Mesopotamia Facts Mesopotamia is the name of an ancient region which means the land between two rivers. Mesopotamia made up most of what is today Iraq, and is considered to be the first civilization. It was in Mesopotamia that people first began to live in large cities and created governments. Mesopotamia included a region of approximately miles long by miles wide.
The Mesopotamian culture also developed the first written language, religion, and agriculture. Mesopotamia was located between the Tigris River and the Euphrates River. Interesting Mesopotamia Facts: The land on the sides of the rivers was fertile while the general area was not and this led to irrigation techniques.
Mesopotamia's major cities included Baghdad, Babylon and Nippur. Its culture was diverse, and it was more like a trading or cultural exchange point for all the civilization of the same period.
It was a melting pot for many different civilizations, ethnicities, and religions which were all influential during various periods of history.
Mesopotamia is commonly known as the cradle of civilization. The Sumerian civilization was the first urban civilization in ancient Mesopotamia. It began in the foothills of the Taurus and Zagros mountains, but by BC, people had started to move towards the southern region of Mesopotamia. Soon, farming began to develop which led to the introduction of artificial irrigation in the region.
The irrigation system consisted of a network of canals that helped in the transfer of water over large areas. The Sumerian city of Eridu was the first city in the world and was located on the coast of the Persian Gulf in southern Mesopotamia. The Sumerians had established firm control over Mesopotamia by BC. Their kingdom consisted of many prominent cities at strategic locations to facilitate trade and commerce such as Eridu, Nippur, Lagash, Uruk, Kish, and Ur.
There was no centralized government, and the whole region enjoyed equal power and accessibility. The city of Uruk, in particular, played an important role in city management and urbanization as it was the largest city in the world at that time, extending over an area of 6, square meters. It was walled on all sides except for its entrance gates. Uruk was not only significant in size but also had a population of around 60, to 80, The city was located 30 kilometers east of what is now Samawah in Iraq.
Copper was the first metal to be extracted from its ore, and this was done around BC. By BC, it was being cast into molds, and soon its alloy — bronze — was created by mixing copper with tin around BC. The fabrication of copper allowed the Sumerians to use it in the manufacture of small objects such as razors, arrowheads, and utensils.
Over time, the manufacturing process improved, and the Sumerians were able to incorporate ornate geometric patterns into their designs on jugs and other utensils. D riving north out of Samawa towards Baghdad, a short way beyond the Euphrates bridge, a tarmac track leaves the main road, heading eastwards into a scarred, dun-coloured wasteland. Soon you enter the real desert, swept by sandstorms.
Then, after 60km or so, a haunting scene unfolds. Looming out of the haze, the eye begins to make out a low range of brown hills, at first shapeless, then taking form: the eroded stumps of ziggurats to the Goddess Ishtar and Anu "Lord Sky".
This is Warka, a site few places on earth can match for sheer atmosphere, and a landmark in the human story. William Loftus, the first outsider in modern times to see these sights in , was almost overwhelmed: "I know of nothing more exciting or impressive than the first sight of one of these Chaldaean piles, looming in solitary grandeur from the surrounding plains and marshes Of all the desolate sites I ever beheld, that of Warka incomparably surpasses all".
It was ruled in later times by Romans, Persians and Muslim Arabs before in the seventh century AD it was abandoned, except for the Bedouin, whose black tents still hug the horizon. To what extent Uruk really was the "mother of cities" is still hotly argued by archaeologists. It is claimed to be the birthplace of writing, mathematics and literature, and few would dispute that it is one of the most potent memory places of humanity. The size of the site is testimony to the scale of the achievement of Mesopotamia, the world's first civilisation.
Inside its silted gates, poking out of huge dunes, it is 3km wide and the circuit, dating back to around BC, is 9km. Where the past century of archaeology has exposed them, you see great platforms and revetments of burned brick like the foundations of small skyscrapers. In places below the visitor's feet are strata 75 feet deep, which contain the shattered bric-a-brac of human history: Islamic glass, Hellenistic bowls, Parthanian clay coffins, greenish black-patterned Ubaid sherds and the little clay sickles used by the first dwellers in the Mesopotamian plain around BC.
In this one place is the image of civilisation: its rise, growth, triumphs — and perhaps its end too. Like the cultures of the Nile or the Indus, Mesopotamia, as its name suggests "the land between the rivers" owed its existence to a river system. Large-scale human societies had begun to grow from about 10,BC in an arc through Syria, Palestine, Anatolia and the Zagros mountains. Starting with the first larger scale settlements at Jericho and Catal Huyuk in Anatolia, these were well built but still relatively small.
It was only when sophisticated irrigation techniques were developed that the plain of southern Iraq was opened up to sustain a huge concentration of people and resources.
Yet even this was still a relatively confined area: Mesopotamia had 25, sq km of irrigated land — similar in size to early dynastic Egypt. From the fourth millennium BC came the first large cities, then states, whose culture and society would influence every aspect of life across west Asia — and further afield. In the third millennium BC, there were around 40 cities in Sumer and Akkad that made up the Babylonian plain.
One big city-state, Lagash whose site is more than 3km across , had 36, male adults in the third millennium BC, suggesting upwards of , people altogether. Mesopotamia is usually divided into Northern or Upper Mesopotamia, which is the area between the two rivers from their sources down to Baghdad; and Southern or Lower Mesopotamia, which is the area from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf including Kuwait and parts of western Iran.
At first, the human occupation of Mesopotamia was confined to the foothill zones of the Taurus and Zagros Mountains. Around 9 millennium BC, agriculture was developed and people began domesticating animals. After artificial irrigation was invented, water was brought to large stretches of territory through a network of canals. This enabled people to spread from the northern regions to Southern Mesopotamia.
Located in modern-day southern Iraq, Sumer was the first urban civilization in ancient Mesopotamia. The Sumerian city of Eridu is regarded as the first city in the world.
Prehistoric people known as Ubaidians are believed to be the first civilizing force in Sumer , draining the marshes for agriculture, developing trade and establishing industries. By BC , Mesopotamia was firmly under the control of the Sumerian people. The most prominent city of Sumer was Uruk, which is situated around 30 km east of the modern city of Samawah in Iraq. Among the first cities in the region, it played a leading role in urbanization and state formation in Mesopotamia during what is known as the Uruk period.
At its height, around BC , it had a population between 40, and 80, living in 6 km 2 of walled area. This made Uruk most likely the largest city in the world at the time. In 25th century BC, Eannatum , king of the Sumerian city of Lagash , began a military campaign to annex the various city states.
He eventually conquered all of Sumer and also extended his influence beyond its boundaries. The empire of Eannatum is one of the first verifiable empires in history. Akkad was a city in northern Mesopotamia.
Sargon is considered the first great empire builder in Mesopotamia.
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