The Bronze Age covers the period between the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. This period corresponds to the first “historical” periods, which follow the invention of writing at the end of the 4th millennium BC. Mesopotamia has provided an abundance of written texts that allow the reconstruction of the eventful history of this region. In the north of Mesopotamia in particular, the site of Nineveh seems to have been central.
The "Nineveh 5" period
In 1930, the British archaeologist Max Mallowan and his team carried out archaeological excavations at Tell Kuyunjik, in Nineveh, opposite the old city of Mosul. In the fifth archaeological level (stratum 5), the archaeologists identified objects and remains of buildings dating from 3000 to 2500 BC. They named this period “Nineveh 5.”
Significant urban development of the sites in the Northern Mesopotamian region occurred in this period, characterised by its ceramics, which are typical in terms of manufacturing technique, shape, pattern and colour. Cylinder seal impressions also confirm the city’s prominent role as a commercial and trading centre, especially with the Diyala and Susiana regions. The exact role of Nineveh is not fully known, but it seems to have already been an urban settlement fully integrated in its environment.
A territory of autonomous city-states
By the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, historical texts reveal the existence of fragmented powers in small autonomous kingdoms often called city-states. These city-states encompassed one or more cities and an agricultural territory with villages and a network of canals, all more or less extensive depending on their power.
Despite attempts at unification and the ephemeral pre-eminence of some of them over others, these small kingdoms all believed in the same pantheon and shared a common script and language. The economy was based largely on a system of agricultural land domains, attached mainly to temples but under the strong central authority of the king. The king was assisted by his family — notably his principal wife or his children — and by important dignitaries. Although no texts exist to reconstruct the history of Nineveh at this time, archaeological excavations have made it possible to recognise the main characteristics of Mesopotamian city-states.
And Mesopotamian kingdoms
The end of the 3rd millennium BC in Mesopotamia is marked by the domination of two vast kingdoms with imperial ambitions: Akkad (from the 24th to the 22nd century BC) and the 3rd Dynasty of Ur (in the 21st century BC). Both extended their dominance from the south up into Northern Mesopotamia. The city of Nineveh certainly came under their control, known notably through the famous Akkadian dedications in the Temple of Ishtar — although lack of archaeological evidence hinders full understanding of their domination.
These great territorial states of the late 3rd millennium paved the way for the great conquering kingdoms of the 2nd millennium and initiated a system of territorial management that was the basis for the formation of a sustainable state and empire-building. At the end of the 3rd millennium BC, Ashur was only one city-state among many. But during the 2nd millennium, the Old-Assyrian and then the Middle-Assyrian kings continued to extend their territory and strengthen their power to found one of the greatest Mesopotamian empires: the Assyrian Empire.
