What Happened to the Mesopotamian Civilization?

this video is brought to you by captivating history mesopotamia has a long and complex past and many empires called mesopotamia home because of its lengthy history the question of what caused mesopotamia to fall is a complicated one the land of mesopotamia was still in existence up until the end of the first world war on august 23 1921 mesopotamia was renamed when the british-backed faisal the first became the first king of iraq mesopotamia is referred to as one of the cradles of early human civilization the english translation of the sumerian name is the land between the rivers the rivers referred to in the name were the tigris man the euphrates and mesopotamia lay in the fertile crescent that stretched from egypt to israel this land was rich in resources and human civilization flourished many cultures rose and fell in this bountiful land the first of which was the sumerians evidence suggests that the sumerians lived in mesopotamia for as long as humans populated the planet iredu the first city dates from the 54th century bce and is considered to be the first city in the world historians believed the sumerians to be the first true civilization they were the first people to keep records writing symbols and pictures on clay tablets using a script known as cuneiform the important sumerian city-states loosely united to form a powerful civilization and peaked under the rule of king gilgamesh in 2700 bce one of the oldest pieces of literature in existence epic of gilgamesh concerns his adventurous life the sumerians were around for four and a half millennia that's over double our current era the archaeological finds from this culture are incredible and we can see how migration and climate change affected our earliest civilizations in around 2350 bce a new empire arose the acadians at first they lived alongside the sumerians but gradually the acadian culture eclipsed that of the sumerians along with the influx of new peoples and cultures the sumerians main crop wheat started to fail as the soil in the region became more saline the sumerian farmers eventually switched to barley which could tolerate the increase of salt in the earth but by this time many sumerians had died or been absorbed into new cultures many of the great civilizations of mesopotamia were built on the foundation laid by the sumerians and the sumerian language myths and culture were around long after the last sumerian was gone while the sumerians are often seen as the world's first empire some historians credit the acadians with this title after the sumerian peoples faded away the acadians gained supremacy in the area eventually the acadians expanded through military exploits and united the indigenous people of mesopotamia under one rule after around 180 years the akkadian empire collapsed while there is not enough physical evidence to pinpoint an exact cause historians have proposed many different reasons the most prevalent theory is that climate change namely a drought weakened the akkadian empire which thrived on rain-fed agriculture it is also thought that the acadians spread themselves too thin and could not maintain control of all their conquered territories the collapse of the akkadian empire split most of the indigenous peoples in two assyria formed in the north and babylonia in the south this split would lead to decades of fighting with the dominant power of mesopotamia being snatched back and forth between the two empires however the babylonians would go on to create one of the longest lasting empires in history babylon went from being a small and unnoteworthy town into one of the most famous empires in the world babylonia peaked under the rule of hammurabi who reigned from 1792 to 1750 bce after haburabi's death babylon began losing territories first to an acadian-speaking king and then to the assyrians the assyrians had been a secondary power in mesopotamia since 1900 bce when the temple of ashore was built while they had been around for a lot longer most historians agreed that this was the founding of the assyrian civilization they traded in iron which gave them the edge literally during and after the collapse of the bronze age after the death of hammurabi the assyrian kings tried to restore order to the surrounding territories and assert control over them in 1726 bce king adasi managed to regain control over a serious borders and even brought some babylonian regions under his control over the next couple of centuries assyria maintained stability and peace but in 1500 bce a group called the metani appeared seemingly from nowhere stuck between the matani kingdom and the cassites who were gaining power in babylon the assyrians briefly fell under matani control around 1595 bce the hittites came on the scene the babylonians were already under attack from the cascites who spoke in isolated language and were not native to mesopotamia when the hittites sacked babylon and continued onto the matani territories the cascites took the opportunity to take over the assyrians were able to gain influence with the matani and expanded once more their military victories built up a tradition of warfare within the assyrian kingdom meanwhile back in babylon the cascites were on their way to becoming the longest dynasty in babylonia although they never had complete control of babylon instead of fighting they maintained peace with their neighbors including the assyrians this peace did not last and eventually the assyrians would try and expand into babylonian territory in around 1200 bce the bronze age started to collapse in mesopotamia and many civilizations in the region were wiped out the strength of the assyrian empire ensured their survival this time a syrian king to cultin and nurture the first 1244-1208 bce ruled babylon for eight years and was the first king of babylon to be ethnically mesopotamian like most assyrian leaders he was a military king and interested in preserving and promoting a syrian culture by the end of his reign the assyrians controlled most of mesopotamia although he could not keep control of the city of babylon assyrian governors continued to rule babylonia until late in the reign of adad schuma 1216-1189 vce when it slowly became a semi-independent empire again toward the end of the second millennium bce the bronze age collapse affected most of mesopotamian civilizations and many of them ceased to exist altogether alongside the waning popularity of bronze climatologists believed that a part of this collapse was a climactic shift that caused droughts another theory is that the eruption of the icelandic volcano hekla iii impacted the climate in the region the assyrians would survive however despite losing territories as the entire area was in crisis there wasn't anyone in a position to take advantage of the power vacuum babylon had many rulers in 1124 bce a ruler came to power that was not only successful in his own time but whose name is still recognized today nebuchadnezzar the first he built up babylon's defenses and beautified it although it was his namesake nebuchadnezzar ii 605-562-bce that would be one of the people accredited with creating the famed hanging gardens of babylon from 911 bce to 607 bce the assyrian empire was at its peak it became the largest and most brutal empire in ancient mesopotamia in 747 bce it expanded dramatically conquering many territories including egypt and syria during this time babylonia rose and fell and had many different rulers until 729 bce when the assyrians decided to incorporate babylonia into their empire this assimilation did not stop the jostling for the babylonian throne the assyrian empire was so large that it was under constant threat from many different powers the assyrian kings tried ruling babylon from afar forming a fragile alliance with the babylonian kings under their control their successful campaigns had distracted them from the threat of the babylonians and several uprisings in babylon forced the assyrian king to return and assert control a group called the chaldeans were determined to take babylon and periods of stability were punctuated with war in 689 bce an assyrian king named sunakarib was sick of all these rebellions and reacted by destroying babylonian temples and cities looting as much as possible his response was so extreme he even removed the soil from around the euphrates sanding it down river to destroy the babylonians farming capabilities this act would plunge babylon into economic disaster but unfortunately for the assyrians the babylonians survived and in 626 the neo-babylonian empire replaced the neo-assyrian empire ending the great assyrian empire once and for all in 539 bce a persian king called cyrus the great invaded babylon cyrus had been amassing power since around 550 bce and babylon was under the rule of an unpopular king named nabanitus navinitis managed to alienate his people his military and the elites with his decisions and leadership style there are many accounts of how babylon fell to the persians we may never know the truth in all likelihood the babylonians fought and lost to the persians at a place called opus with their army defeated the other cities surrendered without a fight and babylon became part of the persian empire the persians divided the neo-babylonian empire into provinces assyria and babylon being the main too babylon continued to attempt to assert independence until alexander the great led the macedonians into babylon in around 331 bce and defeated the persians by the time alexander arrived many of the great mesopotamian cities had already fallen out of use and babylon itself was losing its importance alexander the great died in babylon in 323 bce at the age of 32. after his death babylon faded away not with a bang but with a whimper while life continued for the people of babylon the region would continuously come under the control of new empires and countries and never regain its independence while mesopotamia continued to exist until the 20th century it can be argued that its glory days were over even before the death of alexander the great most of the mesopotamian culture had been overtaken and other great civilizations dominated the world stage the romans eventually took over the region in 116 ce followed by the arabic muslims in 651 ce during the mid 19th century british and french adventurers were inspired to find the great biblical cities and the ancient wonders of mesopotamia started to be rediscovered when addressing the question of why mesopotamia fell the best answer is probably the length of time it had been an influential area the sumerian culture began to flourish around 4000 bce so mesopotamia had already been an ancient civilization when alexander the great invaded 3600 years later over those millennia climate change cultural shifts and a whole lot of wars meant mesopotamia became less important as a center for civilization the fact that alexander the great and later the romans wanted to conquer this land was probably more due to its historical significance than its resources the vast scale of mesopotamian history is overwhelming and awe-inspiring today the fertile crescent is threatened by climate change and modern irrigation systems irrigation set in place in the 1950s dried the mesopotamian marshes and in 1991 saddam hussein's government further drained the marshes as punishment to the marsh arabs who inhabited the region recent dna evidence suggests that the marsh arabs are actually the descendants of the ancient sumerians but by 1992 around 90 of the marshland had disappeared displacing these indigenous inhabitants while efforts have been made to restore these important marshlands they are still only about half their original capacity after supporting human civilization for over 6 000 years the fertile crescent may be destroyed by the very species that it helped establish to learn more about mesopotamia check out our book a captivating guide to ancient mesopotamian history and civilizations including the sumerians and sumerian mythology gilgamesh or assyrians babylon hammurabi and the persian empire it's available as an e-book paperback and audiobook also grab your free mythology bundle ebook while it's still available all links are in the description if you enjoyed the video please hit the like button and subscribe for more videos like this

Channel: Captivating History

Views: 18,976

Keywords: Mesopotamian Civilization, Mesopotamia, History of Mesopotamia, Mesopotamian History, Ancient Mesopotamia, World's First Empire, First Empire in the World, History of Iraq, Mesopotamia Explained, Mesopotamia Summary, Iraq History, Sumerian History, Land between the rivers, Summary of Mesopotamian History, Ancient Iraq, Sumerians Summary, Babylonian History, History of Babylonia, Assyrians Summary, Assyrian History Explained, Alexander the Great Mesopotamia

Id: v5WCq5G-W3g

Length: 13min 41sec (821 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 05 2021