Mesopotamia was the cradle for one of the world's great ancient civilisations, that of the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians. Based in the fertile plain created by the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, this civilisation flourished for three millennia. We will first look at the ‘Neolithic Revolution’ (the domestication of a group of plants and animals) in the Fertile Crescent. We will then cover the Sumerian period and the Akkadian Empire, and finally the rise to prominence of Assyria and Babylonia. By the late 2nd millennium BC, Mesopotamian civilisation was so widespread in the Near East that its major language, Akkadian, was that of international diplomacy throughout the region.
- Bourke, S., Browne, M. (2008). The Middle East: the cradle of civilisation revealed. Thames and Hudson.
- Podany, A. (2014). Ancient Near East: a very short introduction. Oxford University Press.
- Neolithic Revolution in the ancient Near East, ‘Origin’ of the Sumerians
- Development of writing in Mesopotamia, Sumerian city-states
- Royal tombs of Ur, Akkadian Empire and Third Dynasty of Ur
- Cities of Ebla and Mari in upper Mesopotamia, Beginnings of Assyria
- Assyrian trading colonies in Cappadocia, Assyria and Babylonia in the Amarna letters
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
- Gain an understanding of the large number of plants and animals in the ancient Near East that fortuitously could be domesticated
- Discover concurrent development of writing and civilisation in Sumeria
- Explore the flow of history over two millennia in the region, from Sumerian city-states, through the Akkadian Empire (‘world’s first empire’) to the early Assyrian and Babylonian nation states
- Know the importance of the Amarna letters in opening a window on international diplomacy of the late 2nd millennium BC
- Appreciate the written documents that we have from the ancient Near East and their use in the reconstruction of the history of that era
