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Begin in Collect and Catalog to dig for Mesopotamian artifacts in Iraq. Then Curate a Museum Exhibition using photographs of the artifacts you found. Or you can jump ahead and Curate a Museum Exhibition using photographs of artifacts selected for you.

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The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago

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Ancient Mesopotamia: This History, Our History. Multi Media

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Begin in Collect and Catalog to dig for Mesopotamian artifacts in Iraq. Then Curate a Museum Exhibition using photographs of the artifacts you found. Or you can jump ahead and Curate a Museum Exhibition using photographs of artifacts selected for you.

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- Because the Cyrus Cylinder was meant for a Babylonian audience, it was written in the Babylonian language, which is a Semitic tongue related to the modern languages of Hebrew and Arabic and Aramaic. The writing system which Cyrus' officials used was the traditional cuneiform script which had been invented in ancient Iraq well before 3,000 B.C., which is written by pressing a stylus, something a bit like a chopstick, into the surface of the clay which is nearly dry and the signs which convey the sound of the language consist of different arrangements of these strokes. They are written one by one, and the reader has to join them up and the sound emerges from the clay. This is the line that says, "I am Kurash (mumbling) "King of the World, the Great King, King of Babylon," and so it goes on. So we begin to write Kurash, so the first sign Ku has the big vertical, two small horizontals, one bigger horizontal, a little vertical, and another horizontal like a box, this is Ku. Then Ra, we have three strong horizontals to begin, one big one next to it, and then one little vertical wedge and one bigger vertical wedge, Ku, Ra. Now we do Ash, which is three long horizontals comme ça and then a vertical in the middle. So we can read this, Ku Ra Ash, the name of Cyrus. (lively music)

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Writing Cuneiform (video) | Khan Academy

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Because the Cyrus Cylinder was meant for a Babylonian audience, it was written in the Babylonian language, which is a Semitic tongue related to the modern languages of Hebrew and Arabic and Aramaic.

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Welcome to the Mesopotamian Travel Agency. We understand that you are interested in going to Ancient Mesopotamia, and we would not disappoint you with our ! We use the time machine TAYLORTRONIC5000™ with the latest technology to improve your safety, and through a few years of work, we have created three underground buildings which includes a hotel. During your stay in Ancient Mesopotamia, we will provide you with the best possible service, but remember we, Mesopotamian Travel Agency, work in secret in Ancient Mesopotamia to minimize the disturbance and the suspicion of the Mesopotamian's daily life. You will be mainly traveling to the time of the Sumer around the year 2760 BC, even though Sumer was long existed before that. You will also be travelling to the times of the Akkadians, Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian (Chaldean), and Babylonians. We will also provide you with housing, entertainment, transportation, food, a mental translator (see ), a basic information package and medicine if needed. All the package's information is posted on this website, so if you are worried, browse around the website or .

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Welcome to the Mesopotamian Travel Agency. We understand that you are interested in going to Ancient Mesopotamia, and we would not disappoint you with our ! We use the time machine TAYLORTRONIC5000™ with the latest technology to improve your safety, and through a few years of work, we have created three underground buildings which includes a hotel.

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What did the clothing in Mesopotamian look like? Let's do a Sumerian costume breakdown. Basically, fashion changes when the world changes. And in Mesopotamia, fashion didn't need to change for 5,000 years. When we look at the sculptures or drawings from that era, we see dull and neutral colors and shapes, but was it really so? You'll find out from this article.

The article is based on a video by Amanda Hallay, fashion historian

Let's do a Sumerian costume breakdown. This culture was around for a very long time, so fashion did change. We're going just sort of move slightly chronologically. But, basically, fashion changes when the world changes. Fashion changes when it needs to change. And in Mesopotamia, fashion didn't need to change for 5,000 years.

The mainstay of early Mesopotamian fashion was the following. It is called a "kaunake" and it's this sort of a wrap-around skirt, worn quite high on both men and women. On men - just under the nipple; on women - wrapped under one arm and over the shoulder of another.

But what the Mesopotamian tiered skirt is made out of? Some costume historians maintain that it was made of cloth, that this cloth was just cut into these wonderful leaf scalloped shapes. Other historians think that a kaunake was made out of leaves because they really do look like leaves on various Mesopotamian sculptures. Others, however, say they were made out of feathers. No Mesopotamian clothing exists to this day, so we just have to guess. Maybe they were made of all three.

But let's break down the structural elements of Byzantine clothing. You can see, everything was based on wraps at the beginning of this culture. But then, we start seeing tailored garments later on - in the Assyrian era. Garments with sleeves, for example.

But one thing we know the Mesopotamians gave us was fringe. They were nuts for fringe - we see it on carvings, we see it on sculptures. This was a culture that really used clothing to reflect itself, to reflect status. Fringe on everything - it must have been spectacularly exotic.

Of course, there was a social strata in Mesopotamia. And, obviously, the people at the top of it - the royals, the aristocrats, and the big-time land owners - used clothing as status.

Take a look at all of these elements of clothing. The man here is wearing a tunic and over the tunic. He has garments that are wrapped around his body. These garments were made of silk, they were embroidered, and they had fringe.

Take a look at the colored middle image here. You can really get an idea that a lot was going on. The more decorations, the more status you had. The image on the right shows us that a lot of gold was used during the Mesopotamian era.

So, this was very flashy clothing. Get away from this idea that people in the ancient world were neutrals - they didn't. Color was so important to them, more important than it is to us today. We all often go around in black, gray, and neutrals - that would not have been very fashionable in Mesopotamia.

But where the Mesopotamians really showed their style was in their jewelry, their work with gold, and their work with bronze. Look at these headdresses and crowns. Obviously, if you were a baker's wife, you did not wear one of these. These were for royals, these were for High Priestesses. But take a look at the detail - the flowers. Flowers were such an important motif in Mesopotamian, Assyrian, and Babylonian fashion. Also look at these incredible earrings, necklaces, and rings. Absolutely gorgeous gold, bronze, stone, beadwork - this is ancient stuff.

To survive on the planet as a human being, you do not need to be wearing a gold crown with leaves and flowers springing out of it. It's not necessary. So, these pieces and the Mesopotamian fashion in general was being used to signify something else - status, spirituality, money, or just good old-fashioned style.

Let's take a look at hair and beauty. Well, so many Mesopotamian sculptures show guys with long crinkly beards and with matching long hair. We know absolutely that these beards were often curled artificially and they were certainly treated with oils. Beards were important to Mesopotamians. When we look through the ancient world, we'll find that beards signify wisdom. So, whenever you see a beard on an ancient sculpture or an ancient painting, this guy was wise - he was older, he was wiser, he had status.

So, we know that beards were important, but so were shaved heads. Look at this guy - he doesn't have a beard, he has a shaved head. And there are a lot of statues like this. Obviously, to shave your head and be clean-shaven, you had to have a status, too. Maybe this hairdo was typical for priests.

Women's hair was certainly quaffed. Mesopotamian ladies seem to wear these kind of bulbous updos. We see it so often that this really was the hairdo of the Fertile Crescent.

What about makeup? We know they wore makeup, and we're sure that it was extremely exotic, because look at their clothing, look at their jewelry - it was so exotic, it was so flashy that their makeup, probably, was, too. And we know for a fact that they wore makeup because a lot of it has remained intact, like this shell which is full of eye-makeup: a powdered pigment in this wonderful blue (which must have been even more blue 4 or 5 thousand years ago) to use as an eye-shadow. And we know that it went on the eyes because so many of the sculptures, that remain, have detachable eyes and each of them is lined with eyeliner.

Time robs history of color

Think about it. Anything that's left over from the ancient world has lost its color. Everything is the color of sandstone, or white marble, or granite. Everything is neutral or white.

So when we get this statue from the Mesopotamian era and look at her hairdo - she's a bit like a Princess Leia from Star Wars, isn't it? With these two sort of buns on either side of her ears. When we get a statue like this, it's so easy to forget that her clothing would not have looked like this 5,000 years ago.

We know that Mesopotamia was alive with color. She must have been ablaze with color because exotic color was so important to the Mesopotamians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the whole culture of Sumer. They had incredible gold headdresses, and earrings, and necklaces. And we know they wore a lot of makeup. This was an exotic look. So, when you're looking at a dull ancient sculpture, remember that it used to be bright, colorful, and eye-catchy back then.

(c) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aTPB6YnAEA

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Traditional clothing of Mesopotamia. What did it look like? - Nationalclothing.org

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What did the clothing in Mesopotamian look like? Let's do a Sumerian costume breakdown. Basically, fashion changes when the world changes. And in Mesopotamia, fashion didn't need to change for 5,000 years. When we look at the sculptures or drawings from that era, we see dull and neutral colors and shapes, but was it really so?

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Mesopotamia was one of the earliest centers of urban civilization in the area of modern Iraq and eastern Syria between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. One major initial progress towards a successful civilization was its abundance of food, the Mesopotamian food.

The staple crop of ancient farmers in Mesopotamia was always grain. In Mesopotamia, the chief crop was barley. Rice and corn were unknown, and wheat flourished on a soil less saline. Thus barley, and the bread baked from its flour, became the staff of life. Normally people ate two meals a day.

A common crop that was grown annually in Mesopotamia was flax. Flax was used by the Mesopotamians in the production of nets, cloth, linseed oil, meal, and even many pharmaceuticals. Flax played a very important role in Mesopotamian agriculture and commerce as a result of its many uses.

Another very popular food source for the Mesopotamians was the two rivers that surrounded the ancient land. From the Tigris and Euphrates the Mesopotamians were able to pull many different types of fish and other aquatic animals, and wildfowl of all sorts could be found in the wet marshes that bordered both of the rivers.

Date palms were also a very important food source to the Mesopotamians. These palms grew in southern Mesopotamia by the river marshes and supplied fibers, fodder, wood, and rich food. Products from these palms were very important to Mesopotamian trade and help make Mesopotamia a very rich and powerful leader in international trade.

Even though Mesopotamia was for the most part very dry and hot, the Tigris and the Euphrates irrigated the soil on its banks and produced a lot of very fertile soil that was used to grow many other types of crops. Some of these other crops included leeks, onions, lentils, wheat, and barley. Each of these crops was readily available to the Mesopotamians and was consumed at a very common rate.

As well as leeks, lentils, and other types of crops, many spices, herbs, and fruits such as the fig were available. Grapes were also very important to the Mesopotamians and were used in the production of wine.

The olive tree, which was native to the Mesopotamian area, was very useful as well. It was valued throughout Mesopotamia and its surrounding areas for its oil which was used to make medicines, perfume bases, lamp fuel, and most of all for cooking.

Mesopotamia's richness in food always attracted its poorer neighbors. Mesopotamia has a very rough history, one that is in a pattern of penetration and invasion. Mesopotamia, even though one of the most advanced areas of the time, was very susceptible to the power of its enemies.

Despite all of the troubles and challenges that Mesopotamia faced, it was strong and prevailed through the many hard times that it faced for many centuries.

The Mesopotamians made good use of the resources that were available to them and were very productive. The growth and trade of the food in the area contributed a lot to this productiveness and help Mesopotamia to become a very powerful leader.

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Popular Foods in Ancient Mesopotamia - Ancient Mesopotamia

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Mesopotamia was one of the earliest centers of urban civilization in the area of modern Iraq and eastern Syria between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. One major initial progress towards a successful civilization was its abundance of food, the Mesopotamian food. The staple crop of ancient farmers in Mesopotamia was always grain.

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A Barley-Based Diet

If the Atkin's diet is mainly based on meat, then we can equally say that the ancient Mesopotamian diet was largely based on barley, a type cereal grain. That's not to say that that's all the people of ancient Mesopotamia ate, not at all. But barley-based food was the cornerstone of their diet.

In this lesson, you're going to learn about many of the different kinds of foods a person in ancient Mesopotamia would've consumed, many of which you may eat yourself!

Food

Bread

To learn about this diet we're going to meet Shulgi, an ancient Mesopotamian man. He tells us that barley is used to make two staple foods in ancient Mesopotamia, that of bread and beer. He says that in his time, barley was ground with millstones to produce flour. The flour would then be mixed with water to make bread. Other grains like rye, millet and even rice were used to make bread as well.

If Shulgi wanted to splurge a bit on a specialty bread, he would buy bread mixed with various fats, like sesame seed oil, fish oil or just plain lard. However, he lets us in on a dirty little secret: a lot of this fat would go rancid. So, the bakers would mix in other things to mask the bad taste of the oily bread, which would easily spoil in the heat of ancient Mesopotamia.

Some breads would also contain things like milk, honey, fruit or fruit juices. A lot of these higher quality breads would be reserved for royalty as they were expensive.

Dairy

Of course, Shulgi's diet wasn't limited to chowing down on bread. He tells us that he loved dairy products. Ancient Mesopotamians made butter, yogurt and cheese. They were quite sophisticated in their manufacture of cottage, sharp, chalky and sweet varieties of cheese.

Soup and Veggies

Shulgi says he loved to put the cheese into a bowl of soup. Ancient Mesopotamians usually ate thick soups that were more a meal than appetizer. The soup would contain many of the things we'd find in our soups today like onions, beans, meat broth, chickpeas, and lentils. If he really wanted to, Shulgi could add in some leeks, shallot and garlic as that was available to him as well.

Shulgi also ate quite a few different vegetables. He says he either boiled them or ate them raw. Some of his favorite vegetables are lettuce, cucumbers, radishes, beets, and cabbage.

Fruit

And, of course, we can't forget the fruits, now can we? Shulgi says that his homeland was full of fruits. People like him ate grapes, figs, plums, apricots, apples, pears, cherries, melons, and pomegranates. They also ate nuts like pistachios. Yum!

On the note of fruits, Shulgi says he didn't consume sugar. Instead, his people used fruit juices or date juice to sweeten things if they wanted to. While honey was available, much of it was imported and thus very expensive.

Meat

Something else that was expensive was meat. Shulgi says he could buy cattle, goats, sheep and pigs. Fatty meat was enjoyed the most and thus pork was quite popular. However, Shulgi could also get his protein from horsemeat, chickens, ducks, geese, turtles and fish.

Interestingly, he says most people preferred fish raised in fish farms as opposed to fresh-caught fish. Kind of the opposite of today, no?

To season his bread, soup or meat, Shulgi also had a lot of herbs and spices to choose from including salt, black cumin, mustard, mint, thyme, rosemary, and coriander.

Beverages

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If the Atkin's diet is mainly based on meat, then we can equally say that the ancient Mesopotamian diet was largely based on barley, a type cereal grain. That's not to say that that's all the people of ancient Mesopotamia ate, not at all. But barley-based food was the cornerstone of their diet.

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Ancient Mesopotamia and the Sumerians

The word Mesopotamia comes from Greek words meaning "land between the rivers." The rivers are the Tigris and Euphrates. The first settlers to this region did not speak Greek, it was only thousands of years later that the Greek-speaking Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia, conquered this land and carried with him his culture.

Mesopotamia is considered the cradle, or beginning, of civilization. Here large cities lined the rivers and many advances took place. Mesopotamia is located in Southwest Asia. The first known civilization started there. A civilization is a group of people who have a high level of culture and order. People in a civilization belong to different social classes and do different types of jobs. A civilization has science and the arts. It also has a government, values, and beliefs. Mesopotamia at first glance does not look like an ideal place for a civilization to flourish . It is hot and very dry. There is very little rainfall in Lower Mesopotamia. However, snow, melting in the mountains at the source of these two rivers, created an annual flooding. The flooding deposited silt, which is fertile , rich, soil, on the banks of the rivers every year. This is why Mesopotamia is part of the fertile crescent, an area of land in the Middle East that is rich in fertile soil and crescent-shaped.

The Sumerians were the first people to migrate to Mesopotamia, they created a great civilization. Beginning around 5,500 years ago, the Sumerians built cities along the rivers in Lower Mesopotamia, specialized, cooperated, and made many advances in technology. The wheel, plow, and writing (a system which we call cuneiform) are examples of their achievements. The farmers in Sumer created levees to hold back the floods from their fields and cut canals to channel river water to the fields. The use of levees and canals is called irrigation, another Sumerian invention.

Farmers in Mesopotamia got water from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Sometimes, though, it rained too much. This caused the rivers to flood. A flood is when water overflows from a river onto land. Floods could destroy crops, but they also left the land covered with silt. Silt is a rich soil. It is good for farming.

By using irrigation, farmers could grow large amounts of food. The people of Mesopotamia had extra food, or a surplus. As a result, not everyone needed to farm. Some people could become artisans. An artisan is a person who makes a good, such as cloth, tools, or weapons. Soon people began to live together in places that helped them trade goods. Before long, small villages grew into cities. By 3000 B.C., many cities had started and grown in Sumer. Sumer is the region in southern Mesopotamia.

Sumer's Civilization
The people of Sumer were called Sumerians. They built many cities. The cities of Sumer had deserts around them.
Deserts were hard to travel across. As a result, each city stood alone.

As cities grew, they gained control of the land around them. In this way, they formed city-states. Each city-state had its own government. It was not part of a larger nation. Historians believe that each city-state was surrounded by a large wall. Sometimes Sumerian city-states fought each other for control of the river water, a valuable resource. Each city-state needed an army to protect itself from its neighbors; however, during times of peace, they traded with each other.

The Sumerian people had a common language and they worshiped many gods. This type of belief is called polytheism. Each city-state, though, claimed one god as its own. To honor this god, the city-state built a large temple called a ziggurat, a large pyramid-shaped building with a temple at the top, dedicated to a Sumerian deity . A temple is a building used to worship a god or many gods.

People in Sumer were divided into social classes. The upper class included kings, priests, warriors, and government workers. People in this class were powerful and wealthy. The middle class had farmers, fishers, and artisans. It was the largest group. Enslaved people made up the lowest class. They had no money and no power.

The basic unit of Sumerian life was the family. Men were the head of the family. Women ran the home and cared for
the children.

Sumerian Contributions

Sumerians created a way of writing called cuneiform. Cuneiform was written by using wedge-shaped marks cut
into damp clay. Only a few people learned to read and write cuneiform. Some of these people became scribes. A
scribe is a person who records business dealings and important events.

The oldest known story in the world comes from Sumer. This story is called the Epic of Gilgamesh. An epic is a long
poem that tells the story of a hero.

The Sumerians made many useful inventions. An invention is something new that is made. The Sumerians were the first people to use the wheel. They were also the first to use sailboats and wooden plows. In addition, they were the first to make bronze out of copper and tin.

The Sumerians studied mathematics and astronomy. Astronomy is the study of planets, stars, and other objects in space. By watching the position of the stars they learned the best times to plant crops.

Watch the video clip below from Discovery Education, as Nissaba, a young Sumerian girl, talks about her people's accomplishments.

In 1922, English archaeologist, C. Leonard Woolley went to Southern Iraq in hopes of finding the Sumerian city-state of Ur. Woolley learned archaeology from some of the best of his day, and now he was ready to strike off on his own. Many people felt that Ur was only a myth, but Woolley, the son of a clergyman, was fascinated by the stories his father told about Ur, which, according to the Bible, was the birth place of Abraham. Abraham is a central figure of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, three monotheistic religions.

Woolley decided to excavate near the ruins of a ziggurat and began to dig two trenches. Here, Woolley confirmed that the site was the ancient Sumerian city-state of Ur. Woolley's discovery of Ur along with the artifacts and burials there give us a glimpse of life in Sumer 4,500 years ago. Woolley discovered graves of common people, but also royal graves, including that of a Sumerian queen named Pu-Abi.

Around 2,300 BC, the independent city-states of Sumer were conquered by a man called Sargon the Great of Akkad, who had once ruled the city-state of Kish. Sargon was an Akkadian, a Semitic group of desert nomads who eventually settled in Mesopotamia just north of Sumer. The Sumerian king, Lugal-Zaggisi, tried to form a coalition of Sumerian city-states against Sargon, but he was defeated by the Akkadian. Sargon is considered the first empire builder. Sargon made Agade the capital city of his empire.

Sargon's daughter, Enheduanna, was first world's first credited author because she signed her name to a set of poems she wrote about her gods and goddesses. Sargon's son and grandson ruled after him, but eventually the Akkadian Empire fell, and was replaced by the Old Babylonian Empire.

Sadly, the Sumerians didn't spend enough time or money on weapons and defense. They were conquered by Sargon and his people, the Akkadians.

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Ancient Mesopotamia and the Sumerians The word Mesopotamia comes from Greek words meaning "land between the rivers." The rivers are the Tigris and Euphrates. The first settlers to this region did not speak Greek, it was only thousands of years later that the Greek-speaking Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia, conquered this land and carried with him his culture.

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17 Mesopotamia Facts for Kids

navajocodetalkersadmin on January 20, 2015 - 10:00 am in Fun Facts for Kids

Mesopotamia-an ancient land that once hosted a diverse and rich culture. Today, the ancient land is celebrated for its rich history of culture, warfare and trade. In fact, Mesopotamia is considered one of the oldest fully realized civilizations in the world. Many scholars have given Mesopotamia the name, 'the cradle of civilization.' Today, what remains of Mesopotamia is found in parts of Turkey, Syria and most of Iraq.

Mesopotamia Facts for Kids ~ All About Mesopotamia

1. Mesopotamia is also known as 'land between rivers' - it was located between two major rivers known as the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.

2. The entirety of the region was located in present day Iraq and parts of Syria and Turkey.

3. Mesopotamia's northern region consisted of plains, where many people cultivated crops and raised cattle. The southern region housed jungles, rich soil and various marine life. The soil in the southern area was where much of their farming happened.

4. Although they had a fertile land, people of Mesopotamia did have to import goods like timber, hard stones and metals from places in the East and North.

5. Mesopotamia was believed to have been founded around 5500 BCE (before common era).

6. Lapis lazuli, a semi-precious stone imported from Afghanistan, eventually become one of the hallmarks of Mesopotamia artwork and jewelry. Lapis stones were used in the eyes of Mesopotamia artwork of gods and goddesses.

7. People of Mesopotamia developed a common religious belief system, where they worshiped a patron god or goddess at designated temples throughout their land.

Cities of Mesopotamia
8. Uruk was one of Mesopotamia's biggest cities. The city's patron goddess was Inanna, the Goddess of Live and War.

9. The earliest form of writing on record was discovered in Uruk: pictures drawn on clay.

10. The pictorial writing eventually developed into cuneiform, the earliest known writing system in the world, best known for its wedge-like shapes that were etched into clay tablets. Sumerian was the most common language seen on Mesopotamia cuneiform.

11. Ur was another one of Mesopotamia's largest cities. Sumerian was its most common written language, but was rarely spoken.

12. Ur was the home of famous buildings that were known as ziggurats. These shrines were created as the center of the city, where many people met to socialize and worship.

13. Many ziggurats were built tall; some were said to have reached height as tall as 200 feet!

Did You Know?
14. Brick-making became a major industry throughout Mesopotamia.

15. People of Mesopotamia were the first to understand the concept of the number zero. They were also the first to start experimenting with mathematics.

16. People of Mesopotamia used weight to barter, buy and sell items.

17. Many believe that people of Mesopotamia invented the sailboat.

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17 Mesopotamia Facts for Kids | Navajo Code Talkers

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Mesopotamia-an ancient land that once hosted a diverse and rich culture. Today, the ancient land is celebrated for its rich history of culture, warfare and

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Mesopotamia, from the Greek language, means 'land between rivers'. It includes the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers, and the fertile land which surrounds them. It is part of the Fertile Crescent. Mesopotamia today is split. Most of it is in Iraq, but parts are in Kuwait, Syria, Turkey and Iran.

The area is often called the 'Cradle of Civilization'. The ancient writing called cuneiform was first used around 3000 BC by the Sumerians. They lived in city-states (a city and the land around it). According to Genesis in the Old Testament, Abraham lived in Mesopotamia before moving to Canaan.

Historically important cities in Mesopotamia included Uruk, Nippur, Nineveh, and Babylon, as well as major territorial states such as the city of Ma-asesblu, the Akkadian kingdom, the Third Dynasty of Ur, and the Assyrian empire. Some of the important historical Mesopotamian leaders were Ur-Nammu (king of Ur), Sargon (who started the Akkadian Kingdom), Hammurabi (who established the Old Babylonian state), and Tiglath-Pileser I (who started the Assyrian Empire).

Many advances in technology were made by the ancient Sumerians and Mesopotamians, such as irrigation, and trade by river, and flood control. Mesopotamians had agriculture and domesticated animals, or livestock, from the earliest records. Babylon is probably the first city built by settled people. Mesopotamia also was the place where the wheel was first used. First it was a pottery wheel that was used to make clay pots, then Sumerians adapted it for transport.

Mesopotamia is made up of different regions. Northern Mesopotamia is made up of hills and plains. Seasonal rains, and the rivers and streams come from the mountains. Early settlers farmed the land and used timber, metals and stone. Southern Mesopotamia is made up of marshy areas and wide, flat, plains. Cities developed along the rivers which flow through the region. Early settlers had to irrigate the land along the banks of the rivers in order for their crops to grow.

Peoples of Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia has been conquered many times, by many different peoples. It was the heartland of the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires. As each new group moved into the region they adopted some of the culture, traditions and beliefs of the people who had come before. It was conquered by Alexander the Great (332 BC), the Parthians (150 BC), the Romans, the Persian Empire, the Arabs (7th century). It is still one of the most fertile (and therefore valuable) parts of the Middle East.

Ancient Mesopotamia begins in the late 6th millennium BC, and ends with either the rise of the Achaemenid Persians in the 6th century BC or the Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia in the 7th century CE. This long period may be divided as follows:

Epic of Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh is an ancient story about a relationship between Gilgamesh and his close companion, Enkidu. Enkidu is a wild man created by the gods as Gilgamesh's equal to distract him from oppressing the citizens of Uruk. Together they undertake dangerous quests that incur the displeasure of the gods. Firstly, they journey to the Cedar Mountain to defeat Humbaba, its monstrous guardian. Later they kill the Bull of Heaven that the goddess Ishtar has sent to punish Gilgamesh for turning down her advances.

The second part of the epic is about Gilgamesh's distressed reaction to Enkidu's death, which takes the form of a quest for immortality. Gilgamesh attempts to learn the secret of eternal life by undertaking a long and perilous journey to meet the immortal flood hero, Utnapishtim. The words addressed to Gilgamesh in the midst of his quest foreshadow the end result:

"The life that you are seeking you will never find. When the gods created man they allotted to him death, but life they retained in their own keeping".

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References

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Mesopotamia, from the Greek language, means 'land between rivers'. It includes the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers, and the fertile land which surrounds them. It is part of the Fertile Crescent. Mesopotamia today is split. Most of it is in Iraq, but parts are in Kuwait, Syria, Turkey and Iran.

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Timeline of Mesopotamia

Background

Mesopotamia is an area in south western Asia where the first human civilisation emerged. The people who lived in Mesopotamia were nomads which means that they had no particular home; they moved from place to place. Soon this changed as people began to settle in particular locations. Mesopotamia soon saw the rise of cities, regions and empires. This timeline provides a summary of the history of Mesopotamia from its earliest settlements. It looks at the timeline through the main empires of the period: the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian and Persian Empires.

Around 7000 BC - The first farmers settle in northern Mesopotamia, herd animals and grow crops on the fertile river soil.

Around 5400 BC - The world's first city is established by the ancient Sumer people. It is called Eridu.

About 5000 BC - Farmers begin to settle in the south of Mesopotamia. They develop irrigation which meant that they found a way to direct water to crops to make them grow more effectively.

Around 4000 BC - The Sumer people start to build ziggurats which were large, stepped buildings made out of mud brick. They were places where people worshipped their gods. They began building more cities.

Around 3600 BC - Writing is invented at the city of Uruk. The people draw pictures to represent various objects.

Around 3000 BC - The Sumer people use carts with wheels.

Around 2700 BC - King Gilgamesh led the city of Uruk. He is seen as a heroic figure who defended his people by building a wall around Uruk.

Around 2300 BC - Sargon the Great establishes the Akkadian Empire by conquering Mesopotamia.

Around 2000 BC - The first Assyrian Empire is established in the north of Mesopotamia and lasts for more than 500 years.

Around 2154 BC - The Akkadian Empire comes to an end.

Around 1792 BC - Hammurabi takes power as King of Babylon. Eventually, he ruled over all of Mesopotamia. He is best known for his law code which sought to prevent crime and bad behaviour.

Around 1750 BC - Hammurabi dies and the First Babylonian Empire goes into decline.

Around 1595 BC - Babylonis sacked by a tribe called the Hittites. A people called the Kassites then hold power in the city for 400 years.

Around 1307 BC - The Assyrian King Adad Nirari Ibegins a new period of military expansion which would last in one form or another until the end of the Assyrian Empire in 612 BC.

Around 1200 BC - Assyrians rule over the greater part of Mesopotamia due to aggressive military tactics and new weapons made of iron.

Around 1114 BC - Assyrian rule of 'the middle period' reaches its height under King Tiglath-Pileser I.

Around 722 BC - Assyrian Empire (Now the Neo-Assyrian Empire) achieves its biggest land coverage under Sargon II.

Around 668 BC - King Ashurbanipal rules as one of the greatest Assyrian kings. He builds a new palace in Nineveh and starts to gather everything that had been written in Mesopotamia up to that point. This led to the creation of Ashurbanipal's famous library.

Around 616 BC - Nabopolassar defeats the Assyrians to take Babylon and start the Neo-Babylonian Empire.

Around 612 BC - Assyrian Empire comes to an end.

Around 605 BC - King Nebuchadnezzar rules in Babylon after his father, Nabopolassar, dies. He rebuilds the city and engages in a number of impressive construction projects, including the famous Hanging Gardens, and builds the Neo-Babylonian Empire.

Around 539 BC - Cyrus the Great takes control of Babylon and most of Mesopotamia falls under Persian rule. Cyrus establishes a new form of tolerant leadership and the Persian Empire under him and future leaders eventually extends from Egypt to the Indus Valley in the east.

Around 522 BC - Darius the Great comes to power as king of Persia. Darius I established new forms of regional control, a huge roads network and the creation of a postal service.

Around 490 BC - Darius reacts to Greek uprisings on his western border by ordering a full land invasion of mainland Greece. The adventure ends in humiliating defeat.

Around 480 BC - Xerxes I tries to defeat the Greeks again in another land invasion. Again the Persians are defeated.

Around 331 BC - Alexander the Great conquers the Persians and changes the ancient world forever.

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Background Mesopotamia is an area in south western Asia where the first human civilisation emerged. The people who lived in Mesopotamia were nomads which means that they had no particular home; they moved from place to place. Soon this changed as people began to settle in particular locations.

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Historically important cities in Mesopotamia included Uruk, Nippur, Nineveh, and Babylon, as well as major territorial states such as the Akkadian kingdom, the Third Dynasty of Ur, and the Assyrian empire. Some of the important historical Mesopotamian leaders were Ur-Nammu (king of Ur), Sargon (who started the Akkadian Kingdom), Hammurabi (who established the Old Babylonian state), and Tiglath-Pileser I (who started the Assyrian Empire).

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The background

In the narrow sense, Mesopotamia is the area between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, north or northwest of the bottleneck at Baghdad, in modern Iraq; it is Al-Jazīrah ("The Island") of the Arabs. South of this lies Babylonia, named after the city of Babylon. However, in the broader sense, the name Mesopotamia has come to be used for the area bounded on the northeast by the Zagros Mountains and on the southwest by the edge of the Arabian Plateau and stretching from the Persian Gulf in the southeast to the spurs of the Anti-Taurus Mountains in the northwest. Only from the latitude of Baghdad do the Euphrates and Tigris truly become twin rivers, the rāfidān of the Arabs, which have constantly changed their courses over the millennia. The low-lying plain of the Kārūn River in Persia has always been closely related to Mesopotamia, but it is not considered part of Mesopotamia as it forms its own river system.

Mesopotamia, south of Al-Ramādī (about 70 miles, or 110 kilometres, west of Baghdad) on the Euphrates and the bend of the Tigris below Sāmarrāʾ (about 70 miles north-northwest of Baghdad), is flat alluvial land. Between Baghdad and the mouth of the Shaṭṭ al-ʿArab (the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates, where it empties into the Persian Gulf) there is a difference in height of only about 100 feet (30 metres). As a result of the slow flow of the water, there are heavy deposits of silt, and the riverbeds are raised. Consequently, the rivers often overflow their banks (and may even change their course) when they are not protected by high dikes. In recent times they have been regulated above Baghdad by the use of escape channels with overflow reservoirs. The extreme south is a region of extensive marshes and reed swamps, hawrs, which, probably since early times, have served as an area of refuge for oppressed and displaced peoples. The supply of water is not regular; as a result of the high average temperatures and a very low annual rainfall, the ground of the plain of latitude 35° N is hard and dry and unsuitable for plant cultivation for at least eight months in the year. Consequently, agriculture without risk of crop failure, which seems to have begun in the higher rainfall zones and in the hilly borders of Mesopotamia in the 10th millennium bce, began in Mesopotamia itself, the real heart of the civilization, only after artificial irrigation had been invented, bringing water to large stretches of territory through a widely branching network of canals. Since the ground is extremely fertile and, with irrigation and the necessary drainage, will produce in abundance, southern Mesopotamia became a land of plenty that could support a considerable population. The cultural superiority of north Mesopotamia, which may have lasted until about 4000 bce, was finally overtaken by the south when the people there had responded to the challenge of their situation.

The present climatic conditions are fairly similar to those of 8,000 years ago. An English survey of ruined settlements in the area 30 miles around ancient Hatra (180 miles northwest of Baghdad) has shown that the southern limits of the zone in which agriculture is possible without artificial irrigation has remained unchanged since the first settlement of Al-Jazīrah.

The availability of raw materials is a historical factor of great importance, as is the dependence on those materials that had to be imported. In Mesopotamia, agricultural products and those from stock breeding, fisheries, date palm cultivation, and reed industries-in short, grain, vegetables, meat, leather, wool, horn, fish, dates, and reed and plant-fibre products-were available in plenty and could easily be produced in excess of home requirements to be exported. There are bitumen springs at Hīt (90 miles northwest of Baghdad) on the Euphrates (the Is of Herodotus). On the other hand, wood, stone, and metal were rare or even entirely absent. The date palm-virtually the national tree of Iraq-yields a wood suitable only for rough beams and not for finer work. Stone is mostly lacking in southern Mesopotamia, although limestone is quarried in the desert about 35 miles to the west and "Mosul marble" is found not far from the Tigris in its middle reaches. Metal can only be obtained in the mountains, and the same is true of precious and semiprecious stones. Consequently, southern Mesopotamia in particular was destined to be a land of trade from the start. Only rarely could "empires" extending over a wider area guarantee themselves imports by plundering or by subjecting neighbouring regions.

The raw material that epitomizes Mesopotamian civilization is clay: in the almost exclusively mud-brick architecture and in the number and variety of clay figurines and pottery artifacts, Mesopotamia bears the stamp of clay as does no other civilization, and nowhere in the world but in Mesopotamia and the regions over which its influence was diffused was clay used as the vehicle for writing. Such phrases as cuneiform civilization, cuneiform literature, and cuneiform law can apply only where people had had the idea of using soft clay not only for bricks and jars and for the jar stoppers on which a seal could be impressed as a mark of ownership but also as the vehicle for impressed signs to which established meanings were assigned-an intellectual achievement that amounted to nothing less than the invention of writing.

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History of Mesopotamia | Definition, Civilization, Summary, Agriculture, & Facts

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History of Mesopotamia, the region in southwestern Asia where the world's earliest civilization developed. Centered between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the region in ancient times was home to several civilizations, including the Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Persians.

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Mesopotamia is a name for the area of the Tigris-Euphrates river system, corresponding to modern-day Iraq, Kuwait, the northeastern section of Syria, and to a much lesser extent southeastern Turkey and smaller parts of southwestern Iran.
See the fact file below for more information on the Ancient Mesopotamia or alternatively, you can download our 19-page Ancient Mesopotamia worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.
Key Facts & Information

GEOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Most of Ancient Mesopotamia was located in what today is the country of Iraq. Mesopotamia was known as the land between two rivers. The Tigris River ran along the north and the Euphrates River ran along the south.

These rivers flow into the Persian Gulf. The area is also known as "The Fertile Crescent". Mesopotamia was approximately 300 miles long and 150 miles wide.

The land of Ancient Mesopotamia experienced many floods, but today the area is mostly desert. The flooding was a challenge to the farmers. They had to learn to control and work with it.

The invention of irrigation was extremely important, because it allowed the people to plant during the hot, dry season. The fertile land produced crops such as many fruits, vegetables, flax, barley, wheat, and sesame.

Sheep, cattle, goats, and pigs were being raised by the farmers. The seeder plow, invented by the Mesopotamians, was a major achievement. It allowed farmers to plow their land and seed it at the same time.

Ancient Mesopotamia is where the world's first cities appeared between 4000 - 3500 BC. Before this time, most people lived on farms in the country. City life allowed the people to work together for the common good. It is believed an ancient site, called Eridu, was the first city that was ever created.

WAY OF LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Ancient Mesopotamia is considered the cradle of civilization, because the people of this culture developed many things such as government, written language, religion, agriculture, and cities. The Ancient Mesopotamians developed sanitation techniques, the Pythagorean theorem, and glass.

They revolutionized transportation around 3500 BC by inventing the wheel and were among the first to harness the wind as an energy source by using the sail.

The Sumerians of Ancient Mesopotamia are credited with inventing the earliest form of writing. The writings on tablets were of simple pictures, or pictograms, which represented an object or an idea.

Clay was a difficult material to draw on, so the Mesopotamians eventually reduced pictograms into a series of wedge-shaped signs that they pressed into clay with a stylus. This wedge-shaped writing is called cuneiform.

This invention of writing was a huge advancement, because it allowed information to be carried from place to place accurately.

The Ancient Mesopotamians developed the arch and column. They were masters of construction using bricks made of mud. Brick-making was a major Mesopotamian industry, especially in the south, where wood was in short supply and there was no stone. Over the centuries, rains and shifting sands destroyed much of southern Mesopotamia's mud-brick architecture. Only crumbled mounds remain as evidence of the great cities that once stood in the deserts of southern Iraq.

The Ancient Mesopotamians worshipped hundreds of gods. Ordinary people depended on a relationship with their own personal god - like a guardian angel - who protected them and talked to the other gods on their behalf. Every city had its own god or goddess. There were also gods that were connected to different professions. The major gods were:

Anu was the father of the gods and the god of the sky

Enlil was the god of the air

Utu was the sun god and the lord of truth and justice

Nanna was the moon god

Inanna was the goddess of love and war

Ninhursag was the goddess of earth

Enki was the god of fresh water as well as the lord of wisdom and magic

The Mesopotamian woman's role was strictly defined. Most girls were trained from childhood for the traditional roles of wife, mother, and housekeeper. They learned how to grind grain, how to cook and make beverages, especially beer, and how to spin and weave cloth for clothing. At around twelve years of age, a young girl was considered ready for marriage.

During the earliest years of recorded history, the Ancient Mesopotamians were experimenting with ways to count, measure, and solve mathematical problems. They were the first to give a number a place value and to recognize the concept of zero. The ancient Mesopotamians did not use money, so they developed a system of weights to buy and sell things. They used barley as a measure. Other standard units of weight were the shekel, the mina, and the talent or load. Eventually, silver replaced barley as the medium of exchange.

The Ancient Mesopotamians discovered that by observing the movements of the moon, sun, and stars, they could measure time, which was important for planting crops and for holding religious festivals.

Ancient Mesopotamia Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about Ancient Mesopotamia across 19 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Ancient Mesopotamia worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the Mesopotamia which is a name for the area of the Tigris-Euphrates river system, corresponding to modern-day Iraq, Kuwait, the northeastern section of Syria, and to a much lesser extent southeastern Turkey and smaller parts of southwestern Iran.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

Ancient Mesopotamia Facts

Mapping Mesopotamia

The Cuneiform

The Banquet Plaque

Then...& Today...

Mesopotamian Technology

The Fertile Crescent

Fascinating Civilization

Mesopotamian Life

Ancient Empires

Mesopotamian Archeology

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Ancient Mesopotamia Facts & Worksheets | Teaching Resources

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Mesopotamia is a name for the area of the Tigris-Euphrates river system, corresponding to modern-day Iraq, Kuwait, the northeastern section of Syria and to a much lesser extent southeastern Turkey and smaller parts of southwestern Iran. Download our worksheet and fact file collection today.

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All Facts about Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is an area in south western Asia where the first human civilisation emerged. The people who lived in Mesopotamia were nomads which means that they had no particular home; they moved from place to place. Soon this changed as people began to settle in particular locations. Mesopotamia soon saw the rise of cities, regions and empires. This timeline provides a summary of the history of Mesopotamia from its earliest settlements. It looks at the timeline through the main empires of the period: the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian and Persian Empires.

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All Facts about Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is an area in south western Asia where the first human civilisation emerged. The people who lived in Mesopotamia were nomads which means that they had no particular home; they moved from place to place. Soon this changed as people began to settle in particular locations.

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Kids learn about the history of Ancient Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Educational articles for teachers, students, and schools including religion, art, daily life, people and kings, Sumer, Babylon, Assyria, Persia, city-states, science, and more.

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Ancient Mesopotamia and the surrounding area is often called the The world's first cities may have developed as early as 10,000 BCE-in Damascus or Jericho. However, these individual cities do not qualify as a civilization. A civilization means several cities and usually a common culture between all of the cities. Mesopotamia is different than most civilizations since they develop

Most of Southwest Asia has an Arid climate today. An Arid climate receives less than 10 inches of precipitation (rain, sleet, or snow). Arid areas are usually covered in desert and often experience very high temperatures. This region was not always covered in desert. Ancient Mesopotamia was a green land where many plants grew due to the rich soil and occasional rain. The rich plant life allowed many animals to live in this region. People living here hunted and gathered the animals and plants. Fertile Crescent or the
city-states. A city-state is a nation that is only one city. Mesopotamia was a collection of cities, and they shared many aspects of culture.

Around 8,000 BCE (BC), people began to slowly discover that planting a seed would make a new plant grow-the beginning of farming! The main reason farming probably began in this region is because Southwest Asia had several types of wild grain that can be farmed-we still use them today! The slow process of taking a plant from the wild and turning it into a farm crop is called domestication. For example, corn was domesticated in Mexico around 7000 BCE (BC). Farmers in Mesopotamia grew barley, wheat, lentils, chickpeas, onions, garlic, dates, and lettuce. Not every plant can be domesticated. Southwest Asia had more wild plants that could be domesticated than any other region, and they had the same advantage when it came to animals. 13 out of the 14 main domesticated animals today were native to Southwest Asia. Native means originally from a particular area. People in Mesopotamia domesticated sheep, goats, cows, donkey, oxen, and pigs.

It is believed that people first began farming around 8000 BCE. Southwest Asia was the first place farming developed. Farming produces much more food than hunting and gathering because a few farmers can grow enough food for an entire village. Since farming requires constant attention, farming people couldn't be nomadic. Nomadic people don't have a permanent home, so farming forced people to settle down and live in one place. These new farmers usually settled along a river for the fresh water and fertile soil, in this case the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Slowly, more people moved into these areas and villages or small towns began to develop. Cradle of Civilization. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers supplied fresh water for humans, plants, and animals. Eventually these rivers would provide irrigation for the farms of the first civilization in human history. The word Mesopotamia is Greek for 'land between rivers'.

Mesopotamia's First Civilization--Sumer

Around 3500 BCE, people were growing more food than they needed, which allowed the division of labor. People were living in multiple cities with governments and religions. A written language developed around 3300 BCE-civilization is official! The first civilization to develop was called Sumer in southern Mesopotamia. Sumer was a collection of city-states , most of them with thick defensive walls because the city-states were often at war with one another. Major cities included Eridu, Uruk, Ur, and Lagash. Uruk was one of the largest cities; at one time it may have had 80,000 people living in and around the city. This time period began a great human migration from the countryside into the city.

Mesopotamia invented new technology. They were the first to use the wheel. The wagon was a transportation revolution for farming and trade. They developed a number system based on 60--this explains why we have 60 seconds in minute and 60 minutes in an hour. They used a 12 month calendar with a 7 day week. Astronomers studied the stars an mapped the first set of constellations. Early writers wrote the earliest known literature called the Epic of Gilgamesh, which tells the tale of the struggle between man and the Gods. They also created architectural structures such as the dome, the column, and the arch. Architecture is the art of building structures (buildings of any kind). All that remains today of most Mesopotamian architecture are mounds of dirt and clay called a tell-- broken mud-brick buildings in modern-day Iraq. This is why the architecture of Mesopotamia is hard to find today. The mud-bricks have eroded away, but archeologists have uncovered amazing artifacts under the ruble that tell the story of these ancient people. A tell is also a good place to look for graves. We have learned a great deal about Mesopotamia and other civilizations from exploring their burial grounds.

Sumer was not the only group to develop in Mesopotamia, but their culture influenced future civilizations. The government was organized around one king, the man dominated the household, and their religion believed in some kind of afterlife. Their culture had social classes -groups of people with similar backgrounds, wealth, and ways of living. Social classes were formed when people began doing different jobs. The jobs made them live in different ways, wear different cloths, and earn different amounts of wealth. All of these culture characteristics would be passed on.

In Sumer, the city became the center of trade, religious, and social life. The city layout reflected the rank of developing social classes. At the center of each town was a religious temple called a ziggurat. Palaces for the king's family surrounded the temple. Homes and shops for government workers, scribes, and craftsman surrounded the royal palaces. Smaller houses were usually found on the outsides of the city, but still in the large defensive walls that surrounded the city. Narrow alleys and small streets divided the houses.

The religion was slightly different in each city-state, but all of them were polytheistic. Polytheism is the belief in many Gods. They believed the Earth was a flat disc and the sky had holes that showed the light of heaven above. They believed their kings descended from the Gods. They buried their important people with their personal belongings and sometimes their servants. One grave had nearly 70 servants who were buried with their leader.

Over five thousand years ago, people living in Mesopotamia developed a form of writing to record different types of information. The earliest writing was based on pictures that represent words or phrases-these are called pictograms. Pictograms were used to communicate basic information about crops, taxes, and lending (loans). This type of writing required hundreds of symbols. Over several hundred years, the pictures developed into a type of writing we call cuneiform. Cuneiform was different because the symbols now stood for sounds, similar to our alphabet. At some point scribes began using a new wedge-shaped tool to press into the wet clay tablets. Paper had not been invented so they wrote on wet clay tablets. Scribes were the only people who knew how to read and write. Over thousands of years, Mesopotamian scribes recorded daily events, trade, astronomy, and literature on clay tablets. The first alphabet would develop around 1000 BCE by a different civilization along the Mediterranean called Phoenicia. All modern alphabets can be traced back to this extremely important development in writing.

The countryside farmers grew food for themselves and everyone in the city. In this dry region they depended on the regular flooding of the Tigris-Euphrates Rivers. They used careful irrigation to save water in pools and canals to keep for later use during dry times. Irrigation is a way to water fields without rain. Most of the farmers grew grain crops such as barley or wheat. These wild grasses produced grains that could be ground up to make flour for bread. Peas, garlic, onions, dates, and figs were also grown. The crops were brought to the temple to be stored or to market for trade or sale. Over the next several thousand years, Sumerian civilization influenced the surrounding area. New city-states rose to power in the region such as Akkad, Babylon and Assyria. Each of these cities grew into empires as they conquered the surrounding area and constantly fought each other.

Babylonia

Babylonia came into power when King Hammurabi created an empire out of the former kingdoms of Sumer and Akkad. Babylonia gets its name from their capital city, Babylon. Babylon is probably the most famous city in Ancient Mesopotamia because of its regular mentions in Jewish and Christian religious writings.

Babylon became known for impressive architecture and its laws and government. A Babylonian king named Nebuchadnezzar II built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Nebuchadnezzar II supposedly built these around 600 BC because his wife missed the forests and jungles of her home. The gardens didn't actually hang-they were simply built on top of towers, platforms, and temples. The plants hung down the side and gave an appearance of "hanging" plants. Hammurabi is also known for creating a system of laws called the " Code of Hammurabi " that has had a lasting influence on legal thought. Only one example of the Code survives today on a seven foot, four inch tall basalt stone slab. The Code is considered an early form of what is now known as a constitution. There are 282 laws in the Code of Hammurabi. After Hammurabi, Babylon was conquered by the Assyrians and controlled for centuries until they finally recaptured and increased their empire in 627 BCE.

Persia controlled an area that stretched from the Indus River (Pakistan) to beyond the Nile. The Assyria and Persia Persian Royal Road was an ancient highway that allowed rapid communication throughout this very large empire. Messengers on horseback could travel the 1,677 miles in seven days; it took ninety days on foot. The road also helped Persia increase long distance trade and eventually became a major part of the Silk Road.
Assyria was in the Upper Tigris River in modern day Iraq and Turkey. They were a powerful military empire that came to rule a large empire, including Ancient Egypt, a number of times in history. The main Assyrian cities of the middle period were Ashur, Kalhu (Nimrud) and Nineveh. The Assyrian empire has been described as the first military power in history. Assyrians were the first to manufacture metal wheels, which was much more durable and therefore able to be used in war. The core of the Assyrian army was their war-chariots. The Assyrians were also the first to use camels in war.

Persia became a powerful e mpire when they defeated Assyria. Persians gained control of most of Mesopotamia and even Ancient Egypt, and created the largest empire in the ancient world. Persia developed in modern day Iran.

Persia was a major contributor to early science. Persian scientists worked on understanding nature, medicine, mathematics, and philosophy. Persians made important contributions to algebra and chemistry. Zoroastrianism was a major religion found in ancient Persia as early as 5000 BC. Zoroastrianism was one of the first monotheistic religion-or belief in only 1 god. Zoroastrianism greatly influenced the Abrahamic religions- Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. About a quarter of a million people still follow this religion. Judaism developed near the Mediterranean around the same time. Judaism would eventually give rise to Christianity and Isalm.

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Ancient Iraq (Mesopotamia) - Ancient Civilizations for Kids

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Ancient Mesopotamia and the surrounding area is often called the The world's first cities may have developed as early as 10,000 BCE-in Damascus or Jericho. However, these individual cities do not qualify as a civilization. A civilization means several cities and usually a common culture between all of the cities.

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The narrative of history we find in most textbooks says very little about the regular person. It's all about kings and generals and geniuses. Those are all wonderful things to learn about. In fact, they're vital, but they're not the whole picture. Much of what archaeology, or 'the study of the past', is comprised of is the story of the everyday human being as they lived a hundred, or a hundred-thousand years ago.

Today, we're going to take a look at what we know of the everyday comings-and-goings of the 'birthplace of civilization': Ancient Mesopotamia. What were the social classes like? Did they have a unified religion? What did they wear? What did they eat? What did they do?

Social Status

Mesopotamia was one of the first places on Earth where humans began to settle down in towns and form governments. With the First Agricultural Revolution (circa 10,000 BC), humans no longer had to devote the entirety of their time to foraging for food, and had time to pursue things like architecture, art, music, and writing. This led to specialization, which then led to the development of social classes.

Ancient Mesopotamia was divided into a tiny upper class made up of the king and other wealthy aristocrats, priests, and scribes, and a middle class made up of craftsmen, merchants, and civil servants. Everyone else, you know, the laborers and farmers, made up the much larger lower class. At the very bottom of the social tier were slaves. These were usually owned by the king or other members of the upper class, and were always prisoners-of-war taken captive in battles.

The upper class lived a pretty cushy life, as you can imagine. The king had no restrictions on what he could and couldn't do, and could demand taxes as he pleased. The middle class made a decent living, and if they worked hard, they could eventually reach the upper crust of society. Even the lower class could eventually work their way into the middle class with enough hard work. Mesopotamia was, by no means, a caste-based society.

Women were not considered equal to men. They were a part of their own social class. However, unlike Ancient Greece and Rome, they were allowed to leave their houses and go to the market, own property and run their own businesses, and even become involved in legal cases. There were no laws against them learning to read and write, either, or taking any sort of paid job, but they had no say in making laws.

The middle and lower classes lived in mud brick homes with flat roofs where people would sleep during hot, long summers. Upper classes would live in lavish homes decorated with stone reliefs, and filled with figurines, art, and beautiful fabrics. Their homes would often be two or three levels high.

Religion

Much of what we know about Mesopotamian religion comes from the famous Epic of Gilgamesh. Mesopotamians were polytheistic, and ranked their gods from great to small. Some were as vast as the sky, like Anu (the Mesopotamian personification of the sky), or Enlil (god of air and storms), and had no interest in human affairs. Others were petty and required food and drink. The Mesopotamians had no view of 'spiritual', 'mystical' beings. Rather, their gods were just high, malevolent masters to be obeyed and feared.

They had hundreds of thousands of deities, and each deity had its own priests, temples, and followers. Cities had their own patrons. Marduk was patron of Babylon, Enki (patron god of wisdom, water, and the earth) was associated with Eridu, Ashur was the patron of Assyria, and so-on.

Inanna, the goddess of love and war, had her own epic poem that has been preserved, translated, and can still be read today. It details her rise to power, trip to the underworld, and many romantic exploits.

Fashion and Food

Mesopotamians, just like people today, were concerned with their physical appearance. Their clothes were normally made of sheepskin or wool. The men wore long tunics and skirts, and the women wore even longer dresses. They liked to dye their clothes bright colors using pigment naturally available to them, and the upper classes might sew glass beads, precious stones, or even fine gold or silver threads into their clothing to make it more attractive.

Everyone wore jewelry, especially rings encrusted with precious stones. As for hair, well, men wore their hair shoulder length, with long, braided beards. Women wore long hair, too, and liked to braid it. Both genders wore makeup.

Ancient Sumerian makeup and skincare was just as popular and widespread as our skincare and makeup are today. They kept their makeup in special containers or in sea shells, and used all sorts of pigments, oils, and plants to make themselves smell and look fabulous. They used khol, a paste made from frankincense resin and powdered antimony or lead, to line their eyes and protect them from bacteria. It was worn as mascara, too. If they weren't feeling like wearing black eyeliner, they'd also mix pumice with turquoise to make blue. They used red henna as lipstick and blush, and painted themselves with white lead and vermilion. The kings and queens of Mesopotamia were always the trendsetters.

Occupations and Entertainment

Mesopotamia was, at its heart, an agricultural civilization, so most people were either farmers or animal herders of some kind. Some people employed themselves as hunters or fishermen. There was a great deal of trade between cities, so the middle class was made up of merchants and craftsmen. As language developed, not everyone learned to read, so those who did were either aristocrats or trained scribes who would be hired by others to write and read for them.

As work became more and more specialized, people had more and more time for entertainment. Instruments were invented, including drums, lyres (a small harp), flutes, and harps. They also created sports and enjoyed watching them. They'd go to boxing and wrestling matches, and played board and dice games amongst themselves. Wealthier cities had their own art and poetry styles. Some of the earliest works of fiction on Earth come from Mesopotamia.

Children had toys. These were usually carved from bone or wood, and looked just like toys we give our children today. Carved animals, tops, and jump ropes were most popular.

Humans are humans, no matter the century. While how we go about certain activities like putting on makeup, entertaining ourselves, or going to work, might look very different, it's clear that the basic principles of who we are as a species haven't changed a bit.

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The narrative of history we find in most textbooks says very little about the regular person. It's all about kings and generals and geniuses. Those are all wonderful things to learn about. In fact, they're vital, but they're not the whole picture. Much of what archaeology, or 'the study of the past', is comprised of ...