AI en Translation, Pages 451-475
Page 451
HISTORY OF IRAK .
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SITUATION.
Iraq occupies the whole of MESOPOTAMIA , a fertile plain
between the two great twin rivers : the TIGRIS and the EUPHRATES
which descend from the mountains of Armenia and flow into the Persian
Gulf, today the Arabian Gulf, through a wide common estuary
the SHATT-al-ARAB . Without natural borders to the west and south,
Mesopotamia,
has known many invasions .
CIVILIZATION .
Mesopotamia was populated by populations of various
races . The primitive inhabitants were named: Asianics ,
but they were submerged by the continuous infiltration of Semites
who ended up forming the bulk of the population; finally later
the Indo-Europeans appear and will form a third element
of the population, less numerous, but whose role will be very active.
All of these peoples are divided between the three divisions
of Mesopotamia .
1- in the South : THE LAND OF SUMER ( cities: Uruk and Ur )
2- in the middle region : THE LAND OF AKKAD ( cities : Akkad
and Babylon )
3 - in the North : ASSYRIA ( cities : Assur and Nineveh )
Civilization first developed through the SUMERIANS who
are Asianics settled in Lower Mesopotamia .
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THE SUMERIANS .
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The Sumerian civilization is the oldest of the civilizations
known to this day . That of Egypt and the "proto-Indi⟦an⟧"
one of the Indus valley seem more recent by a few
centuries .
The existence and civilization of the Sumerians have been re-
vealed to us by the precious objects found in arche-
ological excavations . A people of industrious peasants, the Sumerians, 4,000
years B.C. were great builders of canals and
dikes , great planters of palm groves .
Famous for their culture, the Sumerians write in
cuneiform characters that the Babylonians would later
borrow from them . They hold one of the first ranks among the
artistic races of Antiquity . According to the offerings
found in their tombs, they founded sumptuous
cities .
The main rival cities were : UR ( OUR) the
land of Abraham; LAGASH where Gudea reigned, a magnificent prince;
and especially URUK (URUK ) which had as its leader Gilgamesh, the
fabulous hero of Chaldean history . All these kings were
considered as the representatives of the divinity .
The Sumerians who fought constantly among themselves
for the possession of fields or palm groves, were little
by little submerged by peoples coming from Syria , recognizable
by their aquiline nose and their curly hair : the Semites .
Around 2,300 B.C. ; a Semite , Sargon of Agade or
Sargon the Elder had settled in the north of the valley of the
Two-Rivers, in the Land of Akkad . He united under his rule
The whole of Mesopotamia including the Land of Sumer .
He inaugurated the so-called Akkadian period which was to last
nearly two centuries .
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FIRST EMPIRE OF BABYLON
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Around 1750 the Semites settled permanently in the
north of the country of Sumer, in the region of Babylon, that
is to say in the country of Akkad or Chaldea. It is one of the kings of
Babylon, HAMMURABI, who founded the first Empire of Babylon
in the 18th century BC.
HAMMURABI is the sixth prince of the first dynasty
of Babylon; he is the true founder of this empire.
The progress he brought to the country is marvelous.
He founded a new capital on the Euphrates, Babylon.
He extended Chaldean domination from the Persian Gulf
to Armenia, imposing everywhere the Semitic language and the
worship of the supreme god: Marduk, god of Babylon. He was
a brilliant administrator; the "Code of Laws" that has been
preserved from him is the work of a balanced and wise man.
It is the oldest code of laws known.
THE KASSITES (Kassites)
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The Babylonian Empire after about two centuries of pre-
ponderance passed into the hands of the Kassites, barbarians from the
mountains of the north. The Kassites taught the Babylonians the use
of iron, the horse and the war chariot. They were
⟦conquered⟧ by the Assyrians.
Preponderance then passed to the ASSYRIANS.
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THE GREAT ASSYRIAN EMPIRE
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In the 13th century BC, the Assyrians, who were
Semites and rugged highlanders trained in hunting and
war, descended into Chaldea. They drove out the
Kassites and founded an immense empire.
The conquests of the Assyrians were secured by
atrocious wars. Assyrian art itself, which produced
masterpieces, was inspired only by war or by
hunting. The Assyrian capital, NINEVEH, soon eclipsed
Babylon.
Three names are to be remembered among the Assyrian kings.
SARGON II ( ⟦...⟧-705).
After having destroyed the kingdom of Israel, having
seized Syria and Egypt, he penetrated as far as the Caucasus.
Sargon II left Nineveh and had his palace built at
KARSABAD (KHORSABAD). The winged bull (Louvre Museum)
was placed at the gate of his palace which extended over a
ten-hectare platform. He created the library of
Nineveh.
SENNACHERIB ( 705-681 )
Successor of Sargon II, Sennacherib built
a fleet on the Persian Gulf. He turned the
rebellious city of Babylon into marshes and died assassinated.
ASHURBANIPAL ( 668-626 )
Assyria reached its peak under his reign.
The empire then extended from the center of Asia Minor to the
Persian Gulf, and from the Black Sea to Ethiopia. But at
the cost of what cruelties!
This empire, too vast and without unity, could not last.
The cruel yoke of the tyrant sparked revolts in the pro-
vinces and riots in the palace.
The Assyrian Empire collapsed when the attack of the
Medes provoked the uprising of the conquered populations.
A coalition of Medes and Babylonians overthrew Nineveh
which was completely destroyed.
Preponderance returned to Babylon.
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SECOND EMPIRE OF BABYLON .
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After the ruin of Nineveh, a grown Babylon regained
all its power with King Nebuchadnezzar .
NEBUCHADNEZZAR ( 605-562 )
He founded a magnificent empire, of which
rebuilt Babylon became the gigantic capital . This
city was famous throughout the world for the beauty of
its streets and for its hanging gardens .
Nebuchadnezzar conquered Tyre ( Syria ), repelled the
Egyptians, annexed the Hebrew kingdom of Judah and brought its
inhabitants into captivity in Babylon .
This second empire of Babylon was destroyed by Cyrus at
the head of the Medes and Persians (538) . Cyrus , after having
diverted the course of the Euphrates, surprised Belshazzar during
the excesses of a banquet .
Thus, on the ruins of the Assyro-Chaldean empire , was
founded the empire of the Persians which , for two centuries, would
dominate the East .
PERSIAN DOMINATION .
CYRUS ( 555-529 )
He is the founder of the Persian empire . His
most famous exploit remains the conquest of the empire of
Babylon over the successors of Nebuchadnezzar : Nabonidus and
Belshazzar .
Cyrus was a remarkable head of state . His army, no
doubt was strong, but never did the vanquished experience with
him the horror of Assyrian massacres and tortures . He
respected Babylon, he left to the subjected peoples their tradi-
tions and their gods . The decree by which one year after the
conquest of Babylon, he allowed the captive Jews to re-
turn to Jerusalem and to rebuild their temple remains an important
date in the history of civilized peoples .
DARIUS who had seized power and reigned over
the Persian empire , was defeated at Arbela ( near Mosul)
by Alexander the Great , king of Macedonia, in 331 BC.
It is thus that Mesopotamia passed under Greek
domination .
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THE CHALDEO-ASSYRIAN CIVILIZATION .
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We know it thanks to clay tablets car-
rying letters traced with a stylus and forming protrusions
similar to wedges, hence the name cuneiform writing
given to this type of characters. European missions
brought to light cities buried under the sands:
UR . BABYLON . NINEVEH . KHORSABAD ...... revealing the secrets
of an extremely interesting civilization.
Agriculture and industry were already of a remarka-
ble prosperity in the time of the Sumerians who were, it is believed,
the initiators of the cultivation of cereals: wheat and barley.
They were among the first men to know how to exploit the
ores extracted from the mountains of Armenia.
Writing and its applications. It is from the Sumerians that
Babylon and later the Assyrians borrowed their religion
and their cuneiform writing.
The adventures of the hero Gilgamesh constitute the
oldest known poem. It dates from 3,000 BC.
On a stone sculpted in its upper part and
covered with 3,600 lines in columns, is inscribed the
"Code of Laws" of Hammurabi, which reveals to us the existence
of a meticulously organized Babylonian state.
Science. Very early on the Babylonian people established mea-
sures of length and weight. Gudea of Lagash had a
graduated ruler engraved on his statues. Under Hammurabi the
notions of mathematics were acquired. The Chaldeans
were ardent astrologers. They tried to determine
the influence of the stars on man. The expression "to be born under
a lucky star" came from them.
Religion. This anxious people was much more super-
stitious than profoundly religious. The gods were con-
founded with the stars. Shamash was the sun god; his
daughter, Ishtar, the planet Venus; Marduk was the son of EA,
god of the waters.
Art. In Assyria art was dedicated almost exclusive-
ly to the king, to his military glory, to his wars and to his
hunts.
Urban planning was pushed very far; the plan of Babylon
which has been partially restored, reveals the appearance of a
modern city in a checkerboard pattern with wide avenues.
This civilization, so developed in certain points,
nevertheless had something barbaric about it.
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CITIES OF ANTIQUITY .
U R or O U R is the homeland of Abraham and enters into history
around 2,700 B.C. .
Ur becomes with its first dynasty the great Sumerian
metropolis . Five ⟦?⟧ kings having reigned 171 years succeed each other .
After a troubled period where all the neighboring kings dispute
the land of Sumer, the Akkadians under the impulse of
Sargon of Akkad unify these regions . But the kings continue
nevertheless to exercise their power .
Ur is destroyed in 2,015 B.C. by the Elamites .
B A B Y L O N : Simple Sumerian village before the
Semites, Babylon is mentioned by a sovereign of the Akkadian
dynasty , who in the 14th century before our era built a
temple there to the great goddess Ishtar .
After the collapse of the 3rd dynasty of Ur , a new
wave of Semites establish their capital at Babylon .
The city knew moments of incomparable splendor
under Hammurabi , true founder of the first empire of
Babylon .
In the 12th century B.C. the Babylonians were subjected
to the Assyrian princes . In 689 B.C. the city ravaged by
Sennacherib who declares: "I treated it worse than a flood" .
During the second empire of Babylon , the Jews are
⟦line⟧ led into captivity there by Nebuchadnezzar who had seized
Jerusalem . This captivity ended when Cyrus seized
Babylon after having diverted the course of the Euphrates .
But Cyrus did not destroy the city and its temples remained
inviolate .
Alexander occupied it in his turn in 331 and died there in 323 .
The definitive ruin of Babylon was consummated under the reign
of the Seleucids .
R
A S S U R or A S S O U R was the first capital of the
Assyrian kingdom .
In the 13th century B.C. Ninurta I to commemorate his
victory over Babylon dedicated a temple and a ziggurat ( tiered
pyramidal tower ) to the god Assur .
N I N E V E H : Around 2,230 B.C. the son of Sargon I
had built a temple there . Around 1,280 an earthquake
ravages the temples and the palaces of the city . Shalmaneser I
proceeds with their reconstruction . It seems that Nineveh was
promoted to the rank of capital towards the end of the 2nd century before
our era . Neglected by Sargon II , his successor undertook
a vast reconstruction program and endowed the city with powerful
ramparts .
Ashurbanipal built a sumptuous palace there .
In 612 B.C. , end of the Assyrian empire , the city
was looted and razed to such an extent that two centuries later Xenophon
passed near the site without noticing it .
K H O R S A B A D ( near Nineveh ) . Sargon II desirous
of attributing to himself the honor of having founded a capital neglected
Nineveh and undertook to build a palace not far from the Tigris .
He took possession of this palace two years before his death and his
successor Sennacherib transported again the seat of the empire
to Nineveh .
Khorsabad was originally called Dur-Sharrukin, the city
of Sargon .
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THE ⟦DO⟧MINATION AND INFLUENCE OF HELLENISM
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ALEXANDER THE GREAT of Macedon after having completed the submis-
sion of Greece launched into the conquest of the Persian Empire.
Against the numerous and cohesionless army of the great king, he op-
poses a small, admirably organized army. He conquers
the Mediterranean provinces, from the straits to Egypt. He
then headed towards Mesopotamia, defeated Darius at Arbela
in 331 BC, and seized all of Persia. He then descends
into the plains of India, then returns to Mesopotamia.
He makes Babylon the capital of Asia. He had trees
planted and wanted to unify the East and make it benefit
from Greek civilization. He was in Babylon, which he was restoring
and embellishing, when a crisis of malaria, added to his
intemperance, struck him down. He died in 323 BC after
a reign of 13 years.
SELEUCUS. After the death of Alexander the Great, one of his
generals Seleucus acquired the part of his conquests that covered
Mesopotamia. He built a new capital Seleucia
on the Tigris (about forty kilometers from present-day Baghdad).
The Greek house of Seleucus lasted barely two centuries,
but its civilization and the development accomplished by the
Seleucids continued to influence the country for several
centuries.
THE ⟦P⟧ARTHIANS.
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The Parthians coming from Persia invaded Babylonia and took
the place of the Seleucids around 247 BC. They built
a new capital, CTESIPHON, on the Tigris just opposite
Seleucia. The Parthians had a great respect for
Greek culture which remained dominant during this entire period
of the history of Babylonia.
It is at this time that the emperor Trajan (Rome) attacks
the Parthians and occupies northern Mesopotamia. He finds Baby-
lon in ruins. Two years later the Parthians retake
Mesopotamia from the Romans.
THE SASSANIDS.
Another dynasty from Persia, that of the Sassanids, overthrew
the Parthians in 226 AD. It is at this time that the great
Arch of Ctesiphon was built. It is the remains of an immense
palace that the Sassanid kings had built for themselves to spend
the winter.
This era was very flourishing. A part of the canals
that can still be seen today in the desert
date from this period. Never in history was a system of
dams and canals more perfect than that of
Mesopotamia fifteen centuries ago, under the Sassanid kings.
King CHOSROES gave his name to a gigantic canal
today in ruins, but whose renown still lasts and which they
are working to restore.
In 637, the Muslims seized Ctesiphon.
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THE CONQUEST OF MESOPOTAMIA BY THE ARABS .
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Muhammad , founder of Islam was born in Mecca in 570 .
Before him, Arabia had played only an insignificant role in
the history of the Orient . It was a poor , desert country .
However its geographical situation allowed it to play a
commercial role between Asian countries and those of the
Mediterranean , so that its main city, Mecca ,
was both an economic and religious center .
In 622 Muhammad fled to Medina . This is the Hegira , the starting
point of the Muslim calendar , based on the lunar year of
354 days .
In the aftermath of the death of Muhammad , in 632 the ARABS
began the conquest of a great empire .
In 637 , the Muslims reached Mesopotamia ,
took Ctesiphon , then the capital, and established
strongholds at Basra , Kufa and various other points . There
was immediately a great influx of Muslim Arabs onto the soil
of Mesopotamia .
The 4th caliph Ali , cousin of the prophet , found himself the
head of a vast empire that extended from Tunis to Afghanistan .
But Ali had rivals and he moved his capital from
Medina , in Arabia to Kufa . He was assassinated there 5 years later
while he was praying in the mosque .
The partisans of Ali form the sect of the Shiites . The same
year , a descendant of Umayya proclaimed himself caliph and established his
capital in Damascus . Mesopotamia then passed under the govern-
ment of the Umayyads .
However the Umayyad usurper was hated in Mesopotamia .
Nineteen years later Hussein, son of Ali who lived in
Medina was invited by the population of Kufa to come and
settle there to be proclaimed caliph . He could not enter
the city and was massacred by Umayyad troops at the
battle of Karbala .
The resentment of the Shiites increased and they united
their forces with those of the Abbasids ( descendant of Abbas,
uncle of the prophet ) to drive out the Umayyads .
The Shiites however did not regain power which
passed into the hands of the ABBASIDS . The capital was transferred
from Damascus to Ambar ,(near present-day Fallujah ,) on the Euphrates.
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riot , in Tus . He is buried in this city .
The reign of Harun al-Rashid is the golden reign of the Abbasid period .
AL-MU'TASIM
The third successor of Harun al-Rashid , one of his sons , born of a Turkish mother, the caliph Al-Mu'tasim has much admiration for the courage and discipline of Turkish soldiers . He surrounds himself with Turkish generals , but the latter are hated in the capital and peace is threatened . Al-Mu'tasim moves them away and gives them Samarra as a base . He himself settles in this city which thereby takes the title of capital . Al-Mu'tasim has a beautiful mosque built, the Friday Mosque with a Helical minaret . He builds a monumental palace where he gives his audiences and an immense avenue . The glory of Samarra was only fleeting and from 892 Baghdad resumes its rank as capital .
The first three Abbasid periods are particularly brilliant . The works of the Greeks : Aristotle , Plato , Euclid are translated into Arabic . The Arabs study algebra , astronomy , alchemy . Baghdad attracts poets , scholars , musicians . It possesses an academy . It is from this era that the reputation of Baghdad dates, "The Pearl of the Orient" .
The fourth and fifth Abbasid periods are on the contrary periods of decadence .
From 966 to approximately 1079 the Buyids , a people coming from the Caspian Sea , settle in the Abbasid caliphate and while maintaining its organization , usurp the caliph's power .
Around 1079 the Seljuks settled in Turkey invade the Abbasid caliphate in their turn , convert to Islam and take power with the title of "Sultan" . The caliph is no more than a religious leader .
It is during this period that the "Crusades" begin . This holy war awakens in the caliph the sense of his rights , he overthrows the Seljuks and the Abbasids regain power .
THE MONGOLS
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During the fifth Abbasid period the Tartars or Mongols commanded by "Hulagu Khan" invade the Muslim countries in their turn . Around 1258 Baghdad falls into the hands of the invaders . The caliph's family is exterminated , the population massacred and the city burned . For several days the waters of the Tigris were blackened by the ashes of the manuscripts that the Mongols burned .
The devastating hordes of horsemen, enemies of the tree and of the water destroyed the delicate agricultural balance of Mesopotamia . The dams were opened , the riverbeds left dry and the canals in ruins .
From this moment on the irrigation system was more and more neglected and soon the country became a desert and Baghdad barely continued to exist .
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THE ABBASID CITIES .
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BAGHDAD .
It was in 762 that the second Abbasid caliph
al-Mansur undertook the construction of his new capital,
Baghdad , surrounded by three concentric enclosures . In the center
stood the caliph's palace .
In 1258 the Mongols invaded Mesopotamia . The family
of the caliph was exterminated, the population massacred and the city
burned .
Baghdad was ruined again by a Turkish sultan : Timur-
Lenk in 1400 . It was again captured and sacked by another
sultan : Murat .
Baghdad is currently the capital of the Republic
of Iraq . The city stretches for about twenty kilometers
mostly along the left bank of the Tigris . It has
almost one million inhabitants .
Basra :
This city was founded during the reign of caliph
Omar in 638 on the right bank of the Shatt-al-Arab , shortly after
the conquest of Mesopotamia by the Arabs .
In 658 , Ali , son-in-law of Muhammad, won a
victory over the party responsible for the assassination of caliph
Uthman . The combat known as the Battle of the Camels
took place at the gates of the city .
Basra has preserved none of the monuments that made
its fame during the time of the Abbasid caliphs .
Basra remains the gateway to Iraq . It is a large maritime
port , thanks to the wide estuary formed by the Shatt-al-Arab .
Samarra :
In 637 Samarra was a small Christian village
built on the Tigris .
In 836 the caliph Mutasim , son of Harun-al-
Rashid , left Baghdad and established his caliphate there . He
had a royal residence built, a mosque, the Friday
Mosque , with a helical minaret , and a monumental
avenue .
As early as 892 the caliphate returned to Baghdad and Samarra immediately
lost its fleeting glory .
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TURKISH DOMINATION
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Around 1400 Baghdad was ruined for the second time
by a Turkish sultan: Tamerlane, this time.
Tamerlane treats the capital as cruelly as
Hulagu Khan. Later another Turkish sultan: Murad, sacks
the city. Finally around 1534 Mesopotamia became a Turkish
possession with Sultan SULEIMAN-the-MAGNIFICENT, but Turkish authority
had little vigor because of the uncertainty of the means
of communication. Until the First World War in 1914
Mesopotamia vegetates.
The Turks divide Mesopotamia into three districts:
Basra, in the south; Baghdad, in the center and Mosul in the
north.
Four periods are distinguished.
1- Power is entrusted to "Wallis" or governors.
These Ottoman governors have little authority. The tribes are
not submitted to them and remain independent. Agriculture
is neglected and most Abbasid monuments are destroyed.
2- During the second period the power of the sultan is
strengthened. The "wallis" intensify the purchase of Mamluk
slaves to whom they grant much freedom.
3- The Mamluks hold an increasingly considerable
place and end up seizing power. It is
then that Europeans begin to penetrate Mesopotamia.
The first English consul is appointed in Baghdad.
This third period ends under the government
of Daoud-Pasha who, having wanted to make a reform and establish
an independent government, was defeated by the sultan.
4- The power of the sultan increases more and more and the
"wallis" weaken. However, among these, stands out
a reformer, MIDHAT-PASHA, governor of Baghdad
from 1869 to 1872. Under his government great progress
was accomplished and living conditions were greatly
improved.
Midhat-Pasha is both a military and civil
organizer. He imposes military service, creates hospitals,
the land registry, installs the printing press and publishes the
first newspaper.
It is under his government that the cities of Nasiriyah and
Ramadi were born.
After him the governors who succeed each other until 1914
make no progress in the country.
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HISTORY OF IRAQ .
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SITUATION.
Iraq occupies the whole of MESOPOTAMIA , a fertile plain
between the two great twin rivers : the TIGRIS and the EUPHRATES
which descend from the mountains of Armenia and flow into the Persian
Gulf, today the Arabian Gulf, through a wide common estuary
the SHATT-al-ARAB . Without natural borders to the west and south,
Mesopotamia,
has known many invasions .
CIVILIZATION .
Mesopotamia was populated by populations of various
races . The primitive inhabitants were named: Asianics ,
but they were submerged by the continuous infiltration of Semites
who ended up forming the bulk of the population; finally later
the Indo-Europeans appear and will form a third element
of the population, less numerous, but whose role will be very active.
All of these peoples are divided among the three divisions
of Mesopotamia .
1- in the South : THE LAND OF SUMER ( cities: Uruk and Ur )
2- in the middle region : THE LAND OF AKKAD ( cities : Akkad
and Babylon )
3 - in the North : ASSYRIA ( cities : Assur and Nineveh )
Civilization developed first through the SUMERIANS who
are Asianics settled in Lower Mesopotamia .
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THE SUMERIANS .
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The Sumerian civilization is the oldest of the civilizations
known to this day . That of Egypt and the "proto-Ind⟦...⟧
ian" of the Indus Valley seem more recent by a few
centuries .
The existence and civilization of the Sumerians have been re-
vealed to us by the precious objects found in arche-
ological excavations . A people of industrious peasants, the Sumerians, 4,000
years B.C. were great builders of canals and
dikes , great planters of palm groves .
Famous for their culture, the Sumerians write in
cuneiform characters that the Babylonians would later
borrow from them . They hold one of the top ranks among the
artistic races of Antiquity . According to the offerings
found in their tombs, they founded sumptuous
cities .
The main rival cities were : UR ( OUR) the
land of Abraham; LAGASH where Gudea reigned, a magnificent prince;
and especially URUK (URUK ) which had as its leader Gilgamesh, the
fabulous hero of Chaldean history . All these kings were
considered as the representatives of the divinity .
The Sumerians who fought constantly among themselves
for the possession of fields or palm groves, were little
by little submerged by peoples coming from Syria , recognizable
by their aquiline nose and their curly hair : the Semites .
Around 2,300 B.C. ; a Semite , Sargon of Agade or
Sargon the Elder had settled in the north of the valley of the
Two Rivers, in the Land of Akkad . He united under his rule
the whole of Mesopotamia including the Land of Sumer .
He inaugurated the so-called Akkadian period which was to last
nearly two centuries .
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FIRST EMPIRE OF BABYLON
⟦line⟧
Around 1750 the Semites settled permanently in the
north of the land of Sumer, in the region of Babylon, that
is to say in the land of Akkad or Chaldea. It is one of the kings of
Babylon, HAMMURABI, who founded the first Empire of Babylon
in the XVIIIth century BC.
HAMMURABI is the sixth prince of the first dynasty
of Babylon; he is the true founder of this empire.
The progress he brought to the country is marvelous.
He founded a new capital on the Euphrates, Babylon.
He extended Chaldean domination from the Persian Gulf
to Armenia, imposing everywhere the Semitic language and the
worship of the supreme god: Marduk, god of Babylon. He was
a brilliant administrator; the "Code of Laws" that has been
preserved from him is the work of a balanced and wise man.
It is the oldest code of laws known.
THE KASSITES (Kashshites)
⟦line⟧
The Babylonian Empire after about two centuries of pre-
ponderance passed into the hands of the Kassites, barbarians coming from the
mountains of the north. The Kassites taught the Babylonians the use
of iron, the horse and the war chariot. They were
⟦conquered⟧ by the Assyrians.
Preponderance then passed to the ASSYRIANS.
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THE GREAT ASSYRIAN EMPIRE
⟦line⟧
In the 13th century BC, the Assyrians, who are
Semites, and rugged highlanders trained in hunting and
war, descended into Chaldea. They drove out the
Kassites and founded an immense empire.
The conquests of the Assyrians were secured for them by
atrocious wars. Assyrian art itself, which produced
masterpieces, is inspired only by war or by
hunting. The Assyrian capital, NINEVEH, soon eclipsed
Babylon.
Three names are to be remembered among the Assyrian kings.
SARGON II ( ..-705).
After having destroyed the kingdom of Israel, having
seized Syria and Egypt, he penetrated as far as the Caucasus.
Sargon II abandoned Nineveh and had his palace built at
KARSABAD (KHORSABAD). The winged bull (Louvre Museum)
was placed at the gate of his palace which extended over a
platform of ten hectares. He created the library of
Nineveh.
SENNACHERIB (705-681)
Successor of Sargon II, Sennacherib built
a fleet on the Persian Gulf. He transformed the
rebellious city of Babylon into marshes and died assassinated.
ASHURBANIPAL (668-626)
Assyria reached its peak under his reign.
The empire then extended from the center of Asia Minor to the
Persian Gulf, and from the Black Sea to Ethiopia. But at
the cost of what cruelties!
This empire, too vast and without unity, could not last.
The cruel yoke of the tyrant sparked revolts in the pro-
vinces and riots in the palace.
The Assyrian Empire collapsed when the attack of the
Medes provoked the uprising of the conquered populations.
A coalition of Medes and Babylonians overthrew Nineveh
which was completely destroyed.
Preponderance returned to Babylon.
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SECOND EMPIRE OF BABYLON .
⟦line⟧
After the ruin of Nineveh, a grown Babylon regained
all its power with King Nebuchadnezzar .
NEBUCHADNEZZAR ( 605-562 )
He founded a magnificent empire, of which
rebuilt Babylon became the gigantic capital . This
city was famous throughout the entire world for the beauty of
its streets and for its hanging gardens .
Nebuchadnezzar conquered Tyre ( Syria ), repelled the
Egyptians, annexed the Hebrew kingdom of Judah and brought its
inhabitants into captivity in Babylon .
This second empire of Babylon was destroyed by Cyrus at
the head of the Medes and the Persians (538) . Cyrus , after having
diverted the course of the Euphrates, surprised Belshazzar during
the excesses of a banquet .
Thus, upon the ruins of the Assyro-Chaldean empire, was
founded the empire of the Persians which , for two centuries, would
dominate the East .
PERSIAN DOMINATION .
CYRUS ( 555-529 )
He is the founder of the Persian empire . His
most famous exploit remains the conquest of the empire of
Babylon over the successors of Nebuchadnezzar : Nabonidus and
Belshazzar .
Cyrus was a remarkable head of state . His army, without
doubt was strong, but never did the vanquished know with
him the horror of Assyrian massacres and tortures . He
respected Babylon, he left to the subjected peoples their tradi-
tions and their gods . The decree by which one year after the
conquest of Babylon, he allowed the captive Jews to return
to Jerusalem and to rebuild their temple remains an important
date in the history of civilized peoples .
DARIUS who had seized power and reigned over
the Persian empire , was defeated at Arbela ( near Mosul)
by Alexander the Great , king of Macedonia, in 331 B.C.
It is thus that Mesopotamia passed under Greek
domination .
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THE CHALDEO-ASSYRIAN CIVILIZATION .
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We know it thanks to clay tablets car-
rying letters traced with a stylus and forming protrusions
similar to wedges , hence the name cuneiform writing
given to this type of characters . European missions
unearthed cities buried under the sands :
UR . BABYLON . NINEVEH . KHORSABAD ⟦line⟧ revealing the secrets
of an extremely interesting civilization .
Agriculture and industry were already of a remarka-
ble prosperity in the time of the Sumerians who were , it is believed,
the initiators of the cultivation of cereals : wheat and barley .
They were among the first men to know how to exploit the
minerals extracted from the mountains of Armenia .
Writing and its applications . It is from the Sumerians that
Babylon and later the Assyrians borrowed their religion
and their cuneiform writing .
The adventures of the hero Gilgamesh constitute the
oldest known poem . It dates from 3,000 BC.
On a stone sculpted in its upper part and
covered with 3,600 lines in columns , is inscribed the
"Code of Laws" of Hammurabi , which reveals to us the existence
of a meticulously organized Babylonian state .
Science . Very early the Babylonian people established mea-
sures of length and weight . Gudea of Lagash had a
graduated ruler engraved on his statues . Under Hammurabi the
notions of mathematics were acquired . The Chaldeans
were ardent astrologers . They tried to determine
the influence of the stars on man . The expression "to be born under
a lucky star" came from them .
Religion . This restless people was much more super-
stitious than profoundly religious . The gods were con-
founded with the stars . Shamash was the sun god ; his
daughter , Ishtar, the planet Venus ; Marduk was the son of EA ,
god of the waters .
Art . In Assyria art was dedicated almost unique-
ly to the king , to his military glory , to his wars and to his
hunts .
Urban planning was pushed very far ; the plan of Babylon
which has been partially restored, reveals the appearance of a
modern city in a checkerboard pattern with wide avenues .
This civilization, so developed in certain points,
nevertheless had something barbaric about it .
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THE ⟦DOMINATION⟧ AND INFLUENCE OF HELLENISM
⟦line⟧
<u>ALEXANDRE THE GREAT</u> of Macedonia after having completed the submis-
sion of Greece launched into the conquest of the Persian Empire.
Against the numerous and uncohesive army of the great king, he op-
poses a small, admirably organized army. He conquers
the Mediterranean provinces, from the straits to Egypt. He
then headed towards Mesopotamia, defeated Darius at Arbela
in 331 BC, and seized all of Persia. He then descends
into the plains of India, then returns to Mesopotamia.
He makes Babylon the capital of Asia. He had trees planted
and wanted to unify the East and make it benefit
from Greek civilization. He was in Babylon, which he was restoring
and embellishing, when a crisis of malaria, adding to his
intemperance, struck him down. He died in 323 BC after
a reign of 13 years.
<u>SELEUCUS</u>. After the death of Alexander the Great, one of his
generals Seleucus acquired the part of his conquests that covered
Mesopotamia. He built a new capital Seleucia
on the Tigris (about forty kilometers from present-day Baghdad).
The Greek house of Seleucus lasted barely two centuries,
but its civilization and the development accomplished by the
Seleucids continued to influence the country for several
centuries.
THE PARTHIANS.
⟦line⟧
The Parthians coming from Persia invaded Babylonia and took
the place of the Seleucids around 247 BC. They built
a new capital, CTESIPHON, on the Tigris just opposite
Seleucia. The Parthians had a great respect for
Greek culture which remained dominant throughout this period
of the history of Babylonia.
It was at this time that Emperor Trajan (Rome) attacked
the Parthians and occupied northern Mesopotamia. He finds Baby-
lon in ruins. Two years later the Parthians retake
Mesopotamia from the Romans.
THE SASSANIDS.
Another dynasty from Persia, that of the Sassanids, overthrew
the Parthians in 226 AD. It was at this time that the great
Arch of Ctesiphon was built. It is the remains of an immense
palace that the Sassanid kings had built for themselves to spend
the winter.
This era was very flourishing. Some of the canals
that can still be seen today in the desert
date from this period. Never in history was a system of
dams and canals more perfect than that of
Mesopotamia fifteen centuries ago, under the Sassanid kings.
King CHOSROES gave his name to a gigantic canal
today in ruins, but whose fame still lasts and which they
are working to restore.
In 637, the Muslims seized Ctesiphon.
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THE CONQUEST OF MESOPOTAMIA BY THE ARABS .
⟦line⟧
Muhammad , founder of Islam was born in Mecca in 570 .
Before him, Arabia had only played an insignificant role in
the history of the East . It was a poor , desert country .
However its geographical situation allowed it to play a
commercial role between Asian countries and those of the
Mediterranean , so that its main city, Mecca ,
was both an economic and religious center .
In 622 Muhammad fled to Medina . This is the Hijra , the starting
point of the Muslim calendar , based on the lunar year of
354 days .
In the aftermath of the death of Muhammad , in 632 the ARABS
began the conquest of a great empire .
In 637 , the Muslims reached Mesopotamia ,
took Ctesiphon , then the capital, and established
strongholds at Basra , Kufa and various other points . There
was immediately a great influx of Muslim Arabs onto the soil
of Mesopotamia .
The 4th caliph Ali , cousin of the prophet , found himself the
head of a vast empire that stretched from Tunis to Afghanistan .
But Ali had rivals and he moved his capital from
Medina , in Arabia to Kufa . He was assassinated there 5 years later
while he was praying in the mosque .
The partisans of Ali formed the sect of the Shiites . The same
year , a descendant of Umayya was proclaimed caliph and established his
capital in Damascus . Mesopotamia then passed under the govern-
ment of the Umayyads .
However the Umayyad usurper was hated in Mesopotamia .
Nineteen years later Hussein, son of Ali who lived in
Medina was invited by the population of Kufa to come and
settle there to be proclaimed caliph . He could not enter
the city and was massacred by Umayyad troops at the
battle of Karbala .
The resentment of the Shiites increased and they united
their forces with those of the Abbasids ( descendants of Abbas,
uncle of the prophet ) to drive out the Umayyads .
The Shiites however did not regain power which
passed into the hands of the ABBASIDS . The capital was transferred
from Damascus to Ambar ,(near present-day Fallujah ,) on the Euphrates.
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THE ABBASID CALIPHS .
MANSOUR .
In 762 the second Abbasid caliph, al-Mansur
transferred his capital from Anbar, on the Euphrates to Baghdad, on
the Tigris .
He chose this place for its location , a meeting point
for the routes followed by caravans , for its healthy climate and
the ease of having water for his irrigation projects .
BAGHDAD. whose name means city of peace, comprised
three concentric enclosures pierced by four gates ( N.E.-
S.E.- N.W.- S.W.). In the central enclosure rose the
caliph's palace .He built a mosque , the Mansur
mosque , on the left bank of the river .
Mansur was a wonderful organizer . He centralized the
different powers, created the Post and the Bank . Very intel-
ligent , devoted to the government of his states, he had a
firm will and much patience . He was very thrifty
and at his death the Treasury was very flourishing . Friend of letters
and arts and sciences, he favored their development .
He organized an army to defend the caliphate against
incursions from outside .
MOHAMED-al-MAHDI
After the death of Mansur, the Romans tried to make
an incursion into the caliphate of Baghdad, but his son
Mohamed-al-Mahdi fortified his army and succeeded in keeping them
at bay .
Mohamed-al-Mahdi continued the work of Mansur, developed
the sciences and facilitated pilgrimages to Mecca .
HARUN AL RASHID ( 786-809)
The fifth Abbasid caliph Harun-al-Rashid is
famous in the tales of the "One Thousand and One Nights " . But his
true glory is the development he gave to his
caliphate . Under his reign the glory of Baghdad reached its
zenith .
Harun-al-Rashid was courageous, he loved justice and
himself monitored the merchants to realize
their honesty . He developed freedom and established secu-
rity in his states and in his capital . Very educated
himself , he encouraged scholars , writers ,
artists and he gave a great impetus to education .
Baghdad extended over both banks of the river Karkh and
al-Rusafa .
Internally , he subdues the discontented . Externally
Harun-al-Rashid wages war against the Barmakids who,
out of personal interest , wanted to establish a Persian
government . Then he fights against peoples coming from the north and
who after having defeated the Umayyads of Damascus had
invaded the Abbasid caliphate from the north . Harun-al-Rashid
reinforced his army and defeated them on the Khabur river ,
a tributary of the Tigris .
He keeps in check Byzantium and Rome which , constantly threat-
en the peace of the caliphate . But Harun-al-Rashid maintains
friendly relations with the Emperor of the Franks , Charlemagne
he sends him an embassy laden with magnificent gifts ,
among which were cereals unknown in Europe and a clock,
the first introduced in the West .
After having designated his successors , Mohamed-al-Amin
and Abdallah-al-Ma'mun . he leaves for Iran where he is killed in a
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pack, at Tus. He is buried in this city.
The reign of Harun al-Rashid is the golden reign of the
Abbasid period.
MU'TASIM
The third successor of Harun al-Rashid, one of
his sons, born of a Turkish mother, the caliph Mu'tasim has
much admiration for the courage and discipline of the
Turkish soldiers. He surrounds himself with Turkish generals, but these
latter are hated in the capital and peace is threatened.
Mu'tasim sends them away and gives them Samarra as a base.
He himself settles in this city which thereby takes the
title of capital. Mu'tasim has a beautiful mosque built,
the Friday Mosque with a helical minaret.
He builds a monumental palace where he gives his audiences
⟦...⟧ an immense avenue. The glory of Samarra was only
⟦...⟧ fleeting and from 892 Baghdad regains its rank as capital.
The first three Abbasid periods are particularly
⟦...⟧ brilliant. The works of the Greeks: Aristotle, Plato, Euclid
⟦...⟧ are translated into Arabic. The Arabs study algebra,
⟦...⟧ astronomy, alchemy. Baghdad attracts poets,
⟦...⟧ scholars, musicians. It possesses an academy.
⟦...⟧ It is from this era that the reputation of Baghdad dates,
⟦...⟧ The pearl of the Orient ".
The fourth and fifth Abbasid periods are on the
contrary periods of decadence.
From 966 to about 1079 the Buyids, a people from the
Caspian Sea, settle in the Abbasid caliphate and while
preserving its organization, usurp the caliph's
power.
Around 1079 the Seljuks settled in Turkey invade
the Abbasid caliphate in their turn, convert to Islam-
ism and take power with the title of "Sultan". The
caliph is no more than a religious leader.
It is during this period that the "Crusades" begin
This holy war awakens in the caliph the sense of his
rights, he overthrows the Seljuks and the Abbasids find
power again.
THE MONGOLS
⟦line⟧
During the fifth Abbasid period the Tartars or
Mongols commanded by "Hulagu Khan" invade in their turn the
Muslim countries. Around 1258 Baghdad falls into the hands of the invaders
The caliph's family is exterminated, the population massacred
and the city burned. For several days the waters of the
Tigris were blackened by the ashes of the manuscripts that the
Mongols burned.
The devastating hordes of horsemen, enemies of the tree
and of water destroyed the delicate agricultural balance of
Mesopotamia. The dams were opened, the river beds
dried up and the canals in ruins.
From this moment on the irrigation system was more
and more neglected and soon the country became a desert and Baghdad
barely continued to exist.