This video is brought to you by Captivating History. Ancient Mesopotamia The Cradle of Civilization There are several places around the world that have been dubbed cradles of civilization. These areas of the world are where humans first settled.
It's where they said goodbye to their nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles in favor of agriculture and permanent settlements. And many of these first villages and cities are still around today. providing a visceral connection between human past and human present. However, of all the different cradles of civilization around the world, perhaps no other is as important and influential to the development of human civilization as Mesopotamia. Literally translated from Sumerian to mean the land between rivers, Mesopotamia refers to the valleys and plains in between and around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which are located in modern-day Iran.
Directly surrounding Mesopotamia, stretching as far west as Israel and Egypt, and all the way east to modern-day Iran, is the Fertile Crescent, named for the remarkable fertility of the land that made this region an ideal place for human civilization to prosper. It was in this region of the world that the first act of humanity's long performance on the world stage would play out. As people settled, different groups became more powerful, kings and queens, queens popped up in cities and city-states all across the region, and their fight to secure land and resources, as well as their position in history and with the gods, would define some 5,000 years of human history.
And in many ways, this story is not over. Much of the current Middle Eastern political landscape, as is the case in most parts of the world, has its roots in these ancient civilizations, making studying these societies just as relevant today as it's Nevermind. But because of the long history of Mesopotamia and the many different people who lived there and controlled it, keeping track of all the different events and their significance can be difficult even for dedicated scholars. And this confusion is often what pushes us away from trying to further understand these societies and the impact they've had on the world around us.
As a result, it's important to lay out the order of events and to spend time grasping some of the overall trends in ancient Mesopotamian history. Before diving too deeply into any one civilization, this will provide more context when studying each society, making it easier to understand the importance and significance of each event. It all starts with Sumer.
To begin with, it's important to remember that the story of ancient Mesopotamia, as it pertains to the development of human history, starts with Sumer. The Sumerians were an ancient, non-Semitic-speaking group of people. who lived in Mesopotamia since possibly the beginning of human existence.
The first Sumerian city, Eridu, dates back to the 54th century BCE. It is considered by many to be one of, if not the first, city in the world, and it was where the ancient Sumerians chose the center of their civilization to be. Surrounding Eridu, the Sumerians would settle a number of other cities that would grow to be important political and commercial centers in the ancient world. Larsa, Sipar, Uruk, Kish, Ur, and Nippur, among others, would all grow into powerful city-states, and it was their alliance that brought neighboring cities closer together than they had ever been before.
In addition to a sedentary lifestyle based on agriculture, other reasons the Sumerians are considered to be one of the first real and therefore most important civilizations is that they are believed to be some of the first people in the world who have had writing and language. The Sumerians were the first to use pictures for words, and they wrote them down on clay tablets. Many of the most important Sumerian city-states were settled by circa 3500 BCE, and over the course of the next 1000 years, they united, albeit loosely, and grew to be a powerful civilization, using writing, as well as other advancements, such as the wheel, to grow and develop economically, socially, and politically. Perhaps the pinnacle of early Sumerian history comes with the rise of King Gilgamesh in circa 2700 BCE.
He was the king of the city of Uruk, and he was enshrined into Sumerian history thanks to the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the oldest pieces of literature in human history. In the story, Gilgamesh goes on a series of adventures in hopes of attaining eternal glory, only to find out that no human can escape death. Interestingly, Gilgamesh in the epic visits a man named Utnapishtim, who was famous for having helped the Sumerians survive a massive flood.
sometime in their past. Many historians believe this reference to a flood is the same one that inspired the story of Noah's Ark, one of the most well-known stories in the Old Testament of the Bible, the arrival of the Akkadians, Elamites, Babylonians, and Assyrians. Another interesting part of the Epic of Gilgamesh is that it was written in Akkadian, not Sumerian. This at first seems strange, but at the time, the Akkadians defined by their Semitic Akkadian language, were growing in numbers and influence. By 2330 BCE, King Sargon I of the Akkadians conquered the Sumerians as they marched throughout Mesopotamia, creating the world's first empire.
Fifty years of Akkadian rule came to an end in 2100 BCE, returning sovereignty to the Sumerians, and at this time, the ancient city of Ur was rebuilt. But this brief moment of independence would not last, as the Sumerians would shortly fall to the Elamites, the people who lived northeast of Mesopotamia, and the Elamites would give way to the Assyrians, who hailed from Masur and Nineveh on the banks of the Euphrates River. Over the course of the next 1,500 years, the Assyrians would be the region's hegemon. Their large, powerful, and often terrifying armies would dominate from Egypt to Persia and beyond.
But this dominance that started toward the end of the second millennium BCE was briefly interrupted by one of the most famous rulers of the ancient world, Hammurabi. Hammurabi was the king of Babylon, and he rose to power in 1781 BCE. His military advantage allowed him to take control of the kingdoms surrounding Babylon, and because of the growing kingdoms to the northwest of Assyria, with whom he was able to form an alliance, He was also able to take back significant amounts of territory that had only recently been conquered by the Assyrians. During this period, Hammurabi developed his famed Code of Hammurabi, which laid out, more definitively than ever before, a clear justice system. This helped him significantly in his quest to consolidate power.
But Babylon's success was too closely tied to their leader. When he died in 1750 BCE, Babylon fell with him. Assyria once again became the region's power, and although they were constantly fighting to secure and expand their borders, the Assyrians would manage to remain the most powerful nation in the ancient world for the better part of the next 1,000 years. At its peak, the Assyrian Empire stretched all across Mesopotamia, including parts of Persia to the east, as well as Palestine, Syria, and Phoenicia to the west. The Assyrian armies also made it to Egyptian borders.
and they would have enough military success to be able to lay claim to some Egyptian territory, although they never managed to fully conquer the Egyptian people. To the north and west of Mesopotamia, the Assyrians controlled much of the land in what is now Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as Asia Minor, which includes much of modern Turkey. The lands in between, Arabia and Syria, also remained largely under Assyrian control for the 1,000 years between the fall of the Sumerians, and the rise of the Persians.
Because they managed to remain in control of Mesopotamia for so long, the Assyrians contributed to many of the region's different cultural achievements. For one, their Akkadian language eventually spread throughout Mesopotamia and became widely spoken by most citizens of the empire, helping to bring people together and facilitate trade and other forms of cooperation. Furthermore, the construction of roads connecting some of the major cities in in Mesopotamia.
and the rest of Western Asia helped set the stage for the next several millennia for development in the region. It's also important to note that the Assyrians, due to their considerable wealth that had been amassed through conquest, taxes, and tributes, were able to make great contributions to human culture. The palaces of Assyrian kings helped to define the region's architecture, and the special emphasis on building libraries, particularly the Library of Nineveh, suggests that Assyrians were an advanced civilization looking to keep advancing. However, for as influential as the Assyrians were in bringing stability and development to the region, their primary source of power was most certainly their military.
The Assyrian army was considered to be one of the best in the world, and this meant that weaker kings often surrendered and declared fealty without resistance. But it also meant that those who did decide to stand and fight in the face of near certain conquest would receive harsh punishment if they failed. Not only were kings and other lords often beheaded or flayed and then put on display, but the Assyrians were known to be experts at siege warfare. This meant that we cut a city off completely, effectively starving the population until it submitted.
The Assyrians also made heavy use of deportation. Rebellious cities were often drained of their educated and talented people, and these individuals were sent to other parts of the empire. This had two purposes. To prevent further rebellion, and to help support the growth and development of other parts of the empire. Overall, ruling through terror and deportations worked.
quite well for the ancient Assyrians. They were able to secure more territory than any other empire before them, and they held onto it for nearly 1,000 years. However, as one might expect, these draconian forms of government did little to produce real stability.
People would have lived in constant fear, and rebelling against a bad king would mean certain death. Yet, for many people at the time, rebellion was well worth the risk. And this means Much of the time Assyria spent controlling Mesopotamia was also spent fighting a near-constant civil war. And when we consider that neighboring powers would have been more than happy to contribute to a rebellion inside of one of their rival's borders, it's easy to see how the balance of power in ancient Mesopotamia was a constantly shifting phenomenon.
The Fall of the Assyrians and the Second Rise of Babylon In the 7th century BCE, Assyria began to crumble. A series of missteps by Assyrian kings, plus some military defeats and the rising power of their neighbors, all contributed to a much weaker Assyria. The Elamites and the Medes, the inhabitants of what would become Persia or Iran, plus the Babylonians and Egyptians, all descended on Asur, Nineveh, and other parts of the Assyrian kingdom by 625 BCE. The result of this defeat was that Mesopotamia was left with a power vacuum. Assyria was out of the way, so there was space for a new superpower.
But none of the kingdoms that had contributed to the takedown of Assyria were in a position to assume the spot left by their opponent. At the time, the only kingdom powerful enough to take over where Assyria had left off was Babylon. Previously influential during the time of Hammurabi, Babylon was always a force in the region.
In fact, many of the major internal problems the Assyrians had to deal with were caused by either allowing Babylon too much freedom or attempting to control it too tightly. So, when Assyria fell, Babylon would have likely been the most influential actor in the region. And the rise of King Nabopolassar in 616 BCE gave the Babylonians the push they needed to reassert themselves in the region. This would lead to the formation of what is known as the Neo-Babylonian Empire, but it would not be an empire that would stand the test of time.
Instead, it would fall when its leader passed. And this meant that Mesopotamia was once again up for grabs. Wars broke out between the powers in the region, but ultimately it was an unknown group, the Persians, a collection of Iranian-speaking tribes that had settlements all over the Iranian plateau that would band together and finally fill the void left by the fall of the Assyrians.
The Rise of Persia When put into a wider context, the rise of Persia is really a remarkable thing. At the time of the Assyrians, no one had even really heard of the Persians. There were mentions of tribes living on the Iranian plateau, but these were considered to be the problem of the Medes and the Elamites. However, as the Assyrian Empire began to crumble, the Persians began to gather in strength, and by 550 BCE they had united under their king, Cyrus I, who would later become known as Cyrus the Great, giving birth to a Persian nation.
Within just a little more than 10 years, Cyrus the Great would succeed in conquering the Medes and also the Babylonians, bringing all of Mesopotamia under Persian control. After securing himself in the regions surrounding his Persian homeland, Cyrus the Great began setting his sights farther afield. Soon, just as the Assyrians had done, the Persians would control Syria, parts of Arabia, Palestine, and Phoenicia, and they would have a significant presence in Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. Part of the reason Persia was able to remain powerful for so long is that, unlike the Babylonians right before them, Persian power did not crumble with the death of their powerful leader. Instead, when Cyrus the Great died, he was succeeded by Cambyses, Darius I, and Xerxes I, all of whom would manage to solidify the gains made by Cyrus the Great, but also expand upon their territory controlled by the Persians.
In the end, The Persians made it much farther west than the Assyrians ever had. They succeeded in conquering Egypt, bringing it entirely, although briefly, under Persian control. Furthermore, the Persians conquered all of Asia Minor, and they even briefly entered Greece, although this attack ultimately failed.
The Greco-Persian Wars Greek and Persian history are closely aligned. Persian attempts to invade Greece, first by Darius I. and then more famously by xerxes the first were part of a 50-year conflict known as the greco-persian wars during these battles the greeks and persians fought for influence throughout western asia and eastern europe and although the persians were the early winners it was eventually the greeks who were victorious and this triumph helped shape the modern world specifically the battle of salamis which took place in the straits just off athens is often considered to be a turning point in human history. Had the Persians been victorious, they would have had an easy march on Athens. Greece would have come under Persian control, and this would have dramatically reshaped Greek culture, which we all know to be one of the most influential in human history.
However, this was not to be. The Greeks defeated the Persians several times, starting at the Battle of Marathon, and then continuing on to Salamis and Thermopylae. And these wars also helped push along another development in the history of the ancient world. Specifically, it brought the Greek city-states closer together so as to better defend against their common enemy.
For example, the Delian League represents one of the first examples of strong Greek collaboration, and it was active in inciting rebellions and other destabilizing events within the Persian Empire. And while the Persians managed to survive these attacks, they would prove unable to stop the Greek advance into Persian territory led by Alexander of Macedon, also known as Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great started from Greece, or Macedonia to be specific, and began moving south and east as soon as he took control of the unified Greece. He conquered Egypt, and then he made his way through Palestine, Syria, and Mesopotamia, until he eventually conquered the Persian capital, Persepolis, in 333 BCE, and continuing on toward Central Asia.
This led to the fall of the Persian input, and it ushered in a new era in Mesopotamia. A new era. The old powers of Babylon and Assyria were gone, and the new powers had yet to come. The Arabs, who would enter the scene in the 7th century CE, would take control over much of the lands previously occupied by the Assyrians and Persians, and this would bring about a golden age for the region. It was during this time that the majority of Middle Eastern contributions to the world history and culture were made, but it also helped to shape the way the region is today.
But before the Arabs would come, Mesopotamia would experience a few more thrills. After the Greeks conquered Persia under Alexander the Great, they took over the system of governance set up by the Persians, ruling for nearly 100 years. After Alexander's death, the empire was divided amongst its governors, but shortly thereafter, the Persians were able to restore control, bringing the region back under the control of one of its traditional powers. This second Persian Empire would war frequently with the Romans.
And it was this state of near constant warfare that left them so vulnerable when the Arabian kingdoms began to become much more powerful. Persian lands were conquered, and Islam became the dominant religion and culture in the region. Later on, Persians would regain control of their territory, and this led to the eventual formation of the modern nation of Iran. The reason this is important is that it helps us mark the fall of the Persians to Alexander the Great as a turning point in ancient Mesopotamian history. The region would never again be controlled by any of the civilizations that had become powerful throughout the first several thousand years of significant settlement in the region.
However, these civilizations helped to shape the world in which we live today. The kingdoms that were able to survive through the tumult that was the ancient period played a significant role in the formation of the nations we have today. Cultural, scientific, and linguistic developments stemming from ancient Mesopotamia also helped define the world and what it was to become. And the governmental structures put in place in the ancient world have been expanded upon and improved into the governments we have today.
All in all, these civilizations existed many thousands of years ago, but the impact of their time on Earth can still very much be felt today. The forming of our world. The three major civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia, Sumer, Assyria, and Persia, all helped one of the world's first populated regions to grow into what would become known as the cradle of civilization.
The Sumerians settled down and made farming an essential part of human life. Then, the Assyrians taught the world what could happen if a civilization dedicated itself to building a massive military machine. And the Persians would carry Mesopotamian and world society one step further by bringing about new forms of government and imperial administration. Like the Assyrians before them, the Persians were known for their ability to wage war. The Persian of Mordor, which was the name given to the force of the Assyrians, 10,000 well-trained, well-armed soldiers the Persians maintained at all times were one of the most feared fighting forces of the ancient world.
Kings from all around would bend the knee upon simply hearing that the Persians were headed their way. However, unlike the Assyrians, the Persians were able to maintain their empire without having to rely solely on force and terror. Instead, the Persians were able to create a highly effective bureaucracy that divided the empire into regions.
or satraps. These were directed by regional governors who were meant to carry out the word of the king. The level of autonomy given to these satraps is in part why they were so effective, but it was also the Persian use of writing and roads that made it easy for kings to run the affairs of state from afar. In many ways, this type of government represents one of the most significant contributions made by the Mesopotamian people to world culture. Those who managed to conquer Persian territories were able to use Persian institutions as a way of maintaining their power.
And this was the model that would be used by many civilizations after Persia, including those that exist today. The Persians would continue to influence world culture even after they had been absorbed into the Arabian Empire. The Persian language still exists today, as does its original religion, Zoroastrianism. Although Islam is the dominant faith in the region, furthermore, Persian art, whether paintings or carpets is world famous and it was a key driver of economic growth in the region for many years studying mesopotamia taken together the civilizations of sumer assyria and persia have helped form the modern makeup of mesopotamia western asia and the world however to really understand why things are the way they are it's important to break up this historical timeline and spend some time learning about each society. Only by doing this will you be able to fully appreciate the powerful impact these ancient peoples have had on our modern world.
That's why we'd like to present you with this new opportunity to learn even more about ancient Mesopotamia. Throughout this video, you've been shown seven book covers. Now, you have an opportunity to get all of these e-books bundled together for a greatly reduced price.
You'll also find the links to the paperback. and audiobook version below. And right now, if you use the link in the description, you can get the audiobook for free when you sign up with Audible.
Thanks for watching. If you enjoyed this video, please hit the like button and subscribe for more videos like this.