empires and dynasties: The Middle East 397 trators became kings, regarded as chosen by the gods to rule Archaeologists and historians have divided ancient Mesopotamia into two geographical areas: southern Mesopotamia, which includes the lands south of Baghdad, and northern Mesopotamia of the Akkadian Empire at its largest He was the founder of Ur’s Third Dynasty of kings This mighty dynasty lasted for a century, but in 2004 b.c.e the Elamites, led by their king Kindattu, conquered the city of Ur itself, ending its brief empire The Elamites came from what is now southwestern Iran EARLY DYNASTIC PERIOD (CA 3000–CA 2350 B.C.E.) FIRST DYNASTY OF BABYLON (CA 1894– CA 1595 B C E ) In southern Mesopotamia the period of the early, city-based dynasties referred to in the Sumerian King List, an ancient text on clay tablets (dating to ca 2125 b.c.e.), is called the Early Dynastic Period Uruk (biblical Erech and modern-day Warka) grew to be some 500 acres, with a massive city wall By 2700 b.c.e it may have had over 50,000 residents and was ruled by King Gilgamesh, who became the mythologized hero of an early literary work, the Epic of Gilgamesh The Sumerian King List mentions the names of many kings belonging to dynasties at various cities such as Uruk, Umma, Lagash, and Ur By 2500 b.c.e King Mesilim of the city of Kish established himself as the first-known lord over all the other kings of Sumer King Eannatum of the city of Lagash overthrew the dominance of Kish around 2400 b.c.e About 50 years later King Lugalzaggisi of the city of Umma brought all of Sumer under his rule This was the first regional state in southern Mesopotamia that unified and held an area larger than that of a single city and its hinterland A nomadic people called the Amorites had settled in parts of Mesopotamia during the late third millennium b.c.e Their descendants would found dynasties both in Babylon and in Assyria The one in Assyria was founded by King ShamshiAdad (r 1813–1781 b.c.e.) He conquered northern Mesopotamia, but after his death his kingdom was divided between his two sons, one who was lazy and one who was foolhardy One of Shamshi-Adad’s vassals was the king of Babylon, Hammurabi (r 1792–1750 b.c.e.), who took advantage of the foolishness of Shamshi-Adad’s sons He had already conquered the cities of Uruk and Isin, both outside Assyria’s dominion, and he had proved himself an able civic leader, improving Babylon’s irrigation system and constructing temples In each city he conquered, he made a point of building temples to show the local people that he was favored by the gods In 1764 b.c.e Hammurabi conquered Elam Then, in 1761 b.c.e., Hammurabi defeated Rim-Sin of the city of Larsa, in battle and seized control of all Sumer From 1757 to 1755 b.c.e he conquered northern Mesopotamia He was a clever military leader To defeat one city—Eshnunna (modern-day Tell Asmar) along the Diyala River—instead of assaulting the city, he diverted its water supply; this caused the city to surrender He attracted to the city of Babylon artists from throughout the Near East, who added to the city’s luster as the center of Mesopotamian culture He is famous for his code of laws, which are carved on a stone stele now in the Louvre Museum in Paris Curiously, though Hammurabi’s laws were intended to impress the gods with his good rule, they are never cited in the thousands of legal documents in cuneiform that have survived from ancient Mesopotamia The First Dynasty of Babylon lasted until 1595 b.c.e., when the Hittites under Mursilis I (r ca 1620–ca 1590 b.c.e.) sacked Babylon Thereafter, a people from the Sealand (the marshes of southern Iraq) took control of the south They were followed by the Kassites, who are often thought to have originated in the Zagros Mountains of what is today western Iran AKKADIAN DYNASTY (CA 2350–CA 2100 B.C.E.) The Akkadian Empire was, however, the first true empire based in Mesopotamia that ruled over an area extending beyond the borders of this region Founded by Sargon of Akkad (r ca 2334–ca 2279 b.c.e.), the Akkadian Empire at times extended from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf Campaigns were conducted into the Zagros Mountains to the north and east of southern Mesopotamia as well Sargon began as cupbearer to the king of Kish, but he established a new imperial city, Agade, which has yet to be rediscovered Sargon I probably took power through a coup A grandson of his, Naram-Sin (r ca 2254–ca 2218 b.c.e.), added territory to the empire from what is now western Iran and southern Anatolia, in modern-day Turkey The more the Akkadian Empire grew, the more vulnerable its borders became and the more discontented the former city-states of Sumer were Practically every time a new king ascended to the throne, an insurrection arose in the cities of the south In addition, nomads from the desert and tribes from the Zagros Mountains invaded Mesopotamia Sometime before 2100 b.c.e the Guti from the northern Zagros took power, and the world’s first empire was no more THIRD DYNASTY OF UR PERIOD (CA 2112–CA 2004 B.C.E.) Eventually, Ur-Namma of the city of Ur managed to establish his rule over territory that was about one-third the size BABYLON’S KASSITE DYNASTY (CA 1500–CA 1155 B.C.E.) The Kassites appeared in Babylonia during the reign of Samsuiluna (r 1749–1712 b.c.e.), Hammurabi’s successor, who defeated their army With Samsuiluna’s consent, the Kassites settled near the Diyala River In 1475 b.c.e the Kassite king Ulamburiash drove the Dynasty of the Sealand out of Mesopotamia and reestablished the city of Babylon as the center of an empire, called “Babylonia.” Babylonia was a major mili-