Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia laid in the Tigris and Euphrates river valley, today known as Iraq. This allowed for agriculture to spread, because land was fertile, but the rivers were unpredictable and the ancient mesopotamians blamed gods on the floods.

Cuniform was the first method of writing developed by the Summerians. There were over 100 charcaters and it was very rare for people to be literate. This written language was used for record keeping as well as religion and politics, writting down laws.

Ox-drawn plows were developed in Mesopotamia to cultivate the land to grow barley. They also developed irragation techniques to expand agriculture without constant rainfall.

The law code of Hammurabi was a set of rules that structured the hierarchy of Mesopotamia, and Babylonia, a powerful city in Mesopotamia. This code distingused the three classes, the free, landowning class, the dependent farmers, and the slaves.Women began to fall further down the social ladder when argiculture spread and men were more equippted to do the labor. Women could own land, but men controled the politics of ancient Mesopotamia.

Religion was a very big part of Mesopotamian culture, they believed that their only purpose on earth was to please the gods. Priests were at the top of the social order and cities built ziggaurts, seen above, as a temple to the gods. They also carried around amulets, which they believed protected them. Mesopotamians were polytheistic, meaning they believed in the existance of more than one god.

The land around the Tigris and Euphrates was excellent for agriculture because the land was very fertile due to the nutrients deposited from the rivers. However it was also very hot and dry in southern parts of Mesopotamia, this in addtion to the unpredictable nature of the rivers and floods, led to an irrigation system. This irrigation system was very succesful and resulted in a surplus of the crops. This irrigation system is shown in the picture above and to the right.

The additon of metal with stone tools also took place in Mesopotamia. They made tools with cooper, tin and as shown above, bronze.