(land between two Rivers)
To the north West of Egypt lay the paradise mentioned in the old testament of the bible. The fertile valley of Tigris Euphrates rivers saw a much different to the Nile River civilization. Mesopotamia was an open region, open to attack from envious neighbours. The people of this region emerged from the stone age about 4,000 BC at which time the Persian Gulf extended to the now inland ancient Sumerian city, Ur. The Sumerians were defeated by the Akkadians, and then the Babylonians, Chaldean, Hittites, Hebrews, Assyrians and Persians, were supreme each building among the ruins of the conquered. The powerful classes were military leaders not priests as in Egypt.
The Mesopotamian loved riches and wealth and comfort and believed little in religion. The dry permanent unchanging conditions in Egypt shaped beliefs in immortality. The threat of sudden attack and death and the catastrophic floods in Mesopotamia led to a realistic and worldly view. The more important civilizations in order of supremacy were:
Sumeria
The first civilization grew on the southern river plains near the Persian Gulf about 5,000 BC. These people were non-Semitic or white and built cities at Ur and Lagash.
Ancient Babylon
Babylon was founded in 2,450 BC by a Semitic people.
Assyria
In the north rose a cruel and warlike people, the Assyrians who were descended from the Hittites of the mountains. This race of people built magnificent fortresses - palaces at Nineveh, Nimrod and Assur on the Tigris. The Assyrians were supreme from 2,000 to 612 BC when Babylon rose again with Persian allies and razed the Assyrian cities to the ground.
New Babylon
Babylon and cities to the south were rebuilt and flowered between 604 - 539 BC when the Persians conquered them and the centre of power moved to Susa in the east.