The earliest agriculturists and traders of Babylonia were the Sumerians, a non-Semitic people, who built a number of cities in the irrigated valley and founded colonies in Assyria. No trace has been found of a Neolithic Age in Babylonia. Its civilization, so far as our knowledge goes, began after copper was introduced. At an early period Semites filtered into the valley. They absorbed Sumerian civilization, and ultimately became politically predominant in the northern part of the valley, which was called Akkad (the biblical Accad). The southern part was then known as Sumer or Sumeria (the biblical 'Plain of Shinar'). Akkad embraced the city States of Agade, Babylon, Borsippa, Sippar, Kish, Opis, and Kutha. The Sumerian city States included Eridu, Ur (later 'of the Chaldees' and the birthplace of Abraham), Lagash, Shuruppak, Erech, Umma, and Adab. Inter-state wars resulted time and again in the formation of confederacies which were more of political than racial character, and the predominance of one city or another. Religious ideas were fused, and local pantheons appear to have reflected local politics. The chief seat of early Sumerian civilization was the city of Eridu, a name signifying 'on the seashore'. Its site is marked by modern Abu-Shahrein on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, and south-east of Ur, modern Mukayyar. Eridu was originally a seaport on the Persian Gulf, from which it is now separated by about 125 miles of land formed by river silt. The chief god of Eridu was Ea, a name also rendered Ae and Aa, and apparently meaning 'waters' or 'house (region) of waters'. That the term 'waters' had a special significance for the inhabitants of a water-formed land is evident by the fact that the Semitic equivalent of Ea is Enki, which means 'lord of earth'. Other titles of the god were 'lord of Heaven and Earth', 'ruler of the land', 'the deep', 'god of the abyss', and 'king of the river'. He was withal the 'Creator', water having created Sumeria, and Nadimmud, 'lord of everything', as the Egyptian Osiris in his character of god of the Nile was 'Neb-er-Zer', also 'lord of everything'. Ea had a ship with a crew including his son Marduk (Merodach or Marad, the Ni-marad or Nimrod of legend) and In-ab, 'the pilot of Eridu'. The ship was hailed, in religious literature, as the bringer of fertility and joy. Evidently the beginning of Sumerian civilization had some connection with ancient seafarers. Of special interest in this connection are the references made by the Greek writer Berosus to Oannes, a sea-dweller who came daily from the Persian Gulf to instruct the early
Babylonians how to irrigate the land, grow crops, erect houses, make laws, write, calculate and measure, and engage in trade. Texts have been discovered which tend to identify Oannes with the god Ea. As the early Sumerians bore a strong physical resemblance to the ancient Egyptians, and there were links between the early religious beliefs and customs of the two peoples, it is suspected that they represented two branches of the same ancient stock. Some think Sumerian civilization was founded by colonists from Egypt, while others believe that Egyptian civilization was stimulated by settlers from Sumeria. The question as to who first invented ships has an important bearing in this connection. When we turn to Sumero-Babylonian religious myths we find that some reflect local natural phenomena. In one the Euphrates is hailed as the River (god) "who didst create all things". Another, referring to the creation of man, says that Marduk (earlier the god Gilimma) "tied reeds on the face of the waters, he formed dust and poured it out beside the reeds ... he formed mankind". Another version is that man was created from the god's blood and bone, or, as Berosus has it, from the god's blood and earth. The oldest Sumerian creation myth states that all things came from primeval water. Then many deities were created by the pre-existing triad of gods, Anu (the sky-god), Enlil ('the elder Bel', the earth-god, and 'lord of grain'), and Ea, who was associated with the goddess Ninkharsagga. Ea had several other wives, including Ninshar or Ninkurra, Ninella, Nintu, and Damkina. These goddesses were ultimately all absorbed by Ishtar, the Semitic name of the love and mother goddess. In the later Babylonian 'Seven Tablets' version of the creation myth a conflict is introduced. The female chaos-dragon Tiamat is slain by Marduk, the chief god of Babylon, 'the later Bel', who cuts up her body and uses part to form the sky and part to keep the waters in their place. After a time a deluge took place. In the Sumerian myth a priest-king called Ziusudu (earlier named Tatug or Uttu) corresponds both to Adam and to Noah, and builds a large vessel, having been warned by Ea of the approaching disaster. The Gilgamesh Epic refers to the hero as Ut-na-pishtim (or Pir-na-pishtim). He and his wife afterwards become immortal, and they are visited on their island by Gilgamesh (the Babylonian Hercules), when, smitten by disease, he searches for the Plant of Life, which he finds and afterwards loses. Ishtar, the goddess who plays a part in this epic, is also the heroine of the poetic legend which tells of her descent to Hades in quest of Tammuz, whose story resembles somewhat that of Adonis and has Osirian characteristics. The Babylonian Persephone was Eresh-ki-gal with whom Tammuz dwelt in her underworld for part of the year. Associated with her was Nergal, chief god of Kutha, whose planet was Mars. He conquered Hades. He and other city gods appear to have been developed from attributes vaguely shared by the earlier triad Anu, Bel-Enlil, and Ea. The moon-god of Ur was Sin (Sumerian Nannara), whose name clings to the desert of Sinai. Shamash was the Semitic name of the sun-god of Sippar, the Sumerian being Utu; Gishnu, the Light, and Ma-banda-anna, 'the boat of heaven' (like the Egyptian Ra), and Mitra were among his other non-Semitic names. Dagan, the god of the Euphrates, is regarded as a form of Ea, and as probably the same deity as Dagon of the Philistines. In later times the astrologers coloured with their doctrines the religious beliefs of Babylonia.
Among the early empire-builders of Babylonia were Lugal-zaggisi of Sumerian Erech, who claimed to have subdued all lands from the Lower Sea (Persian Gulf) to the Upper Sea (the Mediterranean). He flourished about 2800 B.C. Another was Sargon of Akkad, who lived about a century and a half later. He must not be confused with the much later biblical Sargon of Assyria. His son or grandson, Naram-Sin, recorded his great trading activities and victories over his enemies, including the Elamites, whose chief stronghold was Susa in south-western Persia. Elam was a rival power of considerable strength. About 2200 B.C. it had overrun a great part of Sumeria, and Akkad fell to the invading bands of Amorites. These Amorites founded the Hammurabi Dynasty, of which the king of that name was sixth in succession; Hammurabi extinguished the last sparks of Elamite power in Sumeria, which, with Akkad, was united to form the kingdom of Babylonia, named after Babylon, the capital. It was during this period that Abraham migrated from Ur to Palestine. Hammurabi (c. 2123-2081 B.C.) codified the ancient Sumerian laws and did much to develop trade. The chief god of his kingdom was Marduk, 'the later Bel', whose temple was called Esagilla. Babylon became the greatest trading centre in Western Asia and a rival of the Egyptian Memphis. Sumerian gradually ceased to be a spoken language, being supplanted by Semitic, but remained, like Latin, in mediæval Europe, the language of law, culture, and religion, while the Babylonian language became the language of trade and diplomacy, and was used in international correspondence by all the great Powers. The Hammurabi dynasty came to an end about 1926 B.C., when the Hittites raided Babylonia and carried off the statues of Marduk and his consort. Kassites, assisted by Elamites, had been attacking
Babylonia from the east, and the Sea-landers, who were Arabians mixed with Sumerians, established their independence. In the end the Kassites, who were probably Aryan by race, conquered Babylonia and established a new dynasty. Like the Trojans they were 'tamers of horses'. Their military successes are believed to have been due to the use of the horse, which was a rarity in Babylonia before their time, but became common as a beast of burden as soon as the Kassite dynasty was established. Kassite supremacy lasted for over 570 years, and during that period Babylonia was known as Karduniash. One of its early kings brought back from Khani (Mitanni) the statues of Marduk and his consort which had been carried off by the Hittites. Babylonian civilization was not changed by Kassite conquest, and its trade went on as of yore. The Kassites formed an aristocracy like the Normans in England. During the Kassite period Assyria was a growing power. It had origin as a Sumerian colony, but above the relics of the Sumerians at Asshur have been found those of a people whose kings had such non-Semitic and probably Aryan names as Ushpia, Kikia, and Adasi. The Amorites afterwards swept into Assyria, which they Semitized. During the Hammurabi dynasty it was subject to Babylonian overlordship. It grew independent during the latter period of the Kassite dynasty, and its kings formed compacts with the Kassites. Their western neighbours were by this time the Mitannians. An Aryan military aristocracy had formed a powerful State in north-western Mesopotamia, where they worshipped Indra, Varuna, and Mitra, gods which figure in the mythology of the Aryan invaders of India. Egypt, under Thothmes III, extended her Syrian empire to the borders of Mitannia and a friendship sprang up between the two Powers. Assyria was during the period subject to Mitanni. The Tell-el-Amarna letters reveal the fact that Egyptian monarchs had married princesses from Mitanni, and the famous Akhenaton had Mitannian blood in his veins.
The Hittites conquered Northern Syria and overran Mitannia when the Egyptian Asian empire went to pieces. Assyria then became powerful and independent again, the first great king of its new age being Ashur-uballit, who was strong enough to interfere with Babylonia's domestic politics. Shalmaneser I of Assyria (c. 1300 B.C.) conquered the whole of the Mitanni kingdom and extended the Assyrian empire westward across the Babylonian caravan road to North Syria. He built a new capital at Kalah (Nimrud). His son, Tulkulti—Nineb I—(c. 1275 B.C.), conquered Babylonia and reigned over it for seven years. In the end he was murdered by political conspirators, with whom his son was associated. Civil war ensued, and Assyria's history is found to be obscure for a century afterwards. In Babylon the Kassite dynasty, under which trade flourished, came to an end as a result of an Elamite invasion about 1185 B.C. A new Babylonian dynasty then arose, and the third king, Nebuchadnezzar I, revived the old empire and waged war against Assyria. But the future lay with Assyria, which was organized as a military State. It did not have Babylonia's natural resources, and could only exist as a great Power by imposing tribute on weaker States. A standing army was the basis of its strength. The national god was Ashur, who was symbolized by a winged disk, an adaptation of the Egyptian winged disk of Horus. It was carried to battle with the king, so that wherever the king was, there was the national god of war. The heavily-bearded Assyrians were a fiercer and more war-like people than the mild shaven Babylonians, who were ever influenced by Sumerian modes of thought. The Assyrian temperament is reflected in its art, which at its best is characterized by vigorous realism and brilliant ferocity. Much of it is harsh, exaggerated, and pompous. A sharp contrast is presented by the calmer and more idealistic art of the Sumero-Babylonians. The records of Assyrian monarchs deal mainly with extensive conquests. They did their utmost to set up a reign of terror in Western Asia, and when subject States revolted the chief men in them were flayed alive or impaled on stakes. The wholesale destruction of trading city States and the massacres of thousands of innocents were fit subjects for an Assyrian conqueror to boast of in his inscriptions. Hittites, North Syrians, Babylonians, and Urartians (Armenians), were time and again plundered and subjected. A great conqueror of the Middle Period was Tiglath-Pileser I (c. 1100 B.C.), and
other monarchs of the same name repeated his conquests and atrocities during the last century of Assyria's existence. The military glory of such a monarch as Ashur-natsir-pal III (885-860 B.C.), whose armies swept through western Asia like cyclones, has a lurid background of savage cruelty and oppression. He fought for no greater cause than plunder and the maintenance of Assyria's ability to wring tribute from the oppressed. His son, Shalmaneser III, extended the empire but died under a cloud of internal revolt. Subsequent rulers dominated Babylonia, and one, Adad-nirari IV (810-782 B.C.), married the Babylonian princess, Sammurammat, the Semiramis of tradition. Tiglath-Pileser IV (745-727 B.C.) was overlord of Babylon, and, indeed, Babylonia was more or less under Assyrian sway for the next century. Sargon II ('Sargon the later') did his utmost to break the national spirit in subject States by transporting whole communities from one to another. He removed a portion of the 'ten lost tribes' to the Median hills, and dispatched Babylonians from Kutha to Samaria, where they made Nergal their chief god. His campaigns extended to Phœnicia, Cilicia, and Armenia. Sennacherib, his son, defeated Egypt and her allies in Palestine and besieged Hezekiah in Jerusalem. A revolution in Babylonia broke out, and he swept into it and devastated Babylon, so that Nineveh might become the chief city in Mesopotamia. But Babylon had to be rebuilt by his son Esarhaddon, so that its dislocated trade might be restored. Esarhaddon, recognizing that the great commercial rival of Babylonia was Egypt, and that Egypt instigated the Palestinian and Syrian revolts against Assyria, invaded the Nile valley and captured and sacked Memphis. Ashur-bani-pal (668-626 B.C.), the next Assyrian emperor, punished the Egyptian rebels by sweeping southwards and capturing and sacking Thebes, which is referred to as No (Nu-Amon) in the Bible (Nahum, iii, 8-10): "Populous No ... Yet was she carried away ... her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they (the Assyrians) cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains". Egypt became for a time an Assyrian province. Elam was similarly dealt with, the great capital Susa being treated like Thebes. On the north and east Assyrian power was established with characteristic Assyrian ferocity and thoroughness. The result was that the predatory nomadic tribes of Scythians and Medes were able to sweep through the devastated territories and strike at the very heart of the empire. Ashur-bani-pal was the last great monarch of Assyria. In private life he was cultured and scholarly, and his library, which contained copies of many ancient records and literary works, is one of the sources of Mesopotamian history. Although the Sardanapulus of Greek tradition, he was not the actual monarch who perished when Nineveh was captured and sacked about 606 B.C. by the fiery hillmen from the east. The Assyrian military organization collapsed and Assyria ceased to be. The factors that led to the downfall of Assyria can only be guessed at. It may be that its many wars of conquest had left it in a state of exhaustion. It is also possible that the new generation of the aristocratic class that grew up in wealth and luxury was disorganized by intrigues and corruption. After Ashur-bani-pal died, no great leader arose, and the vast unwieldy empire suffered from internal decay. Babylonia was the first to foster organized revolt. It was overrun by the Chaldeans from the south, who, two years after Ashur-bani-pal's death, set on the throne at Babylon their leader, King Nabopolassar. With him began the Neo-Babylonian dynasty which lasted for 86 years. He had an ambitious and capable son named Nebuchadnezzar, who set out, as soon as Nineveh fell, to seize the western portion of the Assyrian Empire—the Medes, with whom the Chaldeans had an agreement, being content to retain north-eastern Mesopotamia. The Egyptians, having overcome the Assyrian garrisons in the Nile valley, were by this time moving northward through Palestine with the idea of re-establishing their ancient empire in Asia. Memphis and Babylon were rival trading centres, and the struggle that ensued was one which was to decide which should have preeminence on the western Asian trade-routes, and especially the 'clearing-houses' of North Syria. In 604 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar met and defeated Pharaoh Necho's Egyptian army at Carchemish. The Egyptians retreated in confusion and were pursued to their frontier. Nabopolassar's death in Babylon caused Nebuchadnezzar to return home and ascend the throne. Eight years later,
