MESOPOTAMIA
Th e civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia ebbed and fl owed
with the water supply and periodic droughts. When the rivers
fl owed reliably, the people of the region built large cities that
allowed them to share the water supply. Some people contin-
ued to live in the countryside as nomads. When the weather
turned arid, as it did several times during the ancient period,
the populations of the cities grew as people crowded into ur-
ban areas in search of food. When droughts became too ex-
treme for the cities to continue to function, the city residents
fl owed back into the countryside and resumed nomadic liv-
ing habits.
Th e fi rst peoples to build cities on these river banks of
the Tigris and Euphrates were the Sumerians. Th ey spoke
a language that is unrelated to any other known language.
Th e geographic origins of the Sumerians are unknown, but
their ancestors probably migrated down the rivers from Ana-
tolia or northwestern Iran. Th e Sumerians built cities near
the combined mouth of the two rivers sometime between the
sixth and fourth millennia b.c.e. Eridu may have been their
fi rst city, though Ur and Uruk are also very ancient.
Around 3800 b.c.e. the climate grew drier, changing the
timing of the annual river fl oods. It became much harder to
produce or fi nd food. Many people had lived in the country-
side surrounding the Sumerian cities, either in smaller towns
or in the open as nomads. Th ese people now moved into the
cities, which had stores of grains and off ered them some hope
of fi nding food. Between 3200 and 2800 b.c.e. huge numbers
of people lived in cities; historians estimate that some 80 per-
cent of the Sumerian population lived in southern Mesopota-
mian cities at this time.
Th e Akkadian civilization arose in northern Mesopo-
tamia during the 24th century b.c.e. As was the case with
Sumerian cities, people fl ocked to cities on the banks of the
upper Tigris and Euphrates when drought made it impossible
for them to survive in the countryside. Around 2200 b.c.e.
Mesopotamia suff ered a major drought. Th e cities were no
longer able to feed their populations, and people dispersed
into the countryside to live as they might.
Th e Akkadian Empire fell around 2100 aft er its territory
was invaded by a nomadic people called the Gutians who
came from the Zagros Mountains in Iran. Th e Gutians also
traveled south into Sumerian territory and attacked Sumer’s
cities. Th is period was something of a dark age for Mesopo-
tamia. Th e presence of Gutian raiders throughout the region
made travel and farming dangerous. Even aft er the Gutians
had turned civilized and been absorbed into cultured Meso-
potamian society over a century or two, the term Gutian was
still used to refer to hostile barbarians from Iran.
Another group ventured into Mesopotamia during
this period, the Amorites, called Martu by the Sumerians.
Th e Amorites lived in Syria and Canaan from the late third
through the early fi rst millennia b.c.e. and had a great deal of
contact with the Sumerians. Sumerian historians described
them as nomads who roamed the landscape without perma-
nent homes or agriculture, though this appears not to have
been entirely true. During the Th ird Dynasty of Ur (2112–
2004? b.c.e.), many Amorites lived in and around Ur and
other Mesopotamian cities and served in Ur’s armies.
Around 2000 b.c.e. ample rainfall returned to Mesopo-
tamia. People again populated the riverbanks and built new
cities along the rivers’ new courses. Th e Amorites used this
opportunity to seize power in the region. Between about
2000 and 1600 b.c.e. Amorites ruled Mesopotamia as the Old
Babylonian regime. Th ey conquered the city of Ashur and
moved into the Khābūr River delta area around 1800 b.c.e.
Th e Amorite’s capital was the city of Babylon, located on the
Euphrates River some distance from the mouth; cities of this
period were not located as far south on the river as older Su-
merian ones. Babylon attracted large numbers of immigrants
from the surrounding countryside, and during the 17th cen-
tury b.c.e. it was the largest city in the world.
Th e Assyrians fi rst appeared in the upper Tigris region
aft er 2000 b.c.e. Th e Assyrian people spoke a Semitic lan-
guage that was closely related to Akkadian. Assyrians spread
through Anatolia, establishing trade colonies in Cappadocia.
Th eir empire reached its peak during the early fi rst millen-
nium b.c.e. Th e Assyrians were responsible for a great deal of
population movement. Th eir empire covered much of Anato-
lia, Mesopotamia, and the Levant, including the city of Baby-
lon. Assyrian kings made a practice of deporting conquered
peoples to destroy their national identities and make it harder
for them to revolt. During the eighth century the populations
of Israel, Judah, and Syria were all deported elsewhere. Th eir
new homes included the cities of Nineveh and Gozan and the
territory of the Medes far to the east, in modern-day Iran.
Th e Assyrian rulers moved their own nobles into the vacated
territories, hoping to create a permanent ruling class in the
conquered lands.THE LEVANT
Several civilizations came from the land called Canaan,
which was located in present-day Lebanon and Syria. Th e
Canaanites were the fi rst Semitic peoples to occupy Canaan.
Canaanites appear in the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament in
the Christian Bible) as the nation founded by Canaan, the son
of Ham and grandson of Noah. Canaanites thought of them-
selves as a distinct political unit by the 18th^ century b.c.e.
Th e Israelites appeared in Canaan during the time re-
corded in the book of Genesis, which is impossible to pin-
point historically. Th e Old Testament patriarch Abraham was
said to have lived in the city of Ur, in Mesopotamia, and to
have moved his family to the land of Canaan. Th e book of
Genesis tells of Abraham’s pact with his god, in which his
descendants were given the land of Canaan. Abraham’s de-
scendant Jacob, also called Israel, was the father of 12 sons
with whom originated the 12 tribes of Israel. All of his family
is said to have immigrated to Egypt during a famine. Accord-
ing to the Old Testament, the Israelites spent some 500 years
in Egypt. At the end of this time the patriarch Moses led themmigration and population movements: The Middle East 699