When was mesopotamia created

The composition ends by stating that this story and its message presumably the importance of kingship to the maintenance of order should be preserved for future generations and pondered by those who are wise and knowledgeable. It should also be used by parents and teachers to instruct so that the land may flourish and its inhabitants prosper. First to be created are the cities, Eridu and Babylon, and the temple Esagil is founded.

Then the earth is created by heaping dirt upon a raft in the primeval waters. Humankind, wild animals, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the marshlands and canebrake, vegetation, and domesticated animals follow.

Finally, palm groves and forests appear. Just before the composition becomes fragmentary and breaks off, Marduk is said to create the city of Nippur and its temple, the Ekur, and the city of Uruk, with its temple Eanna.

This account begins after heaven was separated from earth, and features of the earth such as the Tigris, Euphrates, and canals established. At that time, the god Enlil addressed the gods asking what should next be accomplished. The answer was to create humans by killing Alla-gods and creating humans from their blood. Spar, Ira. Black, J. Cunningham, E. Robson, and G. Oxford: , — Foster, Benjamin R. Bethesda, Md. Jacobsen, Thorkild. New Haven: Yale University Press, Jacobsen, Thorkild, trans.

The Harps That Once. Lambert, W. Geller and Mineke Schipper, pp. IJS Studies in Judaica Leiden: Brill, Oxford: Clarendon Press, Visiting The Met? Citation Spar, Ira. Mesopotamian Deities The Akkadian Period ca.

This means that the region is very short of useful minerals such as stone for building, precious metals and timber. This had the effect of stimulating trade with neighboring regions, and beyond. Later, Mesopotamian merchants ventured further afield, with trading contacts being developed with peoples in Syria and Asia Minor in the west, and in Iran and the Indus civilization , in the east.

With the coming of the Bronze Age, in about BCE, an added incentive to trade was the desire to acquire the copper and tin needed to make this valuable metal. Once Mesopotamian states started to equip their soldiers with bronze armor and weapons, this hunger intensified. However, these minerals are only found in widely scattered locations, so the search for them involved developing long distance trade routes.

Trade caravans of donkeys — camels were only domesticated after BCE were organized by specialist agents, to whom merchants entrusted their goods. Overland transport was by oxen. Most bulk goods such as the timbers brought from as far away as Lebanon was transported by river.

Sea-going ships were also used, with trading voyages being made to the ports of northern India. Metal coinage would not come into use until much later, but trade was based on a regulated system of exchange — a given amount of seed would be worth so many ounces of silver, for example.

These relative values were enshrined in the law codes. Temples acted as banks, with merchants and landowners acting as lenders. Temples also made loans on their own account. If the debt was repaid before the due date, no interest was levied.

The ancient Mesopotamians lived in cities, which formed the core of the city-states. These cities were surrounded by numerous satellite villages, and in the case of the larger cities, smaller towns were also under their authority. Estimates for the size of Mesopotamian cities vary wildly. However, a typical city may have housed 20, people, and a larger one 50, Once it became the chief city of southern Mesopotamia, Babylon could have had a population of as much as , The typical Mesopotamian city was built around the temple, a monumental structure sitting at the center of a complex of granaries, storehouses and other administrative buildings.

From the mid-second millennium onwards, a monumental royal palace would also stand nearby, sometimes rivaling the temple in magnificence. One or more wide streets connected the central area to the city gates. Away from these public spaces, the large homes of the elite and the squat mud dwellings of the common people crowded together, interspersed by narrow passages down which even pack animals could not pass. The stench must have been appalling, as most people had no means of disposing of their waste apart from into the street.

No wonder the better-off houses had all their windows facing inwards, onto their courtyards! The larger cities followed the above pattern except that they were composed of several districts, each one centered on its own temple whose god was subordinate to the patron god of the city. The city proper would be enclosed by a stout mud or baked brick wall, pierced by guarded gates. Just outside these gates were probably reed huts of those unable to afford to live inside the walls. The remains of such structures have long since perished, but carvings depict them, and many people in modern Iraq live in similar houses.

Reconstruction of the avenue leading to the Ishtar Gate, Babylon Pergamum museum, Berlin; photo: gryffindor.

Either joined to the main town, or a little distance from it, were the quays of the river or sea port. Around the harbor were the homes of foreign traders, who would not have been allowed to live in the city itself.

Surrounding this built up area was the territory ruled from the city. Nearest the city were the irrigated farms and meadows. Dense villages of closely-packed mud huts dotted this countryside, and every now and then the large courtyard-style house of a wealthy landowner. Beyond the fertile farmland would be the grassland where shepherds and nomads grazed their sheep and goat; and beyond this, the desert. Most of the population in ancient Mesopotamia were farmers, working small plots of land.

Above them stood a very small elite group made up of the ruling classes — kings, courtiers, officials, priests and soldiers. Merchants and craftsmen also held a high position in society. The elite was greatly restricted in size by the difficulty, length of time and expense it took to acquire literacy and numeracy.

The cuneiform script had hundreds of symbols to master, which took long years of hard schooling — and one can be sure that access to such schooling was available only to the children of elite families. In any case, the vast majority of ordinary folk needed their children to be contributing to the family income as soon as they were able, and not spending time in education. All this would have given the members of the literati a huge amount of authority over the rest of the population.

Only through exercising the skills of literacy and numeracy could the large bodies of people be organized. Very probably literacy was seen as a mysterious and sacred skill, conferring high status on those who possessed it. In early Mesopotamia, members of this elite group would have been supported by temple revenues. Later still, as kings gave away landed estates, or as wealthy individuals were able to purchase them, the topmost levels of Mesopotamian society would have come to form an hereditary landed aristocracy.

Near the bottom of society was an underclass of landless laborers and beggars. These had only restricted rights as citizens; and right at the bottom was a class of slaves, who had very few rights. They could be bought and sold like other property. They had either been war captives, or had fallen into slavery through debt, or had been born into slavery. They worked as household servants, as workers in workshops, and in other menial roles.

However, they could acquire property, and even own other slaves. They also had the right to buy their freedom, if they were able. Most marriages were monogamous, though concubines were fairly frequent, especially in wealthy families, and more especially where the wife was unable to have children.

They had rights and duties as citizens, they could act as witnesses in court, and they could own property. A father could will his inheritance to any of his children, but generally daughters received an equal share with their brothers.

Numerous technological advances can be attributed to the Mesopotamians: irrigation, the plough, the sail, clay bricks, the potters wheel, metal-working including metal armor and weaponry , writing, accounting, filing, glass and lamp making, weaving and much more. They also developed an impressive body of scientific knowledge through close observation of the natural world. Exhaustive lists of animals, plants and minerals have come down to us, as well as lists of Geographical features — rivers, mountains, cities and peoples.

Plans of cities have been discovered, the most complete one being of Nippur, which matches the maps made by archaeologists. The Mesopotamians also showed a practical grasp of chemical processes in many fields, for example in the preparation of recipes and pigments, and the manufacture of colored glass.

Mesopotamian science was particularly fruitful in three areas, mathematics, astronomy and medicine. The Mesopotamians developed mathematics to a more advanced level than any contemporary people, and in so doing laid many of the foundations for modern mathematics.

Mesopotamian scribes produced detailed mathematical tables, as well as texts posing advanced mathematical problems. From these we know that they developed a number system based on base 60, which has given us the minute hour, the hour day, and the degree circle. The Sumerian calendar was based on the seven-day week.

Their number system, alone in the ancient world, had a place-marker to denote values, as in modern mathematics as in 3, when the number 3 represents 3,, , 30 and 3 respectively. They developed theorems on how to measure the area of several shapes and solids, and came close to an accurate measure of the circumference of circles.

They fully understood square roots and cube roots. This knowledge was not just theoretical. It was applied to the design and construction of large buildings, long aqueducts and other ambitious engineering projects.

A major branch of Mesopotamian science was astronomy. Mesopotamian priests produced astronomical tables, and could predict eclipses and solstices. They worked out a month calendar based on the cycles of the moon. Mesopotamian astronomical knowledge was later to have a major influence on Greek astronomy. As with most pre-modern cultures, astronomy and astrology were inextricably bound together: the movement of the heavenly bodies were seen as having a direct influence on the affairs of men.

This was a powerful stimulus for priests to work out as exactly as they could the movement of the planets and stars. As in all ancient societies, medicine and religion went hand in hand. The duty of the doctor was to identify the sin which had caused such displeasure, and to prescribe the correct religious ceremony to bring about healing. Exorcism commonly recommended. It is clear, however, that many Mesopotamian doctors mingled this approach with a more practical study of the human body and its maladies.

Many tablets, for example a text called the Diagnostic Handbook, dated to 11th century BCE Babylon, list symptoms and prognoses. These show that Mesopotamian doctors had developed rational techniques of diagnosis, prognosis, physical examination, and prescriptions alongside the more mystical elements of their trade.

Diagnosis and prognosis were based on rules of empirical observation and logical reasoning as in modern medicine. Doctors used bandages, creams and pills in their treatments. This involved a sound understanding of the properties of different herbs and minerals. A large amount of ancient Mesopotamian literature has come down to us, much of it found in royal libraries dating from Assyria and late Babylonian times.

The literature is written in cuneiform script, and contains prayers, hymns, myths, epic poetry, collections of proverbs, works on theology, philosophy, politics and astrology, books of spells, historical records and many other kinds of texts.

The main forms of Mesopotamian art which have come down to us are sculptured figures in stone and clay. Few paintings have survived, though most sculpture was also painted. Mesopotamian sculpture comes in all sizes, and appears in the round and as reliefs. Others show gods and goddesses, as well as priests and worshippers. Most human figures from the early period have large, staring eyes, and, on men, long beards. As time goes by the figures become increasingly realistic. Under the Assyrian and Babylonian empires, sculpture takes on a colossal form, with giant statues guarding the royal palaces.

On a smaller scale, cylinder seals come from all periods of Mesopotamian history. Temples: Mesopotamian temples were designed to a rectangular plan. Early examples were constructed atop a small earthen platform; as time went by, these platforms became taller and taller, giving rise to the classic Mesopotamian ziggurat.

Ziggurats probably represented the sacred mountain where gods and men could meet. They were brick-built temple-mounds, taking the form of a layered platform. They resembled step pyramids with a flat roof, on which a shrine would be built. Access to this shrine was by a broad staircase or ramp.

A reconstruction of a Sumerian ziggurat mike. Constructing these great buildings demanded high level design and engineering skills. Their exact proportions show that their builders had a complete mastery of the mathematics involved. Surrounding the central temple building was a complex of ceremonial courtyards, shrines, burial chambers for the priests and priestesses, ceremonial banqueting halls, along with workshops, granaries, storehouse and administrative buildings, as temples were main centers of economic and administrative activity in ancient Mesopotamia.

Palaces: The palaces of Mesopotamian rulers were large and lavishly decorated. The largest of these led off to the throne room, of a size and majesty designed to stun visitors. Gates and important passageways were flanked with massive stone sculptures of mythological figures. Outside, these palaces were often adjoined to expansive gardens and parks, stocked with wild animals for hunting. The massive remains of the palace walls of Mari, western Mesopotamia photo: Zukaa.

Houses: The materials used to build a Mesopotamian house were the same as those used today: sun-baked brick made of mud mixed with straw, mud plaster and wooden doors. These all used materials naturally available in the locality.

Most large houses, whether in town or country, were built around a courtyard. Off one side was a large square room, where the family received guests and ate together. Leading off this room were the private family quarters. Other sides of the courtyard led to the kitchen, store rooms and servants accommodation. The homes of the poor were probably built of materials such as mud and reeds, which have long since perished. They may have been situated in the ancient equivalent of shanty towns outside of the city walls, but there is very little archaeological evidence for this.

What caused such a robust civilization to decline and fall? What happened to the ancient Mesopotamians? Despite the fact that Mesopotamian civilization experienced chaos and decline in the centuries either side of BCE, it did not vanish. Indeed, the cities of Mesopotamia, above all Babylon, carefully fostered their ancient heritage. The culture of the Assyrians , who came to dominate Mesopotamia after about BCE, owed a huge amount to the ancient Mesopotamians, and they treated Babylon and other Mesopotamian cities with great respect.

The heritage of ancient Mesopotamia experienced a period of great revival in 6th century BCE, under the Babylonian empire of Nebuchadnezzar to BC.

By some interpretations, it was under Nebuchadnezzar that ancient Mesopotamia reached its peak. It had never been wealthier, its capital, Babylon, had never been more magnificent, and it had certainly never been more politically powerful.

This is all reflected in its art and architecture. The ruins of Babylon which can be seen today mostly date from this phase in its history, and show what a splendid city it was at that time.

More striking still is the fact that this art and architecture stood in an unbroken tradition stretching back to early Sumerian times. There had been some evolution in style, but this had been within quite narrow limits. For example, the temples which Nebuchadnezzar built were in Ziggurat form, just as had been the temples of the Sumerians in the 3rd millennium BC. Also, the writing that was used by the priests of the temples was in the cuneiform developed by the priests in two and half thousand years before.

It was in this script that the fiendishly exact observations of the stars which brought ancient Mesopotamian astronomy to the height of its achievement were note down by Babylonian scribes. Under the Assyrian empire, Aramaic had spread as the common language of the Middle East.

With its easy-to-learn alphabet, the old languages of Mesopotamia, Sumerian and Akkadian or Old Babylonian , with their complex cuneiform script, had fallen out of everyday use. Indeed, under the Assyrians, Aramaic became the official language of government. It would remain so under the Babylonian and Persians empires. It was really only the wealth and power of the Babylonian temples that kept the old languages and their cuneiform script alive. The fall of the Babylonian empire to the Persians BC brought Mesopotamia under foreign rule, and it was to remain so for more than a thousand years.

In that time, the culture of the people of Mesopotamia was transformed. The Persian ruling class had no high culture of its own — not many centuries before their ancestors had been nomadic wanderers on the central Asian steppes. Settling in southwest Iran, they had been influenced by the culture of the ancient kingdom of Elam , very similar to that of the Mesopotamians. Mesopotamia is located in the region now known as the Middle East, which includes parts of southwest Asia and lands around the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

Situated in the fertile valleys between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the region is now home to modern-day Iraq, Kuwait, Turkey and Syria. Map of Mesopotamia. Humans first settled in Mesopotamia in the Paleolithic era. By 14, B. Five thousand years later, these houses formed farming communities following the domestication of animals and the development of agriculture, most notably irrigation techniques that took advantage of the proximity of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

Agricultural progress was the work of the dominant Ubaid culture, which had absorbed the Halaf culture before it. These scattered agrarian communities started in the northern part of the ancient Mesopotamian region and spread south, continuing to grow for several thousand years until forming what modern humans would recognize as cities, which were considered the work of the Sumer people.

Uruk was the first of these cities, dating back to around B. It was a mud brick metropolis built on the riches brought from trade and conquest and featured public art, gigantic columns and temples. At its peak, it had a population of some 50, citizens. Sumerians are also responsible for the earliest form of written language, cuneiform, with which they kept detailed clerical records.

By B. The first king of a united Sumer is recorded as Etana of Kish. Etana was followed by Meskiaggasher, the king of the city-state Uruk. A warrior named Lugalbanda took control around B. Gilgamesh is believed to have been born in Uruk around B. The Epic of Gilgamesh is considered to be the earliest great work of literature and the inspiration for some of the stories in the Bible.

In the epic poem, Gilgamesh goes on an adventure with a friend to the Cedar Forest, the land of the Gods in Mesopotamian mythology. When his friend is slain, Gilgamesh goes on a quest to discover the secret of eternal life, finding: "Life, which you look for, you will never find. For when the gods created man, they let death be his share, and life withheld in their own hands. The Akkadian Empire existed from B. He was at one point an officer who worked for the king of Kish, and Akkadia was a city that Sargon himself established.

When the city of Uruk invaded Kish, Sargon took Kish from Uruk and was encouraged to continue with conquest. Sargon expanded his empire through military means, conquering all of Sumer and moving into what is now Syria. Under Sargon, trade beyond Mesopotamian borders grew, and architecture became more sophisticated, notably the appearance of ziggurats, flat-topped buildings with a pyramid shape and steps.

The final king of the Akkadian Empire, Shar-kali-sharri, died in B. Among these groups were the Gutian people, barbarians from the Zagros Mountains. In B. The ruler of Ur-Namma, the king of the city of Ur, brought Sumerians back into control after Utu-hengal, the leader of the city of Uruk, defeated the Gutians. Ur-Namma was attacked by both the Elamites and the Amorites and defeated in B. Choosing Babylon as the capital, the Amorites took control and established Babylonia.

Kings were considered deities and the most famous of these was Hammurabi , who ruled — B. Hammurabi worked to expand the empire, and the Babylonians were almost continually at war. The list of laws also featured recommended punishments to ensure that every citizen had the right to the same justice.

Together with the control of the Amorites, this conquest marked the end of Sumerian culture. Smelting was a significant contribution of the Hittites, allowing for more sophisticated weaponry that lead them to expand the empire even further.

Their attempts to keep the technology to themselves eventually failed, and other empires became a match for them. The Hittites pulled out shortly after sacking Babylon, and the Kassites took control of the city. Hailing from the mountains east of Mesopotamia, their period of rule saw immigrants from India and Europe arriving, and travel sped up thanks to the use of horses with chariots and carts. The Kassites abandoned their own culture after a couple of generations of dominance, allowing themselves to be absorbed into Babylonian civilization.

Reception of a victorious general of the Assyrian Empire in Mesopotamia. Around B.