<h5 id="mesopotamia-and-its-geography">MESOPOTAMIA AND ITS GEOGRAPHY</h5> <ul> <li> <p>The geography of Mesopotamia is characterized by diverse environments, including green plains in the northeast, a steppe in the north suitable for animal herding, and a desert in the south where the first cities and writing emerged.</p> </li> <li> <p>The desert region, although arid, could support cities due to the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, which carry loads of silt and fertilize the fields when they flood or deposit water on them.</p> </li> <li> <p>The agriculture of southern Mesopotamia was highly productive, despite insufficient rainfall, due to the use of irrigation canals that were fed by the rivers’ small channels.</p> </li> <li> <p>The use of bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, was essential for the development of cities in Mesopotamia, as it was necessary for creating metal tools, weapons, and other items.</p> </li> <li> <p>The earliest cities in Mesopotamia date back to the Bronze Age, around 3000 BCE, indicating the importance of metal use for city life.</p> </li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="the-significance-of-urbanism">THE SIGNIFICANCE OF URBANISM</h5> <ul> <li>The urban economy and division of labor in cities lead to specialized trades and services.</li> <li>The creation of a piece of sculpture like the Warka Head would involve several specialists, including:</li> </ul> <ol> <li>Procurement of raw materials: Stone (imported from a distance)</li> <li>Sculpting and carving the marble</li> <li>Inlaying eyes, eyebrows with lapis lazuli, shell, and bitumen</li> </ol> <ul> <li>Social organization is necessary for trade, storage, and coordination of various activities and resources.</li> <li>Urban economies often require keeping written records, as seen in the need for coordinating different materials and tools for the sculpture production.</li> <li>The Warka Head is an example of the fine craftsmanship and specialization in urban economies of the past.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="movement-of-goods-into-cities">MOVEMENT OF GOODS INTO CITIES</h5> <ul> <li> <p>The ancient Mesopotamians traded textiles and agricultural produce for mineral resources like wood, copper, tin, silver, gold, shell, and various stones from Turkey, Iran, and across the Gulf.</p> </li> <li> <p>Regulated exchanges for foreign expeditions and goods transport were initiated by the people of southern Mesopotamia, where social organization allowed for crafts, trade, and services.</p> </li> <li> <p>Efficient transportation, particularly over water, is crucial for urban development. River boats or barges were the cheapest mode of transportation, as animals needed to be fed during land transport.</p> </li> <li> <p>Canals and natural channels in ancient Mesopotamia served as routes for goods transport between large and small settlements.</p> </li> <li> <p>The Euphrates was an essential ‘world route’ for the city of Mari and other settlements in ancient Mesopotamia.</p> </li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="the-development-of-writing">THE DEVELOPMENT OF WRITING</h5> <ul> <li> <p>The first Mesopotamian tablets, dated around 3200 BCE, featured picture-like signs and numbers, used to record transactions involving various goods.</p> </li> <li> <p>Cuneiform, derived from the Latin words ‘cuneus’ and ‘forma’, was used by Mesopotamians to write on clay tablets. This writing system involved pressing wedge-shaped signs onto moist clay, which would then harden in the sun.</p> </li> <li> <p>By 2600 BCE, cuneiform letters replaced the picture-like signs, and the language used was Sumerian. The purpose of writing expanded to include creating dictionaries, legitimizing land transfers, documenting historical events, and announcing legal changes.</p> </li> <li> <p>Sumerian, the earliest known language of Mesopotamia, was gradually replaced by the Akkadian language around 2400 BCE. Cuneiform writing in Akkadian continued to be used for over 2,000 years, until the first century CE.</p> </li> <li> <p>The extensive use of clay tablets for record-keeping has resulted in a wealth of sources, providing extensive knowledge about Mesopotamia, compared to contemporary India.</p> </li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="the-system-of-writing">THE SYSTEM OF WRITING</h5> <ul> <li>Cuneiform signs represented syllables, not individual consonants or vowels.</li> <li>The system included hundreds of signs for various syllables.</li> <li>Scribes had to write on wet tablets before they dried.</li> <li>Writing was a skilled craft, requiring significant intellectual capability.</li> <li>It visually represented the system of sounds of the Mesopotamian language.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="literacy">Literacy</h5> <ul> <li>In Mesopotamian society, only a small fraction of the population could read and write.</li> <li>The writing system was complex, consisting of hundreds of signs, many of which were intricate.</li> <li>Written communication often mirrored spoken language, with letters starting “To my lord, speak: …”, followed by the message from the sender.</li> <li>Literacy was considered important and sometimes boasted about by kings in their inscriptions.</li> <li>There was an emphasis on oral tradition and passing down knowledge, as seen in the exhortation for creation myths to be taught and discussed.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="the-uses-of-writing">The Uses of Writing</h5> <ul> <li>The Sumerian epic poem of Enmerkar, the ruler of Uruk, highlights the connection between city life, trade, and writing.</li> <li>In the poem, Enmerkar is associated with the organization of the first trade in Sumer, where a messenger was sent to get lapis lazuli and precious metals from a distant land called Aratta for temple beautification.</li> <li>The messenger faced difficulties conveying Enmerkar’s demands, leading Enmerkar to use a clay tablet for writing down the words, as there was no written record of words on clay in those days.</li> <li>The poem suggests that kingship played a crucial role in organizing trade and writing, and that writing was seen as a sign of Mesopotamian urban culture’s superiority.</li> <li>The cuneiform letters were wedge-shaped, resembling nails, and were used to form a clay tablet for written communication.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="urbanisation-in-southern-mesopotamia-temples-and-kings">Urbanisation in Southern Mesopotamia: Temples and Kings</h5> <ul> <li>The earliest cities in southern Mesopotamia emerged around temples, trade centers, and as imperial cities.</li> <li>Temples, the residence of various gods, were built in brick and became larger over time with several rooms around open courtyards. They were the house of a god, focus of worship, and theoretical owner of the agricultural fields, fisheries, and herds of the local community.</li> <li>Over time, temples became the main urban institution, organizing production, employing merchants, and keeping written records of distributions and allotments of grain, plough animals, bread, beer, fish, etc.</li> <li>Early Mesopotamian countryside saw repeated conflict over land and water due to natural fertility, flooding, and man-made problems such as diversion of water and neglecting to clean out silt from stretches of the channel.</li> <li>Around 3000 BCE, victorious chiefs began to offer precious booty to the gods, beautify the community’s temples, and organize the distribution of temple wealth efficiently. This gave the king high status and the authority to command the community.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="life-in-the-city">Life In The City</h5> <ul> <li> <p>In Mesopotamian society, the nuclear family was the norm, with the father as the head of the family. Marriage procedures involved a declaration, consent from the bride’s parents, a gift from the groom’s people, and exchange of gifts at the wedding.</p> </li> <li> <p>Ur, an early city with narrow, winding streets and no town planning, was systematically excavated in the 1930s. House plots were irregular, and wheeled carts could not reach many houses. Drains and clay pipes were found in inner courtyards.</p> </li> <li> <p>At Ur, household refuse was swept into the streets, causing street levels to rise over time. Light came into rooms from doorways opening into courtyards, providing privacy. Superstitions about houses were recorded in omen tablets.</p> </li> <li> <p>A town cemetery at Ur contained graves of royalty and commoners, with a few individuals buried under the floors of ordinary houses. There were no street drains, and rainwater was channelled into sumps in inner courtyards.</p> </li> <li> <p>Sacks of grain and firewood arrived on donkey-back, as there were no street drains and house roofs sloped inwards, channelling rainwater into sumps in the inner courtyards.</p> </li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="a-trading-town-in-a-pastoral-zone">A TRADING TOWN IN A PASTORAL ZONE</h5> <ul> <li>The royal capital of Mari, located on the Euphrates river, flourished after 2000 BCE.</li> <li>Agriculture and animal rearing were carried out in close proximity in this region, with most of Mari’s territory used for pasturing sheep and goats.</li> <li>Trade was essential between herders and farmers, with herders exchanging young animals, cheese, leather, and meat for grain, metal tools, and manure.</li> <li>Nomadic communities, such as the Akkadians, Amorites, Assyrians, and Aramaeans, frequently filtered into the agricultural heartland, becoming prosperous and sometimes settling down.</li> <li>Mesopotamian society and culture were open to different people and cultures, contributing to the vitality of the civilization.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="the-palace-at-mari-of-king-zimrilim-1810-1760-bce">The Palace at Mari of King Zimrilim (1810-1760 BCE)</h5> <ul> <li>The Palace of Mari, built around 1810-1760 BCE, was the residence of the royal family, a hub of administration, and a place of production, particularly of precious metal ornaments.</li> <li>The palace had only one entrance on the north and featured large, open courtyards, such as 131, paved with white. The king would have received foreign dignitaries and his own people in room 132, which had wall paintings to impress visitors.</li> <li>The palace was a sprawling structure, covering an area of 2.4 hectares with 260 rooms. Daily lists reveal that huge quantities of food were presented for the king’s table.</li> <li>At Mesopotamian towns like Abu Salabikh, archaeologists trace wall outlines by scraping surfaces and making out different colors, textures, and lines of brick walls or pits. They also sieve through tons of earth to recover plant and animal remains, identifying many species of plants and animals.</li> <li>Kitchens in Mesopotamian towns are identified by plant seeds and fibre remaining after dung cakes have been burned as fuel. Living rooms have fewer traces, and archaeologists can determine which rooms in a house were roofed or open to the sky through microscopic studies of room floors.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="cities-in-mesopotamian-culture">Cities in Mesopotamian Culture</h5> <ul> <li>Mesopotamian culture highly valued city life, where various communities and cultures coexisted.</li> <li>The city of Uruk, associated with Gilgamesh, was a significant city in Mesopotamia, known for its advanced infrastructure.</li> <li>Gilgamesh, a great hero and king of Uruk, embarked on a quest to find the secret of immortality after his friend’s death.</li> <li>Despite his failure to attain immortality, Gilgamesh found consolation in the city of Uruk, taking pride in the foundations of fired bricks he had laid.</li> <li>The city of Uruk, with its strong walls, became a symbol of achievement and continuity for Mesopotamians, rather than individual immortality.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="the-legacy-of-writing">The Legacy of Writing</h5> <ul> <li> <p>The legacy of Mesopotamia includes a scholarly tradition of time reckoning and mathematics.</p> </li> <li> <p>Around 1800 BCE, Mesopotamians had tablets containing multiplication and division tables, square-root tables, and tables of compound interest. The square root of 2 was approximated as 1.41421296.</p> </li> <li> <p>Mesopotamians developed the division of the year into 12 months, the month into four weeks, the day into 24 hours, and the hour into 60 minutes. This system was adopted by successors of Alexander and transmitted to the Roman world, then to the world of Islam, and finally to medieval Europe.</p> </li> <li> <p>Assurbanipal, the last great Assyrian king, collected a library at Nineveh, his capital, containing tablets on history, epics, omen literature, astrology, hymns, and poems. He made efforts to gather old tablets and sent scribes to find them in the south.</p> </li> <li> <p>Nabonidus, the last ruler of independent Babylon, wrote about finding the stele of a very early king and observing the carved image of the Priestess, which helped him dress his daughter for her consecration as Priestess. He also repaired a broken statue inscribed with the name of Sargon, king of Akkad, out of reverence for the gods and respect for kingship.</p> </li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="timeline">TIMELINE</h5> <ul> <li>Around 5000 BCE, the earliest temples were built in southern Mesopotamia.</li> <li>The first writing system appeared in Mesopotamia around 3200 BCE, and by 3000 BCE, Uruk had grown into a large city with increasing use of bronze tools.</li> <li>Between 2700-2500 BCE, early kings, possibly including Gilgamesh, ruled, followed by the development of the cuneiform script around 2600 BCE.</li> <li>Around 2400 BCE, Sumerian was replaced by Akkadian, and Sargon, king of Akkad, rose to power around 2370 BCE.</li> <li>The use of cuneiform writing spread to Syria, Turkey, and Egypt around 2000 BCE, with Mari and Babylon emerging as important urban centers around 1800 BCE.</li> <li>The Assyrian kingdom was established around 1100 BCE, with the use of iron becoming common around 1000 BCE.</li> <li>The Assyrian empire, including the rule of Assurbanipal, existed between 720-610 BCE, with Alexander conquering Babylon in 331 BCE.</li> <li>Akkadian and cuneiform remained in use until the 1st century CE, and the cuneiform script was deciphered in the 1850s.</li> </ul> <p>======</p>