The story of writing astronomy and law begins in one place, Mesopotamia also called the cradle of
civilization and located in modern Iraq and Kuwait.
The word Mesopotamia means between the rivers
and refers to the civilizations hosted by the fertile valleys between the Tigris and Euphrates
from 4000 BC to the Persian invasion in 539 BC.
Unlike Egypt's one main river, the Tigris and Euphrates were crisscrossed by several smaller waterways forming more of web
which made it difficult for any single society to sustainably exercise control over the others.
Mesopotamia was never one cohesive geopolitical entity but rather a decentralized collection of city-states
cultures and languages, the only real bonds being their script and pantheon of more than a thousand gods.
Its history is broken up into many eras mostly featured by the dominance of
different city-states including the Sumerian, Assyrian, Akkadian and Babylonian civilizations.
Since before 10000 BC the fertile conditions of Mesopotamia allowed ancient hunter-gatherer
people to settle, domesticate animals and develop irrigation techniques and agriculture.
Trade soon followed and the necessity for keeping track of accounts led to the invention
of writing in 3300 BC, an event which occurred
later independently in other places such as Egypt.
Sumerian wedge-shaped or cuneiform writing system
was adapted for over a dozen different Mesopotamian
languages for thousands of years
and clay tablets were the vehicle for riding.
With prosperity came urbanization and the important birth of the city featured by temples,
intensive agriculture, stock breeding and highly specialized industries.
The first and most prominent city to emerge was founded by the Sumerians
and called Uruk which may have given rise to the name for the country of Iraq.
Sumerian city-states were built on the riches
made from trade and featured temples a top massive ziggurats.
This period saw the invention of the wheel, the first recorded war in history and the gradual shift of power from priests to kings.
Oroka is most famous for its semi-mythical king Gilgamesh and the tale for his quest for immortality.
One of Mesopotamia's finest cultural achievements is literature, as the epic of Gilgamesh is considered to be the earliest great work
and the inspiration for some of the stories in the bible.
Also unlike Egypt's regular Nile, the volatile Mesopotamian rivers required slave labor for irrigation
and flooded unpredictably and very violently
Scholars think it is by no surprise that the region is associated with tales of a world-ending flood which may have inspired
the biblical flood of Noah.
Around 3000 BC, the Sumerians had significant cultural interchange with the Akkadians,
a group named after the city-state of Akkad and that speaks a language related to modern Hebrew and Arabic.
Sargon of Akkad united the Akkadian and Sumerian speakers
and their different city-states under the Akkadian empire,
arguably the world's first empire, a multicultural territory governed by a single central government.
Within 180 years of its founding, the Akkadian empire fell and eventually coalesced into two
major Akkadian speaking nations, Assyria in the north and a few centuries later Babylonia in the south.
Named after their capital city of Ashore, Assyrians were a society of warriors and created a large empire stretching from Persia to Egypt
through constant warfare.
Mass deportations and resettlement of conquered peoples were practiced as deportees were carefully
chosen for their skills and moved around to spread their techniques.
Not only did that policy serve as a tool for economic organization but also for imperial control to put down possible rebellions.
Previously a minor city-state, Babylon rose and gave the name of Babylonia to the region under
the reign of Hammurabi, an efficient ruler who established a centralized bureaucracy with taxation.
Hammurabi's fame stems from his compilation of the comprehensive code of laws which echoed upon the earlier
ones and for ensuring that it was followed throughout the empire
The code of Hammurabi established everything from wages to punishments such as an eye for an eye
although adjusted depending on social status.
Hammurabi's code could be extremely harsh but also introduced the principle that every person is considered innocent until proven guilty.
Mathematics and astronomy also owe much to Babylonia including the base 60 system that is
still used today to demarcate time into 60 minute hours and 60 second minutes
Babylonia waned within two centuries but then rose again later in the 7th century BC as a short-lived new Babylonian
empire, featuring the hanging gardens of Babylon one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
The final decline of Babylonian culture gradually happened as it was invaded by the Persians in 539 BC,
Alexander the great 200 years later, then the Romans and finally the Arabic Muslims in 651.
Unlike Egypt's stone structures most of Mesopotamia's monumental palaces
and temples didn't last long because they were made from mud bricks as the region was barren of stone.
Nevertheless Mesopotamia's literature influenced the Abrahamic religions forever and
its inventions left a prevailing legacy including agriculture, writing, urbanization, beer and law.