The ancient Near East was home to many cradles of civilization, spanning Ancient Mesopotamia, the ancient Levant, ancient Egypt, ancient Elam, ancient Anatolia or Asia Minor, the ancient South Caucasus and Armenian highlands, and ancient Northern Arabia (including Dilmun). It is generally not considered to include Pre-Islamic Arabia as a whole, the ancient Berbers, or ancient Nubia, though it is sometimes classified as encompassing ancient Iran, ancient Cyprus, Ancient Carthage, and the Aegean civilization. Due to their subject matter and scope, ancient Near East studies and Near Eastern archaeology, including the subfields of Assyriology and Egyptology, are among the most prominent research fields in ancient history. Other fields include Classics, Classical archaeology, biblical studies, biblical archaeology, Jewish studies, Christian studies, Iranology, Sinology, and Indology, some of which overlap with them. Historically, the Near East denoted an area roughly encompassing central West Asia and Egypt, having been focused on the lands between Greece in the west, Iran in the east, the Caucasus in the north, and Arabia in the south. It therefore largely corresponds with the central core area of the modern-day geopolitical concept of the Middle East. It was strongly influential on the later Islamic world and civilization, which conquered and absorbed its remannts, on the later Jewish people, who directly descend from it, and moderately so on the later Western world and civilization via the Aegean civilization, the Orientalizing period, the Greco-Persian wars, the Hellenistic period, the Roman and Eastern Roman empires, and Christianity, while being distinct from yet to some degree culturally related and ancestral to them.
The history of the ancient Near East opens with Sumer's rise in the 4th millennium BC and spans the Bronze Age and Iron Age; its terminus is debated, variously set at the Achaemenid Empire's founding in the 6th century BC, the Macedonian Empire's founding in the 4th century BC, or the early Muslim conquests' onset in the 7th century AD.
It was within the ancient Near East that humans first practiced intensive year-round agriculture, which led to the rise of the earliest dense urban settlements and the development of many now-familiar institutions of civilization, such as social stratification, centralized government and empires, and organized religion (see: ancient Near Eastern religions) and organized warfare. It also produced the first writing system, the first alphabet (i.e., abjad), the first currency, the first legal codes, and the invention of the wheel, advances that founded astronomy and mathematics.
During this period, the region's previously stateless societies largely transitioned to building states, many of which gradually came to annex the territories of their neighbouring civilizations. This process continued until the entire ancient Near East was enveloped by militaristic empires that had emerged from their own lands to conquer and absorb a variety of cultures under the rule of a top-level government.
The concept of the Near East The phrase "ancient Near East" denotes the 19th-century distinction between the Near and Far East as global regions of interest to the British Empire. The distinction began during the Crimean War. The last major exclusive partition of the east between these two terms was current in diplomacy in the late 19th century, with the Hamidian massacres of the Armenians and Assyrians by the Ottoman Empire in 1894–1896 and the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895. The two theatres were described by the statesmen and advisors of the British Empire as "the Near East" and "the Far East". Shortly after, they were to share the stage with ''Middle East'', a term that came to prevail in the 20th century and continues in modern times.
As Near East had meant the lands of the Ottoman Empire at roughly its maximum extent, on the fall of that empire, the use of Near East in diplomacy was reduced significantly in favor of the Middle East. Meanwhile, the ancient Near East had become distinct. The Ottoman rule over the Near East ranged from Vienna (to the north) to the tip of the Arabian Peninsula (to the south), from Egypt (in the west) to the borders of Iraq (in the east). The 19th-century archaeologists added Iran to their definition, which was never under the Ottomans, but they excluded all of Europe and, generally, Egypt, which had parts in the empire.
Periodization Ancient Near East periodization is the attempt to categorize or divide time into discrete named blocks, or eras, of the Near East. The result is a descriptive abstraction that provides a useful handle on Near East periods of time with relatively stable characteristics. Copper AgeChalcolithic(5000–3300 BC)Early Chalcolithic5000–4500 BCUbaid period in MesopotamiaLate Chalcolithic4500–3300 BCUruk period of Sumer, Predynastic Period of ancient Egypt, Proto-Elamite period in Iran, Ghassulian, GerzehBronze AgeEarly Bronze Age (3300–2100 BC)Early Bronze Age I3300–3000 BCJemdet Nasr period in Mesopotamia, Protodynastic to Early Dynastic Period of Egypt, settlement of PhoeniciansEarly Bronze Age II3000–2700 BCEarly Dynastic Period of MesopotamiaEarly Bronze Age III2700–2200 BC Old Kingdom of Egypt, Akkadian Empire, early Assyria, Old Elamite period, Sumero-Akkadian states, Marhasi Jiroft Early Bronze Age IV 2200–2100 BC Second half of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt, First Intermediate Period of Egypt Middle Bronze Age (2100–1550 BC) Middle Bronze Age I 2100–2000 BC Third Dynasty of Ur Middle Bronze Age II A 2000–1750 BC Minoan civilization, early Babylonia, Egyptian Middle Kingdom Middle Bronze Age II B 1750–1650 BC Second Intermediate Period of Egypt Middle Bronze Age II C 1650–1550 BC Hittite Old Kingdom, Minoan eruption Late Bronze Age (1550–1200 BC) Late Bronze Age I 1550–1400 BC Hittite Middle Kingdom, Hayasa-Azzi, Middle Elamite period, New Kingdom of Egypt Late Bronze Age II A 1400–1300 BC Hittite New Kingdom, Mitanni, Hayasa-Azzi, Ugarit, Mycenaean Greece Late Bronze Age II B 1300–1200 BC Middle Assyrian Empire, beginning of the high point of Phoenicians Iron Age Iron Age I (1200–1000 BC) Iron Age I A 1200–1150 BC Troy VII, Hekla 3 eruption, Bronze Age collapse, Sea Peoples Iron Age I B 1150–1000 BC Neo-Hittite states, Neo Elamite period, Aramean states Iron Age II (1000–539 BC) Iron Age II A 1000–900 BC Greek Dark Ages, traditional date of the United Monarchy of Israel Iron Age II B 900–700 BC Kingdom of Israel, Urartu, Phrygia, Neo-Assyrian Empire, Kingdom of Judah, first settlement of Carthage Iron Age II C 700–539 BC Neo-Babylonian Empire, Median Empire, fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Phoenicia, Archaic Greece, rise of Achaemenid Persia Classical antiquity Achaemenid 539–330 BC Persian Achaemenid Empire, Classical Greece Hellenistic & Parthian 330–31 BC Macedonian Empire, Seleucid Empire, Kingdom of Armenia, Kingdom of Pergamon, Ptolemaic Kingdom, Parthian Empire Roman & Persian 31 BC – 634 AD Roman–Persian Wars, Roman Empire, Parthian Empire, Kingdom of Armenia, Sassanid Empire, Byzantine Empire, Muslim conquests
Background: prehistory
Paleolithic Epipalaeolithic Near East Kebaran culture Natufian culture Neolithic in the Near East Pre-pottery Neolithic A Pre-pottery Neolithic B Pre-pottery Neolithic C Pottery Neolithic
Chalcolithic
Early Mesopotamia The Uruk period ( to 3100 BC) existed from the protohistoric Chalcolithic to the early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia, following the Ubaid period. Named after the Sumerian city of Uruk, this period saw the emergence of urban life in Mesopotamia. It was followed by the Sumerian civilization in southern Mesopotamia. The late Uruk period (3400 to 3200 BC) saw the gradual emergence of cuneiform script and corresponds to the early Bronze Age.
History
Bronze Age
Early Bronze Age Sumer and Akkad
Sumer hosted many early advances in human history, such as schools (), making the area a cradle of civilization. The oldest excavated archaeological site in Sumer, Tell el-'Oueili, dates to the 7th millennium BC, although it is likely that the area was occupied even earlier. The oldest layers at 'Oueili mark the beginning of the Ubaid period, which was followed by the Uruk period (4th millennium BC) and the Early Dynastic periods (3rd millennium BC). The Akkadian Empire, founded by Sargon the Great, lasted from the 24th to the 21st century BC, and was regarded by many as the world's first empire. The Akkadians eventually fragmented into Assyria and Babylonia.
Elam Ancient Elam lay to the east of Sumer and Akkad, in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province. In the Old Elamite period, , it consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered on Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered on Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Elam was absorbed into the Assyrian Empire in the 9th to 7th centuries BC; however, the civilization endured up until 539 BC when it was finally overrun by the Iranian Persians. The Proto-Elamite civilization existed from to 2700 BC, when Susa, the later capital of the Elamites, began to receive influence from the cultures of the Iranian plateau. In archaeological terms, this corresponds to the late Banesh period. This civilization is recognized as the oldest in Iran and was largely contemporary with its neighbour, Sumer. The Proto-Elamite script is an early Bronze Age writing system briefly in use for the ancient Elamite language (which was a language isolate) before the introduction of Elamite cuneiform.
The Amorites The Amorites were a nomadic Semitic people who occupied the country west of the Euphrates from the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. In the earliest Sumerian sources, beginning about 2400 BC, the land of the Amorites ("the Mar.tu land") is associated with the West, including Syria and Canaan, although their ultimate origin may have been Arabia. They ultimately settled in Mesopotamia, ruling Isin, Larsa, and later Babylon.
Middle Bronze Age Assyria, after enduring a short period of Mitanni domination, emerged as a great power from the accession of Ashur-uballit I in 1365 BC to the death of Tiglath-Pileser I in 1076 BC. Assyria rivaled Egypt during this period, and dominated much of the near east. Babylonia, founded as a state by Amorite tribes, found itself under the rule of Kassites for 435 years. The nation stagnated during the Kassite period, and Babylonia often found itself under Assyrian or Elamite domination. Canaan: Ugarit, Kadesh, Megiddo. The Hittite Empire was founded some time after 2000 BC, and existed as a major power, dominating Asia Minor and the Levant until 1200 BC, when it was first overrun by the Phrygians, and then appropriated by Assyria.
Late Bronze Age
The Hurrians lived in northern Mesopotamia and areas to the immediate east and west, beginning approximately 2500 BC. They probably originated in the Caucasus and entered from the north, but this is not certain. Their known homeland was centred on Subartu, the Khabur River valley, and later they established themselves as rulers of small kingdoms throughout northern Mesopotamia and Syria. The largest and most influential Hurrian nation was the kingdom of Mitanni. The Hurrians played a substantial part in the history of the Hittites.