2. Ever wonder when the first written records appeared,
when the wheel was invented, or where our modern
counting system came from? Believe it or not, these
and many other innovations – like glass, farming,
complex legal systems, and basic astronomy – came
from one civilization, the very first: Mesopotamia.
Mesopotamia
3. Mesopotamia
For kids who want to discover the roots of
modern–day life, this issue is key. What most
people don’t know is that Mesopotamia
includes the Sumerian, Babylonian, and
Assyrian empires, which followed one after
another, from 3500 B.C. to 612 B.C., and all
failed for different reasons.
5. Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia (Ancient Greek:
Μεσοποταμία "[land] between rivers"); is
a name for the area of the Tigris–
Euphrates river system, in modern days
roughly corresponding to most of Iraq
plus Kuwait, the eastern parts of Syria,
Southeastern Turkey, and regions along
the Turkish-Syrian and Iran–Iraq borders.
7. Mesopotamia
Widely considered to be one of the cradles
of civilization by the Western world,
Bronze Age, Mesopotamia included Sumer
and the Akkadian, Babylonian, and
Assyrian empires, all native to the territory
of modern-day Iraq. In the Iron Age, it was
controlled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-
Babylonian Empires.
8. The Sumerians and Akkadians (including Assyrians
and Babylonians) dominated Mesopotamia from the
beginning of written history (c. 3100 BC) to the fall
of Babylon in 539 BC, when it was conquered by
the Achaemenid Empire. It fell to Alexander the
Great in 332 BC, and after his death, it became part
of the Greek Seleucid Empire.
Mesopotamia
10. Around 150 BC, Mesopotamia was under the control of the
Parthian Empire. Mesopotamia became a battleground
between the Romans and Parthians, with parts of
Mesopotamia coming under ephemeral Roman control. In
AD 226, it fell to the Sassanid Persians and remained
under Persian rule until the 7th century Muslim conquest of
Persia of the Sasanian Empire. A number of primarily neo-
Assyrian and Christian native Mesopotamian states existed
between the 1st century BC and 3rd century AD, including
Adiabene, Osroene, and Hatra.
Mesopotamia
11. Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest
developments of the Neolithic Revolution
from around 10,000 BC. It has been identified
as having "inspired some of the most
important developments in human history
including the invention of the wheel, the
planting of the first cereal crops and the
development of cursive script, mathematics,
astronomy and agriculture."
12. History
The pre-history of the Ancient Near East begins in the Lower Paleol
ithic period, but writing began with a pictographic script in the Uruk
IV period (ca. 4th millennium BC), and the ancient history of lower
Mesopotamia — commence in the mid-third millennium BC with c
uneiform records of early dynastic kings, and ends with either the ar
rival of the Achaemenid Empire in the late 6th century BC, or with t
he Muslim conquest and the establishment of the Caliphate in the la
te 7th century AD, from which point the region came to be known a
s Iraq. During this period Mesopotamia housed some of the world's
most ancient highly developed and socially complex states.
Mesopotamia
14. The region was one of the four riverine civilizations wher
e writing was invented, along with the Nile valley in Egy
pt, the Indus Valley Civilization in the Indian subcontinen
t, and the Yellow River in China. Mesopotamia housed his
torically important cities such as Uruk, Nippur, Nineveh,
Assur and Babylon, as well as major territorial states such
as the city of Eridu, the Akkadian kingdoms, the Third Dy
nasty of Ur, and the various Assyrian empires.
Mesopotamia
15. Mesopotamia
Some of the important historical
Mesopotamian leaders were Ur-Nammu
(king of Ur), Sargon of Akkad (who
established the Akkadian Empire),
Hammurabi (who established the Old
Babylonian state), Ashur-uballit II and
Tiglath-Pileser I (who established the
Assyrian Empire).
16. Studies have reported that most Irish and Britons are descendan
ts of farmers who left modern day Iraq and Syria 10,000 years a
go. Genetic researchers say they have found compelling eviden
ce that four out of five (80% of) white Europeans can trace their
roots to the Near East. In another study, scientists analysed DN
A from the 8,000-year-old remains of early farmers found at an
ancient graveyard in Germany. They compared the genetic sign
atures to those of modern populations and found similarities wit
h the DNA of people living in today's Turkey and Iraq.
Mesopotamia
