II.

Early Mesopotamian States

The need for self-defense and irrigation led the ancient Mesopotamians to organize and build canals and walled settlements. After 6000 bc the settlements grew, becoming cities by the 4th millennium bc. The oldest settlement in the area is believed to be Eridu, but the best example is Erech (Uruk) in the south, where mud-brick temples were decorated with fine metalwork and stonework, and growing administrative needs stimulated the invention of a form of writing, cuneiform. The Sumerians were probably responsible for this early urban culture, which spread north up the Euphrates. Important Sumerian cities, besides the two mentioned above, were Adab, Isin, Kish, Larsa, Nippur, and Ur (see Sumer).

About 2330 bc the region was conquered by the Akkadians, a Semitic people from central Mesopotamia. Their king Sargon I, called the Great (reigned about 2335-2279 bc), founded the dynasty of Akkad, and at this time the Akkadian language began to replace Sumerian. The Gutians, tribespeople from the eastern hills, ended Akkadian rule about 2218 bc, and, after an interval, the 3rd Dynasty of Ur arose to rule much of Mesopotamia. In Ur, Sumerian traditions had their final flower. Influxes of Elamites from the east eventually destroyed the city of Ur about 2000 bc. These tribes took over the ancient cities and mixed with the local people, and no city gained overall control until Hammurabi of Babylon (reigned about 1792-1750 bc) united the country for a few years at the end of his reign. At the same time, an Amorite family took power in Ashur to the north; both cities, however, fell soon after to newcomers. A raid launched in around 1595 bc by the Hittites from Turkey brought Babylon down, and for four centuries it was controlled by non-Semitic Kassites. Ashur fell to the Mitanni state, set up by Hurrians from the Caucasus, who were presumably relatives of the Armenians. The Hurrians had been in Mesopotamia for centuries, but after 1700 bc they spread in large numbers across the whole of the north and into Anatolia.

Kassite Babylonia flourished, based on a few cities and many small villages in a tribal pattern. Its kings wrote as equals to the pharaohs of Egypt and traded widely.