~Ancient Mesopotamia~

Mesopotamia from the ancient Greek word "land of rivers", is located at the area of the Tigris-Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and southwestern Iran. Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian empires. In the Iron Age, it was controlled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires. The indigenous Sumerians and Akkadians (including Assyrians and Babylonians) dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of written history to the fall of Babylon in 539 BCE, when it was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BCE, and after his death it became part of the Greek Seleucid Empire. Around 150 BCE, Mesopotamia was under the control of the Parthians. Mesopotamia became a battle ground between the Parthians and Romans, with parts of Mesopotamia (particularly Assyria) coming under periodic Roman control. In 226 AD, it fell to the Sassanid Persians, and it remained under Persian rule until the 7th century Arab Islamic Conquest of the Sassanid Empire. A number of primarily Christian native Mesopotamia states existed between the 1st century BCE and 3rd century AD, including Adiabene, Oshroene, and Hatra. Mesopotamia mathematics and science was based on a sixty base numeral system. This is the source of the sixty minute hour, the 24-hour day, and the 360-degree circle. The Sumerian calendar was based on the seven day week. This form of mathematics was instrumental in early map-making. The Babylonians also had theorems on how to measure the area of several shapes and solids. They measured the circumference of a circle as three times the diameter and the area as one-twelfth the square of the circumference. Mesopotamian people invented many technologies including metal and copper working, glass and lamp making, textile weaving, flood control, water storage, and irrigation. They were also one of the first Bronze Age people in the world. They developed from copper, bronze, and gold on to iron. Places were decorated with hundreds of kilograms of these very expensive metals. Also copper, bronze, and iron were used for armor as well as many different weapons such as swords, daggers, and spears. Mesopotamia religion was the first to be recorded. They believed that the world was a flat disc, surrounded by a huge holed space, and above that, was heaven. They also believed that waster was everywhere, the top, the bottom and sides, and that the universe was born from this enormous sea. In addition, Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic.