History of Iraq 1 – From Sumeria to Hammurabi

Sumeria and the birth of civilisation

From the beginning of the fifth millenium B.C., the fertile plain of the Mesopotamian delta was the scene of man’s greatest progress, the change from single scattered farming units to an urban society. At that distant point in time, the first towns had already been built at Eridu, Ur and Uruk.

The irrigation network for this plain was, with its dams and canals, a remarkable achievement, comparable with any subsequent river control system.

Archaelogists and historians are of the opinion that the Sumerians were the first to develop a form of civilisation, on the evidence of the excavations in their cities. In approximately 3200 B.C. they invented writing, and had scholars studying history.

The Akkadians

Contemporary with the Sumerians, the Akkadians were one of the oldest Semitic tribes to settle in the Mesopotamian delta, and under king Sargon, in about 2350 B.C., conquered the ancient kingdom of Sumer.

Sargon extended his rule over the cities of Iraq, the country of Elam, over Syria and Anatolia, and as far as the Arabian Gulf; by finally controlling the whole of the Middle East, he founded the first empire in the area.

Legends exist about his birth and life. His original name, Shroukin, means ‘the generous king’. He was born to one of the women of the temple who, after his birth, put him into a basket on the Euphrates where he was found by a gardener who adopted him. The goddess Ishtar watched over him as a child, and as he grew up, protected him with her loving care, until, in due course, he united his neighbouring Semitic tribes to fight the Sumerians and bring the whole of the Middle East under his control.

This was a period of great economic expansion as trade increased with the countries along the Arabian Gulf and along the caravan routes. One of the most important of these was between Akkad, the capital in the centre of Iraq and the Anatolian copper mines. Copper was carried to the capital and other principal cities of the empire for the manufacture of tools and weapons.

The Babylonians (1894-1594 B.C.)

The Babylonian dynasty (otherwise known as the Amorite dynasty) lasted for three hundred years under the rule of eleven kings.

It was during this period that Iraq reached its highest degree of civilisation. The Babylonian language both spoken and written, was in use in all Near Eastern countries. The frontiers of knowledge were pushed forward: science and the arts flourished. Trade increased to a level never experienced before in the area. Under a centralised administration, a codified system of law was in force in the country, the same laws which were subsequently included in the famous code of the immortal Hammurabi.

Hammurabi

This great man was king of Babylon from 1792 to 1750 B.C. On his accession, the country was divided into several small warring states. He succeeded in uniting them and in creating a large empire which included Iraq, the frontier towns of Syria as far as the Mediterranean, the country of Elam and other areas in the Middle East.

Apart from his military genius, he is best known for his great administrative skills and as social organiser. His laws were engraved on the famous diorite tablet, now in the Louvre in Paris, and are the most complete of the ancient codes of law known to man.

The code consists of 282 articles which are concerned with all aspects of the life of the human being. It includes a guide for the personal conduct of the individual in society, drawn up in detail and with astonishing insight, and sets down the rights and duties of each according to his position and responsibilities.

Five kings succeeded Hammurabi, and during the reign of the last of these, Samsu-Ditana, the Hassites captured Babel, pillaged its wealth and destroyed it before withdrawing to the Taurus mountains. This, in 1594 B.C., marked the end of the Babylonian empire.