Mesopotamian Civilization : Mesopotamia The Land Of Rivers

Mesopotamia and the Indus River Valley Civilization were two uniform civilizations. These two civilizations shared many similarities and few differences in the social and political aspect of these two societies. First of all, Mesopotamia seemed to neglect the religious and political side, because they focused more on their social characteristics. And because Mesopotamia focused more on social characteristics they had very organized caste systems. The Indus River Valley concentrated their attention on religious beliefs and social characteristics.

The ancient lands of Mesopotamia are unknown territory for many people. It is one of the earliest civilizations in the world. The first great civilization, located between Tigris and Euphrates rivers, was developed in 3500 BC. Word “Mesopotamia” is derived from two Greek words meaning ‘land between two rivers’. The region is a vast, dry plain through which two great rivers flow. People of Mesopotamia were ‘Sumerians’. Tigris and Euphrates created fertile river basins for the region. World’s first cities grew up in Mesopotamia. The people of Mesopotamia were among the first to use the written words and a language of their own. Mesopotamia is known as the “cradle of civilization”. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers provided rich fruitful soil and

The four empires of mesopotamia all had a bright future but could not all reign at the same time, so war came upon them and destroyed what they built. All of the civilizations that lived in mesopotamia rose and fell like the flaming sun.

In ancient times two neighboring civilizations emerged whose culture, economies, governments, and innovations were a result of the river systems on which they depended. Ancient Mesopotamia was in the Near East spanning modern day Iraq, Kuwait and parts of Syria, Turkey and Iran. Mesopotamia’s name in Ancient Greek is translated as “land between the rivers,” referring to the Tigris and Euphrates river systems between which Mesopotamia was located. In Ancient Egypt, as in modern day Egypt, the Nile River played a major role in this Northern African civilization.

Writing positively affected Mesopotamian civilizations by creating organized societies. An example of this is in Article One. It states, “…making to-do lists…” Instead of the Mesopotamians trying to remember what they needed to do, they organized their time by making to-do lists. Another example on how writing made organized societies is located in Article One, it states “…keep (kept) track of the inflow and outflow of the city’s grain and animal stores…” By keeping track of the inflows and outflows of the grain and animal stores, the Mesopotamians could quickly check what the inflows and outflows were. They would also spend less time on keeping track of the inflows and outflows if they had it written down on paper. Lastly, according to Article

The civilization of ancient Mesopotamia rose in the valley between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The rivers were good for fishing and a good source of water. Some say that this fertile crescent was the real garden of Eden. The natural barriers it had was the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. King Nebuchadazzar was the one who developed the civilization. Herodotus was quoted as saying the following: “ in addition to its size baby ion surpasses in splendor any city in the known world. The walls they made was fifty six miles in length eighty feet thick and three hundred twenty feet high. The doors were able to let four house carriages to turn though at the same time. The Sumerians invented a number system from one to sixty and writing called Cuneiform. Even though their writing was hard to understand

Tr (of beliefs): both the egyptians and mesopotamians had empires with strong bases formed from their beliefs and polytheism, but the egyptians would take it to a new level. “In mesopotamia, kings were considered to be representatives of the gods. To the egyptians, kings were gods. The egyptian god-kings, pharaohs, were thought to be almost as splendid and powerful as the gods of the heavens.” (37) thus, creating a theocracy.

Mesopotamia was the highlight of all regions. The location falls right in between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, where modern day Iraq is today. It was located right along “the fertile crescent”. Because of this the soil was very rich which caused great agriculture. It was one of the first civilizations to roam the earth. During 4300 BCE, the late Ubaid period in Mesopotamia began. Many events and actions took place during this time. Mesopotamia was an outstanding region and contained many treasures including pottery, inventions, architecture, and Ziggurats.

Throughout many cultures in ancient civilizations, humans have held a belief in superior beings to which they called gods. The gods, in the eyes of many of the ancient people, were responsible for many things such as crop growth, storms, fertility, and even creation of life. The Mesopotamians, Egyptians, and the Hebrews all had gods that they interacted with. Understanding the likenesses and differences in how these people interacted with their gods might give us an insight to how similar or different the three civilizations were.

Ancient civilizations of the eastern world have proved to be prosperous regardless of the time period. The cultures along the Nile River in Egypt and in the Indus River Valley share many similarities along with numerous differences. For example, geography contributed to the development of these settlements in both positive and negative ways. Behavior and religious beliefs were also affected by the civilization’s current government. Advancements in science, technology, and architecture allowed the people to further develop their cultures.

Sumer was one of Mesopotamia’s most important societies. Sumerians settled in an area they later called Sumer. By 3000 BCE, 10000 Sumerians settled in the area. Most of these people were farmers. In the center of Sumer, they built a large city which served as their capital. Inside Sumer, there were many city-states, which is political unit consisting of a city and its surrounding countryside. To get more land and expand their power, city-states would fight each other. They kept other city-states out by building walls around their cities. The most powerful city-states were Kish, Uruk, and Ur. Uruk’s most famous king was named Gilgamesh. As you can see, Sumer was very important.

Mesopotamia developed many unique characteristics that developed in connection to the geography. First of all, Ancient Mesopotamia had a scarcity of resources which stimulated trade within the region and other civilization. Mesopotamians were some of the first people to participate in cultural diffusion, which meant they could find the resources they needed and didn’t have to worry about having an unstable supply of goods. Supported by lucrative and consistent trade with its neighbors, Mesopotamia grew to become a powerful empire. Archaeologists also uncovered the Code of Hammurabi. The Code of Hammurabi was a set of harsh rules for Babylon. These rules were significantly connected to geography in that punishments were given out if you didn’t

Mesopotamia’s development occurred because of the geography setting the land was in. The rivers and the fertile lands were the main factors of their development. Mesopotamia, also known as the Fertile Crescent, allowed humans to stay in one place and farm because of the fertile soil. The rivers were the water resource the Sumerians needed to survive. The Common Themes Theory applied to early cities in Mesopotamia Egypt when they had a human right problem involving food and water. So, they came up with a solution of inventing irrigation systems which had an effect of population changes in the small villages.

Babylonians believed in many gods but the most important god was Marduk who outshone all of the gods in fact he was so important that they made him his own ziggurat called the tower of babel. Nebuchadnezzar who was one of the rulers of Babylon made the hanging gardens for his wife because she missed the look of her homeland. So he made the hanging gardens so that she could remember how it looked. Scholars think it was between 80 and 300 ft.

Without soil we would have nothing. Plants could not anchor to anything and would have no source of nutrients. But even then plants would not grow, its the addition of water that allows life. The mesh of dirt and water creates a squishy playground of good bacteria.