Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia, is the current country of Iraq, otherwise known as the cradle of civilization.

It all started around 4,000 BC with the ancient people of Sumer, the Sumerians. These people had it great, living in the fertile crescent, near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

They cultivated many crops because of the rich soil. They also invented writing and advanced irrigation systems.

A man named Hammurabi took power in 1750 BC and by then, the area was called Babylon. Babylon dominated the region for about 600 years and then Babylon began to decline. In 626 BC, Babylon regained its power. By the seventh century BC, Assyria was on the scene and at its peak led by a man named Ashurbanipal. He built one of the greatest capitals of the world, Nineveh.

Ashurbanipal was an extravagant leader who insisted on having the very best. He had magnificent cuneiform libraries. Cuneiform script was the earliest form of the written word and was improved by the Babylonians prior to the libraries in Nineveh.

Ashurbanipal also put in bas-reliefs.

These are a type of sculpting by carving or etching away stone to create pictures.

The Assyrians are known for inventing the beginnings of modern banking and accounting systems.

Ashurbanipal's royal courts were not to be compared with anyone else's. His military was top-notch. All of this luxury was costly and took its toll on the people of Assyria so it began to decline. The life-style was just too expensive. The people could no longer support it.

Nineveh fell to the Medes in 612 BC. In 539 BC, Cyrus the Great of the Persian Empire took Babylon down and absorbed Nineveh.

The region of Mesopotamia would be ruled by many empires over the next 1200 years.

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