Download Mesopotamia: The Geography, Origins and Sumer What is a cradle

Mesopotamia: The Geography, Origins and Sumer
What is a cradle of civilization? What specific geographic features do you think should be included in a
cradle of civilization. This will be collected as a classwork grade.
Geography:
What does “Mesopotamia” mean?
It means “The land between two rivers”
What two rivers is Mesopotamia between?
It is between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers
Why is it important that Mesopotamia is between two rivers?
This means that the land in between the rivers is exceptionally fertile which will promote
civilization.
Why might this promote civilization?
It promotes civilization because it enables people to produce food
Where is Mesopotamia?
It is in the Middle East
What modern day country is Mesopotamia in?
It is in Iraq. Traditionally Mesopotamia has been associated with the whole area around the
Tigris and Euphrates instead of solely in between the two rivers.
If you were to start a civilization would you prefer to start one in Mesopotamia or along the Nile?
Why?
Allow students to answer.
Except for the rivers much of southern mesopotamia would be fairly arid, thought the north did receive
enough rainfall to partake in farming without irrigation.
Around 4000 BC. People started to migrate to Mesopotamia, this led to people starting to develop
civilizations. We will look at four particular civilizations: The Sumerian, The Akkadian, The
Babylonian and the Assyrian.
The Origins of Writing:
Again the earliest known examples of writing were business records. These earliest writings date back
to about 3300 BC. Though the are so well developed though that the writing must have been under
development for far longer.
The Mesopotamian civilizations did not write with hieroglyphics, but with cuneiform. This writing
style would be created with a wedge shaped stylus. This led to writing that consisted of a series of lines
and wedges. At first they would create pictographic signs. Eventually however they became more
stylized. Cuneiform script could be used to write any language, if people wanted to take the time to
transcribe it. This is because each sign could stand for a phonetic value.
The Mesopotamian civilizations would write on clay tablets. They even developed a cylinder seals in
which they would carve sylmbols. When they rolled these symbols over clay, the impressions would be
transferred to the clay. With these the would create seals for objects.
Sumer:
In southern Mesopotamia, a short, stocky, dark-haired people settled. These people are known as
Sumerians. One of the things that really helped them achieve success was the fact that they were able to
control their environment.
The main way that Sumerians would control their environment was by controlling the rivers. Every
spring the rivers would flood and they would leave behind piles of soil called levees. The Sumerians
would then build these natural levees higher until they were able to hold back the flood water. This
effectively damned the water . When the land dried out, they would use the damned water to create
irrigation canals. They grew primarily barley, but they also grew wheat, sesame, flax, fruit and
vegetables.
The amount of irrigation necessary to feed a population took a lot of planning.This led to the
establishment of governments.
Eventually, with this steady food supply the population grew and cities developed. One of the problems
in developing cities in Mesopotamia was the lack of building materials. They had few trees and
virtually no large stones for building. Again the Sumerians had to adapt to their environment.
Instead of wood or stone the Sumerians built by mixing river mud with crushed reeds to create bricks.
They would build huge cities out of these bricks The Sumerians were really the first city builders of the
world. The greatest city of Sumer was Ur.
The Sumerian Civilization was not a unified civilization. Each Sumerian city had its own god, its own
government and its own people.
Each city-state was made up of the surrounding farmland as well as the city. Each city was also
surrounded by a wall with a gate that was closed at night to protect the city from wild animals, bandits,
etc. This would also be the last line of defense against foreign invaders. This is exceptionally effective
since there is no siege equipment yet.
Sumerian cities were carefully planned. The upper class would live near the city center. The upper class
consisted of priests, high ranking government officials, and wealthy merchants. The upper classes
would live in two story houses with balconies and open courtyards. Behind the upper class were the
middle class which consisted of minor government officials and artisans. Closest to the walls were the
poor. The poor were farmers, fishermen and other unskilled workers.
At the center of each city was a ziggurat, or mountain of god, or hill of heaven. A ziggurat was a series
of square levels stacked on top of each other. Each level was progressively smaller. These would create
a raised platform. The Ziggurat was the home of the city's chief god. Great stairways would lead to the
top of the ziggurat, but only priests were allowed to go there. Total Sumerians had more than 3,000
gods.
Around the ziggurat were courts. It was here that every major event happened. Artisans worked here,
children went to school here, the poor were fed here and festivities were held here. The courts
surrounding the ziggurats and the ziggurats themselves were the center of Sumerian.
Sumerians believed that humans were created out of mud, and that their sole purpose was to be servants
of the gods. They were put on this earth only to serve and please the gods.
If the gods were not happy then the crops would not grow and their lives would be miserable.
The priests were the only ones who could tell what the gods needed to be happy, since they were the
only ones who could communicate with the gods.
The priests controlled all aspects of the city in the gods' names. This includes the schools.
Schools in Mesopotamia were not for everyone. They were only for the sons of the rich. Poor boys
were taught a trade or worked in the fields. Schools were known as tablet houses. The school's main
purpose was to teach people how to write. Today only about 250 people can still read cuneiform. After
a student graduated from school he became a scribe. Scribes worked for the temple, palace, government
or even the army. A few scribes would work for merchants or set up private practices where they would
write for the public.
Sumerian women also had rights. They could run businesses, own slaves and handle her husbands
businesses when her husband was away. However a man could also divorce his wife simply by saying
“you are not my wife” and if he needed money he could rent or sell his wife or children into slavery for
up to three years. Marriages ere also arranged rather than chosen. Children were taught to respect their
elders and to take care of their parents once they got older.
Akkad:
The Akkadians were the people to the north of the Sumerians though sometimes they are considered a
continuation of Sumer. The first ruler of Akkad was called Sharrum-kin, and named Sargon in the bible.
Sharrum-kin means “the True King”. What might this tell us about him? According to an account he
was placed in a basket and floated down the Euphrates river. He was rescued and trained as a gardener,
won the love of the Ishtar and became king.
Sargon established the world's first empire through military conquest. He then established a new capital
called Akkad. He built a ziggurat to Ishtar, goddess of love, and Zababa, a warrior god. It is important
to note that Akkad's precise location is still unknown. Sargon also established the tradition of sending
one's daughter to become a high priestess of Ur. Sargon ruled from 2234-2279 BC and united most of
Mesopotamia under his rule.
Sargon was succeeded by his son Rimush, who continued his father's military conquests, but was killed
just eight years into his rule. He was succeeded by his brother Manishtushu who may also have slightly
expanded Akkad's boundaries.
After Manishtushu came the 37 year rule of his son Naram-sin. Naram-sin was the first Mesopotamian
king to call himself a god. Gilgamesh and a few others were considered gods, but not until after they
died. He even made his officials address him as “god of Akkad”. There is evidence throughout
Mesopotamia of his rule. After Naram-sin their were 4 kings within 3 years, and Akkad was reduced to
the region just around the city. It did not survive long after that. The Akkadian Empire was completely
gone by 2100 BC, and there wasn't another Mesopotamian Empire for almost 400 years.
Babylon:
Following the collapse of the Akkadian empire a group of people called the Amorites entered
Mesopotamia (c. 1800 BC). One of the cities they founded was called Babylon. The king of Babylon
was named Hammurabi. He conquered the remnants of Akkad and the Sumerian city-states to create a
new empire. This was not the real reason he was famous though.
Hammurabi was famous for creating the law code known as Code of Hammurabi. While many
Sumerian laws existed up to 1400 years before Hammurabi, he issued more than 300 laws. All of these
were written down. The Code of Hammurabi was a strict code however, enforced with what almost
equals cruelty. Despite the fact that this code is seemingly fair, the code was far from fair. If you
committed a crime against a noble the penalty would be far greater than if you committed the same
crime against a commoner. It is this code that the saying “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” comes
from. Despite the severity of these laws however, they were good intentioned. They sought to create a
minimum wage, provide care for orphans and widows, protect wives and children, and even gave
women the chance to prove themselves innocent of unjust allegations.
The Babylonians made advances in math. They created multiplication, division and square root tables
and were able to do geometry and algebra. They used a system of counting based on 60. Today we use
a system based on ten. Remnants of this system based on 60 can still be found today in time, and the
360 degree circle.
The Babylonians also borrowed heavily from the Sumerians. They borrowed the spoken language, the
religion and even literature. This is why Gilgamesh is associated with the Babylonians. They adopted
the story as their own.
The Babylonians, like all ancient Mesopotamians, viewed immortality as something reserved only for
the gods. They believed that if there was life after death it was a gloomy, terrible existence where
spirits were in a continual search for both food and water
In 1595BC, the Hittites swung south and conquered Babylonia. From 1600-1200BC Mesopotamia
went through a dark time, where not much is known.
Assyria:
Since 1350 BC the Assyrians tried to create an empire and failed. It wasn't until 12th century BC that
the Assyrians were able to expand at all, and it wasn't until the 8th century that the Assyrians were able
to create an empire. By 671 BC, they had annexed Egypt and controlled all of the fertile crescent.
The Assyrian military was peerless. It was honed in a region of the world that knew 1000 years of
constant warfare. The Assyrian army had chariots, cavalry and siege engines. Nothing could stand
before them. They were a particularly brutal people, performing warfare that had aspects of terrorism in
it. They would burn crops, smashed dams, looted cities, cut down trees, and burned men and women
alive.
They would even force people to move to different areas of the empire.
Once a land was taken over by the Assyrians, the Assyrians would put in place a system that would
keep the empire running smoothly. They divided the lands into provinces, with each province becoming
ruled by a governor who had control of the military, judicial systems and the provinces finances. These
governors would collect tribute, and even could raise troops.
The Assyrians borrowed heavily from the Babylonians.
By 612BC, Assyrian power was lost. It occurred because the many wars that the Assyrians undertook
weakened their military and they were forced to rely on unreliable mercenaries. This coupled with
numerous revolts led to the end of Assyrian power.
New Babylon:
One of the groups that revolted against the Assyrians were the Chaldeans, who resided in the area of
Babylon. After they received independence they created the New Babylonian Empire. In 604 BC, a
new king rose to power in Babylon, and made Babylon a new world power. His name was
Nebuchadnezzar.
Nebuchadnezzar did many things during his rule. He destroyed the temple at Jerusalem, and singlehandedly ended the Egyptians dreams of creating a new empire. Nebuchadnezzar also rebuilt the city of
Babylon, making it the largest city in the world. The walls were so wide that they could have a row of
houses on either side. The palace was terraced with gardens on every level. These gardens were so
beautiful that the Greeks considered them one of the seven wonders of the world. Nebuchadnezzar was
the last great Mesopotamian king, and after his death in 562BC, his empire quickly fell. The
Babylonian priests did everything they could to undermine the kings power after his death, and in
539BC, the priests opened the gates of Babylon to Cyrus the Great of Persia, allowing him to add
Babylon to the Persian Empire.