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Some geographic features in Mesopotamia are the Mediterranean sea, Red sea, Caspian sea, and The Persian gulf. This affected Mesopotamia because the water may have helped people settle easier because that's what they were looking for. This helped cities settle because it provided moisture to the soil. They now were able to farm and grow crops to earn money for other needs.  Another geographic feature is the Arabian Desert. This helped people settle because it gave them a lot of land to have and claim as their own. They also were able to build shelter on the land they own. The Zagros Mountains is also a geographic feature and it affected Mesopotamia because it provides protection from enemies and shelter from varying weather. It causes the areas by the mountains to be cooler than how it is in the desert. These features made Mesopotamia thrive because it had a good climate. Near the sea it's usually more windy and the mountains can provide shelter and protection. Surrounding areas show that it is mostly dry and hot, so it is better to live in Mesopotamia.

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Laws and Government is important to people because it forms a society which serves as normal conduct for citizens. The three branches of the government keep the society running and in order. This is why we have the laws that we do and in Mesopotamia they deal with it another way. The Hammurabi Code of Laws, a collection of 282 rules that are made so that people can be fined, and they can receive punishments to the requirements of justice. This shows that they are just like us, and they have rules that people need to follow. They want a really organized community that has people who will obey the rules and laws. Some of these rules may have been carried on to us today to continue knowing the consequences we have for not following the rules. These rules kept the people in order, and they had to follow the rules or else they would have a consequence.

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There are class divisions in Mesopotamia, and they keep people and a society organized. They may not be fair and all, but they use them, and the people who live there have to allow it. One of the three class divisions in Mesopotamia is the Highest class, which contains one very important person, the king. War and conquest were considered to be the divine mission of the ancient Mesopotamian kings, whose duty it was to allocate more resources and people into their domain. The Upper Class is the next class in order and it contains people whom are, Priests and noble rich farmers. Priest were equal to the king in power and honor. They were mediators between the gods and the people. In fact Middle Class comes up next and it contains many people whom are, merchants, farmers, and artisans. Assyrian merchants were part of a family business that traded all over Mesopotamia and beyond. Farmers are people who grow crops, and they supply food for themselves and for the other people who lived in Mesopotamia and the king. Most people may have been in the lowest class because it is the slaves who have been captured in war or caught because they couldn't pay off the money they may have owed someone. There were many more people in this class division because most people were lucky if they had any job at all. A lot of people were captured, and they have no choice of doing anything else.  In fact they would have to work for their master, and they had to work for them for 3 years before they were set free. If they disobeyed their master then they can have horrible consequences even to the point where they may lose a limb! These are all the class divisions, and they defined how people would live.

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Religion was central to Mesopotamians.  At each Mesopotamian city, whether Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, or Assyrian, had its own patron god or goddess. One of the beliefs the cultures of Mesopotamia had was a polytheistic belief system, which means that the people believed in multiple gods instead of just one. This shows that some people could believe in one thing and the other could believe in another god. There were 7 gods that they believed in. Another belief is how they believed in demons who were created by the gods, either good or evil. They believed the divine affected every aspect of human life. Mesopotamians were polytheistic, they worshiped several major gods and thousands of minor gods. A ziggurat is a type of massive structure built in ancient Mesopotamia. It has the form of a terraced compound of successively receding stories or levels. They used sun-baked bricks to make up the core of the ziggurat with facings of fired bricks on the outside.The ziggurat showed that the city was dedicated to that certain god. The priests would perform sacrifices and other rituals there. They built them high because they wanted the shrine to be as close to the heavens as possible.  There are not many around the world but there are about 25 located in Iran and Iraq.

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They worked in gold, lapis, wood and clay. The Sumerians made a massive sculpture, which they created to represent and honor their gods. Some of the other art forms they make in Mesopotamia are sculpted carved statues, jewelry, and many paintings. People who had access to metal were able to make objects like weapons and cups, and decorative items such as mirrors and jewelry.  The purpose of these were to make weapons to protect themselves and to have jewelry to trade in exchange for more important needs. It's important to study the ancient art to see how society has changed over the years. It shows the importance and accomplishments of society.

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Over time, it came to a point when they needed to be able to communicate with each other, and they decided to use signs developed into what we now call Cuneiform.  Cuneiform is a system of writing first developed by the ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia. Sumerians were the people who used cuneiform, and they were some of the only people who used it.  Over time as Sumerian towns grew and formed into cities, the people of Mesopotamia decided that they needed a way to keep track of business transactions, ownership rights, and government records. They also used it as a way to record information about the goods being exchanged. They used symbols instead of words as a way to communicate.  There was about 2000 symbols, and then they reduced down to 700 symbols which made it even easier to communicate. This writing was effective to people who were able to fully understand it and could be able to learn the symbols.