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I RAQ ’ S H ISTORY TO 1990 33

giving insights into daily life in Mesopotamia. Sumerians also devel- oped such important tools as the wheel and the plow, and they created a form of banking. As the centuries passed, empires rose and fell in Mesopotamia. One of the greatest of the later ones was Assyria, the largest empire the ancient world had ever seen. The empire lasted from about 1400 to 612 BCE . At the height of their influence the Assyrians con- trolled land from the Mediterranean Sea to the Caspian Sea, and from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea. The ruins of Nineveh, the cap- ital of Assyria, are located near the city of Mosul, Iraq. In 612 BCE Nineveh was destroyed by another growing Mesopotamian power, the Babylonians. One of the most influential Babylonian rulers was King Nebuchadnezzar, who built Babylon into the most beautiful city in the ancient world. He created the famous “hanging gardens,” with trees, plants, and flowers growing on a tiered structure held by arches 400 feet (122 meters) above the ground. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were proclaimed one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

The remains of Nebuchadnezzar’s palace in Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar, a sev- enth-century BCE king of Babylon, built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.