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Mesopotamian Inventions
The Seeder Plow
http://mesopotamia.lib.uchicago.edu/mesopotamialife/article.php?theme=Science%20and%20Inventions
The seeder plow, invented by the Mesopotamians, was a major technological achievement. It revolutionized agriculture by carrying
out the tasks of seeding and plowing simultaneously. Seed was dropped down the middle funnel into the furrow that the plow
created. The ancient Mesopotamians believed that the god Enlil created the seeder plow and that the image of the plow could also
be seen in the stars. They discovered that by observing the movements of celestial bodies they could measure time, which was key
for planting crops and for holding religious festivals. Their astronomical observations still aid today's scientists.
The ancient Mesopotamians were a highly inventive people who created many innovations. They not only invented the seeder plow,
but also developed writing, irrigation and sanitation techniques, the "Pythagorean theorem," the concept of zero, glass, and the
arch, column, and dome. They revolutionized transportation around 3500 BC by inventing the wheel and were among the first to
harness the wind as an energy source by using the sail.
Written Law
http://mesopotamia.lib.uchicago.edu/mesopotamialife/article.php?theme=Law%20and%20Government
The Laws of Hammurabi are the longest and best organized of the law collections that survive from ancient Mesopotamia. King
Hammurabi, who ruled from 1792-1750 BC, had the laws inscribed on stone stelae which he placed in various temples throughout his
realm. The stela from which this cast was made stands almost seven-and-a-half feet tall. At the top of the stela, King Hammurabi
stands before the sun god Shamash, the Mesopotamian god of justice, who is seated on his throne. Shamash gives Hammurabi the
rod and ring, symbols of kingship and divine justice, thus reinforcing the ancient Mesopotamian belief that laws came from the gods.
Below this scene is the law collection itself, mainly comprised of a compilation of legal verdicts describing specific offenses and the
penalties to be enforced in particular situations. Preceding the law collection is a lengthy prologue, stressing the gods' appointment
of Hammurabi as the ruler of his people. Hammurabi's role was to act as guardian and protector of the weak and powerless, and to
pay care and attention to the specific needs of the patron deities of the many cities incorporated into his realm. Following the laws
is an epilogue describing the king as the military leader who brings peace to his subjects. It explicitly states that these laws were
inscribed on a stela and publicly displayed in order to testify to Hammurabi's righteous and just rule, to bring consolation to anyone
seeking justice, and to serve as an example for future rulers.
Writing
http://mesopotamia.lib.uchicago.edu/mesopotamialife/article.php?theme=Invention%20of%20Writing
Writing emerged in many different cultures and in numerous locations throughout the ancient world. It was not the creation of any
one people. However, the Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia are credited with inventing the earliest form of writing, which
appeared ca. 3500 BC. The clay tablets shown here date from around 3200 BC. They were unearthed by Oriental Institute
archaeologists at the site of Tell Asmar in Iraq.
The writings on these tablets are simple pictures, or pictograms, which represent an object or an idea. Because clay is a difficult
material on which to draw lines and curves, the Mesopotamians eventually reduced pictograms into a series of wedge-shaped signs
that they pressed into clay with a reed stylus. This wedge-shaped writing is called cuneiform.
The invention of writing was the dawn of the information revolution. This great technological advance allowed news and ideas to be
carried to distant places without having to rely on a messenger's memory. Like all inventions, writing emerged because there was a
need for it. In Mesopotamia, it was developed as a record-keeping vehicle for commercial transactions or administrative procedures.
There are also texts that served as "copy books" for the education of future scribes. Eventually, cuneiform script was used to
produce some of the greatest literary works in recorded history.
Chariot
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/106477/chariot
Chariot - open, two- or four-wheeled vehicle of antiquity, probably first used in royal funeral processions and later
employed in warfare, racing, and hunting. The chariot apparently originated in Mesopotamia in about 3000 BC;
monuments from Ur and Tutub depict battle parades that include heavy vehicles with solid wheels, their bodywork
framed with wood and covered with skins. On the earliest chariots the wheels rotated on a fixed axle that was linked
by a draft pole to the yoke of a pair of oxen. To the axle was attached a superstructure consisting of a platform
protected by sidescreens and a high dashboard. These Mesopotamian chariots were mounted by both spearman and
charioteer, although it is doubtful that fighting was conducted from the vehicle itself.
School
http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/12/2003/hm12_1_16.html
To master cuneiform writing was an extremely difficult undertaking. For this reason, the would-be scribes studied their art for many
years. They began their education as little children, probably at the age of five or six, and finished when they were young men. Only
boys attended classes. Very rarely, however, the texts mention women scribes, but we do not know whether they studied at school
or at home with their fathers. As a rule, the profession of scribe was hereditary. It is not unlikely that schools in Mesopotamia
disappeared over the course of time, and teaching was carried out exclusively in private or at home.
While schools existed, however, the educational program was quite difficult. For the first three to four years, the students learned
the cuneiform writing (the number of signs reached six or seven hundred). The Sumerian language was mandatory, even when it was
no longer used as a spoken language. The beginner scribes used tablets that had a distinguishable round shape. They wrote single
characters, Sumerian words and names, then short sayings: proverbs, for example. In addition to copying and reading tablets, other
educational methods were used, for example, dictation, and, most important, cramming. Even mathematical problems were learned
by heart. In the higher grades, students learned more difficult subjects: they copied long literary texts and codes of law, practiced
dividing fields into smaller areas and sharing rations between laborers, composed balanced accounts and business letters.
Irrigation
http://mygeologypage.ucdavis.edu/cowen/~gel115/115CH17oldirrigation.html
Mesopotamia is also known as "Land of Rivers". The geography of Mesopotamia did not provide much rain for agriculture. However it
was blessed with the yearly flooding Tigris and Euphrates rivers. They were main source of water for the purpose of irrigation in the
Mesopotamia.
irrigation has been an important base for agriculture in Mesopotamia (what is now Iraq and part of Iran) for 6000 years. The Tigris
and the Euphrates have dramatic spring floods, from snowmelt in the highlands of Anatolia, and they carry a lot of silt. Furthermore,
the plains of Mesopotamia are very flat, and poorly drained, so that the region has always had persistent problems with poor soil,
drought, catastrophic flooding, silting, and soil salinity.
Mesopotamian engineers had to worry about water storage and flood control as well as irrigation. Silt built up quickly in the canals,
threatening to choke them. This could be overcome by constant dredging as long as organization and manpower were available. The
other problem was more insidious, and could not be overcome by the engineering available at the time. It was difficult to drain
water off the fields, and there was always a tendency for salt to build up in the soil.
However, the irrigation canals that were created enabled them to control water and plant crops farther away from rivers. The land
which was near to the rivers was fertile and the land farther from the rivers was dry and largely uninhabitable. Irrigation increased
the amount of usable land. Irrigation in Mesopotamia was responsible for the increase in food supply in Mesopotamia.