Editing Ancient history (section)

====Mesopotamia====
{{Further|Mesopotamia|History of Iraq}}
[[File:Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia c. 1450 BC.png|thumb|The core territory of 15th century BC [[Assyria]], with its two major cities [[Assur]] and [[Nineveh]], was upstream of [[Babylonia]] and downstream of the states of [[Mitanni]] and [[Hittite Empire|Hatti]].|upright=1.3]]

Mesopotamia is the site of some of the earliest known [[Civilization|civilisations]] in the world.{{sfn|Parker|2017|p=54}} Agricultural communities emerged in the area with the [[Halaf culture]] around 8000 BC and continued to expand through the [[Ubaid period]] around 6000 BC.{{sfn|Hart-Davis|2012|p=54}} Cities began in the [[Uruk period]] (4000–3100 BC) and expanded during the [[Jemdet Nasr period|Jemdet Nasr]] (3100–2900 BC) and [[Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia)|Early Dynastic]] (2900–2350 BC) periods.{{sfn|Emberling|2015|pp=256–257}} The surplus of storable foodstuffs created by this economy allowed the population to settle in one place instead of migrating after crops and herds. It also allowed for a much greater population density, and in turn required an extensive labour force and division of labour.{{sfn|Hart-Davis|2012|p=38}} This organisation led to the necessity of record keeping and the development of writing.{{sfn|Wiesner-Hanks|2015|p=79-80}}

[[Babylonia]] was an [[Amorite]] state in lower Mesopotamia (modern southern [[Iraq]]),{{sfn|Roberts|Westad|2013|p=63}} with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged when [[Hammurabi]] created an empire out of the territories of the former kingdoms of [[Sumer]] and [[Akkadian Empire|Akkad]].{{sfn|Roberts|Westad|2013|p=63}}

The [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]], or [[Chaldea]], was Babylonia from the 7th and 6th centuries BC.{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|p=38}} Under the reign of [[Nebuchadnezzar II]], it conquered [[Jerusalem]]. This empire also created the [[Hanging Gardens of Babylon]] and the still-surviving [[Ishtar Gate]] as architectural embellishments of its capital at Babylon.{{sfn|Roberts|Westad|2013|p=110}}

[[Akkad (city)|Akkad]] was a city and its surrounding region near Babylon. Akkad also became the capital of the Akkadian Empire.{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|p=36}} Despite an extensive search, the precise site has never been found. Akkad reached the height of its power between about 2330 and 2150 BC, following the conquests of King [[Sargon of Akkad]].{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|p=36}} Through the spread of Sargon's empire, the language of Akkad, known as [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] from the city, spread and replaced the Sumerian language in Mesopotamia and eventually by 1450 BC was the main language of diplomacy in the Near East.{{sfn|Bertram|2003|p=143}}

[[Assyria]] was originally a region on the Upper [[Tigris]], where a small state was created in the 19th century BC.{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|p=38}} The capital was at [[Assur]], which gave the state its name.{{sfn|Bertram|2003|p=10}} Later, as a nation and empire that came to control all of the Fertile Crescent, Egypt and much of [[Anatolia]], the term "Assyria proper" referred to roughly the northern half of Mesopotamia (the southern half being Babylonia), with [[Nineveh]] as its capital. The Assyrian kings controlled a large kingdom at three different times in history. These are called the ''Old'' (20th to 18th centuries BC), ''Middle'' (14th to 11th centuries BC), and ''[[Neo-Assyrian Empire|Neo-Assyrian]]'' (9th to 7th centuries BC) kingdoms, or periods.{{sfn|Hart-Davis|2012|p=80}}

[[Mitanni]] was a Hurrian empire in northern Mesopotamia founded around 1500 BC. The Mitanians conquered and controlled Assyria until the 14th century BC while contending with Egypt for control of parts of modern Syria. Its capital was [[Washukanni]], whose precise location has not been determined by archaeologists.{{sfn|Hart-Davis|2012|p=78}}