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WORLD HISTORY
THE CRADLE OF CIYII
Mesopotamia was a land of many firsts—including superheroes
C Words to Know
HTÏÏTTn (n): a worker who
practices a trade; craftsperson
[n]: a system of writing used
in ancient Middle Eastern
civilizations that became
widespread long before modern
alphabets were developed
Jomesticata (v): to make fit
to humans; to tame
• ffTTO (n): a member of a
people who move from place
to place, usually seasonally
Key Dates
15000
Village
settlements are formed
in Mesopotamia.
Uruk, one
rst citystates, is established.
The epic of
Gilgamesh is written
blets.
1792 B.C
Hammurabi, autho
ofoneoftheearlie
known codes of la\,
becomes King of
Babylonia, a kingdorr
Mesopotamia
becomes part of the
Persian Empire.
O
ne of the world's oldest love
letters is signed, simply,
"your loving wife who has
had a child." But it's not written in
a language we use today, and the
"letters" look like jumbled triangles
stamped into a lump of clay.
This heartfelt message was composed more than 4,000 years ago in
cuneiform—the world's first system of writing. It was the language
of ancient Mesopotamia (see map).
A region in the Middle East that
is now part of Iraq and three other
countries, Mesopotamia was a land
of many firsts. Its people invented
farming, the wheel, cities, legal
codes, and even the first known
superheroes. It's often called "the
cradle of civilization. "
Inventing the Wheel
Mesopotamia is Greek for
"between the rivers." The rivers
are the Tigris and the
'^tTf^.r
^
Euphrates (yoof^-^ FRAY-teez),
muddy waterways flowing
through dry,
brown countryside. Around
7000 B.c., they
provided enough
water to allow
people to experiment with farming. Before that,
most lived as nomads, following
wild-animal herds for their food.
Using complex irrigation systems.
2 0 JUNI0RSCH0LASTIC/0CT0BERll,2010
the people of Mesopotamia grew
crops such as wheat and barley.
They also learned to domesticate
animals, including sheep and goats.
Their studies of the sun and stars
were among the earliest contributions to the science of astronomy.
But perhaps their most revolutionary innovation was the wheel.
An ox or a donkey hitched to a
wheeled cart could pull three times
the load of an animal hauling things
on its back. This allowed farming to
become much more productive.
Around 3500 B.C., Uruk, one of
the world's first city-states, was
established in Sumer (SOO-mur),
a region in southern Mesopotamia.
ZATION
A VANISHED WORLD
Lost History
Right: In this sculpture, Gilgamesh clutches a
captured lion. Belowfar left: A clay tablet
tallies sheep and goats in cuneiform. Below
left: Farmers lay mats over drying marshland.
With the development of civilization came the need for merchants,
artisans, scribes, and a host of specialized trades.
Soon, Uruk and other citystates were flourishing. People
began to trade crops, textiles, and
other goods, with trade eventually
spreading to nearby lands such as
Asia Minor (present-day Turkey)
and Iran.
Hammurabi's Code
To help them govern, Mesopotamian kings wrote the world's
first legal codes. In the 1700s B.C.,
Hammurabi, the King of Babylonia,
handed down the most famous of
these codes. It addressed many
legal matters familiar to us today,
including what to do about taxes.
debts, and false accusations.
Mesopotamians also came up
with the first known superheroes.
Gilgamesh (CIL-guh-mesh), one of
the most renowned, may have been
modeled after a real king of Uruk.
But the story passed down was a
fantastic tale in which its hero fearlessly conquered the natural world:
He is the furious ß)od-wave.
Who destroys even stone wails....
He opened the mountain passes.
He dug the well on the
mountain's flank.
Clearly, Gilgamesh had superhuman strength. But history does
not tell us if he could stick to walls
and ceilings as Spider-Man would do
millennia later. —Sean Stewart Price
Area of Sutner
around 3000 B c
Iraq, much of which was the
site of Mesopotamia, is
sometimes referred to as the
birthplace of history. Yet
history—especially the recent
past—is now a difficult topic.
In 2003, a U.S.-led invasion
toppled Iraq's dictator, Saddam
Hussein. "Some of the Iraqi
people call it Operation
Freedom," an Iraqi official told
The New York Times. "Some call
it an occupation. So we don't
address this subject."
Hussein's long, brutal reign
is also painful to recall. "If they
add him to the history [books]
in 35 years," an Iraqi high
school principal told the Times,
"that would be too soon. We
don't want to hear about him."
In an effort not to offend
differing Islamic factions,
many textbooks have been
condensed. One book, which
covers the 13th century to the
present day, is only 96 pages.
Much of the country's
ancient heritage has also
disappeared. After the war
began, Iraqis looted museums
and pillaged archaeological
sites. Countless priceless
artifacts were smuggled out of
the country to be sold.
As a scholar told The Chicago
Tribune, "We lost history."
JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC/OCTOBER 11, 2010
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