Download Mesopotamia: The First River-Valley Civilization, 3500

By: Juan Alonzo
 People of Mesopotamia would see the world as a hazardous place for
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mankind, because of the unpredictable nature of the Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers and the weather.
One of the civilizations explanations for the origin of the universe is
the Babylonian Creation Myth.
Babylon was an important city in Southern Mesopotamia in 2nd and 1st
millennia B.C.E. .Right now it’s in modern Iran.
The Gods were Marduk (Chief god of Babylon)and Tiamai(Female
form who personifies the salt sea(ocean). Marduk cuts up Tiamai to
make the sky and the celestial bodies and from the blood of Tiamai
makes mankind.
This provided explanations for the world were living in today.
 Civilization developed alongside the Tigris and Euphrates river, which
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originated in the mountains of Anatolia, eastern and end in the Persian
Gulf. To north and east, mountains extend to northern Syria and
Southeastern Anatolia to Zagros Mountains. West and south are the
Syrian and Arabian deserts. Southeast lies the Persian Gulf.
Floods were a danger to the civilization and the rivers were also a
danger because they change course, cutting off water and ways of
communication for the people.
First domestication of plants and animals took place in the Fertile
Crescent, 8000 b.c.e. Agriculture came around in 5000 B.c.e.
Agriculture depended on 8 in. of rain. They also needed irrigation.
The people soon learned to build canals to supply and carry water.
 4000 b.c.e., Farmers used plows pulled by cattle to turn the earth, soil.
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The plow would also drop seeds with a funnel attached to it.
Barley was the main cereal crop because it can withstand the hot
conditions and the effects of salt drawn from the surface of the soil
when the fields were flooded.
Date palms provided food, fibers, and wood. Reed plants, grew on river
banks and marshy southern plantations, can be woven into mats,
baskets, huts, and boats. Fish were important for the peoples diets.
Sheep and goats provided wool and mild.
Earliest people in Mesopotamia were the Sumerians. In southern
Mesopotamia by 5000 b.c.e. They created main framework for
civilization in Mesopotamia.
The names of individuals recorded in inscriptions from northern cities
suggest the presence of Semites, people who spoke Semitic language.
 Akkadian was the primary language in Mesopotamia.
 Sumerian literature was translated, Characteristics and adventures of
Semitic gods showed borrowing from Sumerian religion.
 This shows that the two groups were merging through intermarriage.
 Kassites, Elamites and Persians from Iran played part in Mesopotamian
history. Until the arrival of the Greeks in the Middle East.
 Mesopotamia was full of villages and cities.
 Villages serve human social needs by providing companion ship.
 Cities evolved from villages.
 Cities and villages were linked in a relationship of mutual dependence.
 Cities depended on agriculture.
 Earliest known cities were in the Middle East, Jericho and çatal Hüyük.
 Everyone participated In basic tasks. Gathering and growing food is
one of them.
 Cities depended on villagers to produce food. The urban residents did
not participate in this, but they did activities such as metallurgy, crafts,
administration, and serving the gods.
 If a city required food and the villages gives it then the city will return
rural districts and military protection against bandits and raiders and a
market where the villagers can trade with urban specialist.
 City-States were to refer to independent urban centers and agricultural
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territories they controlled.
Stretches of open and uncultivated land lay between the territory
controlled by communities and served as buffers.
To produce adequate food the Mesopotamian civilization opened new
land to agriculture by boiling and maintaining an extensive irrigation
network.
Canals brought water from rivers for the fields, Drainage ditches
carried water away from flooded fields, Dikes protected young plants
from the floods, Dams raised water level of the river so water can flow
into irrigation channels.
There is little known political institutions, but there was some type of
citizens assembly.
 Early Mesopotamian city had one or more temples.
 Temples had agricultural land and stored gifts that worshipers
donated.
 Leading members of priesthood, who controlled the shrine and
managed the deity’s wealth, have been he prominent political and
economic force.
 Another leadership emerged which was, originally, called the lugal-Big
man- but was actually a king.
 The palace of the king was soon the 1st important power and the
temples would have to look up to the king. In this time period kings
had the all the power and authority over everyone. Military had to
protect the king and soon the temples would have royal officials would
supervise the temple.
 The king had responsibility for the building of temples, proper
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performance of rituals, Maintenance of the city walls, defenses,
extensions of the irrigation channels, preservation of property rights,
protection of the people, and perversions of justice at home.
Political centers became powerful to control city-states.
Sargon, ruler of Akkad, was first to unite many cities under control of
one king and capital. His title was “King of Sumer and Akkad”.
Razed walls of conquered cities and installed governors backed by
garrisons of Akkadian troops. Soldiers were given land for their loyalty.
Uniform system of weights and measures and standardized formats for
documents facilitated tasks of administration, the assessment and
collection of taxes, recruitment of soldiers, and organization of large
labor projects.
 Akkadaian state fell around 2230 b.c.e. and the resurgence of Sumerian
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language and culture in the cities of southern plain was seen under the
Third Dynasty of Ur.
Dynasty composed of 5 kings.
Rapidly expanding bureaucracy of administration let to tight
government control of activities and obsessive degree of record
keeping.
Corps of messengers and road stations facilitated communication,
official calendar, standardized weights and measures, and uniform
writing practices.
Built a wall that was 125 miles to protect against nomadic invaders.
Hammurabi had aggressive military campaigns and known for its law
codes. They provided principles for judges with a case.
 Trade was important in this time and sea trade was also involved.
 Wood was in Lebanon and Syria, silver in Anatolia,, gold in Egypt,
copper in Medit. and Oman, tin in Afghanistan, Chlorite in Iranian
Plateau.
 Merchants were important because they exchanged goods with other
merchants in other cities.
 Social divisions was in Mesopotamia also.
 Kings and temple leaders controlled large agricultural estates and palace
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admin. collected taxes.
Society was divided into 3 classes: 1)the royalty, ranking officials, warriors,
priests, merchants, and some artisans and shoekeepers.2) Farmers and
artisans who were legally attached to land that belonged to king, temple, or
elite familes.3) slaves.
Slaves were people that came from the mountains or captured in war or
were sold. They weren’t chained up, instead they had to were a distinctive
hair style and if free they would have their hair cut.
Rural Peasants had houses made of mud brick and reed. Possessed little
metal.
Women lost social standing and freedom in societies where agriculture
superseded hunting and gathering. The women would have to gather food
and make the food for the family and take care of the family.
 Women had no political role, but could own property, control of their
dowry, and engage in trade.
 Worked outside household by working in textile factories, breweries or
prostitutes, tavern keepers, bakers, or fortunetellers.
 Non-elite women did child care, harvest, plant, cook and bake, clean
the house, get water, tend the house, and weave baskets and textiles.
 Husband more dominant in the household and received more laws
relating to marriage and divorce.
 The Sumerians gods were Anu god of the sky, Enlil the air, Enki the
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water, Utu the sun, Nanna the moon and Inanna was sexual attraction
and violence.
Semitic people had equated the deities as the Sumerians.
The people believe that the gods were anthropomorphic- had human
forms.
Each city build temples to one or more divinities. Nippur was venerated
as a religious center for all the people of Sumer.
The temple was believed to be the house of the deity.
Priests would try to let the god have a daily cycle similar to the peoples
life cycle.
It was believed that mankind was made to worship and serve the gods.
 Priest were paid in food.
 The amount and individual got depended on his rank.
 The high priest performed central acts in the rituals, Certain priest
made music to please the gods, and others knew the appropriate
incantations for exorcising evil spirits.
 A high wall surrounded the temple and within it was a shrine of the
chief deity, open-air plazas, chapels for lesser gods, housing, dining
facilities, offices for priests, craft shops, store rooms, and service
buildings.
 Most visible part of temple was the Ziggurat-a brick pyramid shaped
tower approached by ramps and stairs.
 An important latter type of tech. is writing, first appeared in
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Mesopotamia before 3300 b.c.e.
Tokens were used to increase the amount of accumulated wealth and
the volume and complexity of commercial transactions. Tokens were
made in shape of commodity and were inserted and sealed in clay
envelopes. Pictures of the tokens were incised on the outside of an
envelope.
The pictures were the first written symbol.
The common method of writing was to get a reed and write on a clay
tablet. The pictures were stylized into a combination of strokes and
wedges that turned into cuneiform writing.
It took years to practice this and perfect it. Some students were taught
writing and mathematics by a stern headmaster.
 Cuneiform is not a language but a system of writing.
 Originally for the Sumerian lang., later adapted to express Akkadian
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language of Mesopotamian Semites even other languages of western
Asia such as Hittite, Elamite, and Persian.
Earliest Mesopotamian doc. were mainly economic.
After the development of cuneiform, written documents marked with a
seal of the participants became proof of legitimacy.
Cuneiform was used for political, literary, religious, and scientific
purposes.
Construction and maintenance of dams, dikes, and dams. Carts and
sledges drawn by cattle were also common in the area. In the south
were there's rivers they made boats and barges.
 Bronze was used since it was more malleable than stone, poured into
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molds, and have a shaper edge and less likely to break.
Mud bricks were either dried in the sun or baked in an oven.
The potters wheel was used for the rapid production of vessels with
precise and complex shapes, 4000 b.c.e.
In military there were innovative developments in organization, tactics,
and weapons and other machinery of warfare.
There was first militias which were a group of able-bodied members in
a comm. and to be used for a short time. By 3rd and 2nd mill. there were
armies and soon horses appeared in Asia and soon the horse drawn
chariot came into place.
They used a base-60 number system. They practiced astronomy, since
they were advanced in mathematics and careful observation in the sky.
 Thank you for listening to my PowerPoint and my
information on the history of Mesopotamia.