Download 2016 The Land Between Two Rivers parsed

The Land Between Two Rivers
This text has been parsed from:
Armento, Beverly Jeanne. "Ch. 6, Lesson 1 The Land
Between Two Rivers." A Message of Ancient Days.
Atlanta: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. 150-55. Print.
The Mesopotamian Plain
Mesopotamia included all of present-day Iraq and parts of Syria and Turkey. The name
Mesopotamia comes from the Greek language and means “the land between the rivers.” The
Tigris and Euphrates Rivers wind their ways through Mesopotamia. The land in northern
Mesopotamia is a plateau, a broad area of high, flat land. The area in the south (Hit and
everything south of it) is a plain – a broad area of flat, open land that is lower than the plateau.
This is where the region called Sumer (SOO mur) is located. Sumer is the place where the
world’s first cities began.
The plain of Mesopotamia had many disadvantages like very hot summers, little rain and dry
land. In the spring, heavy flooding killed young crops and in the fall, flooding destroyed the
harvest time. These floods, however, also spread rich soil throughout the plain, which was
perfect for growing wheat and barley. The floods were dangerous, but the Sumerians created an
irrigation system with dams, gates, levees and canals. Since the rivers were slightly higher than
the plain, the farmers dug canals from the rivers to their fields, then, at the proper times in the
growing cycle, they opened the gates and allowed gravity to pull the water down to the fields.
The flooding times were unpredictable, so the Sumerians needed a method of flood control. In
order to do this, they made artificial lakes or ponds to hold the excess water until it was needed;
they were able to turn the dry land into a fertile plain.
The Remarkable Sumerians
Archaeologists have discovered traces of farming villages and irrigation from as early as 5000
BCE and they have also found evidence of great cities that developed around 3500 BCE. The
cities of Sumer were actually city-states. Each city-state was made up of a city and the
surrounding villages and farmland that it controlled. The farmers controlled the food while city
dwellers did other kinds of work; brick makers, canal builders, potters and more. These workers
exchanged their goods and services for food.
Each city-state was independent and ruled over itself. Priests were in charge in the early citystates. This shows us how important religion was to the Sumerian people. Actually, religion and
government were combined. The priests ran the irrigation systems, they watched over the canals,
planned new ones, gathered work crews and settled arguments. The priest also stored the surplus
grain in the temples and distributed it during droughts and other hard times for farmers. Then, as
payment, the priests collected taxes in the form of grain, animals and other farm products. They
also prayed and made sacrifices to please the Sumerian gods.
Irrigation was the key to turning the harsh land in Mesopotamia to the birthplace of
civilization. With irrigation, farmers produced a food surplus, which allowed some people to live
in cities and do other jobs besides farming. In order to keep all the irrigation systems running,
the Sumerians needed administrators (managers) to organize the building and maintenance of
the canals, dams and such. The first administrators were the priests.
To please the gods and to store the surplus, the people built great temples. These buildings
required stone, wood, and metal, items that Sumer did not have. Therefore, the Sumerians traded
with merchants from places near and far to get these goods. The farmers exchanged wheat,
barley, dates, wool and dairy products for the tools and other supplies they needed (lumber for
building and even stone hoes and clay pots). As trade became more important, artisans (skilled
worker who makes goods by hand) made goods just to exchange at the market, such as jewelry,
decorated pottery, fabrics and musical instruments. In order to keep track of their business deals
the Sumerians started to keep records of goods that were traded. This need started the creation of
a writing system. The Sumerians are also known for making other technological advancements
such as the plow (for breaking up the hard soil), the wheel and the sailboat.