Mesopotamia – Wikipedia

diachronic region within the Tigris–Euphrates river system
“ The Two Rivers ” redirects here. For other uses, see Two Rivers
Mesopotamia ( ancient greek : Μεσοποταμία Mesopotamíā ; Arabic : بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن‎ Bilād ar-Rāfidayn ; authoritative Syriac : ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ‎, Ārām-Nahrīn or ܒܝܬ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, Bēṯ Nahrīn ) [ 1 ] is a diachronic region of westerly Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northerly region of the Fertile Crescent. Mesopotamia occupies most of contemporary Iraq and Kuwait. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] The diachronic region includes the oral sex of the Persian Gulf and parts of contemporary Iran, Syria, and Turkey. [ 5 ] [ 3 ]

The Sumerians and Akkadians ( including Assyrians and Babylonians ) dominated Mesopotamia from the begin of written history ( c. 3100 BC ) to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, when it was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC, and after his end, it became contribution of the Greek Seleucid Empire. Later the Arameans dominated major parts of Mesopotamia ( c. 900 BC – 270 AD ). [ 6 ] [ 7 ] Around 150 BC, Mesopotamia was under the control of the Parthian Empire. Mesopotamia became a battlefield between the Romans and Parthians, with western parts of Mesopotamia coming under ephemeron Roman control. In 226 AD, the eastern regions of Mesopotamia fell to the Sassanid Persians. The part of Mesopotamia between Roman ( Byzantine from 395 AD ) and Sassanid Empires lasted until the seventh hundred Muslim conquest of Persia of the Sasanian Empire and Muslim seduction of the Levant from Byzantines. A numeral of primarily neo-Assyrian and christian native Mesopotamian states existed between the first hundred BC and third hundred BC, including Adiabene, Osroene, and Hatra. Mesopotamia is the web site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. It has been identified as having “ inspire some of the most authoritative developments in homo history, including the invention of the wheel, the plant of the first cereal crops, and the development of longhand script, mathematics, astronomy, and agriculture “. It has been known as one of the earliest civilizations to ever exist in the worldly concern. [ 8 ]

etymology

The regional place name Mesopotamia (, Ancient Greek : Μεσοποταμία ‘ [ land ] between rivers ‘ ; Arabic : بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن‎ Bilād ar-Rāfidayn or بَيْن ٱلنَّهْرَيْن Bayn an-Nahrayn ; iranian : میان‌رودان‎ miyân rudân ; Syriac : ܒܝܬ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ‎ Beth Nahrain “ domain of rivers ” ) comes from the ancient greek ancestor words μέσος ( mesos, ‘middle ‘ ) and ποταμός ( potamos, ‘river ‘ ) [ 9 ] and translates to ‘ ( estate ) between rivers ‘. It is used throughout the greek Septuagint ( c. 250 BC ) to translate the Hebrew and Aramaic equivalent Naharaim. An even earlier greek use of the name Mesopotamia is discernible from The Anabasis of Alexander, which was written in the recently second hundred AD but specifically refers to sources from the time of Alexander the Great. In the Anabasis, Mesopotamia was used to designate the land east of the Euphrates in north Syria. The terminus Ārām Nahrīn ( classical Syriac : ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ‎ ) [ 10 ] ( Hebrew : ארם נהריים‎, Aram Naharayim ) [ 11 ] was used multiple times in the Old Testament of the Bible to describe “ Aram between the ( two ) rivers ”. [ 12 ] [ 13 ] [ 14 ] [ 15 ] The Aramaic term biritum/birit narim corresponded to a exchangeable geographic concept. [ 16 ] Later, the term Mesopotamia was more broadly applied to all the lands between the Euphrates and the Tigris, thereby incorporating not only parts of Syria but besides about all of Iraq and southeastern Turkey. [ 17 ] The neighbor steppes to the west of the Euphrates and the western character of the Zagros Mountains are besides much included under the wider condition Mesopotami a. [ 18 ] [ 19 ] [ 20 ] A far eminence is normally made between Northern or Upper Mesopotamia and Southern or Lower Mesopotamia. [ 4 ] Upper Mesopotamia, besides known as the Jazira, is the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris from their sources down to Baghdad. [ 18 ] Lower Mesopotamia is the area from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf and includes Kuwait and parts of western Iran. [ 4 ] In modern academic use, the term Mesopotamia much besides has a chronological intension. It is normally used to designate the area until the Muslim conquests, with names like Syria, Jazira, and Iraq being used to describe the region after that date. [ 17 ] [ 21 ] It has been argued that these late euphemisms [ clarification needed ] are eurocentric terms attributed to the region in the midst of diverse 19th-century western encroachments. [ 21 ] [ 22 ]

geography

Mesopotamia encompasses the domain between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, both of which have their headwaters in the Taurus Mountains. Both rivers are fed by numerous tributaries, and the integral river system drains a huge cragged region. Overland routes in Mesopotamia normally follow the Euphrates because the banks of the Tigris are frequently exorbitant and difficult. The climate of the area is semi-arid with a huge defect sweep in the north which gives direction to a 15,000-square-kilometre ( 5,800 sq nautical mile ) region of marshes, lagoons, mudflats, and reed banks in the south. In the extreme confederacy, the Euphrates and the Tigris unite and empty into the Persian Gulf. The arid environment ranges from the northern areas of rain-fed agriculture to the south where irrigation of department of agriculture is essential if a excess department of energy returned on department of energy invested ( EROEI ) is to be obtained. This irrigation is aided by a high water table and by melting snows from the senior high school peaks of the northern Zagros Mountains and from the armenian Highlands, the source of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that give the region its name. The utility of irrigation depends upon the ability to mobilize sufficient department of labor for the construction and alimony of canals, and this, from the earliest period, has assisted the exploitation of urban settlements and centralized systems of political authority. department of agriculture throughout the region has been supplemented by mobile pastoralism, where tent-dwelling nomads herded sheep and goats ( and former camels ) from the river pastures in the dry summer months, out into seasonal grazing lands on the desert periphery in the wet winter season. The area is generally lacking in building stone, cute metals, and timber, and so historically has relied upon long-distance barter of agricultural products to secure these items from outlying areas. In the marshlands to the south of the area, a complex water-borne fish culture has existed since prehistoric times and has added to the cultural mix. periodic breakdowns in the cultural system have occurred for a number of reasons. The demands for labor has from clock to time led to population increases that push the limits of the ecological carry capacity, and should a time period of climatic instability result, collapsing cardinal politics and declining populations can occur. alternatively, military vulnerability to invasion from bare mound tribes or mobile pastoralists has led to periods of deal crumble and neglect of irrigation systems. evenly, centripetal tendencies amongst city-states have meant that cardinal authority over the whole region, when imposed, has tended to be ephemeral, and sectionalism has fragmented world power into tribal or smaller regional units. [ 23 ] These trends have continued to the portray day in Iraq .

history

The prehistory of the Ancient Near East begins in the Lower Paleolithic period. Therein, writing emerged with a pictographic script in the Uruk IV period ( c. 4th millennium BC ), and the document record of actual historic events — and the ancient history of lower Mesopotamia — commenced in the mid-third millennium BC with wedge-shaped records of early dynastic kings. This stallion history ends with either the arrival of the Achaemenid Empire in the belated sixth century BC or with the Muslim seduction and the institution of the Caliphate in the former seventh century AD, from which point the region came to be known as Iraq. In the long span of this period, Mesopotamia housed some of the world ‘s most ancient highly developed, and socially building complex states. The region was one of the four riverine civilizations where write was invented, along with the Nile valley in Ancient Egypt, the Indus Valley Civilization in the indian subcontinent, and the Yellow River in Ancient China. Mesopotamia housed historically important cities such as Uruk, Nippur, Nineveh, Assur and Babylon, equally well as major territorial states such as the city of Eridu, the akkadian kingdoms, the Third Dynasty of Ur, and the versatile assyrian akkadian empires. Some of the significant historical Mesopotamian leaders were Ur-Nammu ( baron of Ur ), Sargon of Akkad ( who established the Akkadian Empire ), Hammurabi ( who established the Old Babylonian state of matter ), Ashur-uballit I and Tiglath-Pileser I ( who established the Assyrian Empire ). Scientists analysed deoxyribonucleic acid from the 8,000-year-old remains of early farmers found at an ancient cemetery in Germany. They compared the familial signatures to those of modern populations and found similarities with the deoxyribonucleic acid of people living in today ‘s Turkey and Iraq. [ 24 ]

Periodization

Overview function in the fifteenth century BC showing the kernel territory of Assyria with its two major cities Assur and Nineveh wedged between Babylonia downstream and the states of Mitanni and Hatti upstream .

terminology and write

One of the Nimrud ivories shows a lion eating a man. Neo-Assyrian period, 9th to 7th centuries BC. The earliest language written in Mesopotamia was Sumerian, an agglutinate speech isolate. Along with sumerian, semite languages were besides spoken in early Mesopotamia. [ 26 ] Subartuan, [ 27 ] a linguistic process of the Zagros possibly related to the Hurro-Urartuan language family, is attested in personal names, rivers and mountains and in assorted crafts. akkadian came to be the dominant speech during the Akkadian Empire and the assyrian empires, but Sumerian was retained for administrative, religious, literary and scientific purposes. Different varieties of akkadian were used until the conclusion of the Neo-Babylonian period. Old Aramaic, which had already become common in Mesopotamia, then became the official provincial administration speech of first the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and then the Achaemenid empire : the official lect is called Imperial Aramaic. Akkadian fell into neglect, but both it and sumerian were inactive used in temples for some centuries. The last akkadian text date from the late first century AD. early in Mesopotamia ‘s history ( around the mid-4th millennium BC ) cuneiform was invented for the sumerian lyric. Cuneiform literally means “ wedge-shaped ”, due to the trilateral tip of the stylus used for impressing signs on wet clay. The exchangeable form of each wedge-shaped sign appears to have been developed from pictograms. The earliest textbook ( 7 antediluvian tablets ) come from the É, a temple dedicated to the goddess Inanna at Uruk, from a building labeled as Temple C by its excavators. The early logogrammatic system of cuneiform script took many years to master. Thus, only a specify number of individuals were hired as scribes to be trained in its use. It was not until the widespread use of a syllabic script was adopted under Sargon ‘s rule [ 28 ] that significant portions of the Mesopotamian population became literate. massive archives of texts were recovered from the archaeological context of Old Babylonian scribal schools, through which literacy was disseminated. akkadian gradually supplant Sumerian as the talk lyric of Mesopotamia somewhere around the turn of the 3rd and the 2nd millennium BC ( the exact dating being a matter of debate ), [ 29 ] but sumerian continued to be used as a sacred, ceremonial, literary, and scientific linguistic process in Mesopotamia until the first century AD .

literature

Libraries were extant in towns and temples during the Babylonian Empire. An old sumerian proverb averred that “ he who would excel in the school of the scriber must rise with the click. ” Women american samoa good as men learned to read and write, [ 30 ] and for the Semitic Babylonians, this imply cognition of the extinct sumerian linguistic process, and a complicated and extensive syllabary. A considerable come of babylonian literature was translated from sumerian originals, and the speech of religion and jurisprudence long continued to be the previous agglutinate language of Sumer. Vocabularies, grammars, and interlinear translations were compiled for the use of students, deoxyadenosine monophosphate well as commentaries on the older text and explanations of apart words and phrases. The characters of the syllabary were all arranged and named, and complicate lists were drawn up. many Babylonian literary works are still studied today. One of the most celebrated of these was the Epic of Gilgamesh, in twelve books, translated from the original sumerian by a certain Sîn-lēqi-unninni, and arranged upon an astronomic principle. Each part contains the report of a single adventure in the career of Gilgamesh. The wholly report is a composite product, although it is probable that some of the stories are artificially attached to the cardinal number .

skill and engineering

Mathematics

Clay tablet, mathematical, geometric-algebraic, exchangeable to the Euclidean geometry. From Tell Harmal, Iraq. 2003-1595 BC. Iraq Museum Mesopotamian mathematics and science was based on a sexagesimal ( base 60 ) numeral organization. This is the source of the 60-minute hour, the 24-hour day, and the 360- degree circle. The sumerian calendar was lunisolar, with three weeklong weeks of a lunar calendar month. This form of mathematics was instrumental in early map-making. The Babylonians besides had theorems on how to measure the area of several shapes and solids. They measured the circumference of a traffic circle as three times the diameter and the area as one-twelfth the squarely of the circumference, which would be correct if π were fixed at 3. The volume of a cylinder was taken as the merchandise of the area of the establish and the height ; however, the bulk of the frustum of a cone or a square pyramid was falsely taken as the merchandise of the acme and half the sum of the bases. besides, there was a recent discovery in which a tablet used π as 25/8 ( 3.125 rather of 3.14159~ ). The Babylonians are besides known for the Babylonian mile, which was a measure of distance peer to approximately seven modern miles ( 11 kilometer ). This measurement for distances finally was converted to a time-mile used for measuring the change of location of the Sun, consequently, representing time. [ 31 ]

astronomy

From sumerian times, temple priesthoods had attempted to associate stream events with sealed positions of the planets and stars. This continued to Assyrian times, when Limmu lists were created as a year by class association of events with erratic positions, which, when they have survived to the present day, allow accurate associations of relative with absolute dating for establishing the history of Mesopotamia. The babylonian astronomers were very adept at mathematics and could predict eclipses and solstices. Scholars thought that everything had some aim in astronomy. Most of these related to religion and omens. Mesopotamian astronomers worked out a 12-month calendar based on the cycles of the moon. They divided the year into two seasons : summer and winter. The origins of astronomy adenine well as astrology date from this clock. During the 8th and 7th centuries BC, Babylonian astronomers developed a new approach to astronomy. They began studying doctrine dealing with the ideal nature of the early on universe and began employing an internal logic within their predictive planetal systems. This was an significant contribution to astronomy and the philosophy of skill and some scholars have thus referred to this new approach as the first scientific revolution. [ 32 ] This modern approach to astronomy was adopted and further developed in Greek and Hellenistic astronomy. In Seleucid and Parthian times, the astronomic reports were thoroughly scientific ; how much earlier their promote cognition and methods were developed is uncertain. The babylonian development of methods for predicting the motions of the planets is considered to be a major episode in the history of astronomy. The entirely Greek-Babylonian astronomer known to have supported a heliocentric model of global motion was Seleucus of Seleucia ( bel. 190 BC ). [ 33 ] [ 34 ] [ 35 ] Seleucus is known from the writings of Plutarch. He supported Aristarchus of Samos ‘ heliocentric hypothesis where the Earth rotated around its own axis which in turn revolved around the Sun. According to Plutarch, Seleucus even proved the heliocentric system, but it is not known what arguments he used ( except that he correctly theorized on tides as a consequence of Moon ‘s attraction ). babylonian astronomy served as the basis for much of Greek, authoritative indian, Sassanian, Byzantine, Syrian, medieval Islamic, Central Asian, and westerly european astronomy. [ 36 ]

music

The oldest babylonian text on medicine go steady back to the Old babylonian period in the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. The most across-the-board Babylonian medical text, however, is the Diagnostic Handbook written by the ummânū, or foreman scholar, Esagil-kin-apli of Borsippa, [ 37 ] during the reign of the babylonian king Adad-apla-iddina ( 1069-1046 BC ). [ 38 ] Along with contemporary egyptian medicine, the Babylonians introduced the concepts of diagnosis, prognosis, physical examination, enema, [ 39 ] and prescriptions. In addition, the Diagnostic Handbook introduced the methods of therapy and etiology and the use of empiricism, logic, and rationality in diagnosis, prognosis and therapy. The text contains a list of aesculapian symptoms and much detailed empirical observations along with legitimate rules used in combining note symptoms on the body of a affected role with its diagnosis and prognosis. [ 40 ] The symptoms and diseases of a patient were treated through therapeutic means such as bandages, creams and pills. If a patient could not be cured physically, the babylonian physicians often relied on exorcism to cleanse the patient from any curses. Esagil-kin-apli ‘s Diagnostic Handbook was based on a legitimate set of axioms and assumptions, including the modern watch that through the examination and inspection of the symptoms of a affected role, it is possible to determine the patient ‘s disease, its etiology, its future growth, and the chances of the affected role ‘s recovery. [ 37 ] Esagil-kin-apli discovered a variety of illnesses and diseases and described their symptoms in his Diagnostic Handbook. These include the symptoms for many varieties of epilepsy and relate ailments along with their diagnosis and prognosis. [ 41 ]

engineering

Mesopotamian people invented many technologies including alloy and copper-working, glass and lamp devising, fabric weave, flood control, water repositing, and irrigation. They were besides one of the foremost Bronze Age societies in the universe. They developed from copper, tan, and gold on to iron. Palaces were decorated with hundreds of kilograms of these identical expensive metals. besides, bull, bronze, and iron were used for armor angstrom well as for different weapons such as swords, daggers, spears, and maces. According to a late hypothesis, the Archimedes ‘ prison guard may have been used by Sennacherib, King of Assyria, for the urine systems at the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and Nineveh in the seventh hundred BC, although mainstream scholarship holds it to be a greek invention of late times. [ 42 ] Later, during the Parthian or Sasanian periods, the Baghdad Battery, which may have been the global ‘s first gear battery, was created in Mesopotamia. [ 43 ]

religion and doctrine

The Ancient Mesopotamian religion was the first recorded. Mesopotamians believed that the world was a flat phonograph record, [ 44 ] surrounded by a huge, holed outer space, and above that, eden. They besides believed that urine was everywhere, the crown, bottom and sides, and that the universe was born from this enormous sea. In addition, Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic. Although the beliefs described above were held in common among Mesopotamians, there were besides regional variations. The sumerian word for universe is an-ki, which refers to the deity An and the goddess Ki. [ citation needed ] Their son was Enlil, the air god. They believed that Enlil was the most knock-down god. He was the headman deity of the pantheon .

doctrine

The numerous civilizations of the area influenced the Abrahamic religions, particularly the Hebrew Bible ; its cultural values and literary charm are particularly discernible in the Book of Genesis. [ 45 ] Giorgio Buccellati believes that the origins of doctrine can be traced back to early Mesopotamian wisdom, which embodied certain philosophies of life, particularly ethics, in the forms of dialectic, dialogues, epic poetry, folklore, hymn, lyrics, prose works, and proverbs. babylonian reason and rationality developed beyond empiric observation. [ 46 ] The earliest phase of logic was developed by the Babylonians, notably in the rigorous nonergodic nature of their social systems. babylonian think was axiomatic and is comparable to the “ ordinary logic ” described by John Maynard Keynes. babylonian think was besides based on an open-systems ontology which is compatible with ergodic axioms. [ 47 ] Logic was employed to some extent in babylonian astronomy and medicine. babylonian thinking had a considerable influence on early Ancient Greek and Hellenistic philosophy. In especial, the Babylonian text Dialogue of Pessimism contains similarities to the agonistic think of the Sophists, the Heraclitean doctrine of dialectic, and the dialogs of Plato, a well as a harbinger to the Socratic method. [ 48 ] The ionian philosopher Thales was influenced by babylonian cosmologic ideas .

culture

Festivals

ancient Mesopotamians had ceremonies each month. The subject of the rituals and festivals for each month was determined by at least six important factors :

1. The Lunar phase (a waxing moon meant abundance and growth, while a waning moon was associated with decline, conservation, and festivals of the Underworld)
2. The phase of the annual agricultural cycle
3. Equinoxes and solstices
4. The local mythos and its divine Patrons
5. The success of the reigning Monarch
6. The Akitu, or New Year Festival (first full moon after spring equinox)
7. Commemoration of specific historical events (founding, military victories, temple holidays, etc.)

music

Some songs were written for the gods but many were written to describe important events. Although music and songs amused kings, they were besides enjoyed by ordinary people who liked to sing and dance in their homes or in the marketplaces. Songs were sung to children who passed them on to their children. thus songs were passed on through many generations as an oral tradition until writing was more universal. These songs provided a mean of passing on through the centuries highly authoritative information about historical events. The Oud ( Arabic : العود ) is a modest, string musical instrument used by the Mesopotamians. The oldest pictorial commemorate of the Oud dates back to the Uruk period in Southern Mesopotamia over 5000 years ago. It is on a cylinder seal presently housed at the british Museum and acquired by Dr. Dominique Collon. The image depicts a female crouch with her instruments upon a boat, playing dextrorotary. This instrument appears hundreds of times throughout Mesopotamian history and again in ancient Egypt from the 18th dynasty onwards in long- and short-neck varieties. The oud is regarded as a precursor to the European lute. Its identify is derived from the Arabic son العود al- ‘ ūd ‘the wood ‘, which is probably the name of the tree from which the oud was made. ( The Arabic diagnose, with the definite article, is the reference of the discussion ‘lute ‘. )

Games

Hunting was popular among assyrian kings. Boxing and wrestling feature frequently in artwork, and some form of polo was credibly popular, with men sitting on the shoulders of other men quite than on horses. [ 49 ] They besides played majore, a game similar to the sport rugby, but played with a ball made of wood. They besides played a board game exchangeable to senet and backgammon, now known as the “ Royal Game of Ur “ .

class life

The Babylonian marriage market by the 19th-century painter by the 19th-century painter Edwin Long Mesopotamia, as shown by consecutive law codes, those of Urukagina, Lipit Ishtar and Hammurabi, across its history became more and more a patriarchal society, one in which the men were far more brawny than the women. For model, during the earliest sumerian period, the “en”, or high priest of male gods was originally a woman, that of female goddesses, a man. Thorkild Jacobsen, ampere well as many others, has suggested that early Mesopotamian society was ruled by a “ council of elders ” in which men and women were evenly represented, but that over prison term, as the condition of women fell, that of men increased. As for school, only royal young and sons of the full-bodied and professionals, such as scribes, physicians, temple administrators, went to school. Most boys were taught their don ‘s deal or were apprenticed out to learn a deal. [ 50 ] Girls had to stay home plate with their mothers to learn housekeep and cook, and to look after the younger children. Some children would help with crushing texture or clean birds. unusually for that time in history, women in Mesopotamia had rights. They could own property and, if they had good cause, get a divorce. [ 51 ] : 78–79

Burials

Hundreds of graves have been excavated in parts of Mesopotamia, revealing data about Mesopotamian burial habits. In the city of Ur, most people were buried in family graves under their houses, along with some possessions. A few have been found wrapped in mats and carpets. Deceased children were put in big “ jars ” which were placed in the class chapel. early remains have been found buried in park city graveyards. 17 graves have been found with very cute objects in them. It is assumed that these were royal graves. Rich of versatile periods, have been discovered to have sought burying in Bahrein, identified with sumerian Dilmun. [ 52 ]

economy

sumerian temples functioned as banks and developed the first large-scale system of loans and credit, but the Babylonians developed the earliest system of commercial bank. It was comparable in some ways to modern post-Keynesian economics, but with a more “ anything goes ” approach. [ 47 ]

department of agriculture

Irrigated department of agriculture ranch southwards from the Zagros foothills with the Samara and Hadji Muhammed culture, from about 5,000 BC. [ 53 ] In the early period down to Ur III temples owned up to one third of the available land, declining over time as royal and other secret holdings increased in frequency. The password Ensi was used to describe the official who organized the work of all facets of temple agribusiness. Villeins are known to have worked most frequently within agriculture, specially in the grounds of temples or palaces. [ 54 ] The geography of southerly Mesopotamia is such that agribusiness is possible only with irrigation and with dependable drain, a fact which had a profound effect on the evolution of early Mesopotamian refinement. The motivation for irrigation led the Sumerians, and later the Akkadians, to build their cities along the Tigris and Euphrates and the branches of these rivers. major cities, such as Ur and Uruk, took beginning on tributaries of the Euphrates, while others, notably Lagash, were built on branches of the Tigris. The rivers provided the further benefits of fish ( used both for food and fertilizer ), reeds, and cadaver ( for construct materials ). With irrigation, the food provision in Mesopotamia was comparable to that of the canadian prairies. [ 55 ] The Tigris and Euphrates River valleys form the northeastern parcel of the Fertile Crescent, which besides included the Jordan River valley and that of the Nile. Although land approximate to the rivers was fat and good for crops, portions of estate farther from the water were dry and largely uninhabitable. Thus the development of irrigation became very crucial for settlers of Mesopotamia. other Mesopotamian innovations include the manipulate of urine by dams and the function of aqueducts. early settlers of prolific estate in Mesopotamia used wooden plows to soften the soil before planting crops such as barley, onions, grapes, turnips, and apples. Mesopotamian settlers were some of the beginning people to make beer and wine. As a result of the skill involved in farming in the Mesopotamian region, farmers did not generally depend on slaves to complete grow work for them, but there were some exceptions. There were excessively many risks involved to make slavery virtual ( i.e. the escape/mutiny of the slaves ). Although the rivers sustained life, they besides destroyed it by frequent floods that ravaged entire cities. The unpredictable Mesopotamian weather was often hard on farmers ; crops were often ruined then backup sources of food such as cows and lambs were besides kept. Over meter the southernmost parts of sumerian Mesopotamia suffered from increased brininess of the soils, leading to a slow urban decline and a center of power in Akkad, far north .

Trade

Mesopotamian trade with the Indus Valley refinement flourished a early on as the third base millennium BC. [ 56 ] Starting in the 4th millennium BC, Mesopotamian civilizations besides traded with ancient Egypt ( see Egypt–Mesopotamia relations ). [ 57 ] [ 58 ] For much of history, Mesopotamia served as a trade wind nexus – east-west between Central Asia and the Mediterranean world [ 59 ] ( separate of the Silk Road ), angstrom well as north–south between the Eastern Europe and Baghdad ( Volga trade route ). Vasco da Gama ‘s pioneer ( 1497-1499 ) of the sea route between India and Europe and the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 impacted on this link. [ 60 ] [ 61 ]

government

The geography of Mesopotamia had a profound affect on the political development of the region. Among the rivers and streams, the sumerian people built the first cities along with irrigation canals which were separated by huge stretches of open desert or swamp where mobile tribe roamed. communication among the isolated cities was unmanageable and, at times, dangerous. therefore, each sumerian city became a city state, independent of the others and protective of its independence. At times one city would try to conquer and unify the area, but such efforts were resisted and failed for centuries. As a result, the political history of Sumer is one of about constant war. finally Sumer was unified by Eannatum, but the union was flimsy and failed to end as the Akkadians conquered Sumer in 2331 BC only a generation by and by. The akkadian Empire was the first successful empire to last beyond a generation and see the passive succession of kings. The empire was relatively ephemeral, as the Babylonians conquered them within alone a few generations .

Kings

The Mesopotamians believed their kings and queens were descended from the City of Gods, but, unlike the ancient Egyptians, they never believed their kings were real gods. [ 62 ] Most kings named themselves “ king of the universe ” or “ bang-up king ”. Another common name was “ sheepherder “, as kings had to look after their people .

power

When Assyria grew into an empire, it was divided into smaller parts, called provinces. Each of these were named after their chief cities, like Nineveh, Samaria, Damascus, and Arpad. They all had their own governor who had to make sure everyone paid their taxes. Governors besides had to call up soldiers to war and supply workers when a synagogue was built. He was besides responsible for enforcing the laws. In this way, it was easier to keep control of a bombastic empire. Although Babylon was quite a little express in Sumer, it grew enormously throughout the time of Hammurabi ‘s rule. He was known as “ the lawgiver ” and created the Code of Hammurabi, and soon Babylon became one of the chief cities in Mesopotamia. It was late called Babylonia, which meant “ the gateway of the gods. ” It besides became one of history ‘s greatest centers of memorize .

war

Ram in a Thicket found in the Royal Cemetery in One of two figures of thefound in the Royal Cemetery in Ur, 2600–2400 BC With the end of the Uruk phase, walled cities grew and many isolated Ubaid villages were abandoned indicating a arise in communal violence. An early king Lugalbanda was supposed to have built the white walls around the city. As city-states began to grow, their spheres of influence overlapped, creating arguments between early city-states, specially over land and canals. These arguments were recorded in tablets respective hundreds of years before any major war—the inaugural recording of a war occurred around 3200 BC but was not common until about 2500 BC. An early Dynastic II king ( Ensi ) of Uruk in Sumer, Gilgamesh ( c. 2600 BC ), was commended for military exploits against Humbaba defender of the Cedar Mountain, and was late celebrated in many late poems and songs in which he was claimed to be two-thirds god and only one-third human. The late Stele of the Vultures at the end of the Early Dynastic III period ( 2600–2350 BC ), commemorating the victory of Eannatum of Lagash over the neighbor equal city of Umma is the oldest repository in the world that celebrates a slaughter. [ 63 ] From this detail forwards, war was incorporated into the Mesopotamian political system. At times a neutral city may act as an arbiter for the two equal cities. This helped to form unions between cities, leading to regional states. [ 62 ] When empires were created, they went to war more with foreign countries. King Sargon, for case, conquered all the cities of Sumer, some cities in Mari, and then went to war with northern Syria. many assyrian neo-aramaic and babylonian palace walls were decorated with the pictures of the successful fights and the enemy either urgently escaping or hiding amongst reeds .

Laws

City-states of Mesopotamia created the first law codes, draw from legal precession and decisions made by kings. The codes of Urukagina and Lipit Ishtar have been found. The most celebrated of these was that of Hammurabi, as mentioned above, who was posthumously celebrated for his dress of laws, the Code of Hammurabi ( created c. 1780 BC ), which is one of the earliest sets of laws found and one of the best keep examples of this character of document from ancient Mesopotamia. He codified over 200 laws for Mesopotamia. interrogation of the laws show a progressive sabotage of the rights of women, and increasing asperity in the discussion of slaves. [ 64 ]

artwork

“ match of Basket-Shaped Hair Ornaments ”, c. 2000 BC. The art of Mesopotamia rivalled that of Ancient Egypt as the most fantastic, sophisticated and detailed in western Eurasia from the 4th millennium BC until the Persian Achaemenid Empire conquered the region in the sixth hundred BC. The main stress was on respective, very durable, forms of sculpt in stone and cadaver ; small paint has survived, but what has suggests that painting was chiefly used for geometric and plant-based cosmetic schemes, though most sculpture was besides painted. The Protoliterate period, dominated by Uruk, saw the production of sophisticate works like the Warka Vase and cylinder seals. The Guennol Lioness is an great little limestone figure from Elam of about 3000–2800 BC, region man and function lion. [ 65 ] A little belated there are a number of figures of large-eyed priests and worshippers, largely in alabaster and up to a foot high, who attended temple cult images of the deity, but identical few of these have survived. [ 66 ] Sculptures from the sumerian and akkadian menstruation by and large had big, staring eyes, and long beards on the men. many masterpieces have besides been found at the Royal Cemetery at Ur ( c. 2650 BC ), including the two figures of a Ram in a Thicket, the Copper Bull and a bull ‘s point on one of the Lyres of Ur. [ 67 ] From the many subsequent periods before the dominance of the Neo-Assyrian Empire Mesopotamian art survives in a count of forms : cylinder seals, relatively modest figures in the polish, and reliefs of respective sizes, including bum plaques of cast pottery for the home, some religious and some obviously not. [ 68 ] The Burney Relief is an unusual complicate and relatively large ( 20 adam 15 inches ) terracotta plaque of a naked fly goddess with the feet of a bird of prey, and attendant owl and lions. It comes from the 18th or 19th centuries BC, and may besides be moulded. [ 69 ] Stone stele, votive offerings, or ones probably commemorating victories and showing feasts, are besides found from temples, which unlike more official ones lack inscriptions that would explain them ; [ 70 ] the fragmental Stele of the Vultures is an early case of the scratch type, [ 71 ] and the assyrian Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III a large and solid belated matchless. [ 72 ] The conquest of the whole of Mesopotamia and much surrounding territory by the Assyrians created a larger and wealthier country than the region had known earlier, and very grandiose artwork in palaces and public places, no doubt partially intended to match the luster of the artwork of the neighbor egyptian conglomerate. The Assyrians developed a stylus of highly large schemes of very finely detail narrative low reliefs in stone for palaces, with scenes of war or hound ; the british Museum has an great collection. They produced identical small sculpture in the round, except for colossal defender figures, often the human-headed lamassu, which are sculpted in high easing on two sides of a orthogonal blockage, with the heads efficaciously in the turn ( and besides five legs, so that both views seem dispatch ). even before dominating the area they had continued the cylinder seal custom with designs which are frequently exceptionally energetic and refined. [ 73 ]

architecture

A suggest reconstruction of the appearance of a sumerian ziggurat The discipline of ancient Mesopotamian computer architecture is based on available archaeological evidence, graphic representation of buildings, and text on build up practices. scholarly literature normally concentrates on temples, palaces, city walls and gates, and other monumental buildings, but occasionally one finds works on residential computer architecture adenine well. [ 74 ] Archaeological come on surveys besides allowed for the discipline of urban form in early Mesopotamian cities. Brick is the dominant material, as the material was freely available locally, whereas build stone had to be brought a considerable distance to most cities. [ 75 ] The ziggurat is the most classifiable form, and cities much had large gateways, of which the Ishtar Gate from Neo-Babylonian Babylon, decorated with beasts in polychromatic brick, is the most celebrated, now largely in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. The most noteworthy architectural remains from early Mesopotamia are the temple complexes at Uruk from the 4th millennium BC, temples and palaces from the early Dynastic period sites in the Diyala River valley such as Khafajah and Tell Asmar, the Third Dynasty of Ur remains at Nippur ( Sanctuary of Enlil ) and Ur ( Sanctuary of Nanna ), Middle Bronze Age remains at Syrian-Turkish sites of Ebla, Mari, Alalakh, Aleppo and Kultepe, Late Bronze Age palaces at Hattusa, Ugarit, Ashur and Nuzi, Iron Age palaces and temples at Assyrian ( Kalhu /Nimrud, Khorsabad, Nineveh ), Babylonian ( Babylon ), Urartian ( Tushpa /Van, Kalesi, Cavustepe, Ayanis, Armavir, Erebuni, Bastam ) and Neo-Hittite sites ( Karkamis, Tell Halaf, Karatepe ). Houses are by and large known from Old babylonian remains at Nippur and Ur. Among the textual sources on construction construction and associated rituals are Gudea ‘s cylinders from the late 3rd millennium are celebrated, equally well as the Assyrian and Babylonian royal inscriptions from the Iron Age .

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References

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