Ancient Mesopotamia Timeline

The story begins with farming: Jarmo, in northeastern Iraq, yielded some of the earliest evidence that people farmed domesticated crops. The Hassuna village culture, it seems, spread across northern Mesopotamia. On drier land, where rain alone could not water crops, farmers had to irrigate to grow enough food. The Ubaid culture, known for distinctive pottery, took hold across southern Mesopotamia. At Eridu, the temple of the god Enki was rebuilt on the same spot over many centuries. In the Uruk period, Uruk grew into southern Mesopotamia's largest city.

In the Uruk period, rations seem to have been handed out in standard-sized bowls. Cuneiform was invented in Sumer c. 3200 BCE. Writing began as a practical tool: people needed to keep accounts, and recorded goods on clay tablets. Most of the earliest tablets came from Uruk. Then Uruk's far-reaching culture seems to have ended abruptly. Cities went on growing, and afterward independent city-states dominated southern Mesopotamia.

Sumer was divided among rival city-states, each ruled by a king. Mari was founded as a planned city near the Euphrates. Rich treasures filled Ur's royal tombs, where rulers were buried with their servants. Lagash and neighbouring Umma fought over the fertile farmland between them, and King Eannatum of Lagash defeated Umma, a victory the Stele of the Vultures was made to celebrate. Lugalzagesi had united Sumer's city-states, but Sargon of Akkad defeated him and took over the kingdom.

The Akkadian Empire was governed from Akkad, a city whose location has never been found. Sargon's daughter Enheduanna served as a high priestess and wrote hymns; she is the earliest author whose name is known. Naram-Sin took the title "king of the four quarters" and had his name written using the sign for a god. The empire's fall is blamed on Gutian invaders, but its own troubles may have let them in. Gutian rule in Sumer ended when Utu-hengal, king of Uruk, rose against them, and after Utu-hengal kingship passed to Ur-Nammu of Ur.

Ur-Nammu founded the Third Dynasty of Ur; the oldest law code yet discovered is credited to him. Under the dynasty, Ur's great ziggurat rose, a temple tower for Nanna, the moon god and the city's patron. His son Shulgi pushed Ur's rule far beyond Sumer, north up the Tigris. Amorite nomad raids weakened Ur, and they are seen as one cause of the dynasty's downfall. Under the last king, Ibbi-Sin, the dynasty fell to invading Elamites and Amorites. Amorite newcomers then took control of Isin, Larsa and Babylon.

In the north, Shamshi-Adad I took Assur and ruled Assyria. Hammurabi of Babylon, formerly allied with Larsa against Elam, turned on its king Rim-Sin and defeated him. He then attacked his ally Zimri-Lim of Mari, took the city and destroyed it. His laws, unlike earlier Sumerian codes, punished by the 'eye for an eye' principle. Taking Eshnunna removed a buffer shielding Babylonia from eastern peoples, likely the Kassites among them. After Hammurabi died, the empire shrank under his successors, and the far south broke away, with rulers of its own.

The Hittite king Mursili I raided Babylon and ended its ruling dynasty. Kassite kings then took power in Babylon and founded a dynasty that lasted about four hundred years. Under Ashur-uballit I, Assyria shook off Mitanni rule and entered the Middle Assyrian period. Tukulti-Ninurta I of Assyria defeated Babylonia's Kassite king and held the land for a time. Kassite rule finally fell to wars with Elam, and Elamite invaders carried off ancient Mesopotamian monuments, including the stele that bore Hammurabi's law code.

Under Nebuchadnezzar I of the new Second Dynasty of Isin, Babylonia struck Elam and brought home the god Marduk's statue. Assyria's power waned after Tukulti-Ninurta I died, until Tiglath-Pileser I restored it. He campaigned as far north as Lake Van and west to the Mediterranean coast. His conquests did not outlast him: after his death Assyria declined, and Aramaean groups took over its western lands. Aramaean tribes likewise pressed into Babylonia after Nebuchadnezzar I's reign.

Adad-nirari II fought the Aramaean invaders, who had troubled Assyria for a long time, in campaign after campaign. Ashurnasirpal II restored Kalhu (Nimrud) as his capital; to celebrate, his stela records, he hosted a ten-day feast in 879 BCE for 69,574 guests. At Qarqar in 853 BCE, Shalmaneser III fought a coalition of local kings, and the indecisive clash halted Assyria's advance. Assyria then declined under feeble kings until a revolt placed Tiglath-Pileser III (745 BCE–727 BCE) on the throne. He carved the provinces into smaller ones to break the independence their governors had gained.

Sargon II, who probably took the throne by coup, built a new capital, Dur-Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad). Killed on campaign, he was succeeded by Sennacherib, who abandoned Dur-Sharrukin and made Nineveh his capital. In 701 BCE Sennacherib crushed a revolt in Judah, then besieged Jerusalem, sparing it after its king Hezekiah paid tribute. Babylon's repeated revolts wore him down, and in 689 BCE he destroyed the city, plundering its temples. His sons later assassinated him, a killing linked to the gods' anger at his sacrilege against Babylon. Another son, Esarhaddon, took the throne, rebuilt Babylon, declaring its destruction the gods' will.

To forestall a struggle over the succession, Esarhaddon named two heirs: Ashurbanipal for Assyria, and Shamash-shum-ukin, another son, for Babylonia. In 671 BCE he took Memphis and conquered Egypt; the country later revolted, and he died on the march to crush it. Ashurbanipal made Nineveh home to the ancient Middle East's first systematically organized library, which preserved epics like Gilgamesh. Shamash-shum-ukin in time rose against his brother; Babylon endured a long siege, and he died as his palace burned. Ashurbanipal then sacked Susa and destroyed Elam, a move that would later assist Assyria's enemies in toppling the empire. His death brought successors too weak to hold it together, and region after region, Babylon included, started to break away.

Nabopolassar took Babylon's throne and founded the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The Median king Cyaxares took the Assyrian city Assur, and Nabopolassar allied with him against Assyria. In 612 BCE the allies took Nineveh, and its fall is taken as the end of the Assyrian Empire. Nebuchadnezzar defeated an Egyptian army at Carchemish; soon after, Nabopolassar died, and his son returned to Babylon as king. In 597 BCE Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem and deported Jehoiachin, Judah's king, to Babylon. Later, Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and its Temple, and many Judeans were deported to Babylon, a period known as the Exile.

Nebuchadnezzar II turned Babylon into a magnificent capital and raised the Ishtar Gate. King Nabonidus honoured Sin, the moon god, above Marduk, Babylon's chief deity. Cyrus the Great took Babylon for Persia in 539 BCE, and the Neo-Babylonian Empire fell. Warring with Persia, Alexander the Great of Macedon seized the city in 331 BCE. He died there in June 323 BCE, his recent plans unrealised. His generals then fought over the empire, Babylon included.