Empires of Mesopotamia have long fascinated historians involved in unraveling the cradle of civilization characterized by Sumer, Assyrians, the Babylonians and Parthian, among many others. Historians the world over believe the Mesopotamian empires grew in the region where the two rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris, flow into the Person Gulf.

The place, which is modern day Egypt, was characterized by constant warfare from the time the empires began around 3100 BC. Empires in Egypt started off with the Sumerian ruler, the historical Gilgamesh, whose work of literature is well known and documented. It was during the first Sumerian empire that the art of writing was first developed and the period stretched from 3100 to 2500 BC.

Great walls:

The empires in those days and the towns were surrounded by great walls where the earliest known emperor was King Uruk, who had reportedly built them. The wall, during his time, was nearly 6 miles long and the first written tablets found there, have survived since. The neighboring state of Ur is known as the home of Abraham, according to Biblical records. The empire of King Ur fell to the Sumerians in about 2300 BC.

The conqueror of Ur is also known as a great usurper and true to his deeds, the moniker of Sargon, which means a ‘true king’, sits well on him. Having Semitic origins, he began his life as a fruit grower and was involved in gradually conquering several Sumerian cities like Kish, Uruk and Ur before he made the city of Akkad the capital of his empire before adopting a new title of ‘king of the nation’.

Among the empires of Mesopotamia, it was the first known Semitic dynasty in the history of the world. The empire was also famous for adopting the Sumerian cuneiform which went into forming the Semitic language. From 2200 BC onwards, Mesopotamia experienced chaotic developments with small city states fighting for power.

But the two important centers where centralized control was slowly reestablished are Babylon and Assyria. They were the places where the greatest empires in Mesopotamia grew later on.