'''Mesopotamia'''{{efn|{{lang-grc|Μεσοποταμία}} ''Mesopotamíā''; {{lang-ar|بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن}} {{transl|ar|Bilād ar-Rāfidayn}} or {{lang|ar|بَيْنُ ٱلْنَهْرَيْن}} {{transl|ar|Bayn ul-Nahrayn}}; {{lang-syc|ܒܝܬ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ}}, {{transl|syc|Bēṯ Nahrēn}}}} is a [[historical region]] of [[West Asia]] situated within the [[Tigris–Euphrates river system]], in the northern part of the [[Fertile Crescent]]. Today, Mesopotamia occupiesis modernknown as present-day [[Iraq]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Seymour |first=Michael |date=2004 |title=Ancient Mesopotamia and Modern Iraq in the British Press, 1980–2003 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/383004 |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=45 |issue=3 |pages=351–368 |doi=10.1086/383004 |jstor=10.1086/383004 |s2cid=224788984 |issn=0011-3204 |access-date=30 April 2022 |archive-date=30 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220430014407/https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/383004 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="miqueletal"/> In the broader sense, the historical region includedof present-dayMesopotamia [[Iraq]] andincluded parts of present-day [[Iran]], [[Kuwait]], [[Syria]], and [[Turkey]].<ref name="research_gate">{{cite journal|title=Sea Level Changes in the Mesopotamian Plain and Limits of the Arabian Gulf: A Critical Review|date=January 2020|pages=88–110|journal=Journal of Earth Sciences and Geotechnical Engineering|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340066759|volume=10|last1=Sissakian|first1=Varoujan K.|last2=Adamo|first2=Nasrat|last3=Al-Ansari|first3=Nadhir|last4=Mukhalad|first4=Talal|last5=Laue|first5=Jan|issue=4}}</ref><ref>{{citation |title=Ancient Mesopotamia. The Eden that never was |last=Pollock |first=Susan |year=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-57568-3 |series=Case Studies in Early Societies |page=1}}</ref>
The [[Sumer]]ians and [[Akkadians]] (including [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]] and [[Babylonia]]ns), each originating from different areas, dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of [[recorded history]] ({{circa|3100 BC}}) to the [[fall of Babylon]] in 539 BC, when it was conquered by the [[Achaemenid Empire]]. Mesopotamia was next conquered by [[Alexander the Great]] in 332 BC, and after his death, it became part of the Greek [[Seleucid Empire]].
