Mesopotamia facts

Sumerian was spoken in southern Mesopotamia from at least the 4th millennium BC, and was gradually replaced by Akkadian as a spoken language around 2000 BC, though it continued to be used as a ceremonial, literary and scientific language until the 1st century AD. Even though it was later forgotten, today it is well understood thanks to the large amount of written sources left. Scientists know its grammar, vocabulary, and even its dialects and pronunciation.

To ritual exposure of the dead. The Zoroastrians used the Towers of Silence as open burial pits, placing their deceased relatives in rows so their bodies would be feasted upon by birds of prey, usually vultures. The doctrinal rationale for exposure is to avoid contact with Earth or Fire, both of which are considered sacred in the Zoroastrian religion. Contaminating the elements (Earth, Air, Fire and Water) with decaying matter such as a corpse is considered sacrilege. Orthodox Zoroastrians continued to maintain a tower until the 1970s when ritual exposure was prohibited by law.

Iraq. Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian empires, all native to the territory of modern-day Iraq.

Land between rivers. Since the earliest times, Mesopotamia was known as 'land between rivers' or 'land of rivers' in most of languages. "Mesopotamia" consists of two Greek compounds: "Meso" (middle, between, as in Mesoamerica) and "Potamos" (river, as in hippopotamus).

Cradle of the Middle East civilization. The Fertile Crescent, or Golden Horn, is a strip of lands with greater fertility, stretching from Egypt through Palestine and Syria to Mesopotamia. Thanks to the favorable conditions, the first agricultural areas were created here (about 10,000 years BC). During the Neolithic Revolution wheat, millet and barley were grown here. The first animals were domesticated here. Later civilizations of Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt developed.