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The Emergence of Economic Institutions in Mesopotamia

Map of Mesopotamia

Many aspects of our modern enterprise economy have their roots in the early civilizations of Mesopotamia.

We present here evidence of some of the oldest yet sophisticated economic activity documented by written records.

Since the dawn of civilization near the end of the 4th millennium BCE many cultures have occupied the Near East. A chronology of the "first half of history" (ca. 3000-500 BCE) is given to provide context.
 

Chronology of the Ancient Near East



 		MesopotamiaEgyptIsrael/
Palestine		Anatolia
3500-3100 BCUruk   
3100-2900 BCJemdet-Nasr3100-2686 Early Dynastic3150-2200 Early Bronze 
2900-2700 BCEarly Dynastic I   
2700-2500 BCEarly Dynastic II   
2500-2300 BCEarly Dynastic III2686-2200 Old Kingdom  
2300-2150 BCSardonic/
Akkadian		   
2150-2100 BCGuti2200-2040 1st Intermediate  
2100-2000 BCUr III2040-1786 Middle Kingdom  
2000-1600 BC
2000-1700 BC		Old Babylonian
Old Assyrian		 2000-1200 Middle Bronze II 
1600-1500 BCDark Age1786-1558 2nd Intermediate 1700-1595 Hittite Old Kingdom
1600-1050 BCKassite/Middle Babylonian1558-1085 New Kingdom1100"Conquest"1375-1200 Hittite New Kingdom/
Empire
1400-1000 BCMiddle Assyrian   
1000-626 BCNeo-Assyrian 1050-925 United Kingdom 
625-539 BCNeo-Babylonian 586 Exile 
539-330 BCPersian/
Achaemenid		 539 Return 
330-65 BCAlexander and Seleucid
successors		   
250 BC-230ADParthians
(Arsacid)		   
230-650 ADSassanian   
650 AD-presentArab   

 

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