Mesopotamia

City states

Tigris and Euphrates river

Sumerians were first

Ur, Erech, Sumer, Kish, and Lagash were all Sumerians city-states

Sumerians invented cuneiform, the ploughing, and the sailboat

Akkadians took over

Sargon the great conquered the Sumerians

Akkadian kingdom was world’s first empire

Babylonians succeeded the Akkadians

Hammurabi

Hammurabi’s code (of laws)

Hammurabi unified Mesopotamia (Iran/Iraq)

Hittites/Kassites succeeded the Babylonians

Assyrians succeeded the Hittites

Assur (capital of the Assyrians)

1000 BCE - 612 BCE

Ashurbanipal was the last great ruler of the Assyrians

Ashurbanipal had a collection of Sumerian writings and an appreciation for cuneiform

Chaldeans succeeded the Assyrians

King Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt Babylon and built the hanging gardens of Babylon, making it a wonder of the ancient world