Mesopotamian civilisation

1700 BCE: King Hammurabi of Babylon conquers a large empire. Hammurabi is famous for the law code which he issues. His empire begins to decline immediately after his death.

1700

The Code of Hammurabi is a well-preserved Babylonian code of law of ancient Mesopotamia, dated to about 1754 BC (Middle Chronology). It is one of the oldest deciphered writings of significant length in the world. The sixth Babylonian king, Hammurabi, enacted the code. A partial copy exists on a 2.25-metre-tall (7.5 ft) stone stele. It consists of 282 laws, with scaled punishments, adjusting

2300: King Sargon of Akkad starts conquering the first empire in world history. The empire reaches its height in 2220 BCE.

2300

Sargon ruled his empire for 56 years. During that time, he made the city of Agade in northern Mesopotamia the empire's capital. He built up the city with tributes, or money and goods, collected from the people he conquered. Agade became a cultural center with many beautiful temples and palaces. It was one of the richest and most powerful cities in the world.

Writing begins to be developed. At first this is based on pictograms, and takes about a thousand years to evolve into a full cuneiform script.

3500

The earliest writing we know of dates back to around 3,000 B.C.E. and was probably invented by the Sumerians, living in major cities with centralized economies in what is now southern Iraq. The earliest tablets with written inscriptions represent the work of administrators, perhaps of large temple institutions, recording the allocation of rations or the movement and storage of goods.

The first city-states gradually develop in southern Mesopotamia. This is the achievement of the Sumerian people.

5300

3500 BC - Much of lower Mesopotamia is inhabited by numerous Sumer city-states such as Ur, Uruk, Eridu, Kish, Lagash, and Nippur. ... 2330 BC - Sargon I of the Akkadians conquers most of the Sumerian city states and creates the world's first empire, the Akkadian Empire.