Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia, the fertile land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now Iraq, was one of the first places in the world where people settled down to be farmers: around...

First farmers

As the Ice Ages came to an end, around 11,500 years ago, the climate worldwide started to become warmer. Some people discovered that they could plant the seeds of certain wild...

First cities

A society in which people live in towns, where many of them work as craftsmen, scribes, builders, merchants and other occupations, is described as a civilization. The first...

First writing

When people began to trade with each other, it became essential to record the details in writing. Writing was invented to fulfil such practical needs, but it was one of the major...

Sumer

Sumer was an ancient civilization founded in southern Mesopotamia, a region of the Fertile Crescent located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Most of this area now falls in...

Babylon

The city of Babylon was founded in around 2000 BC. Under the rule of Hammurabi (1792–1750 BC) it became the centre of the Babylonian Empire, before being conquered by the...

Land of the Bible

The land of the Bible, now the modern state of Israel and the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza, has a long history. Early humans first lived in the area 2.6...

Phoenicians

The Phoenicians were Mediterranean traders, active between 1500 and 300 BC. They founded the cities of Sidon and Tyre on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, in modern-day...

Mesopotamia A-Z

Persian Empire

In around 1300 BC, two peoples, the Medes and the Persians settled in what is today called Iran. For centuries, the Medes were the more powerful, but eventually the Persians...