Fall

Over thousands of years, many kingdoms rose and fell in Mesopotamia — first the Sumerians, then the Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians. Constant wars between city-states made the land weak. Floods, droughts, and invasions from outside tribes also caused trouble.

Finally, in 539 BCE, the Persian king Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon, and Mesopotamia became part of his empire. Though the cities fell, the people’s inventions — writing, laws, farming, and mathematics — lived on, shaping civilizations for thousands of years after.