History of Mesopotamia - Ancient Empires, Sumerians, Akkadians

history of Mesopotamia

Table of Contents

Introduction
Mesopotamia to the end of the Old Babylonian period
- The origins of Mesopotamian history
  - The background
    - The character and influence of ancient Mesopotamia
    - The achievements of ancient Mesopotamia
    - The classical and medieval views of Mesopotamia; its rediscovery in modern times
    - Modern archaeological excavations
  - The emergence of Mesopotamian civilization
    - The emergence of cultures
    - Mesopotamian protohistory
- Sumerian civilization
  - The Sumerians to the end of the Early Dynastic period
    - Literary and other historical sources
    - First historical personalities
    - Emergent city-states
    - Territorial states
  - Sumer and Akkad from 2350 to 2000 bce
    - Sargon’s reign
    - Ascendancy of Akkad
    - The end of the dynasty
  - The 3rd dynasty of Ur
    - Administration
    - Ethnic, geographic, and intellectual constituents
    - Ur III in decline
- The Old Babylonian period
  - Isin and Larsa
    - Political fragmentation
    - Literary texts and increasing decentralization
  - Early history of Assyria
  - The Old Babylonian empire
    - Political fortunes
    - Babylonian law
    - Babylonian literature
  - The Hurrians
Mesopotamia to the end of the Achaemenian period
- The Kassites, the Mitanni, and the rise of Assyria
  - The Kassites in Babylonia
  - The Hurrian and Mitanni kingdoms
  - The rise of Assyria
- Assyria and Babylonia at the end of the 2nd millennium
  - Babylonia under the 2nd dynasty of Isin
  - Assyria between 1200 and 1000 bce
- Assyria and Babylonia from c. 1000 to c. 750 bce
  - Assyria and Babylonia until Ashurnasirpal II
  - Shalmaneser III and Shamshi-Adad V of Assyria
  - Adad-nirari III and his successors
- The Neo-Assyrian Empire (746–609)
  - Tiglath-pileser III and Shalmaneser V
  - Sargon II (721–705) and Marduk-apal-iddina of Babylonia
  - Sennacherib
  - Esarhaddon
  - Ashurbanipal (668–627) and Shamash-shum-ukin (668–648)
  - Decline of the Assyrian empire
- The Neo-Babylonian Empire
  - Nebuchadrezzar II
  - The last kings of Babylonia
- Mesopotamia under the Persians
Mesopotamia from c. 320 bce to c. 620 ce
- The Seleucid period
- The Parthian period
- The Sasanian period

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

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Mesopotamia summary

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About 150 years after the death of Hammurabi, his dynasty was destroyed by an invasion of new peoples. Because there are very few written records from this era, the time from about 1560 bce to about 1440 bce (in some areas until 1400 bce) is called the dark ages. The remaining Semitic states, such as the state of Ashur, became minor states within the sphere of influence of the new states of the Kassites and the Hurrians/Mitanni. The languages of the older cultures, Akkadian and Sumerian, continued or were soon reestablished, however. The cuneiform script persisted as the only type ...(100 of 42142 words)

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