Atlas of Ancient Mesopotamia

Atlas of Ancient Mesopotamia surveys the history of Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, northeastern Syria and part of southeastern Turkey) from the first colonization of its alluvial plains around 5000 BC until the collapse of the Sassanian Empire in the early 7th century AD. Following an introduction which places Mesopotamian civilizations within the context of world history and an opening chapter on the vital development of agriculture, its chapters focus on the civilizations of Sumeria, the Akkad Empire, the first and second Babylonian states, the Assyrian Empire, Mitanni, Parthia, Characene, Elymais, Hatra, and Hira. Later chapters take a dramatic turn, following the Achaemenid Persian conquest of Mesopotamia and the region's incorporation into a much larger, non-Mesopotamian empire, Alexander the Great's conquest of Mesopotamia and the Hellenistic Greek Seleucid state, western Mesopotamia under Roman rule, and Sassanian Persian rule, when the region again formed the political center of a powerful empire. This is the definite study of the birthplace of civilization.