# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How Mesopotamia Became the Cradle of Civilization | HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Environmental factors helped agriculture, architecture and eventually a social order emerge for the first time in ancient Mesopotamia.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now Iraq is the site of ancient Mesopotamia, birthplace of the world’s first civilizations. The name is Greek for…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
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.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Sumerian religion refers to spiritual beliefs practiced from ca. 4500-1900 BCE in Mesopotamia, or modern-day southern Iraq. Many deities were diffused into other Mesopotamian cultures.

Heads up. Sumerian Religion belongs to a parent belief system on the basis of shared myths and deities.

Mesopotamian religion broadly included cultures in the ancient near east: Sumer, Akkad, Babylon, Assyria, and others. These cultures shared highly diffused customs, deities, and myths from ca. 3000 BCE - 400 CE. Many deities were diffused from one culture into another, with the result that religious beliefs were consistent and coherent. Around 400 CE, Christianity and other Abrahamic religions became more widely practiced. Mesopotamian cultures also gave rise to many chief features observed in the...

Background

The Sumerian religion was practiced from roughly 4500-1900 BCE in Mesopotamia, or modern-day southern Iraq. The Sumerians were known as the "black headed people," according to texts from the Akkadian people, their neighbors to the north. The Sumerians worshiped many different deities and had various cult cities. The Sumerians are allegedly the first civilization to invent a formal writing system, known as cuneiform. It's important to note that the exact relationships between Sumerian deities are difficult to confirm because some texts contradict others. Sumerian religion faded away into history some time around 1900 BCE. During this time period, the Akkadian empire came to power in the area. For that reason, many Sumerian deities and myths were adapted into the new culture, much like how Roman myths were adapted from earlier Greek ones.

The Sumerians invented writing

The Sumerians are known for allegedly being the first civilization and the first peoples to use a formal writing system, called cuneiform. Most myths that scholars have on record come from clay tablets with cuneiform symbols. These symbols have been mostly translated in the last several hundred years.

Core Sumerian mythologies

The Sumerians observed a rich mythological tradition.

Sumerian cosmology

The Sumerian view of the universe seems to be based on the observance of a heaven, Earth, and an underworld. Sometimes, these were represented by the deities An (sky), Ki (Earth), and Ereshkigal (underworld).

The "underworld/netherworld" at Ganzir

In some myths, the place where the dead go is "Ganzir." This is the case in the Sumerian afterlife myth named Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld as well as in Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld. In general, it is also described as a dreary place where the food is made of clay or mud. Humans, however, survived there as ghosts or spirits.

"The conditions of `life' in the underworld
were thought, with few exceptions, to be dismal
in the extreme. The Sumerian dead fed on dust
and scraps and lived in darkness."

The Sumerian depiction of the realm of the dead may have also been an inspiration for the contemporary notion of "Hell" in Christianity.

"The notion of an underworld peopled by
terrifying demonic beings, which foreshadowed
the medieval image of Hell, seems to
have been a theological invention of the first
millennium BC. The dead Enkidu encounters
such demons in the Epic of Gilgameš. The
clearest literary account of such an underworld,
however, is a text recounting the hellish
vision of an Assyrian prince (thought by some
to be the seventh-century BC crown prince,
later king, Assurbanipal)."

The aforementioned categorization has survived through most of Mesopotamian literature.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Sumerian religion refers to spiritual beliefs practiced from ca. 4500-1900 BCE in Mesopotamia, or modern-day southern Iraq. Many deities were diffused into other Mesopotamian cultures.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
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.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia - Mesopotamia for Kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
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.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Sumerian religion was the religion practiced by the people of Sumer, the first literate civilization of ancient Mesopotamia. The Sumerians regarded their gods as responsible for everything that happens in life.

Before the beginning of kingship in Sumer, the city-states were effectively ruled by priests and religious officials. Later, kings started to rule, but priests continued to have great influence on Sumerian society. In early times, Sumerian temples were simple, one-room structures, sometimes built on elevated platforms. Towards the end of Sumerian civilization, these temples developed into ziggurats - tall, pyramidal structures with sanctuaries at the tops.

The Sumerians believed that the universe had come into being through a series of cosmic births. First, Nammu, the primeval waters, gave birth to Ki (the earth) and An (the sky), who mated together and produced a son named Enlil. Enlil separated heaven from earth and claimed the earth as his domain. Humans were believed to have been created by Enki, the son of Nammu and An. Heaven was reserved exclusively for deities and, upon their deaths, all mortals' spirits, regardless of their behavior while alive, were believed to go to Kur, a cold, dark cavern deep beneath the earth, which was ruled by the goddess Ereshkigal and where the only food available was dry dust. In later times, Ereshkigal was believed to rule alongside her husband Nergal, the god of death.

Written Cuneiform

Sumerian myths were passed down through the oral tradition until the invention of writing. Early Sumerian cuneiform was used primarily as a record-keeping tool; it was not until the late early dynastic period that religious writings first became prevalent as temple praise hymns and as a form of "incantation" called the nam-šub (prefix + "to cast").

Architecture

In the Sumerian city-states, temple complexes originally were small, elevated one-room structures. In the early dynastic period, temples developed raised terraces and multiple rooms. Toward the end of the Sumerian civilization, Ziggurats became the preferred temple structure for Mesopotamian religious centers. Temples served as cultural, religious, and political headquarters until approximately 2500 BCE, with the rise of military kings known as Lu-gals ("man" + "big") after which time the political and military leadership was often housed in separate "palace" complexes.

The Priesthood

Until the advent of the lugals, Sumerian city states were under a virtually theocratic government controlled by various En or Ensí, who served as the high priests of the cults of the city gods. (Their female equivalents were known as Nin.) Priests were responsible for continuing the cultural and religious traditions of their city-state, and were viewed as mediators between humans and the cosmic and terrestrial forces. The priesthood resided full-time in temple complexes, and administered to matters of state including the large irrigation processes necessary for the civilization's survival.

During the Third Dynasty of Ur, the Sumerian city-state of Lagash was said to have had 62 "lamentation priests" who were accompanied by 180 vocalists and instrumentalists.

The Sumerians envisioned the universe as a closed dome surrounded by a primordial saltwater sea. Underneath the terrestrial earth, which formed the base of the dome, existed an underworld and a freshwater ocean called the Apsû. The deity of the dome-shaped firmament was named An; the earth was named Ki. First the underground world was believed to be an extension of the goddess Ki, but later developed into the concept of Kigal. The primordial saltwater sea was named Nammu, who became known as Tiamat during and after the Sumerian Renaissance.

Creation story

According to Sumerian mythology, the gods originally created humans as servants for themselves, but freed them when they became too much to handle.

This cosmological shift may have been caused by the growing influence of the neighboring Akkadian religion, or as a result of increased warfare between the Sumerian city-states; the assignment of certain powers to deities may have mirrored the appointment of the Lugals, who were given power and authority by the city-state and its priesthood.

Earliest deities

The earliest historical records of Sumer do not go back much further than c. 2900 BC, although it is generally agreed that Sumerian civilization started between c. 4500 and 4000 BC. The earliest Sumerian literature of the 3rd millennium BC identifies four primary deities; Anu, Enlil, Ninhursag and Enki. The highest order of these earliest gods were described occasionally behaving mischievously towards each other, but were generally involved in co-operative creative ordering.

Lists of large numbers of Sumerian deities have been found. Their order of importance and the relationships between the deities has been examined during the study of cuneiform tablets.

The majority of Sumerian deities belonged to a classification called the Anunna ("[offspring] of An"), whereas seven deities, including Enlil and Inanna, belonged to a group of "underworld judges" known as the Anunnaki ("[offspring] of An" + Ki; alternatively, "those from heaven (An) who came to earth (Ki)"]). During the Third Dynasty of Ur, the Sumerian pantheon was said to include sixty times sixty (3600) deities.

The main Sumerian deities are:

Anu: god of heaven, the firmament

Enlil: god of the air (from Lil = Air); patron deity of Nippur

Enki: god of freshwater, male fertility, and knowledge; patron deity of Eridu

Ereshkigal: goddess of the underworld, Kigal or Irkalla

Inanna: goddess of warfare, female fertility, patron deity of Uruk

Nammu was the primeval sea (Engur), who gave birth to An (heaven) and Ki (earth) and the first deities; eventually became known as the goddess Tiamat

Ninhursag: goddess of the earth

Nanna: god of the moon; one of the patron deities of Ur

Ningal: wife of Nanna

Ninlil: an air goddess and wife of Enlil; one of the matron deities of Nippur; she was believed to reside in the same temple as Enlil

Ninurta: god of war, agriculture, one of the Sumerian wind gods; patron deity of Girsu, and one of the patron deities of Lagash

Utu: god of the sun at the E-babbar temple of Sippar

The Sumerians had an ongoing linguistic and cultural exchange with the Semitic Akkadian peoples in northern Mesopotamia for generations prior to the usurpation of their territories by Sargon of Akkad in 2340 BCE. Sumerian mythology and religious practices were rapidly integrated into Arabian culture, presumably blending with the original Akkadian belief systems that have been mostly lost to history. Sumerian deities developed Akkadian counterparts. Some remained virtually the same until later Babylonian and Assyrian rule. The Sumerian god An, for example, developed the Akkadian counterpart Anu; the Sumerian god Enki became Ea; and the Sumerian gods Ninurta and Enlil remained very much the same in the Akkadian pantheon.

Babylonians

The Amorite, Babylonians gained dominance over southern Mesopotamia by the mid-17th century BCE. During the Old Babylonian Period, the Sumerian and Akkadian languages were retained for religious purposes; the majority of Sumerian mythological literature known to historians today comes from the Old Babylonian Period, either in the form of transcribed Sumerian texts (most notably the Babylonian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh) or in the form of Sumerian and Akkadian influences within Babylonian mythological literature (most notably the Enûma Eliš). The Sumerian-Akkadian pantheon was altered, most notably with the introduction of a new supreme deity, Marduk. The Sumerian goddess Inanna also developed the counterpart Ishtar during the Old Babylonian Period.

The Hurrians adopted the Akkadian god Anu into their pantheon sometime no later than 1200 BCE. Other Arabian deities adapted into the Hurrian pantheon include Ayas, the Hurrian counterpart to Ea; Shaushka, the Hurrian counterpart to Ishtar; and the goddess Ninlil, whose mythos had been drastically expanded by the Babylonians.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Sumerian religion was the religion practiced by the people of Sumer, the first literate civilization of ancient Mesopotamia. The Sumerians regarded their gods as responsible for everything that happens in life. Before the beginning of kingship in Sumer, the city-states were effectively ruled by priests and religious officials.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Kids learn about the religion, gods, and goddesses of Ancient Mesopotamia. Sumerians, Assyrians, and Babylonians had a god for each city.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Mesopotamians invetions that modern world still using

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
So much of the modern world depends on the achievements of Mesopotamians. Read below to discover more about Mesopotamia’s many important breakthroughs!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Ancient Mesopotamian civilizations (article) | Khan Academy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learn for free about math, art, computer programming, economics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, finance, history, and more. Khan Academy is a nonprofit with the mission of providing a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Fertile Crescent is the boomerang-shaped region of the Middle East that was home to some of the earliest human civilizations. Also known as the "Cradle of Civilization," this area was the birthplace of a number of technological innovations, including writing, the wheel, agriculture, and the use of irrigation. The Fertile Crescent includes ancient Mesopotamia.

What Is the Fertile Cresent?

American archaeologist James Henry Breasted coined the term "Fertile Crescent" in a 1914 high school textbook to describe this archaeologically significant region of the Middle East that contains parts of present day Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Cyprus.

On a map, the Fertile Crescent looks like a crescent or quarter-moon. It extends from the Nile River on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula in the south to the southern fringe of Turkey in the north. The Fertile Crescent is bounded on the west by the Mediterranean Sea and on the East by the Persian Gulf. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow through the heart of the Fertile Crescent.

The region historically contained unusually fertile soil and productive freshwater and brackish wetlands. These produced an abundance of wild edible plant species. It was here that humans began to experiment with the cultivation of grains and cereals around 10,000 B.C. as they transitioned from hunter-gatherer groups to permanent agricultural societies.

Ancient Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is an ancient, historical region that lies between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria, Turkey and Iran. Part of the Fertile Crescent, Mesopotamia was home to the earliest known human civilizations. Scholars believe the Agricultural Revolution started here.

The earliest occupants of Mesopotamia lived in circular dwellings made of mud and brick along the upper reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys. They began to practice agriculture by domesticating sheep and pigs around 11,000 to 9,000 B.C. Domesticated plants, including flax, wheat, barley and lentils, first appeared around 9,500 B.C.

Some of the earliest evidence of farming comes from the archaeological site of Tell Abu Hureyra, a small village located along the Euphrates River in modern Syria. The village was inhabited from roughly 11,500 to 7,000 B.C. Inhabitants initially hunted gazelle and other game before beginning to harvest wild grains around 9,700 BCE. Several large stone tools for grinding grain have been found at the site.

One of the oldest known Mesopotamian cities, Nineveh (near Mosul in modern Iraq), may have been settled as early as 6,000 B.C. Sumer civilization arose in the lower Tigris-Euphrates valley around 5,000 B.C.

In addition to farming and cities, ancient Mesopotamian societies developed irrigation and aqueducts, temples, pottery, early systems of banking and credit, property ownership and the first codes of law.

Sumerians

The origins of Sumer civilization are debated, but archaeologists suggest Sumerians had established roughly a dozen city-states by the fourth millennium B.C., including Eridu and Uruk in what is now southern Iraq.

Sumer is the earliest known civilization in ancient Mesopotamia and may have been the first human civilization anywhere in the world. They called themselves the Sag-giga, the "black-headed ones."

Ancient Sumerians were among the first to use bronze. They pioneered the use of levees and canals for irrigation. Sumerians invented cuneiform script, one of the earliest forms of writing. They also built large stepped pyramids called ziggurats.

Sumerians celebrated art and literature. The 3,000-line poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh, follows the adventures of a Sumer king as he battles a forest monster and quests after the secrets of eternal life.

Important Archaeological Sites

British and French archaeologists began exploring the Fertile Crescent for the remains of storied Mesopotamian cities such as Assyria and Babylonia as early as the mid-1800s.

Some of the most famous Mesopotamian archaeological sites include:
Ziggurat of Ur:: It's an enormous temple in southern Iraq and one of the best remaining examples of Sumerian architecture. Archaeologists think it was built around 2100 B.C.
Babylon: Founded nearly 5,000 years ago on the Euphrates River in present-day Iraq, this ancient metropolis and Biblical city was the last major power in Mesopotamia to fall under Persian control in 539 B.C.
Hattusha: This UNESCO World Heritage site is one of Turkey's greatest ruins and was once the capital of the Hittite Empire, which reached its peak in the second millennium B.C.
Persepolis: An ancient Mesopotamian city in southern Iran, Persepolis ranks among the world's greatest archaeological sites with a large number of architecturally significant Persian buildings.

Fertile Crescent Today

Today the Fertile Crescent is not so fertile: Beginning in the 1950s, a series of large-scale irrigation projects diverted water away from the famed Mesopotamian marshes of the Tigris-Euphrates river system, causing them to dry up.

In 1991, the government of Saddam Hussein built a series of dikes and dams to further drain the Iraqi marshes and punish dissident Marsh Arabs who made a living cultivating rice and raising water buffalo there.

NASA satellite images showed that that by 1992 roughly 90 percent of the marshland had disappeared, turning more than a thousand square miles into desert. More than 200,000 Marsh Arabs lost their homes. Many of the Hussein-era dams have since been removed, though the wetlands remain only about half of their pre-drained level.

SOURCES

Where is the Fertile Crescent?; Wonderopolis.

The World's First Farmers Were Surprisingly Diverse; Science.

The Crimes of Saddam Hussein; PBS Frontline.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Fertile Crescent is the boomerang-shaped region of the Middle East that was home to some of the earliest human civilizations. Also known as the "Cradle of Civilization," this area was the birthplace of a number of technological innovations, including writing, the wheel, agriculture, and the use of irrigation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Fertile Crescent, often called the "Cradle of Civilization", is the region in the Middle East which curves, like a quarter-moon shape, from the Persian Gulf, through modern-day southern Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and northern Egypt. The region has long been recognized for its vital contributions to world culture stemming from the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Levant which included the Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Egyptians, and Phoenicians, all of whom were responsible for the development of civilization.

Virtually every area of human knowledge was advanced by these people, including:

Science and Technology

Writing and Literature

Agricultural Techniques

Mathematics and Astronomy

Astrology and the Development of the Zodiac

Domestication of Animals

Long-Distance Trade

Medical Practices (including dentistry)

The Wheel

The Concept of Time

The term was first coined in 1916 CE by the Egyptologist James Henry Breasted in his work Ancient Times: A History of the Early World, where he wrote:

This fertile crescent is approximately a semi-circle, with the open side toward the south, having the west end at the south-east corner of the Mediterranean, the centre directly north of Arabia, and the east end at the north end of the Persian Gulf. (193-194)

His phrase was widely circulated through the publications of the day becoming, finally, the common designation for this region. The Fertile Crescent is traditionally associated in the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths with the earthly location of the Garden of Eden. The area features prominently in the Bible and Quran and a number of sites there are associated with narratives from those works.

Cradle of Civilization

Known as the Cradle of Civilization, the Fertile Crescent is regarded as the birthplace of agriculture, urbanization, writing, trade, science, history and organized religion and was first populated c. 10,000 BCE when agriculture and the domestication of animals began in the region. By 9,000 BCE the cultivation of wild grains and cereals was wide-spread and, by 5000 BCE, irrigation of agricultural crops was fully developed. By 4500 BCE the cultivation of wool-bearing sheep was practiced widely.

The geography & climate of the region were conducive to agriculture & hunter-gatherer societies shifted to sedentary communities.

The geography and climate of the region were conducive to agriculture and hunter-gatherer societies shifted to sedentary communities in the area as they were able to support themselves from the land. The climate was semi-arid but the humidity, and proximity of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (and, further south, the Nile), encouraged the cultivation of crops. Rural communities developed along with technological advances in agriculture and, once these were established, domestication of animals followed.

Sign up for our free weekly email newsletter!

The first cities began to rise in Mesopotamia in the region of Sumer. Eridu, the first, according to the Sumerians, in 5400 BCE, then Uruk and others. By c. 4500 BCE cultivation of wheat and grains had long been practiced in addition to the further domestication of animals. By the year 3500 BCE the image of the breed of dog known as the Saluki was appearing regularly on vases and other ceramics as well as wall paintings along with breeds such as the Dane, Greyhound, and Mastiff.

The unusually fertile soil of the region encouraged the further cultivation of wheat as well as rye, barley, and legumes and some of the earliest beer in the world was brewed in the great cities along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers under the auspices of the goddess Ninkasi. Beer was considered a gift from the gods and a source of daily nutrition as well as an intoxicant. It was used to pay people's wages but inscriptions also make clear it was brewed for celebratory purposes and the famous Hymn to Ninkasi praises the brew for making one's heart feel light.

This beer was quite different from that of the modern day as it was thick and had to be consumed with a straw to filter out residue from the fermenting process. Beer brewing probably evolved from the baker's craft as the barley and wheat they stored fermented. The most ancient evidence of beer brewing comes from the Sumerian outpost settlement of Godin Tepe in modern-day Iran.

Emmer wheat, barley, chickpeas, lentils, and many other crops were planted, harvested, and sent to the temples where food supplies were stored. From c. 3400 BCE, the priests of the temple complexes were responsible for the distribution of food and the careful monitoring of surplus for trade.

Trade routes grew up to form long-distance travel to the Kingdom of Saba in southern Arabia, Egypt, and the Kingdom of Kush in Africa. In time, this trade would establish the so-called Incense Routes which flourished between the 7th/6th centuries BCE and the 2nd century CE. The Incense Routes would facilitate cross-cultural exchange as merchants would carry innovations in various branches of knowledge along with their goods.

By 2300 BCE, soap was produced from tallow and ash and was in wide use as personal hygiene was valued in relation to one's standing with one's community and to honor the gods. Attention to one's person in terms of hygiene was stressed in that human beings were thought to have been created as help-mates to the gods and so should make themselves presentable in the performance of their duties.

As in Egypt, ritual bathing and personal grooming were especially important for the clergy. Those who attended to the gods were held to an even higher standard but, even for the most common laborer, cleanliness and grooming were important values. Artifacts from the region attest to this as mirrors, cosmetic jars, combs, hair brushes, and toothbrushes have been found as well as artistic depictions of bathing and inscriptions stressing its importance.

From 1900-1400 BCE trade with Europe, Egypt, Phoenicia & the Indian sub-continent was flourishing.

The people of the region lived in separate urban city-states until the rise of the first multi-cultural empire in the world: Akkad. From 2334-2279 BCE Sargon of Akkad ( Sargon the Great) ruled over Mesopotamia, allowing for the growth of great building projects, artworks, and religious literature such as the hymns to Inanna by Sargon's daughter, Enheduanna (2285-2250 BCE), the first author in the world known by name.

By 2000 BCE, Babylon controlled the Fertile Crescent and the region saw advances in law ( Hammurabi's famous code), literature ( The Epic of Gilgamesh, among other works), religion (the development of the Babylonian pantheon of the gods), science (astronomical measurements and technological developments), and mathematics.

From 1900-1400 BCE trade with Europe, Egypt, Phoenicia and the Indian sub-continent was flourishing, resulting in the spread of literacy, culture and religion to these regions. The goddess Nisaba, patroness of writing, grains, literacy, and wisdom, became known and worshipped in regions far from her native Sumer. Mesopotamian beer was a valued commodity in trade and many of the most important Mesopotamian deities traveled to other regions along the trade routes.

The Promised Land

It is speculated that it was in either 1900 or c. 1750 BCE that the biblical patriarch Abraham left his native city of Ur for the 'promised land' of Canaan carrying the tales and legends of Mesopotamian gods with him which would in time appear, transformed, as biblical narratives. If it was not in fact Abraham who diffused Mesopotamian myth and legend it was certainly someone like him. It is clear the parallels between stories such as the Mesoptamian Atrahasis and Noah's Flood, and the Myth of Adapa and the Book of Genesis' tale of the Fall of Man, among many others, share significant similarities.

Prior to the mid-19th century CE, the Bible was considered the oldest book in the world and the stories it contained were thought to be original pieces written by God or God-inspired. After archaeological digs in the region of the Fertile Crescent, however, and the discovery of the Sumerian civilization, it became clear that biblical narratives were derived from earlier Mesopotamian works. Mesopotamian religion and literature, in fact, would inspire and inform that of many other later cultures.

Changing Empires

The region changed hands many times through the ages. By 912 BCE the Assyrians controlled the Fertile Crescent and developed their vast empire. The Neo-Assyrian Empire was ruled by some of the best-known kings from antiquity including Tiglath Pileser III (745-727 BCE), Sargon II (722-705 BCE), Sennacherib (705-681 BCE), Esarhaddon (681-669 BCE) and Ashurbanipal (668-627 BCE). Ashurbanipal prized knowledge highly and ordered all the literary works of the region copied and stored in his great library.

When the Neo-Assyrian Empire fell in 612 BCE, the invading forces set fire to the libraries of the cities but, since the works were written on clay tablets, they were only baked harder, not destroyed. The invaders, inadvertently, were responsible for the preservation of the very culture they sought to destroy.

By 580 BCE, the Neo-Babylonian Chaldean Empire under Nebuchadnezzar II (634-562 BCE) was in power and Babylon flourished as the greatest city on earth. Allegedly, at this time, Nebuchadnezzar had the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon created for his wife to remind her of her homeland. In 539 BCE Babylon fell to Cyrus the Great (d. 530 BCE) after the Battle of Opis and the lands fell under the control of the Achaemenid Empire, also known as The First Persian Empire.

Alexander the Great invaded the area in 334 BCE and, after him, it was ruled by the Parthians, among others, until the coming of Rome in 116 CE. After the short-lived Roman annexation and occupation, the region was conquered by the Sassanid Persians (c. 226 CE) and, finally, by the Arabian Muslims in the 7th century CE.

By this time the glorious achievements of the early cities which grew up beside the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers had long been disseminated throughout the ancient world but the cities themselves were mostly in ruins through the destruction caused by the many military conquests in the region as well as natural causes such as earthquakes and fire. Rampant urbanization and the over-use of the land also resulted in the decline and eventual abandonment of the cities of the Fertile Crescent.

Babylon's name would forever be linked to sin & corruption by the later Hebrew scribes.

The city of Eridu, considered by the early Mesopotamians to be the first city on earth, built and inhabited by the gods, had been abandoned since 600 BCE, Uruk, the city of Gilgamesh, since 630 CE and Babylon, the city known for high culture, writing, law, science, and all manner of learning in the ancient world was a vacant ruin. Babylon's name would forever be linked to sin and corruption by the later Hebrew scribes who wrote the biblical narratives but, in its time, was greatly respected as a center of learning and civilization.

The Fertile Crescent Today

In 2001 CE the National Geographic News reported that the Fertile Crescent was rapidly becoming so only in name as, due to climate change, extensive damming of the rivers as well as a massive draining works program initiated in southern Iraq from the 1970's CE on, the fertile marshlands which once covered 15,000 - 20,000 square kilometers (5,800 - 7,700 square miles) had shrunk to a mere 1,500 - 2,000 square kilometers (580 - 770 square miles).

As pleas from environmental groups and regional farmers to stop damming and drainage projects were ignored by the governments of Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, the situation worsened so that, presently, the region which once was the lush paradise and cradle of civilization largely consists of dry, cracked plains of sun-baked clay. Climate change, encouraged by fossil fuel emissions, has only worsened this situation.

Even after continued, long-term, threats to the environment were made clear to the governments of the region, no substantial efforts were made to preserve the land or reverse the damage. It has been observed by many scholars, historians, environmentalists, and writers through the centuries that human beings fail to learn from their pasts - whether individually or collectively. The philosopher George Santayana famously noted that "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" and this paradigm rings as true for the Fertile Crescent as it does for any other region in the world today.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Fertile Crescent, often called the "Cradle of Civilization", is the region in the Middle East which curves, like a quarter-moon shape, from the Persian Gulf, through modern-day southern Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and northern Egypt.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Kids learn about the history of the Artisans, Art, and Craftsmen of Ancient Mesopotamia including pottery, jewelry, stone masons, and more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Kids learn about the Science, Inventions, and Technology of Ancient Mesopotamia such as writing, the wheel, astronomy, and government.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Kids learn about the writing of Ancient Mesopotamia. The Sumerians invented the first writing system called cuneiform.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How the Code of Hammurabi Influenced Modern Legal Systems | HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The collection of laws and regulations carved into stone thousands of years ago carries principles and ideas that are still applied today.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Hammurabi ruled Babylon from 1792-1750 BCE and created the codes to protect its citizens. Before the codes, each case was judged separately and in a chaotic way. The codes regulated trade, business, and social relationships in Babylon. It also teaches us about Mesopotamian society such as their class divisions and political economic factors.

Hammurabi's code was a very modern concept for this time and has influenced all the populations since then. Society today would not be the same if it were not for Hammurabi establishing this set of laws. His code demonstrates the start of an organized society and civilized group of people.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The story of Western civilization began on a small plain in southwest Asia. Here 50 centuries ago cities rose, government developed, and great inventions-including writing-were made. The civilization that was born here spread westward to Palestine, Greece, and Rome. From these Mediterranean lands it entered the mainstream of Western civilization.

The Babylonian plain is very fertile. The land was built up of mud and clay deposited by two great rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. These twin rivers come down from mountains in the north, cut southeastward through hilly grasslands, and finally cross the plain they created to reach the Persian Gulf. The Greeks named the land between them Mesopotamia, "land between the rivers." Today it is called Iraq. Tradition says the Garden of Eden was here.

Three main peoples contributed to the civilization of Mesopotamia. The earliest group were the Sumerians. They lived in a small county-sized area located around the mouths of the two rivers in a land called Sumer (in the Bible, Shinar). These people, who probably came from Anatolia (Asia Minor) in about 3300 bc, developed a culture that spread to nearby Semitic peoples. By 1800 bc political power had moved north up the Euphrates to the Semitic city of Babylon in Akkad. The entire plain then became known as Babylonia. Centuries later the center of power moved north once more to warlike Assyria, in the rolling hill country of the upper Tigris Valley.

Before the Sumerians appeared on the land, it had been occupied by a non-Semitic people, referred to as Ubaidians. Their name comes from the village of Al Ubaid, in which their remains were first found by archaeologists.

The Ubaidians settled the region between 4500 and 4000 bc. They drained the marshes and introduced agriculture. They also developed trade based on small handicraft industries such as metalwork, leather goods, and pottery.

In ancient Mesopotamia, a land of blazing sun and very little rainfall, irrigation was vital for farming. Centuries before the beginning of known history, the Sumerians undertook the stupendous task of building embankments to control the floodwaters of the Euphrates River. Gradually they drained the marshes and dug irrigation canals and ditches. Large-scale cooperation was needed to build the irrigation works, keep them in repair, and apportion the water. This need gave rise to government and laws.

The rich soil produced abundant crops of barley, emmer (a kind of wheat), beans, olives, grapes, and flax. For the first time there was a surplus to feed city workers such as artists, craftsmen, and merchants. This great change in living habits brought about civilization-defined as a city-based society held together by economic enterprises. There were no nations then, only small city-states.

The Sumerians built their villages on artificial mounds to protect them from floods. Very early they learned to make bricks in molds and dry them in the sun or bake them in kilns. Their sturdy houses were small and crowded close together on narrow lanes. Some were two or more stories high. The whole city was surrounded by a wall for protection. Outside the wall were the poor peoples' huts, built of reeds that were plastered with clay.

Each Sumerian city rose up around the shrine of a local god. As a reflection of a city's wealth, its temple became an elaborate structure. The temple buildings stood on a spacious raised platform reached by staircases and ramps. From the platform rose the temple tower, called a ziggurat (holy mountain), with a circular staircase or ramp around the outside. On the temple grounds were quarters for priests, officials, accountants, musicians, and singers; treasure chambers; storehouses for grain, tools, and weapons; and workshops for bakers, pottery makers, brewers, leatherworkers, spinners and weavers, and jewelers. There were also pens for keeping the sheep and goats that were destined for sacrifice to the temple god.

Horses and camels were still unknown, but sheep, goats, oxen, donkeys, and dogs had been domesticated. The plow had been invented, and the wheel, made from a solid piece of wood, was used for carts and for shaping pottery. Oxen pulled the carts and plows; donkeys served as pack animals. Bulky goods were moved by boat on the rivers and canals. The boats were usually hauled from the banks, but sails also were in use. Before 3000 bc the Sumerians had learned to make tools and weapons by smelting copper with tin to make bronze, a much harder metal than copper alone.

Mud, clay, and reeds were the only materials the Sumerians had in abundance. Trade was therefore necessary to supply the city workers with materials. Merchants went out in overland caravans or in ships to exchange the products of Sumerian industry for wood, stone, and metals. There are indications that Sumerian sailing vessels even reached the valley of the Indus River in India. The chief route, however, was around the Fertile Crescent, between the Arabian Desert and the northern mountains. This route led up the valley of the two rivers, westward to Syria, and down the Mediterranean coast.

Whether the Sumerians were the first to develop writing is uncertain, but theirs is the oldest known writing system. The clay tablets on which they wrote were very durable when baked. Archaeologists have dug up many thousands of them-some dated earlier than 3000 bc.

The earliest writing of the Sumerians was picture writing similar in some ways to Egyptian hieroglyphs. They began to develop their special style when they found that on soft, wet clay it was easier to impress a line than to scratch it. To draw the pictures they used a stylus-probably a straight piece of reed with a three-cornered end.

An unexpected result came about: the stylus could best produce triangular forms (wedges) and straight lines. Curved lines therefore had to be broken up into a series of straight strokes. Pictures lost their form and became stylized symbols. This kind of writing on clay is called cuneiform, from the Latin cuneus, meaning "wedge."

A tremendous step forward was accomplished when the symbols came to be associated with the sound of the thing shown rather than with the idea of the thing itself. Each sign then represented a syllable. Although cuneiform writing was still used long after the alphabet appeared, it never fully developed an alphabet.

Cuneiform was difficult to learn. To master it children usually went to a temple school. Using a clay tablet as a textbook, the teacher wrote on the left-hand side, and the pupil copied the model on the right. Any mistakes could be smoothed out. The pupil began by making single wedges in various positions and then went on to groups of wedges. Thousands of groups had to be mastered. Finally the pupil was assigned a book to copy, but the work was slow and laborious. Many first chapters of all the important Sumerian works have been handed down from students' tablets, but only fragments of the rest of the books survive.

The pupils also studied arithmetic. The Sumerians based their number system on 10, but they multiplied 10 by 6 to get the next unit. They multiplied 60 by 10, then multiplied 600 by 6, and so on. (The number 60 has the advantage of being divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, and 30.) The Sumerians also divided the circle into 360 degrees. From these early people came the word dozen (a fifth of 60) and the division of the clock to measure hours, minutes, and seconds.

The Sumerians had standard measures, with units of length, area, and capacity. Their standard weight was the mina, made up of 60 shekels-about the same weight as a pound. There was no coined money. Standard weights of silver served as measures of value and as a means of exchange.

From the earliest times the Sumerians had a strong sense of private property. After they learned to write and figure, they kept documents about every acquired object, including such small items as shoes. Every business transaction had to be recorded. Near the gates of the cities, scribes would sit ready to sell their services. Their hands would move fast over a lump of clay, turning the stylus. Then the contracting parties added their signatures by means of seals. The usual seal was an engraved cylinder of stone or metal that could be rolled over wet clay.

In the course of time cuneiform was used for every purpose, just as writing is today-for letters, narratives, prayers and incantations, dictionaries, even mathematical and astronomical treatises. The Babylonians and Assyrians adapted cuneiform for their own Semitic languages and spread its use to neighboring Syria, Anatolia, Armenia, and Iran.

As the people in a city-state became familiar with the gods of other cities, they worked out relationships between them, just as the Greeks and Romans did in their myths centuries later. Sometimes two or more gods came to be viewed as one. Eventually a ranking order developed among the gods. Anu, a sky god who originally had been the city god of Uruk, came to be regarded as the greatest of them all-the god of the heavens. His closest rival was the storm god of the air, Enlil of Nippur. The great gods were worshiped in the temples. Each family had little clay figures of its own household gods and small houses or wall niches for them.

The Sumerians believed that their ancestors had created the ground they lived on by separating it from the water. According to their creation myth, the world was once watery chaos. The mother of Chaos was Tiamat, an immense dragon. When the gods appeared to bring order out of Chaos, Tiamat created an army of dragons. Enlil called the winds to his aid. Tiamat came forward, her mouth wide open. Enlil pushed the winds inside her and she swelled up so that she could not move. Then Enlil split her body open. He laid half of the body flat to form the Earth, with the other half arched over it to form the sky. The gods then beheaded Tiamat's husband and created mankind from his blood, mixed with clay.

The longest story is the Gilgamesh epic, one of the outstanding works of ancient literature. The superhero Gilgamesh originally appeared in Sumerian mythology as a legendary king of Uruk. A long Babylonian poem includes an account of his journey to the bottom of the sea to obtain the plant of life. As he stopped to bathe at a spring on the way home, a hungry snake snatched the plant. When Gilgamesh saw the creature cast off its old skin to become young again, it seemed to him a sign that old age was the fate of humans.

Another searcher for eternal life was Adapa, a fisherman who gained wisdom from Ea, the god of water. The other gods were jealous of his knowledge and called him to heaven. Ea warned him not to drink or eat while there. Anu offered him the water of life and the bread of life because he thought that, since Adapa already knew too much, he might as well be a god. Adapa, however, refused and went back to Earth to die, thus losing for himself and for mankind the gift of immortal life. These legends somewhat resemble the Bible story of Adam and Eve. It is highly probable, in fact, that the ancient legends and myths of Mesopotamia supplied material that was reworked by the biblical authors.

It was during the Sumerian era that a great flood overwhelmed Mesopotamia. So great was this flood that stories about it worked their way into several ancient literatures. The Sumerian counterpart of Noah was Ziusudra, and from him was developed the Babylonian figure Utnapishtim, whose story of the flood was related in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Immortal after his escape from the flood, Utnapishtim was also the wise man who told Gilgamesh where to find the youth-restoring plant.

Within a few centuries the Sumerians had built up a society based in 12 city-states: Kish, Uruk (in the Bible, Erech), Ur, Sippar, Akshak, Larak, Nippur, Adab, Umma, Lagash, Bad-tibira, and Larsa. According to one of the earliest historical documents, the Sumerian King List, eight kings of Sumer reigned before the famous flood. Afterwards various city-states by turns became the temporary seat of power until about 2800 bc, when they were united under the rule of one king-Etana of Kish. After Etana, the city-states vied for domination; this weakened the Sumerians, and they were ripe for conquest-first by Elamites, then by Akkadians.

The Sumerians had never been very warlike, and they had only a citizen army, called to arms in time of danger. In about 2340 bc King Sargon of Akkad conquered them and went on to build an empire that stretched westward to the Mediterranean Sea. The empire, though short-lived, fostered art and literature.

Led by Ur, the Sumerians again spread their rule far westward. During Ur's supremacy (about 2150 to 2050 bc) Sumerian culture reached its highest development. Shortly thereafter the cities lost their independence forever, and gradually the Sumerians completely disappeared as a people. Their language, however, lived on as the language of culture. Their writing, their business organization, their scientific knowledge, and their mythology and law were spread westward by the Babylonians and Assyrians.

The city of Babylon now rose to power. Its brilliant First Dynasty lasted 300 years and reached its greatest glory in about 1800 bc under King Hammurabi. He spread the rule of Babylon south into Sumer and west around the Fertile Crescent into Syria. He was most famous, however, for the code he published to unify the legal practices in his empire. Inscribed on a huge pillar, or stele, the law code was set up in a public place and copies were sent to all of Hammurabi's governors and judges. At the top of the stele, he was pictured as receiving the laws from a god, even though most of them were old laws that had long been written down.

The code reveals much about the habits and customs of the time. The people were divided into three classes-nobles, with hereditary estates; freemen, who could own land but not leave it to their children; and slaves, who were sold in the open market. Enslavement for debt was legal, but most slaves were captives taken in war. Maximum prices and maximum (not minimum) wages were fixed by decree.

Hammurabi made his own Semitic language official throughout his kingdom and raised the god of Babylon, Marduk, to first place among the deities. Scholars rewrote old Sumerian myths and gave Marduk, rather than Enlil, credit for creating the universe. The Babylonians' chief female deity was the ancient mother goddess Innini of Uruk, renamed Ishtar.

As goddess of fertility, Ishtar could grant her worshipers crops, lambs, or children. In the hot midsummer month named for her son Tammuz, vegetation dried up and people fasted until he rose from the dead to make the earth green again. The worship of Ishtar (also called Astarte) and Tammuz spread over southwestern Asia and reached Egypt in the myth of Isis and Osiris. Later the deities appeared in Greece as Demeter and Persephone.

After Hammurabi's death, wave after wave of Indo-European tribes invaded from the northern mountains. For centuries the entire civilized world was plunged into darkness. The Hyksos invaded Egypt. The Kassites overran Babylonia. The Hurrians occupied the rest of the Fertile Crescent, from Assyria into Palestine. This period has been called the Middle Ages of antiquity. In about 1400 bc the Assyrians freed themselves from the invaders' rule. Then they extended their kingdom northward.

Assyria took its name from its chief city, Assur, on the upper Tigris. Lying north of Babylonia, on the great trade route of the Fertile Crescent, the country was frequently invaded from the north as well as from the south. Constant warfare made the Assyrians fierce fighters, and traders who passed their way were forced to pay them tribute for protection.

The Assyrians had long been under the control of Babylon and had absorbed Babylonian culture. Like the Babylonians they were Semites, and their language was almost identical with the Babylonian. From the Hittites of Anatolia they learned the use of iron and developed powerful weapons to build up a military state. From them they also acquired horses and were the first to use them in war as cavalry instead of for drawing chariots. In order to strike terror into the hearts of their enemies, they boasted of their cruelties.

Assyria's greatest period of expansion took place as the power of the Hittites and Egyptians over Syria and Palestine gradually weakened. The Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727 bc) took Damascus, in Syria. Sargon II (722-705 bc), most famous of Assyrian kings, made Israel an Assyrian province and carried into the interior of his empire 30,000 Israelites (the so-called Ten Lost Tribes of Israel). His son Sennacherib (705-681 bc) conquered Sidon, in Phoenicia, but Tyre resisted his assault. Esarhaddon (681-668 bc) conquered Egypt. Ashurbanipal (668-627 bc), the last of the great Assyrian kings, subdued Elam, east of Mesopotamia, and extended the empire to its greatest size. Roads were built to enable the Assyrian armies to subdue rebels quickly. A highly organized mail service carried messages from the court to faraway governors.

From A History of All Nations from the Earliest Times, Vol. II, by John Henry Wright, 1905

North of Nineveh, Sargon II built a palace far surpassing anything seen before his day. It covered 25 acres (10 hectares) and had nearly 1,000 rooms. Near it stood a seven-story ziggurat temple. Sennacherib put up three magnificent palaces in his capital at Nineveh. The Babylonians had covered their brick walls with glazed brickwork of many colors, but the Assyrians faced theirs with delicately carved slabs of limestone or glowing alabaster. Colossal human-headed winged bulls or lions, carved in alabaster, stood guard outside the main gates of palaces and temples. The Assyrians produced little literature, but in great libraries they preserved copies of Babylonian and Sumerian works. They worshiped the old Babylonian gods but gave their own god, Assur, first place.

After the death of Ashurbanipal in 626 bc, Assyria's enemies joined forces. In 612 bc the Babylonians and Medes completely destroyed Nineveh. Six years later the Assyrian empire collapsed.

After the fall of Assyria, Babylonia enjoyed 70 years of independence. The Chaldeans, a little-known Semitic people, became the ruling class of the New Babylonian, or Chaldean, Empire. The most famous of their kings was Nebuchadnezzar II, who rebuilt Babylon. They made great progress in science-particularly astronomy and mathematics-and strongly influenced the Greeks. From the towering ziggurat temples, astrologer-priests read the stars. They could even predict eclipses.

Nebuchadnezzar II carried his conquests to the border of Egypt, though the days of his empire were numbered. Cyrus, king of Persia, advanced into Babylonia, and one city after another surrendered to him. Babylon itself, capital of the Chaldean Empire, was taken without fighting in 539 bc and became part of the mighty Persian Empire.

The Persian Empire lasted more than two centuries, until the conquests of Alexander the Great. Then Mesopotamia was ruled in turn by the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, and Turks. Once part of the Ottoman Empire, it became the independent kingdom of Iraq, which is now a republic.

Ignace Jay Gelb

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The story of Western civilization began on a small plain in southwest Asia. Here 50 centuries ago cities rose, government developed, and great inventions-including...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
History for kids - Free history network for kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Background During the Akkadian Empire, Babylon existed as a small city on the Euphrates River. A King from a tribe called the Amorites established a kingdom at the city and so began the Babylonian Empire.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Kids learn about the history of the Code of Hammurabi. One of the first written records of a code of law by the Babylonians.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The ancient Mesopotamian kingdom of Babylon flourished under the reign of Hammurabi, who ruled from 1792 to 1750 B.C. What's remarkable about this period of Babylonian history is that archeologists have recovered tens of thousands of cuneiform tablets that paint a detailed picture of life in the ancient kingdom located in what is now Iraq.

There are countless contracts, for example, that record the adoption of a child, the hiring of a workman or the purchase of a field. There are letters-some just the size of a postage stamp-that offer an intimate glimpse into family relationships and royal responsibilities.

And even Hammurabi's famous "code," the first written law on record, provides a "wonderful window into daily life," says Amanda Podany, a history professor at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and author of Weavers, Scribes and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East.

"Surprisingly, Hammurabi's laws don't tell us a lot about Babylonian law, because they weren't actually enacted," adds Podany. "What they represent are precedents from cases that went to court, and a lot had to do with quotidian things like agriculture, divorce, inheritance and the treatment of slaves."

Family, Class and Society in Ancient Babylon

Historians have no solid grasp of the population of Babylon in Hammurabi's time, but it might well have been more than 25,000. Centuries later, it swelled to more than 100,000 and was the largest city in Mesopotamia.

If you walked down a street in Hammurabi's Babylon, all you would see on both sides were tall mud-brick walls with doors. Behind the doors, though, were open-air courtyards ringed with rooms and living spaces. Outside windows were uncommon, but the central courtyard provided plenty of light and air.

Family was of the highest importance to Babylonians and extended families often lived next to one another. For that reason, Babylonians rarely sold the family home, Podany says. It was passed down over the generations and family burial plots were often under the courtyard.

Ancient Babylonian society was patriarchal, says Podany, but Babylonian women actually had more rights than in later civilizations like ancient Greece. They could represent themselves in court, own property and pass it down to their children, and hold positions as priestesses and officials.

It was rare for a Babylonian man to take a second wife and was usually only permissible in cases where the first wife was unable to bear a child.

Class wasn't rigid in Babylonian society. The king and his royal line were on top, of course, followed by the chief priests and priestesses of the many temples dedicated to Babylonian gods. But among the people, there was movement between the landowning class, known as awilum or "gentlemen," and the mushkenum or "commoners," who were free, but probably didn't own land.

Slaves belonged to the wardum class. Although some Babylonian slaves were purchased and others were born into slavery, in many cases slavery was a temporary state in Babylon. If a commoner fell deeply into debt, he could be enslaved to his creditors until the debt was repaid. Other Babylonian slaves were captives from warfare whose families couldn't pay their ransom.

Agriculture, Artisans and Trade

In Hammurabi's day, the wealth of the city was measured by its production of barley and wool, the latter of which was woven into textiles for trade.

Much of Babylon's agricultural land was owned by either the king or a temple complex, but some individuals also owned and managed private land. The difficult work of digging canals, plowing fields and raising sheep was done by hired and conscripted labor. Soldiers were also allotted parcels of land in return for military service. They didn't own the land, but a portion of the harvest was their salary and their family's sustenance.

In addition to barley, the staple crop for bread and beer-a mostly mild brew rich in protein and calories-Babylonians would have harvested dates from towering date palm orchards and vegetables from smaller garden plots. The agricultural abundance of Babylon was made possible by an extensive system of hand-dug canals and levees that supplied fresh water from the nearby Euphrates River.

Tens of thousands of sheep, the source of Babylon's textile industry, would have grazed in the parched foothills. Shearing, which happened in late December and early January, was a colossal undertaking. The Babylonians called it "plucking," says Podany, because instead of shearing the wool, the workers combed and plucked it from the sheep as they naturally shed their coats in the spring. The huge piles of wool were stored in the royal "plucking house."

Babylonian women played an essential role as weavers, producing the high-quality woolen textiles that were traded with neighboring kingdoms for metals, timber, semi-precious stones and building stone.

Temples and Religious Life

Babylonians were polytheistic and worshiped a large pantheon of gods and goddesses. Some of the gods were state deities, like Marduk, the chief patron god of Babylon, who dwelled in a towering temple. Others were personal gods that families worshiped at humble home shrines.

Across the city, there were temples dedicated to major state deities like Ishtar, Enlil, Sin and Shamash, in addition to Marduk. Inside each temple was an elaborate cult statue of the god or goddess, and only the priests, priestesses and temple workers were allowed to enter the god's presence.

"The statue wasn't a representation of the god; it was the god," says Podany. "The statue had to be fed three times a day, served wine and beer and clothed with jewelry. On festival days, the great gods would be paraded through the streets."

Law and Justice

Hammurabi's famously strict "code" of laws was never enforced as such-at least judging from surviving court records-but Hammurabi's code reflects the sophistication of Babylon's judicial system.

Each Babylonian court was overseen by seven judges, and rulings were determined by majority opinions. If someone brought a case before the court, the judges would sometimes call for an independent investigation and for witnesses to testify under oath.

"Being a witness was a big deal," says Podany, since every contract and business deal required witnesses. "The witnesses would have to swear an oath to the gods, and if they were brought before the court, their oath would be equivalent of saying, 'If I'm not telling the truth, then let Shamash kill me.' To lie wasn't worth it."

The Babylonian legal system included provisions that prevented judges from taking bribes or favoring the rich. Even the punishments, which might strike modern readers as cruel, often took the victim's class into account.

For example, if a wealthy man blinded the eye of an equally wealthy man, then the perpetrator would have one of his eyes blinded as his punishment. But if a rich man blinded the eye of a commoner, he would pay the victim 60 shekels of silver, the equivalent of six years' salary. For the commoner, Podany says, the money was far more valuable than knowing his attacker was also blind in one eye.

"It seems to have been a system that Babylonians prided themselves on for its fairness," says Podany.

War and Conquest

In Hammurabi's time, warfare was waged differently than in later periods, where violent, protracted battles claimed countless lives.

"Wars were very much planned," says Podany. If neighboring kingdoms had a border dispute, diplomats would decide on a date and time for a battle. "A single battle would often decide who won."

In his 30th year on the throne, Hammurabi found a passion for empire building, and over the next 13 years he conquered 17 neighboring kingdoms and regions. One feature of warfare in Hammurabi's day was that armies tried to capture-not necessarily kill-as many enemy soldiers as possible. That's because prisoners of war were held for ransom, a lucrative trade.

Here, merchants played a key role. Since merchants traveled widely and spoke several languages, they would pay a prisoner's ransom and bring him back to his home country. In Babylon, if the family was poor and couldn't pay the ransom, the responsibility fell on the temple. And if the temple couldn't pay it, then the palace would cover the debt.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What Was Life Like in Ancient Babylon? | HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Hammurabi's Code may get all the attention, but barley and wool were the mainstays of Babylonian day-to-day life and commerce.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
When we speak of the economy of a country, we mean the system which that country uses to produce, distribute, and consume goods. The economy of Babylonia was based, like that of Sumer, on agriculture. In Sumer, agricultural products such as grain and wool were often traded for goods the Sumerians could not produce themselves. Exchanging goods (or services) for other goods or services without using money is known as bartering.

Bartering was used in Babylonia, too, but money gradually replaced it as a means of exchange. The money was in the form of bars of precious metals-silver, copper, or gold. The Babylonians even had banks to manage their money. Money had many advantages. For example, it is easier to handle and exchange than grain.

Try to think of some other advantages that a money-based economy might offer over a bartering system.

Above is a depiction of Babylonian gods and a goddess involved in what appears to be a ceremonial exchange.

Picture from http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/gods/explore/main.html

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
section 2.3 ancient mesopotamia: babylonian economy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Section 2.3 Ancient Mesopotamia: Babylonian Economy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Distance Learning and Continuing Education school for students of all ages located in the Southern Okanagan serving all of British Columbia and the Yukon. We provide full programs for K-9 students. We specialize in helping students graduate and upgrade for post secondary studies.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The land of Mesopotamia did not have a lot of natural resources, or at least they did not have the ones in demand during that time period. To get the items they needed the Mesopotamians had to trade.

In the southern part of Mesopotamia, docks were built along the sides of the rivers so that ships could easily dock and unload their trade goods. The merchants traded food, clothing, jewelry, wine and other goods between the cities.

Sometimes a caravan would arrive from the north or east. The arrival of a trade caravan or trading ship was a time of celebration.

To buy or trade these goods, the ancient Mesopotamians used a system of barter. For example, in exchange for six chairs, you might give someone two goats and a bag of dates. You had to work out an agreement and make a deal for the things you bought. Tokens were made of clay. They were designed in unique ways. Each shape had a meaning. One chape might mean a fancy chair. Another might mean a bag of dates. Prior to loading the chairs onboard a ship for delivery, token would be placed in a clay ball. The clay ball was then sealed and witnessed and signed with cylinder seals. If you had made six chairs for someone, you would put six chair tokens inside the clay ball. When the person who bought the chairs received their delivery, they opened the clay ball and counted the tokens to make sure everything had arrived as ordered. Deliveries and the opening of the clay ball were witnessed so there was never a problem.

They used barley for local trade. You had to borrow barley from a barley banker. The banker charged very high interest.

Because barley was heavy, they used lead, copper, bronze, tin, silver and gold to "buy" things away from their local area.

It was a very cumbersome system, whether you used barley, clay balls and tokens, or copper and gold. Many historians believe that this system of barter is what triggered the invention of the first written language, cuneiform. It was much easier to write a contract that was witnessed, and sign it with your cylinder seal.
A Tale of Three Merchants Trade and Transport Mathematics and Measurement
Cuneiform, the first written language

Cylinder Seals

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Ancient Mesopotamia Commerce and Money - Mesopotamia for Kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The land of Mesopotamia did not have a lot of natural resources, or at least they did not have the ones in demand during that time period. To get the items they needed the Mesopotamians had to trade.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Hammurabi ruled Babylon from 1792-1750 BCE and created the codes to protect its citizens. Before the codes, each case was judged separately and in a chaotic way. The codes regulated trade, business, and social relationships in Babylon. It also teaches us about Mesopotamian society such as their class divisions and political economic factors.

Hammurabi's code was a very modern concept for this time and has influenced all the populations since then. Society today would not be the same if it were not for Hammurabi establishing this set of laws. His code demonstrates the start of an organized society and civilized group of people.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Kids learn about the history of the Code of Hammurabi. One of the first written records of a code of law by the Babylonians.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
History for kids - Free history network for kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Background Hammurabi was born at some time between 1820 and 1810 BC. He was the son of King Sinmuballit of Babylon. We don't know very much about Hammurabi's early years. He did receive some training in the basics of administration although Babylon was just a city-state similar to many others in Mesopotamia at that time.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Learning Objective

Describe the significance of Hammurabi's code

Key Points

The Code of Hammurabi is one of the oldest deciphered writings of length in the world (written c. 1754 BCE), and features a code of law from ancient Babylon in Mesopotamia.

The Code consisted of 282 laws, with punishments that varied based on social status (slaves, free men, and property owners).

Some have seen the Code as an early form of constitutional government, as an early form of the presumption of innocence, and as the ability to present evidence in one's case.

Major laws covered in the Code include slander, trade, slavery, the duties of workers, theft, liability, and divorce. Nearly half of the code focused on contracts, and a third on household relationships.

There were three social classes: the amelu (the elite), the mushkenu (free men) and ardu (slave).

Women had limited rights, and were mostly based around marriage contracts and divorce rights.

Terms

cuneiform

Wedge-shaped characters used in the ancient writing systems of Mesopotamia, impressed on clay tablets.

ardu

In Babylon, a slave.

mushkenu

In Babylon, a free man who was probably landless.

amelu

In Babylon, an elite social class of people.

stele

A stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected as a monument.

The Code of Hammurabi is one of the oldest deciphered writings of length in the world, and features a code of law from ancient Babylon in Mesopotamia. Written in about 1754 BCE by the sixth king of Babylon, Hammurabi, the Code was written on stone stele and clay tablets. It consisted of 282 laws, with punishments that varied based on social status (slaves, free men, and property owners). It is most famous for the "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" ( lex talionis) form of punishment. Other forms of codes of law had been in existence in the region around this time, including the Code of Ur-Nammu, king of Ur (c. 2050 BCE), the Laws of Eshnunna (c. 1930 BCE) and the codex of Lipit-Ishtar of Isin (c. 1870 BCE).

The laws were arranged in groups, so that citizens could easily read what was required of them. Some have seen the Code as an early form of constitutional government, and as an early form of the presumption of innocence, and the ability to present evidence in one's case. Intent was often recognized and affected punishment, with neglect severely punished. Some of the provisions may have been codification of Hammurabi's decisions, for the purpose of self-glorification. Nevertheless, the Code was studied, copied, and used as a model for legal reasoning for at least 1500 years after.

The prologue of the Code features Hammurabi stating that he wants "to make justice visible in the land, to destroy the wicked person and the evil-doer, that the strong might not injure the weak." Major laws covered in the Code include slander, trade, slavery, the duties of workers, theft, liability, and divorce. Nearly half of the code focused on contracts, such as wages to be paid, terms of transactions, and liability in case of property damage. A third of the code focused on household and family issues, including inheritance, divorce, paternity and sexual behavior. One section establishes that a judge who incorrectly decides an issue may be removed from his position permanently. A few sections address military service.

One of the most well-known sections of the Code was law #196: "If a man destroy the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye. If one break a man's bone, they shall break his bone. If one destroy the eye of a freeman or break the bone of a freeman he shall pay one gold mina. If one destroy the eye of a man's slave or break a bone of a man's slave he shall pay one-half his price."

Under Hammurabi's reign, there were three social classes. The amelu was originally an elite person with full civil rights, whose birth, marriage and death were recorded. Although he had certain privileges, he also was liable for harsher punishment and higher fines. The king and his court, high officials, professionals and craftsmen belonged to this group. The mushkenu was a free man who may have been landless. He was required to accept monetary compensation, paid smaller fines and lived in a separate section of the city. The ardu was a slave whose master paid for his upkeep, but also took his compensation. Ardu could own property and other slaves, and could purchase his own freedom.

Women entered into marriage through a contract arranged by her family. She came with a dowry, and the gifts given by the groom to the bride also came with her. Divorce was up to the husband, but after divorce he then had to restore the dowry and provide her with an income, and any children came under the woman's custody. However, if the woman was considered a "bad wife" she might be sent away, or made a slave in the husband's house. If a wife brought action against her husband for cruelty and neglect, she could have a legal separation if the case was proved. Otherwise, she might be drowned as punishment. Adultery was punished with drowning of both parties, unless a husband was willing to pardon his wife.

Archaeologists, including Egyptologist Gustave Jequier, discovered the code in 1901 at the ancient site of Susa in Khuzestan; a translation was published in 1902 by Jean-Vincent Scheil. A basalt stele containing the code in cuneiform script inscribed in the Akkadian language is currently on display in the Louvre, in Paris, France. Replicas are located at other museums throughout the world.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Describe the significance of Hammurabi's code The Code of Hammurabi is one of the oldest deciphered writings of length in the world (written c. 1754 BCE), and features a code of law from ancient Babylon in Mesopotamia. The Code consisted of 282 laws, with punishments that varied based on social status (slaves, free men, and property owners).