Ancient Mesopotamia

Ancient Mesopotamia was a region and collection of civilizations that developed between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Near East, roughly from the 4th millennium BC until the region was incorporated into the Persian Empire in the 6th century BC. The name Mesopotamia comes from a Greek expression meaning "land between the rivers." It was home to several important civilizations and kingdoms, including the Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians and Assyrians.

Rather than forming a single continuous empire, Mesopotamia was shaped by successive city-states, kingdoms and empires that competed for territory and influence. Major cities such as Uruk, Ur, Babylon and Nineveh became important centers of political power, trade, religion and culture. Mesopotamia is often associated with some of the earliest developments of urban civilization.

The Sumerians developed one of the world's earliest known writing systems, cuneiform, which was initially used to record economic and administrative information and later became a medium for literature, law and scholarship. Mesopotamian societies also made important advances in mathematics, astronomy, agriculture, engineering and law.

The Code of Hammurabi, created during the reign of the Babylonian king Hammurabi in the 18th century BC, is one of the best-known surviving collections of ancient laws. Mesopotamian peoples built temples called ziggurats, developed irrigation systems and created rich religious and literary traditions. Their achievements had a lasting influence on later civilizations in the Near East.