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Kids InfoBits - Document - Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia. Kids InfoBits Presents 2011. Word Count: 483.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2011 Gale, Cengage Learning
Title: Mesopotamia
Source: Mesopotamia. Kids InfoBits Presents Detroit: Gale, 2011.
Document Type: Topic overview
Bookmark: Bookmark this Document
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2011 Gale, Cengage Learning
Full Text:
A Sumerian wheel.
INTERFOTO/Alamy.
Mesopotamia is the ancient region located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In Greek Mesopotamia means “land between
rivers.” It was a large, fertile plain in the shape of a new moon. The area is often called the Fertile Crescent.
Mesopotamia is also called the cradle of civilization, because many of the first-known cities of the world were built there. These
include Ur, Babylon, and Nineveh. Today this region is the country of Iraq. Archaeologists from around the world go there to study
the ruins of the Sumerian, Babylonian, and Assyrian civilizations.
Sumerian Achievements
The Sumerians were the first people to settle in Mesopotamia. In the beginning, they were farmers. They grew barley and wheat and
even invented the plow to till their fields. Because the land was dry, they drew water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to irrigate
their farms.
Around 3000 BCE the Sumerians began to form large city-states along the rivers. (A city-state is an independent state consisting of
a city and its surrounding territory.) Each city-state had its own ziggurat (temple) and god that protected the inhabitants of the city.
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Kids InfoBits - Document - Mesopotamia
They had a unique government structure with a king, or priest-king, and a large assembly of officials that made sure the laws were
obeyed.
The Sumerians invented many things, such as the harp, the wheel, and the sailboat. Their greatest achievement was cuneiform
writing. They used a stylus (pointed stick) to mark wedge-shaped symbols on wet clay tablets.
The Rise of Babylon
Eventually the separate Sumerian city-states were united and called Babylon, or Babylonia. King Hammurabi established laws
called the Code of Hammurabi. The laws were written down and placed in public places so everyone would know what they were.
The laws applied equally to everyone in the kingdom.
The Babylonians were great builders. King Nebuchadrezzar II built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. It was an engineering marvel,
with garden terraces and waterfalls tumbling from one level to the next. It is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World..
Assyrian Warriors
About 1,000 years after the Sumerians settled in Mesopotamia, the Assyrian civilization arose north of the Tigris River. Several
hundred years after the death of King Hammurabi, the Assyrians conquered Babylon. They were a warrior nation and built a strong
empire.
Their capital city was Nineveh, to the north of Babylon. The walls of Nineveh stretched more than 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) along
the Tigris River. Within the walls, the city was filled with beautiful buildings decorated with fine sculptures some of which remain
today. The earliest known library was built by an Assyrian emperor, and more than 20,000 clay tablets have been found among the
ruins.
In spite of their strong armies, the Assyrians did not hold on to their empire. Babylonia was eventually conquered by a desert tribe
known as the Chaldeans. Later all of Mesopotamia was conquered by the Persian Empire.
Source Citation (MLA 7th Edition)
"Mesopotamia." Mesopotamia. Detroit: Gale, 2011. Kids InfoBits Presents. Kids InfoBits. Web. 18 Oct. 2014.
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