely.

Beginning about 1350 bc, Assyria, a north Mesopotamian kingdom, began to assert itself. Assyrian armies defeated Mitanni, conquered Babylon briefly about 1225 bc, and reached the Mediterranean about 1100 bc. Aramaean tribes from the Syrian steppe halted Assyrian expansion for the next two centuries and, with related Chaldean tribes, overran Babylonia. To secure itself, Assyria fought these tribes and others, expanding again after 910 bc. At its greatest extent (around 730-650 bc) the Assyrian Empire controlled the Middle East from Egypt to the Persian Gulf. Conquered regions were left under client kings or, if troublesome, annexed. Following ancient practice, rebellious subjects were deported, resulting in a mixture of peoples across the empire. Frequent revolts demanded a strong military machine, but it could not maintain control of so vast a realm for long. Internal pressures and attacks from Iranian Medes and Chaldeans from Babylonia caused Assyria to collapse in 612 bc. The Medes took the hill country, leaving Mesopotamia to the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar II. The Chaldeans ruled Mesopotamia until 539 bc, when Cyrus the Great of Persia, who had conquered Media, captured Babylon.

Under the Persians, Mesopotamia became the satrapies of Babylon and Ashur, Babylon having a major, although not capital, role in the empire. The Aramaic language, widely spoken earlier, became the common language, and the imperial government brought stability; it was oppressive, however, and Mesopotamia's prosperity declined.

After Alexander the Great's conquest in 331 bc, the Greek dynasty of Seleucus I held Mesopotamia. A dozen cities were founded—Seleucia on the Tigris being the largest—bringing Hellenistic culture, new trade, and prosperity. A major new canal system, the Nahrawan, was initiated. About 250 bc the Parthians (see Parthia) took Mesopotamia from the Seleucids. The Parthian rulers (the Arsacids) organized their empire so that several autonomous vassal states developed, in which Greek and Iranian (Persian) ideas mingled. After rebuffing Roman attacks, the Parthians fell (ad 224) to the Sassanids (see Persia), whose domain extended from the Euphrates to present-day Afghanistan. Effective government with a hierarchy of officials and improved irrigation canals and drainage brought prosperity. Intermittent conflict in the northwest with the Roman province of Syria—part of the Eastern Roman (later Byzantine) empire after 395—and with Arabs in the desert border areas led to disaster when insurgent Arab tribes destroyed Sassanian Persia in 641, bringing with them a new religion, Islam. Despite this defeat, the Sassanid dynasty lasted until 651, when the last Sassanid ruler died.

For the next century Mesopotamia was ruled by the Umayyad caliphs of Damascus. Hordes of tribespeople settled in the land, and the Arabic language displaced Greek and Persian. Conflicts divided the Muslims, and Baghdād became the center of the Islamic empire under the Abbasid caliphs. The caliphs introduced Turkish bodyguards, who gradually took control, establishing dynasties of their own in the area. After the Mongol sack of Baghdād in 1258, administrative decay and further attacks by Bedouins and Mongols led to the deterioration of the canal system, restricting agriculture and souring the soil.

The sultans of the Ottoman Empire and the Safavid rulers of Persia vied for control of Mesopotamia from the 16th to the 18th century, when family dynasties controlled Baghdād and other Mesopotamian cities. The Ottomans eventually prevailed. During World War I British troops took the area after much hard fighting. The League of Nations then mandated Iraq to Great Britain and Syria to France. Iraq became independent in 1932, Syria in 1945.

See also Assyria; Babylonia; Middle East; Ur.

Contributed By:
A. R. Millard, MA, M. Phil.  Ranking Reader in Hebrew and ancient Semitic languages, School of Archaeology and Oriental Studies, University of Liverpool.

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