Image Credit - slideshare
Did you know that Mesopotamia is often referred to as the “Cradle of Civilization”? Yes! It was in Mesopotamia that people first began to gather in large cities, established governments, and even learned to write! In other words, it was in Mesopotamia, that humans first formed civilizations. Let’s study the Mesopotamian Civilization today!
Geography:
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| Image Credit - quora |
Mesopotamia closes in the land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Both these rivers have their headwaters in the Taurus Mountains. The word Mesopotamia actually has the meaning “the land between rivers”. This land is located mostly in the country of Iraq today. There are certain portions that are present in Southwestern Iran, Southeastern Turkey, and also in Northeastern Syria.
Both the rivers, Euphrates and the Tigris, drain a large mountainous region. The climate of this entire region is actually kind of semi-arid. The Tigris and Euphrates unite and they together empty out into the Persian Gulf.
Some Interesting Facts About Mesopotamian Civilization:
Both the rivers, Euphrates and the Tigris, drain a large mountainous region. The climate of this entire region is actually kind of semi-arid. The Tigris and Euphrates unite and they together empty out into the Persian Gulf.
Some Interesting Facts About Mesopotamian Civilization:
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| Image Credit - ancientcivilizationsworld |
- The Euphrates and the Tigris rivers are both over 1000 miles long
- The Sumerians are widely credited for the invention of the ‘Wheel’.
- The Babylonian law, written by King Hammurabi, “Code of Hammurabi”, could be the oldest recorded written law in the whole world.
- At the center of every major city, during the Mesopotamian Civilization, there were temples to the city’s god named ‘Ziggurat’.
- Most of the buildings, most of the structures, and most of the walls are made up of sun-dried bricks. But these bricks didn’t last long and that’s why very few ancient Mesopotamian cities still stand.
History:
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| Image Credit - britannica |
The ancient history of Mesopotamia commenced in the mid of the third millennium BC with records of early dynasty kings. The Mesopotamian region was one of the four regions where writing was invented and evolved, along with the Indus Valley Civilization in the Indian subcontinent, the Yellow River in ancient China, and the Nile Valley in Ancient Egypt.
Some of the important Mesopotamian historical leaders were Ashur-uballit II and Tiglath-Pileser I (who established the Assyrian Empire), Sargod of Akkad (who established the Akkadian Empire), Hammurabi (who established the old Babylonian State), and Ur-Nammu (king of Ur).
Scientists found similarities with the DNA of the people who are living in today’s Iraq and Turkey when they compared it to the DNA found in the 8000-year-old remains of early farmers found at an ancient graveyard in Germany. The Mesopotamian Civilization housed some of the world’s most ancient socially complex and highly developed states.
Language and Literature:
The earliest language that was written in the Mesopotamian Civilization was Sumerian, which is an agglutinative language isolate. Apart from Sumerian, Semitic Languages were also believed to be spoken in the early Mesopotamian Civilization.
Cuneiform was invented for the early Sumerian Language in the early history of Mesopotamia i.e., around the 4th millennium BC. Cuneiform actually means ‘wedge-shaped’, because of the triangle-shaped tip of the stylus which is used for impressing signs and symbols on wet clay.
The early Logographic system of cuneiform scripting took many years to master. Hence, only a limited number of individuals were and trained for its use. They were called scribes. Literacy disseminated through the massive archives of texts that were recovered from the archaeological context of old Babylonian Scribal schools.
An old Sumerian proverb stated that “he who would excel in the school of the scribes must rise with the dawn”. Men, as well as women, learned to write and read, for the Semitic Babylonians, which involved knowledge of the extinct ancient Sumerian language, and a complicated and extensive syllabary.
Conclusion:
Early settlers in Mesopotamia began to gather together in small towns and villages. And as they learned to irrigate land and also to grow crops on farms, these towns and villages began to grow bigger. And eventually, these towns became large cities. Thus the first ‘Human Civilization’ was formed.
Mesopotamia, interestingly, housed some of the important ancient cities such as Babylon, Nippur, Assur, Uruk, Nineveh, the Akkadian kingdoms, various Assyrian empires, and the Third Dynasty of Ur.
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| Image Credit - coolaboo |
Some of the important Mesopotamian historical leaders were Ashur-uballit II and Tiglath-Pileser I (who established the Assyrian Empire), Sargod of Akkad (who established the Akkadian Empire), Hammurabi (who established the old Babylonian State), and Ur-Nammu (king of Ur).
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| Image Credit - brewminate |
Scientists found similarities with the DNA of the people who are living in today’s Iraq and Turkey when they compared it to the DNA found in the 8000-year-old remains of early farmers found at an ancient graveyard in Germany. The Mesopotamian Civilization housed some of the world’s most ancient socially complex and highly developed states.
Language and Literature:
 |
| Image Credit - coolaboo |
The earliest language that was written in the Mesopotamian Civilization was Sumerian, which is an agglutinative language isolate. Apart from Sumerian, Semitic Languages were also believed to be spoken in the early Mesopotamian Civilization.
Cuneiform was invented for the early Sumerian Language in the early history of Mesopotamia i.e., around the 4th millennium BC. Cuneiform actually means ‘wedge-shaped’, because of the triangle-shaped tip of the stylus which is used for impressing signs and symbols on wet clay.
The early Logographic system of cuneiform scripting took many years to master. Hence, only a limited number of individuals were and trained for its use. They were called scribes. Literacy disseminated through the massive archives of texts that were recovered from the archaeological context of old Babylonian Scribal schools.
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| Image Credit - flickr |
An old Sumerian proverb stated that “he who would excel in the school of the scribes must rise with the dawn”. Men, as well as women, learned to write and read, for the Semitic Babylonians, which involved knowledge of the extinct ancient Sumerian language, and a complicated and extensive syllabary.
Conclusion:
Early settlers in Mesopotamia began to gather together in small towns and villages. And as they learned to irrigate land and also to grow crops on farms, these towns and villages began to grow bigger. And eventually, these towns became large cities. Thus the first ‘Human Civilization’ was formed.
Written By - Daniel Deepak Charles
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