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At the same time that Babylon was rising to greatness in southern Mesopotamia, in Northern Mesopotamia, towards the mountains, another group was growing strong. The Assyrians were a much more warlike people than the Babylonians. They were also known as great traders. Their caravans traveled all over the place, bringing goods to trade as well as food and wine to various cities in Mesopotamia. They had their own language, and their own lifestyle. Their religion was similar to that of Sumer, and then Babylonia, and they worshiped many of the same gods. They did try to take over the south, but they were not successful. The warriors of Babylon were too strong. The Assyrians were much more successful conquering the tribes to the east and west.

Military Camp: The Assyrians were forever at war with somebody. This was expensive. Taxes were terrible in ancient Assyria. But, their geographic expansion was impressive. They advanced quickly in art and sculpture, which they created to tell their stories of battles and to honor their war heroes.

Because so many of the scenes painted on their ceramics and carved on their reliefs show pictures of military camp life, we know a lot about daily life in the military camps. Many pieces of art picture a royal canopy in the center of the military camp. The king's face is usually shown. The chariot of the time was mounted on six wheels. Some art features a camp bakery or soldiers at meals. Others show a servant holding a scoop from which a soldier is taking a drink. A lot of the arts features horses and grooms. And some art show men guarding the entrance to the camp wearing sandals and carrying shields.

Burial Ceremonies: Ceremonies changed over the many thousands of years that this civilization flourished. Bodies were put to rest in cemeteries, and in jars with tight lids, or buried in the desert. The ancient Mesopotamians did not believe in a happy busy afterlife. In the funeral ceremony itself, they would place the deceased hand on a plate of food, so that they would have something for the trip. They would bury their dead with a few of their favorite possessions - weapons, favorite drinking cups, and other small personal items. The Assyrians, however, liked to keep their dead at home. The poor would dig a hole somewhere in the house, and bury their dead at home. The rich would build a room just for the burial. In both cases, an oil lamp would be kept burning near or at the gravesite, to remind everyone that this person is near and cares for them.

Buildings: The Assyrians built huge buildings. Historians are not quite sure what these buildings were for as the Assyrians were nomads. But they do know that the buildings were decorated with huge demons to protect these buildings from evil influence.

The Assyrians sack Babylon! About 1200 BC, the Assyrians finally conquered Babylon. This was a total shock to the people of the time, probably even a shock to the Assyrians. Babylon was the prize - the greatest city of the time. The Assyrians leveled the city. They turned it into rubble.

As was their habit, they made all the people in Babylonia move to other parts of the Assyrian Empire. That's what they always did when they conquered people. That way, conquered people had to learn new ways in a new place, and were much less likely to revolt as a group, as they had no group.After they leveled the city, the Assyrians began to worry. They were not worried about the people they had scattered all over their empire. They were worried about Marduk, chief of all the Babylonian gods. After thinking it over, it occurred to them that Marduk might be a bit upset with them for leveling his city. They were afraid Marduk might punish them. The Assyrians decided the smartest thing to do would be to rebuild the city, and to return the statue of Marduk to his temple. They really did not have any use for the city. And they really hated the Babylonians and everything they built, especially the Babylon. But, they were more afraid of the god Marduk than they were filled with hate for the Babylonians. So, they rebuilt Babylon, but left it an empty city. Eventually, people returned to the city and Babylon rose again.

The Great Library of Nineveh. The Assyrian Empire lasted for about 600 years. Around 600 BC, before the people of ancient Mesopotamia were absorbed into the great Persian Empire, the last Assyrian king started a project. He began collecting a library of clay tablets of all the literature of ancient Sumer, Babylonia, and Assyria. No one knows how many tablets he actually collected, but, when discovered in modern times, over 30,000 tablets still remained in the great library in his capital city of Nineveh. These tablets are our single most important source of knowledge about ancient Mesopotamia.

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Ancient Assyrians - Mesopotamia for Kids

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At the same time that Babylon was rising to greatness in southern Mesopotamia, in Northern Mesopotamia, towards the mountains, another group was growing strong. The Assyrians were a much more warlike people than the Babylonians. They were also known as great traders.

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As the civilization of Sumer weakened, in its place, the Babylonians took over. King Hammurabi declared Babylon to be the capital of Babylonia. The Babylonians had a different language than the Sumerians. But, they believed in most of the same gods. To the Babylonians, Marduk was the most important god of all.

In ancient times, it was the custom for each city to select one god as their special patron. King Hammurabi built his city in honor of Marduk, and thus had to be the best city in the world. And indeed, it probably was.

Three thousand five hundred years ago (

3500 years ago!), ancient Babylon was quite a place! It was a massive walled city, with a network of canals and vivid green crops. There was much to buy, like fresh fruits and vegetables, baked breads and cheese, warm coats, gold jewelry and date wine. Inside the walls, life teemed. Everyone lived inside the walled city. Farmers did not live on their farms but here in the city. Merchants, craftsmen, food vendors all made their homes here. Each family had their own home. The streets were narrow, flanked on each side by the three story houses of the inhabitants. In the center of the city was the great Ziggurat, the religious temple. Visitors could see the top of the 300 foot high ziggurat long before they reached the huge city gates.There was a beautiful palace for the king and the royals. And every family, be they rich or poor, had their own home inside the walled city.

Homes: Many of the houses of the nobles and common people were designed with three stories of living space, with flat roofs. Even the very poor, who lived in tiny townhouses, typically had three levels of living space. The courtyard, or first floor, in each house was very important. Behind the front door, a visitor might find a tiny garden and domesticated animals such as chickens.

Rooftops were also important. People had easy access to their roofs from inside their homes. Roofs were flat for a reason. Flat roofs provided a fourth living space. Much of their life was spent on the roof. They cooked and slept on their roofs. Remember - Babylon was a walled city. These roofs were inside the city walls. Some of the fancier roofs were designed with four walls for privacy, and some had grape arbors that provided food, privacy, and shelter from the sun.

Inside the walled city, the streets in ancient Babylon were very narrow. Most streets were unpaved. Streets or alleyways provided access to everyone's front door. The streets also served as a garage dump. People simply threw their trash out the door. On occasion, the city covered the streets with a new layer of clay. This buried the trash, but made the level of the street higher. It soon became necessary to build steps down to your front door. Most people filled in the area between the road and their door, if needed, punched in a new door, and built up.

Procession Avenue and the Ishtar Gates: One of the most impressive sites was the avenue that led into the city. This avenue was called Procession Street (or Procession Avenue.) Huge pacing brick animals were positioned along both sides of the avenue as decoration. The avenue passed under the elaborate Ishtar Gates, the gate to the walled city, which were designed with dragons and bulls in honor of Marduk. Most mythical dragons have wings. Marduk's dragon was wingless. (It looked somewhat like a huge dragon dog.)

Festival of the New Year/The Annual Procession of the Gods: Each New Year, during the New Year Festival, statues of the gods were paraded along Processional Avenue. The statue of Marduk, Chief of all the Gods, led the parade, attended by his caretaker priests. Next in line was Marduk's goddess wife (statue) attended by her caretaker priests. The third statue in the parade featured the sun god Shamash. More statues followed, in a seemingly endless procession of gods and goddesses, each attended by their respective caretaker priests.

When the parade reached the Euphrates River, each statue was carefully placed into a waiting boat, one statue per boat. As they were loaded, the boats sailed or were rowed in a continuing parade towards the Garden Temple.

When the boats landed at the Garden Temple, each statue was transferred to a waiting chariot, one statue per chariot, and the procession continued. At the end of procession, the statues were returned to their temples.

Each major city in ancient Babylonia celebrated the festival of the New Year in much the same way. But many people braved the terrors of travel to visit the capital city Babylon at festival time because they so wanted to see this famous annual procession.

Hanging Gardens: One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Hanging Gardens, may have really have existed. The Hanging Gardens were perhaps the first roof garden. Although the garden had walls, the top of this massive area was left open. The tops of trees could be glimpsed from a great distance. This gave the appearance of a garden hanging in thin air, which is how the garden received its name. The gardens were terraced, and rose about 75 feet high. There were flowers and fruit trees and cascading waterfalls. The gardens were part of the palace, built a gift of love from a king for his queen.

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As the civilization of Sumer weakened, in its place, the Babylonians took over. King Hammurabi declared Babylon to be the capital of Babylonia. The Babylonians had a different language than the Sumerians. But, they believed in most of the same gods. To the Babylonians, Marduk was the most important god of all.

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Ancient Sumer was a bustling place. The cities were built along the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers. Long docks were built along the sides of the rivers so that ships could easily dock and unload the goods they had to trade. Ships brought food, drinks, clothes, jewelry, wine, and other goods up and down the rivers. Banquets were held with music and dancing. Poets would recite verses about great kingly deeds. Golden cups filled with sweet delicious date wine would be lifted in toast to their host.

Art: The Sumerians were wonderful craftsmen. They made jewelry of precious gold and lapis, fancy chairs, and unglazed vases that kept water cool. They were not very good at sculptures because their artists did have stone with which to work. But they made beautiful things with the materials on hand. One of the things they did very well was to create colorful mosaics in intricate and beautiful patterns using little pieces of painted clay. Archaeologists have found remains of their mosaics, helmets, harps, jewelry, pottery, decorated tablets and cylinder seals.

Music: The Sumerians must have loved music because musical instruments, made of wood or bone, have been found by archaeologists in their tombs.

Religion: The ancient Sumerians believed in many, many gods. They believed that everything that happened to them - good and bad - was the result of a god's pleasure or displeasure. Their daily life was spent seeking ways to please and appease their gods.

To the ancient Sumerians, all gods were important.

Ziggurats: Ziggurats were temples. The Sumerians believed that powerful gods lived in the sky. They built huge structures, called ziggurats, with steps climbing up to the top. Religious ceremonies were held at the very top. People left offerings of food and wine. The priests enjoyed these offerings, as the gods could not eat for themselves. The Ziggurat was built in the center of town. It was also the center of daily life. Except for festivals, which, for the most part, were gloomy things, the Ziggurat courtyard was gay and lively. You might see an artist painting, a boy racing by on his way to school, someone milking a cow, or making a basket. From the top of the Ziggurat, you could see the protective wall built about the entire town, and over the wall to the farmlands beyond.

Education: The ancient Sumerians believed in education. Record keeping was very important to them. They wrote everything down. They wanted their sons to learn how to read and write. Public education probably began with the Sumerians. Schools were attached to temples. Only boys went to school. Teachers were very strict. Students had to do a perfect job, or they were punished. Most students wanted to go to school. Someone who could read and write could always find a good job.

Classes of People: There were four main classes of people in ancient Sumer- the priests, the upper class, the lower class, and the slaves.

The priests were powerful. They were in charge of making sure everyone behaved in a way that would make the gods happy. They were the doctors of the time. If you were sick, you called for a priest. There is a written record of two priests, by the bed of a sick boy, dressed to look like fish to better speak with the water god. (This author does not know why the priests wanted to talk to the water god. Perhaps the boy became sick in the water or from drinking the water.)

The Upper Class: Men and women wore jewelry, especially rings. Men wore skirts and had long hair, curly moustaches, and long beards. Women wore dresses, off one shoulder. They had long hair, which they braided or wore up in fancy arrangements. It was easy to tell who were the priests. The priests shaved their heads. Everyone wore cloaks made from sheep wool to keep warm in winter.

Homes: The rich lived in large homes, and the poor lived in small homes. Most homes were clustered around the Ziggurat and each other. Most houses shared walls, like townhouses do today. There was little wood and stone available for building materials. People built their homes of sun-dried brick. Doors led into a small family courtyard. Stairs led up to the second floor, and then to the roof. The roofs were flat. People cooked and slept on their roofs, when weather permitted. As the cities grew, there were rich sections of town and poorer sections of town, but all families had a home of their own.

The Lower Class: In ancient Sumer, people were paid for their work. If they ran a shop or worked in the fields, they were paid for their goods or labor. Stealing was a serious crime and punishment was severe. Everybody paid, even the king. Although the lower class did not have the luxury lifestyle of the rich, they were comfortable. They worked very hard, but they had homes. They wore jewelry, although perhaps it was not made of gold. They followed the clothing fashions of the time as much as possible. There was no law that said they could not move up the social scale, or more likely, have their children move up the social scale by becoming a scribe, or a priest or priestess.

The Slaves: When the Sumerians conquered another town, they brought prisoners back with them to act as slaves. Slaves worked for the king, the temple and the wealthy. Slaves were bought and sold. Records have been found recording the amount paid for a slave. Typically, a slave bought at auction cost less than a donkey but more than a cow.

Women: Women could freely go to the marketplace, buy and sell goods, handle legal issues, own property, and start their own business. Upper class women, like members of the royal family and those who gave their life to the temple as priestesses, could learn how to read and write. Some women even had jobs running parts of the town or jobs in city government. There were many female goddesses. Some cities selected a goddess rather than a god as their patron. Women were not equal to men, but they did have rights.

Sumer grew rapidly. Soon there were more than half a million people. About four out of five of those people lived in the cities, make Sumer the world's first urban culture.

City-States: To protect themselves, small towns attached themselves to big cities. This created a system of city-states. The civilization of ancient Sumer was composed of 12 major city-states. Each of these city-states had its own military and its own government. But the people in all the Sumerian city-states (cities) spoke the same language, believed in the same gods, and moved freely from one city-state to another, to trade and also to live. They also went to war with each other. The laws of all the city-states were pretty much universal. Everyone knew them and was expected to obey them. This was understood.

Uruk: In these early days, towns were walled for additional protection. The city of Uruk, located on the Euphrates River side of the land between two rivers, controlled 76 nearby villages and was enclosed within a 4-mile long wall of brick!

Ur: The capital of ancient Sumer was the city-state of Ur. Ur was also located on the Euphrates River to the south of Uruk. The river-trade kept the city well supplied with everything, including wealth. When the river changed its course, the city of Ur lost its wealth and its power.

Sumerian Inventions: The ancient Sumerians were very clever. They invented many things to make their life more comfortable and to help their civilization grow. They put wheels on carts and probably invented the sail for sailboats. They developed the first written language, called cuneiform. They invented cylinder seals as a form of identification. Each cylinder seal was different and owed by one person. This allowed people to sign contracts with their personal cylinder seal. They invented the first super hero, Gilgamesh. They may have invented kilns for bricks and plows for their fields. They are credited with inventing many other tools and implements to help with building and farming.

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The Civilization of Ancient Sumer - Ancient Mesopotamia for Kids - Mesopotamia for Kids

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Ancient Sumer was a bustling place. The cities were built along the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers. Long docks were built along the sides of the rivers so that ships could easily dock and unload the goods they had to trade. Ships brought food, drinks, clothes, jewelry, wine, and other goods up and down the rivers.

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The people of Sumer and the people of Babylon (the civilization that was built on the ruins of Sumer) were divided into four classes - the priests, the upper class, the lower class, and the slaves.

The Priests:

Priests were very powerful and important. They told people how to behave to keep the gods happy. Priests in Sumer (and in Babylon) were also the local doctors. If you got sick, you sent for a priest. The priests shaved their heads so that everyone knew they were priests.

The Upper Class:

Both men and women wore jewelry. Men wore long hair and long beards and wore a skirt type garment. Women wore long dresses with one shoulder bare. In the colder months they all wore cloaks made from wool to keep warm.

The Lower Class:

The working class wore the same type garments as the rich only theirs were not of the same materials. They too wore jewelry although theirs was not made of gold or precious stones.

The Slaves:

Sumerians did keep slaves. When they defeated another town or tribe in battle they would bring back the prisoners as slaves. The king and the priests kept most slaves, but wealthy Sumerians could buy slaves to work for them.
Ancient Sumer Interactive Quiz about the Land Between Two Rivers (with answers)

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Ancient Sumer, a Class Society of Priests, Upper Class, Lower Class, and Slaves - Mesopotamia for Kids

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The people of Sumer and the people of Babylon (the civilization that was built on the ruins of Sumer) were divided into four classes - the priests, the upper class, the lower class, and the slaves. Priests were very powerful and important. They told people how to behave to keep the gods happy.

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The ancient Mesopotamians worshipped hundreds of gods. They worshipped them every day. Each god had a job to do. Each city had its own special god to watch over the city. Each profession had a god to watch over the people who worked in that profession like builders and fishermen.

To the Sumerians, each person had a god of their own, who looked after them. Their own special god talked to other gods on their behalf. Their personal god received a great deal of their worship time and attention. But no one god was more important than another.

The Babylonians and Assyrians believed in nearly all the Sumerian gods, plus more gods that each added. Unlike the ancient Sumerians, they believed some gods were more powerful than others, gods like the god of the sky, the sun, the air, and the crops. To the Babylonians, Marduk was the most powerful god. To the Assyrians, Ashur was the most powerful god.

The Sumerians, and later on, the Babylonians (southern Mesopotamia) and the Assyrians (northern Mesopotamia) all believed that everything good and bad that happened to them was the result of their gods pleasure or displeasure. They spent a great deal of time trying to make their gods happy. Their gods were not often happy. That's why Mesopotamian gods are sometimes referred to as the gloomy gods of ancient Mesopotamia.

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Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia - Mesopotamia for Kids

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The ancient Mesopotamians worshipped hundreds of gods. They worshipped them every day. Each god had a job to do. Each city had its own special god to watch over the city. Each profession had a god to watch over the people who worked in that profession like builders and fishermen.

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Kids learn about the history of the Code of Hammurabi. One of the first written records of a code of law by the Babylonians.

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The ancient Sumerians developed a written language called cuneiform.

It began as pictographs, pictures of things that acted as words. Pictographs worked, but hey were rather cumbersome. Soon, the clever ancient Sumerians started to use wedge-shaped symbols for objects and ideas instead of pictures.

We know a great deal about the ancient Sumerian civilization from the written records they left behind. They kept excellent records and lists of things. They listed their household goods. They listed their court activity. They listed their sales and purchases. They even kept a list of their kings that was updated from time to time, as new kings came to power. The Sumerians never invented paper or ink, so they used tools made of wood or stiff reeds to press the symbols into clay tablets. Many thousands of these tablets have survived the ages and we can see them today. Some are worn, some are broken, but many thousands have been found complete. The largest collection of these was found at the Library of Nineveh.

Cuneiform became the written language from as early as 5000 BC. As the civilization of Sumer started to decline, other civilizations continued to use the Sumerian written symbols. Thanks to the Sumerians, we know a great deal about the ancient Mesopotamian civilizations of Babylon and Assyria as well.

Ultimately, the use of cuneiform died out and was replaced with other written languages. When modern language experts tried to read cuneiform, they found cuneiform very puzzling. It had been thousands of years since anyone had written or read cuneiform. No one in modern times remembered what the symbols meant. But things changed when the Language Detective, Henry Rawlinson, a British officer in the 1800s, went hiking in the countryside in Persia (now called the country of Iran.) He spotted a picture, carved into the rock of a high cliff. This picture told the story of an ancient king, his servants, and some prisoners. The story was told in pictures, in cuneiform, and in another writing similar to an East Indian language that Henry Rawlinson already could read and write. The same story was told in three different ways so that most probably, in ancient times, everyone could understand it. That was the break scientists needed. Once they understood a few words in cuneiform, they could build on that and start recognizing the same symbol on tablets and documents. They could guess at the meaning of other symbols around the symbols they understood. They worked very hard at it until they could read a great deal of cuneiform. (The same sort of thing happened in Egypt, when they found the Rosetta Stone, which helped scientists understand ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.)

Cuneiform is still not easy to read since the meaning of some of the symbols changed over time, as language changed. But thanks to the Language Detective, and a carving on a cliff, with patience and effort, it can be deciphered. There are many cuneiform tablets that are still waiting to be translated, and more ancient tablets still being found today. The more scientists translate, the more we learn about the ancient Sumerians. They were such a clever people. They not only invented writing, they also invented the first sailboat and the wheel - three very important inventions in ancient times, each having a huge effect on the culture of these ancient people.

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The ancient Sumerians developed a written language called cuneiform. It began as pictographs, pictures of things that acted as words. Pictographs worked, but hey were rather cumbersome. Soon, the clever ancient Sumerians started to use wedge-shaped symbols for objects and ideas instead of pictures.

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https://owlcation.com/humanities/Ancient-Mesopotamian

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The land known as Mesopotamia lies between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, which flow through modern-day Iraq. Read on to learn more about this ancient civilization.