1. Landscape, Climate, Population -- 2. The Beginnings of Sedentary Life (Ca. 10,000-4000 BCE) -- 3. The First Urban Society and the Use of Writing (Ca. 4000-3200 BCE) -- 4. City-States and the Way toward the Central State (Ca. 3200-2350 BCE) -- 5. The First Central States (Ca. 2350-1595 BCE) -- 6. Babylonia as Part of the Near Eastern Community of States (1595-1200 BCE) -- 7. The Empires of the Assyrians and the Babylonians (1200-539 BCE) -- 8. The Achaemenid Empire (539-331 BCE) -- 9. Alexander and the Seleucids in Babylonia (331-141 BCE) -- 10. The Empires of the Parthians and the Sasanians (141 BCE to 642 CE) -- 11. The Islamic Conquest (622-1258) -- 12. Iraq as Part of the Ottoman Empire (1258-1918) -- 13. Iraq under the Monarchy (1921-195 8) -- 14. The Republic of Iraq (1958-2008) -- Chronology, 1600 BCE to 1900 CE.