Ancient Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is in the Middle East, mainly in present-day Iraq, with parts of it in Syria and Turkey and influence extending into what are now Iran and the Persian Gulf states. The name translates literally as 'between rivers', and an alternate term is the Land of the Two Rivers. The rivers involved are the Tigris and Euphrates; both rise in the mountains of Eastern Anatolia, run more-or-less parallel, then join near Basra to form the Shatt al-Arab which flows into the Persian Gulf.

The region had several of the world's earliest civilizations and has dozens of archeological sites, including many s. Unfortunately, many have been damaged or destroyed by Da'esh, the so-called Islamic State.

As of mid-2024, most of the region is too dangerous to visit; see warnings in the Syria and Iraq articles.

Understand
Mesopotamia forms part of a historically important region called the Fertile Crescent; the other main part is the Levant. The region was one of the cradles of civilisation, where farming and cities first arose.

Mesopotamia was one of the great Bronze Age civilizations, along with Ancient Egypt, Ancient China, the Indus Valley Civilisation and others. All of those built cities and empires, and developed or imported innovations such as bronze-working, irrigation, writing, glass, mathematics, natural science, measurements of time, city planning, and the wheel. Historians debate who was first with each, and Mesopotamia is a candidate for most of them.

Many empires rose and fell here—,, , and are the best-known. Nearby ancient kingdoms which they influenced, traded with, sometimes invaded, and sometimes were invaded by included and the  in what is now Iran (the Mede capital  is now Hamadan), and  around Lake Van. The or Hurrians originated further west, but at one point their empire extended into northeast Mesopotamia.

Mesopotamia has a prominent role in the Abrahamic religions — Judaism, Christianity and Islam — and a shared history with the Holy Land. The Israelites' exile in Babylon around 600 BCE is well described in the Old Testament, and is one of the oldest Biblical events supported by historical records. Like many other ancient empires, Babylon primarily became known among Europeans through the Bible.

Most languages native to the region &mdash; including Akkadian which was the main language of the Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires, and Aramaic which became important later &mdash; were from the Semitic family which includes Arabic and Hebrew. Sumerian &mdash; spoken in Sumer and used by priests and scholars for centuries after Akkadian replaced it in general use &mdash; was a language isolate, unrelated to any other known language.

The land later became a subject under many empires: the Hittites, the Hellenic Empire of Alexander the Great and his successors, the Roman Empire and its successor the Byzantine Empire, various incarnations of the Persian Empire, the Mongol Empire, the Caliphate of Baghdad (see Islamic Golden Age), the Ottoman Empire, and the British Empire.

Mesopotamia has been devastated by war many times in history, including in the 21st century. Iraq and Syria are, as of 2024, still dangerous destinations; see warnings in those articles.

Destinations
This article focuses on the great Mesoptamian civilisations of the Bronze Age; see Fertile Crescent for archeological sites dating back before those. "He carved on a stone stela all of his toils, and built the wall of Uruk-Haven, the wall of the sacred Eanna Temple, the holy sanctuary."

- Epic of Gilgamesh

Sumer
Sumer was the earliest known civilisation, starting before 5000 BCE. Quite likely it was the first to enter the Bronze Age, and the first to evolve from city-states to an empire.

A near Nasiriyah in the marshes of southern Iraq includes the ruins of several Sumerian cities: Not far from those were other Sumerian cities:

Akkad, Babylon and Assyria
Around 2270 BCE, the Sumerians were conquered by the Akkadian Empire. The later empires of the region all spoke Akkadian and had their main cities north of Sumer.

Many of the cities listed were smashed by the Medes around 610 BCE as the Assyrian Empire fell.

Both Nimrud and Nineveh were severely damaged by the so-called Islamic State during the 2014-17 Civil War.

Later cities
The Assyrian Empire fell in about 610 BCE, with the Medes and the Mittani picking up many of the pieces. Then the region was taken by Persia around 539 BCE, and Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire, including this area, around 330 BCE. Some cities in Mesopotamia were built after those events.