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The ancient Near East
Regions and statesFertile Crescent Mesopotamia Sumer Hamazi Subartu Suhum Uruk Akkadian Empire Armani Gutian Dynasty Simurrum Sumerian Empire Assyria Babylonia Tukri Kassites Chaldea Assyrian Empire Babylonian Empire Adiabene Egypt Early Dynastic Period Old Kingdom Middle Kingdom New Kingdom Ptolemaic Kingdom Roman Egypt Iran Elam Lullubi Medes Achaemenid Empire Parthian Empire Sasanian Empire Anatolia Hattians Hurrians Hittites Carchemish Arzawa Assuwa Luwians Kaskians Hayasa-Azzi Shupria Colchis Neo-Hittite States Lydia Phrygians Diauehi Urartu Bithynia Pontus Commagene The Levant Kish Civilization Ebla Armi Mari Nagar Amorites Qatna Mukish Amurru Yamhad Ugarit Hurrians Urkesh Urshu Mitanni Canaan Ancient Israel and Judah Ancient Palestine Phoenicia Alashiya Aram Neo-Hittite states Nabatea Iturea Seleucid Empire Coele-Syria Roman Syria Arabia Dilmun Magan Gerrha Awal Tylos Saba Qedar Qatabān Ḥaḍramawt Awsān Thamud Maʿīn Lihyan Nabataea Himyar Hatra Tanukh Ghassanids Salīḥids Lakhmid Kinda
Archaeological periods Chronology Copper Age Bronze Age Bronze Age Collapse Iron Age
Languages Akkadian Amorite Arabic Old Arabic Nabataean Arabic Nabataean Script Ancient North Arabian Dadanitic Hismaic Safaitic Taymanitic Thamudic Aramaic Armazic Eastern Aramaic Western Aramaic Imperial Aramaic Old Aramaic Aramaic Script Avestan Avestan Script Canaanite Ammonite Edomite Hebrew Moabite Phoenician Phoenician Alphabet Proto-Sinaitic Script Paleo-Hebrew Script Eblaite Egyptian Egyptian Hieroglyphs Elamite Linear Elamite Elamite Cuneiform Eteocypriot Cypriot Syllabary Gutian Hattic Hittite Hittite Cuneiform Hurrian Kaskian Kassite Luwic Carian Carian Script Kalasmaic Luwian Anatolian Hieroglyphs Lycian Lycian Script Milyan Pisidian Sidetic Lydian Lydian Script Median Mysian Palaic Parthian Inscriptional Parthian Manichaean Script Old Persian Old Persian Cuneiform Middle Persian Manichaean Script Pazend Script Philistine Phrygian Phrygian Script Samalian South Arabian South Arabian Script Sumerian Cuneiform Script Sutean Taymanitic Ugaritic Ugaritic Script Urartian
Literature Akkadian Egyptian Hittite Persian Sumerian Syriac Ugaritic
Religion and mythologyReligion and mythology Mesopotamian Babylonian Sumerian Egyptian Semitic Arabian Nabataean Canaanite Hebrew Punic Armenian Hurrian Anatolian Hittite Luwian Lydian Iranian Persian Scythian Ossetian Cosmology Ancient near eastern cosmology Flat earth Firmament Cosmic ocean Abzu Ancient Mesopotamian underworld Mashu
Other topics Archaeology Genetic History Cradle of Civilization Ancient Near East Conflicts Egypt Egyptology Mathematics Technology Medicine Assyria Assyriology Law Babylonia Astronomy Law Mathematics Hittites Hittitology Law Cuneiform Law Early Alphabet History of the Ancient Levant History of the Middle East Timeline List of Cities
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The ancient Near East was home to many cradles of civilization, spanning Mesopotamia, Egypt, Iran (or Persia), Anatolia and the Armenian highlands, the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula. As such, the fields of ancient Near East studies and Near Eastern archaeology are one of the most prominent with regard to research in the realm of ancient history. Historically, the Near East denoted an area roughly encompassing the centre of West Asia, having been focused on the lands between Greece and Egypt in the west and Iran in the east. It therefore largely corresponds with the modern-day geopolitical concept of the Middle East.

The history of the ancient Near East begins with the rise of Sumer in the 4th millennium BC, though the date that it ends is a subject of debate among scholars; the term covers the region's developments in the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, and is variously considered to end with either the establishment of the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BC, the establishment of the Macedonian Empire in the 4th century BC, or the beginning of the early Muslim conquests 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 saw the creation of the first writing system, the first alphabet (i.e., abjad), the first currency, and the first legal codes, all of which were monumental advances that laid the foundations of astronomy and mathematics, and the invention of the wheel.

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.

Background: prehistory

• Paleolithic
• Epipaleolithic and Mesolithic
  • Kebaran culture
  • Natufian culture
• Pre-pottery Neolithic A
• Pre-pottery Neolithic B
• Pre-pottery Neolithic C
• Pottery Neolithic

Chalcolithic

Early Mesopotamia

The Uruk period (c. 4000 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 (c. 3000 BC), 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, c. 3200 BC, 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 c. 3200 BC 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.

Ishuwa was an ancient kingdom in Anatolia. The name is first attested in the second millennium BC, and is also spelled Išuwa. In the classical period, the land was a part of Armenia. Ishuwa was one of the places where agriculture developed very early on in the Neolithic. Urban centres emerged in the upper Euphrates river valley around 3500 BC. The first states followed in the third millennium BC. The name Ishuwa is not known until the literate period of the second millennium BC. Few literate sources from within Ishuwa have been discovered and the primary source material comes from Hittite texts. To the west of Ishuwa lay the kingdom of the Hittites, and this nation was an untrustworthy neighbour. The Hittite king Hattusili I (c. 1600 BC) is reported to have marched his army across the Euphrates river and destroyed the cities there. This corresponds well with burnt destruction layers discovered by archaeologists at town sites in Ishuwa of roughly the same date. After the end of the Hittite empire in the early 12th century BC a new state emerged in Ishuwa. The city of Malatya became the centre of one of the so-called Neo-Hittite kingdom. The movement of nomadic people may have weakened the kingdom of Malatya before the final Assyrian invasion. The decline of the settlements and culture in Ishuwa from the 7th century BC until the Roman period was probably caused by this movement of people. The Armenians later settled in the area since they were natives of the Armenian plateau and related to the earlier inhabitants of Ishuwa.

Kizzuwatna was a kingdom of the second millennium BC, situated in the highlands of southeastern Anatolia, near the Gulf of İskenderun in modern-day Turkey, encircling the Taurus Mountains and the Ceyhan river. The centre of the kingdom was the city of Kummanni, situated in the highlands. In a later era, the same region was known as Cilicia.

Luwian is an extinct language of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. Luwian speakers gradually spread through Anatolia and became a contributing factor to the downfall, after c. 1180 BC, of the Hittite Empire, where it was already widely spoken. Luwian was also the language spoken in the Neo-Hittite states of Syria, such as Melid and Carchemish, as well as in the central Anatolian kingdom of Tabal that flourished around 900 BC. Luwian has been preserved in two forms, named after the writing systems used to represent them: Cuneiform Luwian and Hieroglyphic Luwian.

Mari was an ancient Sumerian and Amorite city, located 11 kilometres north-west of the modern town of Abu Kamal on the western bank of Euphrates river, some 120 km southeast of Deir ez-Zor, Syria. It is thought to have been inhabited since the 5th millennium BC, although it flourished from 2900 BC until 1759 BC, when it was sacked by Hammurabi.

Mitanni was a Hurrian kingdom in northern Mesopotamia from c. 1600 BC, at the height of its power, during the 14th century BC, encompassing what is today southeastern Turkey, northern Syria and northern Iraq (roughly corresponding to Kurdistan), centred on the capital Washukanni whose precise location has not yet been determined by archaeologists. The Mitanni language showed Indo-Aryan influences, especially in the names of gods. The spread to Syria of a distinct pottery type associated with the Kura-Araxes culture has been connected with this movement, although its date is somewhat too early. Yamhad was an ancient Amorite kingdom. A substantial Hurrian population also settled in the kingdom, and the Hurrian culture influenced the area. The kingdom was powerful during the Middle Bronze Age, c. 1800–1600 BC. Its biggest rival was Qatna further south. Yamhad was finally destroyed by the Hittites in the 16th century BC.

The Aramaeans were a Semitic (West Semitic language group), semi-nomadic and pastoralist people who had lived in upper Mesopotamia and Syria. Aramaeans have never had a unified empire; they were divided into independent kingdoms all across the Near East. Yet to these Aramaeans befell the privilege of imposing their language and culture upon the entire Near East and beyond, fostered in part by the mass relocations enacted by successive empires, including the Assyrians and Babylonians. Scholars even have used the term 'Aramaization' for the Assyro-Babylonian peoples' languages and cultures, that have become Aramaic-speaking.

The Sea peoples is the term used for a confederacy of seafaring raiders of the second millennium BC who sailed into the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, caused political unrest, and attempted to enter or control Egyptian territory during the late 19th dynasty, and especially during Year 8 of Ramesses III of the 20th Dynasty. The Egyptian Pharaoh Merneptah explicitly refers to them by the term "the foreign-countries (or 'peoples') of the sea" in his Great Karnak Inscription. Although some scholars believe that they "invaded" Cyprus, Hatti and the Levant, this hypothesis is disputed.

Bronze Age collapse

The Bronze Age collapse is the name given by those historians who see the transition from the late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age as violent, sudden and culturally disruptive, expressed by the collapse of palace economies of the Aegean and Anatolia, which were replaced after a hiatus by the isolated village cultures of the Dark Age period in history of the ancient Middle East. Some have gone so far as to call the catalyst that ended the Bronze Age a "catastrophe". The Bronze Age collapse may be seen in the context of a technological history that saw the slow, comparatively continuous spread of iron-working technology in the region, beginning with precocious iron-working in what is now Romania in the 13th and 12th centuries. The cultural collapse of the Mycenaean kingdoms, the Hittite Empire in Anatolia and Syria, and the Egyptian Empire in Syria and Palestine, the scission of long-distance trade contacts and sudden eclipse of literacy occurred between 1206 and 1150 BC. In the first phase of this period, almost every city between Troy and Gaza was violently destroyed, and often left unoccupied thereafter (for example, Hattusas, Mycenae, Ugarit). The gradual end of the Dark Age that ensued saw the rise of settled Neo-Hittite and Aramaean kingdoms of the mid-10th century BC, and the rise of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

Iron Age

During the Early Iron Age, from 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire arose, vying with Babylonia and other lesser powers for dominance of the region, though not until the reforms of Tiglath-Pileser III in the 8th century BC, did it become a powerful and vast empire. In the Middle Assyrian period of the Late Bronze Age, Ancient Assyria had been a kingdom of northern Mesopotamia (modern-day northern Iraq), competing for dominance with its southern Mesopotamian rival Babylonia. From 1365 to 1076, it had been a major imperial power, rivaling Egypt and the Hittite Empire. Beginning with the campaign of Adad-nirari II, it became a vast empire, overthrowing the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt and conquering Egypt, the Middle East, and large swaths of Asia Minor, ancient Iran, the Caucasus and east Mediterranean. The Neo-Assyrian Empire succeeded the Middle Assyrian period (14th to 10th century BC). Some scholars, such as Richard Nelson Frye, regard the Neo-Assyrian Empire to be the first real empire in human history. During this period, Aramaic was also made an official language of the empire, alongside the Akkadian language.

The states of the Neo-Hittite kingdoms were Luwian, Aramaic and Phoenician-speaking political entities of Iron Age northern Syria and southern Anatolia that arose following the collapse of the Hittite Empire around 1180 BC and lasted until roughly 700 BC. The term "Neo-Hittite" is sometimes reserved specifically for the Luwian-speaking principalities like Melid (Malatya) and Karkamish (Carchemish), although in a wider sense the broader cultural term "Syro-Hittite" is now applied to all the entities that arose in south-central Anatolia following the Hittite collapse – such as Tabal and Quwê – as well as those of northern and coastal Syria.

Urartu was an ancient kingdom of Armenia and North Mesopotamia which existed from c. 860 BC, emerging from the Late Bronze Age until 585 BC. The Kingdom of Urartu was located in the mountainous plateau between Asia Minor, the Iranian plateau, Mesopotamia, and the Caucasus Mountains, later known as the Armenian Highland, and it centered on Lake Van (present-day eastern Turkey). The name corresponds to the Biblical Ararat.

Two related Israelite kingdoms known as Israel and Judah emerged in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. The northern Kingdom of Israel, with its most prominent capital at Samaria, was the more prosperous of the two kingdoms and soon developed into a regional power; during the days of the Omride dynasty, it controlled Samaria, Galilee, the upper Jordan Valley, the Sharon and large parts of the Transjordan. It was destroyed around 720 BC, when it was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The southern Kingdom of Judah, with its capital at Jerusalem, survived longer. In the 7th century BC, the kingdom's population increased greatly, prospering under Assyrian vassalage. After the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 605 BC, the ensuing competition between the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt and the Neo-Babylonian Empire for control of the Levant resulted with the rapid decline of the kingdom. In the early-6th century BC, Judah was weakened by a series of Babylonian invasions, and in 587–586 BC, Jerusalem was besieged and destroyed by the second Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar II, who subsequently exiled the Judeans to Babylon.

The term Neo-Babylonian Empire refers to Babylonia under the rule of the 11th ("Chaldean") dynasty, from the revolt of Nabopolassar in 623 BC until the invasion of Cyrus the Great in 539 BC (Although the last ruler of Babylonia (Nabonidus) was in fact from the Assyrian city of Harran and not Chaldean), notably including the reign of Nebuchadrezzar II. Through the centuries of Assyrian domination, Babylonia enjoyed a prominent status, and revolted at the slightest indication that it did not. However, the Assyrians always managed to restore Babylonian loyalty, whether through the granting of increased privileges, or militarily. That finally changed in 627 BC with the death of the last strong Assyrian ruler, Ashurbanipal, and Babylonia rebelled under Nabopolassar the Chaldean a few years later. In alliance with the Medes and Scythians, Nineveh was sacked in 612 and Harran in 608 BC, and the seat of empire was again transferred to Babylonia. Subsequently, the Medes controlled much of the ancient Near East from their base in Ecbatana (modern-day Hamadan, Iran), most notably most of what is now Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and the South Caucasus.

Following the fall of the Medes, the Achaemenid Empire was the first of the Persian Empires to rule over most of the Near East and far beyond, and the second great Iranian empire (after the Median Empire). At the height of its power, encompassing approximately 7,500,000 km (2,900,000 sq mi), the Achaemenid Empire was territorially the largest empire of classical antiquity, and the first world empire. It spanned three continents (Europe, Asia, and Africa), including apart from its core in modern-day Iran, the territories of modern Iraq, the Caucasus (Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Abkhazia), Asia Minor (Turkey), Thrace (parts of Eastern Bulgaria), Macedonia (roughly corresponding to present-day Macedonia in Northern Greece), many of the Black Sea coastal regions, northern Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Afghanistan, Central Asia, parts of Pakistan, and all significant population centers of ancient Egypt as far west as Libya. It is noted in western history as the foe of the Greek city states in the Greco-Persian Wars, for freeing the Israelites from their Babylonian captivity, and for instituting Aramaic as the empire's official language.

In 116–117 AD, most of the Ancient Near East (excepting several more marginal regions) was briefly re-united under the rule of the Roman Empire under Trajan.

See also

• Asia portal
• Ancient near eastern cosmology
• Ancient Near East studies
• List of cities of the ancient Near East
• Diplomacy in the Ancient Near East
• Economy of Urartu
• Genetic history of the Middle East
• Levantine pottery
• Religions of the ancient Near East
• List of museums of ancient Near Eastern art

Notes

1. All of modern-day Iraq, as well as southeastern Turkey, southwestern Iran, and northeastern Syria.
2. Elam, Media, Parthia, and Persis.
3. All of modern-day Armenia, in addition to the Turkish Eastern Anatolia Region, northwestern Iran, southern Georgia, and western Azerbaijan.
4. Modern-day Syria, Lebanon, Israel, the State of Palestine, Jordan, and Cyprus.
5. Includes southern Iraq and southeastern Jordan.

References

1. Nemet-Nejat, Karen Rhea (1998). Daily Life In Ancient Mesopotamia. Greenwood Press. ISBN 9780313294976. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
2. "Armenian Highland". Encyclopædia Britannica. August 28, 2017.
3. Crawford 2004, pp. 18, 40.
4. Crawford 2004, p. 18.
5. Crawford 2004, pp. 194–197.
6. Samuel Noah, Kramer (1959) . History Begins at Sumer. Anchor Books. pp. xviii–xix, 1. ISBN 978-0-385-09405-4.
7. Huot, Jean-Louis; Vallet, Régis (1990). "Les Habitations à salles hypostyles d'époque Obeid 0 de Tell El'Oueili". Paléorient. 16 (1): 125–130. doi:10.3406/paleo.1990.4527.
8. Altaweel, Mark; Marsh, Anke; Jotheri, Jaafar; Hritz, Carrie; Fleitmann, Dominik; Rost, Stephanie; Lintner, Stephen F.; Gibson, McGuire; Bosomworth, Matthew; Jacobson, Matthew; Garzanti, Eduardo (2019). "New Insights on the Role of Environmental Dynamics Shaping Southern Mesopotamia: From the Pre-Ubaid to the Early Islamic Period". IRAQ. 81: 23–46. doi:10.1017/irq.2019.2. ISSN 0021-0889. S2CID 200071451.
9. "Amorite (people)". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2014.
10. von Dassow, Eva, (2014). "Levantine Polities under Mittanian Hegemony". In: Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum, Nicole Brisch and Jesper Eidem (eds.). Constituent, Confederate, and Conquered Space: The Emergence of the Mittani State. pp. 11–32.
11. James P. Mallory, "Kuro-Araxes Culture", Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture, Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.
12. Professor Simo Parpola, (University of Helsinki) (2004). "National and Ethnic Identity in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Assyrian Identity in Post-Empire Times" (PDF). Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies. 18 (2): 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 17, 2011.
13. A convenient table of sea peoples in hieroglyphics, transliteration and English is given in the dissertation of Woodhuizen, 2006, who developed it from works of Kitchen cited there.
14. As noted by Gardiner V.1 p. 196, other texts have ḫȝty.w "foreign-peoples"; both terms can refer to the concept of "foreigners" as well. Zangger in the external link below expresses a commonly held view that "sea peoples" does not translate this and other expressions but is an academic innovation. The Woudhuizen dissertation and the Morris paper identify Gaston Maspero as the first to use the term "peuples de la mer" in 1881.
15. Gardiner, Alan H. (1947). Ancient Egyptian Onomastica. Vol. 1. London: Oxford University Press. p. 196.
16. Colleen, Manassa (2003). The Great Karnak Inscription of Merneptah: Grand Strategy in the Thirteenth Century BC. New Haven: Yale Egyptological Seminar, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Yale University. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-9740025-0-7.
17. Line 52. The inscription is shown in Manassa p. 55 plate 12.
18. Several articles in Oren.
19. Drews, Robert (1995). The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and the Catastrophe Ca 1200 B.C. United States: Princeton University Press. p. 264. ISBN 978-0-691-02591-9.
20. See A. Stoia and the other essays in M.L. Stig Sørensen and R. Thomas, eds., The Bronze Age – Iron Age Transition in Europe (Oxford) 1989, and T.A. Wertime and J.D. Muhly, The Coming of the Age of Iron (New Haven) 1980.
21. "Assyrian Eponym List". Archived from the original on 2016-11-14. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
22. Tadmor, H. (1994). The Inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser III, King of Assyria. p. 29
23. ^ Frye, Richard N. (1992). "Assyria and Syria: Synonyms". PhD., Harvard University. Journal of Near Eastern Studies. And the ancient Assyrian empire, was the first real, empire in history. What do I mean, it had many different peoples included in the empire, all speaking Aramaic, and becoming what may be called, "Assyrian citizens." That was the first time in history, that we have this. For example, Elamite musicians, were brought to Nineveh, and they were 'made Assyrians' which means, that Assyria, was more than a small country, it was the empire, the whole Fertile Crescent.
24. Hawkins, John David; 1982a. "Neo-Hittite States in Syria and Anatolia" in Cambridge Ancient History (2nd ed.) 3.1: 372–441.
25. Hawkins, John David; 1995. "The Political Geography of North Syria and South-East Anatolia in the Neo-Assyrian Period" in Neo-Assyrian Geography, Mario Liverani (ed.), Università di Roma "La Sapienza", Dipartimento di Scienze storiche, archeologiche e anthropologiche dell'Antichità, Quaderni di Geografia Storica 5: Roma: Sargon srl, 87–101.
26. Urartu article, Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2007

Sources

• Crawford, Harriet (2004) . Sumer and the Sumerians. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-82596-2.

Further reading

• Fletcher, Banister & Dan Cruickshank. Sir Banister Fletcher's a History of Architecture. 20th ed. Architectural Press, 1996. ISBN 0-7506-2267-9. Cf. Part One, Chapter 4.
• Hallo, William W. & William Kelly Simpson. The Ancient Near East: A History. 2nd ed. Holt Rinehart and Winston, 1997. ISBN 0-15-503819-2.
• Pittman, Holly (1984). Art of the Bronze Age: Southeastern Iran, Western Central Asia, and the Indus Valley. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 9780870993657.
• Sasson, Jack. The Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, New York, 1995.
• Scarre, Christopher & Brian M. Fagan. Ancient Civilizations. 3rd ed. Prentice Hall, 2007.
• Marc Van de Mieroop, History of the Ancient Near East: Ca. 3000–323 B.C., Blackwell Publishers, 2nd ed., 2006 (first published 2003). ISBN 1-4051-4911-6.

External links

• The History of the Ancient Near East – A database of the prehistoric Near East as well as its ancient history up to approximately the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans ...
• Vicino Oriente – Vicino Oriente is the journal of the Section Near East of the Department of Historical, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences of Antiquity of Rome 'La Sapienza' University. The Journal, which is published yearly, deals with Near Eastern History, Archaeology, Epigraphy, extending its view also on the whole Mediterranean with the study of Phoenician and Punic documents. It is accompanied by 'Quaderni di Vicino Oriente', a monograph series.
• Ancient Near East.net – an information and content portal for the archaeology, ancient history, and culture of the ancient Near East and Egypt
• Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution The Freer Gallery houses a famous collection of ancient Near Eastern artefacts and records, notebooks and photographs of excavations in Samarra (Iraq), Persepolis and Pasargadae (Iran)
• The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives – The archives for The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery houses the papers of Ernst Herzfeld regarding his many excavations, along with records of other archeological excavations in the ancient Near East.
• Archaeowiki.org – a wiki for the research and documentation of the ancient Near East and Egypt
• ETANA – website hosted by a consortium of universities in the interests of providing digitized resources and relevant web links
• Ancient Near East Photographs – this collection, created by Professor Scott Noegel, documents artifacts and archaeological sites of the ancient Near East; from the University of Washington Libraries Digital Image Collection
• Near East Images A directory of archaeological images of the ancient Near East
• Bioarchaeology of the Near East – an Open Access journal

v t e Timeline of the ancient Near East
Category

v t e Rulers of the Ancient Near East

Territories/ dates Egypt Canaan Ebla Mari Kish/ Assur Akshak/ Akkad Uruk Adab Umma Lagash Ur Elam 4000–3200 BCE Naqada I Naqada II Egypt-Mesopotamia relations Pre-Dynastic period (4000–2900 BCE) Susa I Uruk period (4000–3100 BCE) (Anu Ziggurat, 4000 BCE) (Anonymous "King-priests") Susa II (Uruk influence or control) 3200–3100 BCE Proto-Dynastic period (Naqada III) Early or legendary kings: Upper Egypt Finger Snail Fish Pen-Abu Animal Stork Canide Bull Scorpion I Shendjw Iry-Hor Ka Scorpion II Narmer / Menes Lower Egypt Hedju Hor Ny-Hor Hsekiu Khayu Tiu Thesh Neheb Wazner Nat-Hor Mekh Double Falcon Wash 3100–2900 BCE Early Dynastic Period First Dynasty of Egypt Narmer Menes Neithhotep (regent) Hor-Aha Djer Djet Merneith (regent) Den Anedjib Semerkhet Qa'a Sneferka Horus Bird Canaanites Jemdet Nasr period (3100–2900 BCE) Proto-Elamite period (Susa III) (3100–2700 BCE) 2900 BCE Second Dynasty of Egypt Hotepsekhemwy Nebra/Raneb Nynetjer Ba Nubnefer Horus Sa Weneg-Nebty Wadjenes Senedj Seth-Peribsen Sekhemib-Perenmaat Neferkara I Neferkasokar Hudjefa I Khasekhemwy Early Dynastic Period I (2900–2700 BCE) First Eblaite Kingdom First kingdom of Mari Kish I dynasty Jushur, Kullassina-bel Nangishlishma, En-tarah-ana Babum, Puannum, Kalibum 2800 BCE Kalumum Zuqaqip Atab Mashda Arwium Etana Balih En-me-nuna Melem-Kish Barsal-nuna Uruk I dynasty Mesh-ki-ang-gasher Enmerkar ("conqueror of Aratta") 2700 BCE Early Dynastic Period II (2700–2600 BCE) Zamug, Tizqar, Ilku Iltasadum Lugalbanda Dumuzid, the Fisherman Enmebaragesi ("made the land of Elam submit") Aga of Kish Gilgamesh Old Elamite period (2700–1500 BCE) Indus-Mesopotamia relations 2600 BCE Third Dynasty of Egypt Djoser (First Egyptian pyramids) Sekhemkhet Sanakht Nebka Khaba Qahedjet Huni Early Dynastic Period III (2600–2340 BCE) Sagisu Abur-lim Agur-lim Ibbi-Damu Baba-Damu Kish II dynasty (5 kings) Uhub Mesilim Ur-Nungal Udulkalama Labashum Lagash En-hegal Lugal- shaengur Ur A-Imdugud Ur-Pabilsag Meskalamdug (Queen Puabi) Akalamdug Enun-dara-anna Mes-he Melamanna Lugal-kitun Adab Nin-kisalsi Me-durba Lugal-dalu 2575 BCE Old Kingdom of Egypt Fourth Dynasty of Egypt Snefru Khufu Djedefre Khafre Bikheris Menkaure Shepseskaf Thamphthis Ur I dynasty Mesannepada "King of Ur and Kish", victorious over Uruk 2500 BCE Phoenicia (2500-539 BCE) Second kingdom of Mari Ikun-Shamash Iku-Shamagan Ansud Sa'umu Ishtup-Ishar Ikun-Mari Iblul-Il Nizi Kish III dynasty Ku-Baba Akshak dynasty Unzi Undalulu Uruk II dynasty Ensha- kushanna Mug-si Umma I dynasty Pabilgagaltuku Lagash I dynasty Ur-Nanshe Akurgal A'annepada Meskiagnun Elulu Balulu Awan dynasty Peli Tata Ukkutahesh Hishur 2450 BCE Fifth Dynasty of Egypt Userkaf Sahure Neferirkare Kakai Neferefre Shepseskare Nyuserre Ini Menkauhor Kaiu Djedkare Isesi Unas Enar-Damu Ishar-Malik Ush Enakalle Elamite invasions (3 kings) Shushun- tarana Napilhush 2425 BCE Kun-Damu Eannatum (King of Lagash, Sumer, Akkad, conqueror of Elam) 2400 BCE Adub-Damu Igrish-Halam Irkab-Damu Kish IV dynasty Puzur-Suen Ur-Zababa Urur Lugal-kinishe-dudu Lugal-kisalsi E-iginimpa'e Meskigal Ur-Lumma Il Gishakidu (Queen Bara-irnun) Enannatum Entemena Enannatum II Enentarzi Ur II dynasty Nanni Mesh-ki-ang-Nanna II Kiku-siwe-tempti 2380 BCE Sixth Dynasty of Egypt Teti Userkare Pepi I Merenre Nemtyemsaf I Pepi II Merenre Nemtyemsaf II Netjerkare Siptah Adab dynasty Lugalannemundu "King of the four quarters of the world" 2370 BCE Isar-Damu Enna-Dagan Ikun-Ishar Ishqi-Mari Invasion by Mari Anbu, Anba, Bazi, Zizi of Mari, Limer, Sharrum-iter Ukush Lugalanda Urukagina Luh-ishan 2350 BCE Puzur-Nirah Ishu-Il Shu-Sin Uruk III dynasty Lugalzagesi (Governor of Umma, King of all Sumer) 2340 BCE Akkadian Period (2340–2150 BCE) Akkadian Empire Sargon of Akkad Rimush Manishtushu Akkadian Governors: Eshpum Ilshu-rabi Epirmupi Ili-ishmani 2250 BCE Naram-Sin Lugal-ushumgal (vassal of the Akkadians) 2200 BCE First Intermediate Period Seventh Dynasty of Egypt Eighth Dynasty of Egypt Menkare Neferkare II Neferkare Neby Djedkare Shemai Neferkare Khendu Merenhor Neferkamin Nikare Neferkare Tereru Neferkahor Neferkare Pepiseneb Neferkamin Anu Qakare Ibi Neferkaure Neferkauhor Neferirkare Second Eblaite Kingdom Third kingdom of Mari (Shakkanakku dynasty) Ididish Shu-Dagan Ishma-Dagan (Vassals of the Akkadians) Shar-Kali-Sharri Igigi, Imi, Nanum, Ilulu (3 years) Dudu Shu-turul Uruk IV dynasty Ur-nigin Ur-gigir Lagash II dynasty Puzer-Mama Ur-Ningirsu I Pirig-me Lu-Baba Lu-gula Ka-ku Hishep-Ratep Helu Khita Puzur-Inshushinak 2150 BCE Ninth Dynasty of Egypt Meryibre Khety Neferkare VII Nebkaure Khety Setut Ur III period (2150–2000 BCE) Nûr-Mêr Ishtup-Ilum Ishgum-Addu Apil-kin Gutian dynasty (21 kings) La-erabum Si'um Kuda (Uruk) Puzur-ili Ur-Utu Umma II dynasty Lugalannatum (vassal of the Gutians) Ur-Baba Gudea Ur-Ningirsu Ur-gar Nam-mahani Tirigan 2125 BCE Tenth Dynasty of Egypt Meryhathor Neferkare VIII Wahkare Khety Merykare Uruk V dynasty Utu-hengal 2100 BCE (Vassals of UR III) Iddi-ilum Ili-Ishar Tura-Dagan Puzur-Ishtar (Vassals of Ur III) Ur III dynasty "Kings of Ur, Sumer and Akkad" Ur-Nammu Shulgi Amar-Sin Shu-Sin 2025-1763 BCE Amorite invasions Ibbi-Sin Elamite invasions Kindattu (Shimashki Dynasty) Middle Kingdom of Egypt Eleventh Dynasty of Egypt Mentuhotep I Intef I Intef II Intef III Mentuhotep II Mentuhotep III Mentuhotep IV Third Eblaite Kingdom (Amorites) Ibbit-Lim Immeya Indilimma (Amorite Shakkanakkus) Hitial-Erra Hanun-Dagan (...) Lim Dynasty of Mari (Amorites) Yaggid-Lim Yahdun-Lim Yasmah-Adad Zimri-Lim (Queen Shibtu) Old Assyria Puzur-Ashur I Shalim-ahum Ilu-shuma Erishum I Ikunum Sargon I Puzur-Ashur II Naram-Sin Erishum II Isin-Larsa period (Amorites) Dynasty of Isin: Ishbi-Erra Shu-Ilishu Iddin-Dagan Ishme-Dagan Lipit-Eshtar Ur-Ninurta Bur-Suen Lipit-Enlil Erra-imitti Enlil-bani Zambiya Iter-pisha Ur-du-kuga Suen-magir Damiq-ilishu Dynasty of Larsa: Naplanum Emisum Samium Zabaia Gungunum Abisare Sumuel Nur-Adad Sin-Iddinam Sin-Eribam Sin-Iqisham Silli-Adad Warad-Sin Rim-Sin I (...) Rim-Sin II Uruk VI dynasty: Alila-hadum Sumu-binasa Naram-Sin of Uruk Sîn-kāšid Sîn-iribam Sîn-gāmil Ilum-gamil An-am Irdanene Rîm-Anum Nabi-ilišu Sukkalmah dynasty Siwe-Palar-Khuppak Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt Amenemhat I Senusret I Amenemhat II Senusret II Senusret III Amenemhat III Amenemhat IV Sobekneferu 1800–1595 BCE Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt Fourteenth Dynasty of Egypt Abraham (Biblical) Kings of Byblos Kings of Tyre Kings of Sidon Yamhad (Yamhad dynasty) (Amorites) Old Assyria (Shamshi-Adad dynasty 1808–1736 BCE) (Amorites) Shamshi-Adad I Ishme-Dagan I Mut-Ashkur Rimush Asinum Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi (Non-dynastic usurpers 1735–1701 BCE) Puzur-Sin Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi (Adaside dynasty 1700–722 BCE) Bel-bani Libaya Sharma-Adad I Iptar-Sin Bazaya Lullaya Shu-Ninua Sharma-Adad II Erishum III Shamshi-Adad II Ishme-Dagan II Shamshi-Adad III Ashur-nirari I Puzur-Ashur III Enlil-nasir I Nur-ili Ashur-shaduni Ashur-rabi I Ashur-nadin-ahhe I Enlil-Nasir II Ashur-nirari II Ashur-bel-nisheshu Ashur-rim-nisheshu Ashur-nadin-ahhe II First Babylonian dynasty ("Old Babylonian Period") (Amorites) Sumu-abum Sumu-la-El Sin-muballitSabium Apil-Sin Sin-muballit Hammurabi Samsu-iluna Abi-eshuh Ammi-ditana Ammi-saduqa Samsu-Ditana Early Kassite rulers Second Babylonian dynasty ("Sealand Dynasty") Ilum-ma-ili Itti-ili-nibi Damqi-ilishu Ishkibal Shushushi Gulkishar DIŠ+U-EN Peshgaldaramesh Ayadaragalama Akurduana Melamkurkurra Ea-gamil Second Intermediate Period Sixteenth Dynasty Abydos Dynasty Seventeenth Dynasty Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt ("Hyksos") Semqen 'Aper-'Anati Sakir-Har Khyan Apepi Khamudi Mitanni (1600–1260 BCE) Kirta Shuttarna I Parshatatar 1531–1155 BCE New Kingdom of Egypt Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt Ahmose I Amenhotep I Third Babylonian dynasty (Kassites) Agum-Kakrime Burnaburiash I Kashtiliash III Ulamburiash Agum III Karaindash Kadashman-harbe I Kurigalzu I Kadashman-Enlil I Burnaburiash II Kara-hardash Nazi-Bugash Kurigalzu II Nazi-Maruttash Kadashman-Turgu Kadashman-Enlil II Kudur-Enlil Shagarakti-Shuriash Kashtiliashu IV Enlil-nadin-shumi Kadashman-Harbe II Adad-shuma-iddina Adad-shuma-usur Meli-Shipak II Marduk-apla-iddina I Zababa-shuma-iddin Enlil-nadin-ahi Middle Elamite period (1500–1100 BCE) Kidinuid dynasty Igehalkid dynasty Untash-Napirisha Thutmose I Thutmose II Hatshepsut Thutmose III Amenhotep II Thutmose IV Amenhotep III Akhenaten Smenkhkare Neferneferuaten Tutankhamun Ay Horemheb Hittite Empire Ugarit Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt Ramesses I Seti I Ramesses II Merneptah Amenmesses Seti II Siptah Twosret Elamite Empire Shutrukid dynasty Shutruk-Nakhunte 1155–1025 BCE Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt Setnakhte Ramesses III Ramesses IV Ramesses V Ramesses VI Ramesses VII Ramesses VIII Ramesses IX Ramesses X Ramesses XI Third Intermediate Period Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt Smendes Amenemnisu Psusennes I Amenemope Osorkon the Elder Siamun Psusennes II Phoenicia Kings of Byblos Kings of Tyre Kings of Sidon Kingdom of Israel Saul Ish-bosheth David Solomon Syro-Hittite states Middle Assyria Eriba-Adad I Ashur-uballit I Enlil-nirari Arik-den-ili Adad-nirari I Shalmaneser I Tukulti-Ninurta I Ashur-nadin-apli Ashur-nirari III Enlil-kudurri-usur Ninurta-apal-Ekur Ashur-dan I Ninurta-tukulti-Ashur Mutakkil-Nusku Ashur-resh-ishi I Tiglath-Pileser I Asharid-apal-Ekur Ashur-bel-kala Eriba-Adad II Shamshi-Adad IV Ashurnasirpal I Shalmaneser II Ashur-nirari IV Ashur-rabi II Ashur-resh-ishi II Tiglath-Pileser II Ashur-dan II Fourth Babylonian dynasty ("Second Dynasty of Isin") Marduk-kabit-ahheshu Itti-Marduk-balatu Ninurta-nadin-shumi Nebuchadnezzar I Enlil-nadin-apli Marduk-nadin-ahhe Marduk-shapik-zeri Adad-apla-iddina Marduk-ahhe-eriba Marduk-zer-X Nabu-shum-libur Neo-Elamite period (1100–540 BCE) 1025–934 BCE Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Babylonian dynasties ("Period of Chaos") Simbar-shipak Ea-mukin-zeri Kashshu-nadin-ahi Eulmash-shakin-shumi Ninurta-kudurri-usur I Shirikti-shuqamuna Mar-biti-apla-usur Nabû-mukin-apli 911–745 BCE Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt Shoshenq I Osorkon I Shoshenq II Takelot I Osorkon II Shoshenq III Shoshenq IV Pami Shoshenq V Pedubast II Osorkon IV Twenty-third Dynasty of Egypt Harsiese A Takelot II Pedubast I Shoshenq VI Osorkon III Takelot III Rudamun Menkheperre Ini Twenty-fourth Dynasty of Egypt Tefnakht Bakenranef Kingdom of Samaria Kingdom of Judah Neo-Assyrian Empire Adad-nirari II Tukulti-Ninurta II Ashurnasirpal II Shalmaneser III Shamshi-Adad V Shammuramat (regent) Adad-nirari III Shalmaneser IV Ashur-Dan III Ashur-nirari V Eight Babylonian Dynasty Ninurta-kudurri-usur II Mar-biti-ahhe-iddina Shamash-mudammiq Nabu-shuma-ukin I Nabu-apla-iddina Marduk-zakir-shumi I Marduk-balassu-iqbi Baba-aha-iddina (five kings) Ninurta-apla-X Marduk-bel-zeri Marduk-apla-usur Eriba-Marduk Nabu-shuma-ishkun Nabonassar Nabu-nadin-zeri Nabu-shuma-ukin II Nabu-mukin-zeri Humban-Tahrid dynasty Urtak Teumman Ummanigash Tammaritu I Indabibi Humban-haltash III 745–609 BCE Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt ("Black Pharaohs") Piye Shebitku Shabaka Taharqa Tanutamun Neo-Assyrian Empire (Sargonid dynasty) Tiglath-Pileser Shalmaneser Marduk-apla-iddina II Sargon Sennacherib Marduk-zakir-shumi II Marduk-apla-iddina II Bel-ibni Ashur-nadin-shumi Nergal-ushezib Mushezib-Marduk Esarhaddon Ashurbanipal Ashur-etil-ilani Sinsharishkun Sin-shumu-lishir Ashur-uballit II Assyrian conquest of Egypt Assyrian conquest of Elam 626–539 BCE Late Period Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt Necho I Psamtik I Necho II Psamtik II Wahibre Ahmose II Psamtik III Neo-Babylonian Empire Nabopolassar Nebuchadnezzar II Amel-Marduk Neriglissar Labashi-Marduk Nabonidus Median Empire Deioces Phraortes Madyes Cyaxares Astyages 539–331 BCE Twenty-seventh Dynasty of Egypt (First Achaemenid conquest of Egypt) Kings of Byblos Kings of Tyre Kings of Sidon Achaemenid Empire Cyrus Cambyses Darius I Xerxes Artaxerxes I Darius II Artaxerxes II Artaxerxes III Artaxerxes IV Darius III Twenty-eighth Dynasty of Egypt Twenty-ninth Dynasty of Egypt Thirtieth Dynasty of Egypt Thirty-first Dynasty of Egypt 331–141 BCE Argead dynasty and Ptolemaic Egypt Ptolemy I Soter Ptolemy Keraunos Ptolemy II Philadelphus Arsinoe II Ptolemy III Euergetes Berenice II Euergetis Ptolemy IV Philopator Arsinoe III Philopator Ptolemy V Epiphanes Cleopatra I Syra Ptolemy VI Philometor Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator Cleopatra II Philometor Soter Ptolemy VIII Physcon Cleopatra III Ptolemy IX Lathyros Cleopatra IV Ptolemy X Alexander Berenice III Ptolemy XI Alexander Ptolemy XII Auletes Cleopatra V Cleopatra VI Tryphaena Berenice IV Epiphanea Ptolemy XIII Ptolemy XIV Cleopatra VII Philopator Ptolemy XV Caesarion Arsinoe IV Hellenistic Period Argead dynasty: Alexander III Philip III Alexander IV Antigonid dynasty: Antigonus I Seleucid Empire: Seleucus I Antiochus I Antiochus II Seleucus II Seleucus III Antiochus III Seleucus IV Antiochus IV Antiochus V Demetrius I Alexander III Demetrius II Antiochus VI Dionysus Diodotus Tryphon Antiochus VII Sidetes 141–30 BCE Kingdom of Judea Simon Thassi John Hyrcanus Aristobulus I Alexander Jannaeus Salome Alexandra Hyrcanus II Aristobulus II Antigonus II Mattathias Alexander II Zabinas Seleucus V Philometor Antiochus VIII Grypus Antiochus IX Cyzicenus Seleucus VI Epiphanes Antiochus X Eusebes Antiochus XI Epiphanes Demetrius III Eucaerus Philip I Philadelphus Antiochus XII Dionysus Antiochus XIII Asiaticus Philip II Philoromaeus Parthian Empire Mithridates I Phraates Hyspaosines Artabanus Mithridates II Gotarzes Mithridates III Orodes I Sinatruces Phraates III Mithridates IV Orodes II Phraates IV Tiridates II Musa Phraates V Orodes III Vonones I Artabanus II Tiridates III Artabanus II Vardanes I Gotarzes II Meherdates Vonones II Vologases I Vardanes II Pacorus II Vologases II Artabanus III Osroes I 30 BCE–116 CE Roman Empire (Roman conquest of Egypt) Province of Egypt Judea Syria 116–117 CE Province of Mesopotamia under Trajan Parthamaspates of Parthia 117–224 CE Syria Palaestina Province of Mesopotamia Sinatruces II Mithridates V Vologases IV Osroes II Vologases V Vologases VI Artabanus IV 224–270 CE Sasanian Empire Province of Asoristan Ardashir I Shapur I Hormizd I Bahram I Bahram II Bahram III Narseh Hormizd II Adur Narseh Shapur II Ardashir II Shapur III Bahram IV Yazdegerd I Shapur IV Khosrow Bahram V Yazdegerd II Hormizd III Peroz I Balash Kavad I Jamasp Kavad I Khosrow I Hormizd IV Khosrow II Bahram VI Chobin Vistahm 270–273 CE Palmyrene Empire Vaballathus Zenobia Antiochus 273–395 CE Roman Empire Province of Egypt Syria Palaestina Syria Province of Mesopotamia 395–618 CE Byzantine Empire Byzantine Egypt Palaestina Prima, Palaestina Secunda Byzantine Syria Byzantine Mesopotamia 618–628 CE (Sasanian conquest of Egypt) Province of Egypt Shahrbaraz Sahralanyozan Shahrbaraz Sasanian Empire Province of Asoristan Khosrow II Kavad II 628–641 CE Byzantine Empire Ardashir III Shahrbaraz Khosrow III Boran Shapur-i Shahrvaraz Azarmidokht Farrukh Hormizd Hormizd VI Khosrow IV Boran Yazdegerd III Peroz III Narsieh Byzantine Egypt Palaestina Prima, Palaestina Secunda Byzantine Syria Byzantine Mesopotamia 639–651 CE Muslim conquest of Egypt Muslim conquest of the Levant Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia and Persia Chronology of the Neolithic period Rulers of Ancient Central Asia Rulers with names in italics are considered fictional. Hallo, W.; Simpson, W. (1971). The Ancient Near East. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich. pp. 48–49. "Rulers of Mesopotamia". cdli.ox.ac.uk. University of Oxford, CNRS. Thomas, Ariane; Potts, Timothy (2020). Mesopotamia: Civilization Begins. Getty Publications. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-60606-649-2. Roux, Georges (1992). Ancient Iraq. Penguin Books Limited. pp. 532–534 (Chronological Tables). ISBN 978-0-14-193825-7. ^ Per Sumerian King List Unger, Merrill F. (2014). Israel and the Aramaeans of Damascus: A Study in Archaeological Illumination of Bible History. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-62564-606-4.

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