Mesopotamian Civilization: Prosperity, City Life, and the Spread of Knowledge

Mesopotamian civilization is known for its prosperity, city life, its voluminous and rich literature and its mathematics and astronomy. City life began in Mesopotamia, the land between the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers that is now part of the Republic of Iraq. Mesopotamian civilization’s writing system and literature spread to the eastern Mediterranean, northern Syria, and Turkey after 2000 BCE, so that the kingdoms of that entire region were writing to one another, and to the Pharaoh of Egypt, in the language and script of Mesopotamia. 

The connection between city life and writing, and then look at some outcomes of a sustained tradition of writing shall be explored in this article.

• Sumerian Language: From about 1100 BCE, when the Assyrians established their kingdom in the north, the region became known as Assyria. The first known language of the land was Sumerian. 
• Transition from Sumerian to Akkadian: It was gradually replaced by Akkadian around 2400 BCE when Akkadian speakers arrived. 
  • This language flourished till about Alexander’s time (336-323 BCE), with some regional changes occurring. 
• Archaeological Exploration of Mesopotamia: Archaeology in Mesopotamia began in the 1840s. 
  • Mesopotamia was important to Europeans because of references to it in the Old Testament, the first part of the Bible. 
  • Summer in Sacred Texts: The Book of Genesis of the Old Testament refers to ‘Shimar’, meaning Sumer, as a land of brick-built cities. 
  • In 1873, a British newspaper funded an expedition of the British Museum to search for a tablet narrating the story of the Flood, mentioned in the Bible.

Mesopotamian Civilization: A Geographical Tapestry of Agricultural Origins and Livelihood Strategies

• Agricultural Origins in Mesopotamia: Agriculture in Mesopotamia began between 7000 and 6000 BCE. 
  • Steppe Livelihood: In the north, there is a stretch of upland called a steppe, where animal herding offers people a better livelihood than agriculture – after the winter rains, sheep and goats feed on the grasses and low shrubs that grow here. 
• Mesopotamian CivilizationRivers: To the east, tributaries of the Tigris provide routes of communication into the mountains of Iran.
  • Desert Sustenance: This desert could support cities because the rivers Euphrates and Tigris (Refer to Figure), which rise in the northern mountains, carry loads of silt (fine mud). 
    • When they flood or when their water is let out onto the fields, fertile silt is deposited.
  • Euphrates Water Distribution: After the Euphrates have entered the desert, its water flows out into small channels. 
    • These channels flood their banks and, in the past, functioned as irrigation canals.
  • Agricultural Prowess of Southern Mesopotamia: Of all ancient systems, that of the Roman Empire included, It was the agriculture of southern Mesopotamia that was the most productive, even though the region did not have sufficient rainfall to grow crops. 
• Mesopotamian Civilization Livestock: Mesopotamian sheep and goats that grazed on the steppe, the northeastern plains and the mountain slopes (that is, on tracts too high for the rivers to flood and fertilize) produced meat, milk and wool in abundance. 

Urban Dynamics in Mesopotamian Civilization: Interdependence, Metal Tool Production, and Organized Economies

• Diversified Urban Economies: Urban economies comprise besides food production, trade, manufacturing and services. 
  • City people, thus, cease to be self-sufficient and depend on the products or services of other (city or village) people. 
  • There is continuous interaction among them.
• Metal Tool Production: The bronze tool maker does not himself go out to get the metals, copper and tin. 
  • Besides, he needs regular supplies of charcoal for fuel. 
• Division of Labour: The division of labor is a mark of urban life. 
• Infrastructure and Organization in Urban Economies: Further, there must be a social organization in place. 
  • Fuel, metal, various stones, wood, etc., come from many different places for city manufacturers. Thus, organized trade and storage is needed. 
  • There are deliveries of grain and other food items from the village to the city, and food supplies need to be stored and distributed. 
  • Besides, many different activities have to be coordinated, there must be not only stones but also bronze tools and pots available for seal cutters. 
  • Obviously, in such a system some people give commands that others obey, and urban economies often require the keeping of written records
    

Commerce and Constraints: Understanding Resource Challenges in Mesopotamian Civilization 

• Resource Limitations in Mesopotamian Civilization: However rich the food resources of Mesopotamia, its mineral resources were few. 
  • Most parts of the south lacked stones for tools, seals and jewels; 
  • The wood of the Iraqi date palm and poplar was not good enough for carts, cartwheels or boats;
  • There was no metal for tools, vessels or ornaments. 
• Mesopotamian Civilization Trade Networks: The ancient Mesopotamian Civilization could have traded their abundant textiles and agricultural produce for wood, copper, tin, silver, gold, shell and various stones from Turkey and Iran, or across the Gulf. 
• Regular Exchanges: This was possible only when there was a social organization – to equip foreign expeditions and direct the exchanges initiated by the people of southern Mesopotamia. 
  • Besides crafts, trade and services, efficient transport is also important for urban development. 
• Waterways as Lifelines: The cheapest mode of transportation is, everywhere, over water. 
  • River boats or barges loaded with sacks of grain are propelled by the current of the river and/or wind, but when animals transport goods, they need to be fed. 
  • The canals and natural channels of ancient Mesopotamia were in fact routes of goods transport between large and small settlements.

The Written Legacy: Tracing the Evolution of Writing in Mesopotamian Civilization 

• • Verbal and Written Communication: All societies have languages in which certain spoken sounds convey certain meanings. 
    • This is verbal communication. Writing too is verbal communication – but in a different way. 
    • When we talk about writing or a script, we mean that spoken sounds are represented in visible signs. 
• Genesis of Mesopotamian Civilization Writing: The first Mesopotamian tablets, written around 3200 BCE, contained picture-like signs and numbers. 
  • These were about 5,000 lists of oxen, fish, bread loaves, etc. – lists of goods that were brought into or distributed from the temples of Uruk, a city in the south. (Refer to Figure) 
• Writing Techniques and Durability: Mesopotamian Civilization wrote on tablets of clay . 
  • A scribe would wet clay and pat it into a size he could hold comfortably in one hand. 
  • He would carefully smoothen its surfaces. 
  • With the sharp end of a reed cut obliquely, he would press wedge-shaped (‘cuneiform*’) signs onto the smoothened surface while it was still moist. 
  • Once dried in the sun, the clay would harden and tablets would be almost as indestructible as pottery. 
• Cuneiform Tablets: Once the surface dried, signs could not be pressed onto a tablet.
  • So each transaction, however minor, required a separate written tablet. 
  • This is why tablets occur by the hundreds at Mesopotamian Civilization sites. 
  • By 2600 BCE or so, the letters became cuneiform, and the language was Sumerian. 
• Linguistic Shifts: Sumerian, the earliest known language of Mesopotamia, was gradually replaced after 2400 BCE by the Akkadian language. 
  • Cuneiform writing in the Akkadian language continued in use until the first century CE, that is, for more than 2,000 years. 

Scripted Legacy: The Art and Challenges of Writing in Mesopotamian Civilization

• Syllabic Representation and the Challenges for Mesopotamian Civilization Scribes: The sound that a cuneiform sign represented was not a single consonant or vowel (such as m or an in the English alphabet), but syllables (say,- put-,or-la-,or-in-). 
• • Thus, the signs that a Mesopotamian Civilization scribe had to learn ran into hundreds, and he had to be able to handle a wet tablet and get it written before it dried. 
• A Skilled Craft and Intellectual Triumph of Mesopotamian Civilization: So, writing was a skilled craft but, more importantly, it was an enormous intellectual achievement, conveying in visual form the system of sounds of a particular language.
• Limited Literacy in Mesopotamian Civilization: Very few Mesopotamians could read and write. 
  • Not only were there hundreds of signs to learn, but many of these were complex. 
  • If a king could read, he made sure that this was recorded in one of his boastful inscriptions! For the most part, however, writing reflected the mode of speaking.
  • A letter from an official would have to be read out to the king. 
  • So it would begin: ‘To my lord A, speak: … Thus says your servant B: … I have carried out the work assigned to me.

Scripted Ambitions: The Role of Writing in Mesopotamian Civilization’s Trade, Challenges, and Cultural Prestige

• Sumerian Epic: The connection between city life, trade and writing is brought out in a long Sumerian epic poem about Enmerkar, one of the earliest rulers of Uruk. 
  • In Mesopotamian Civilization tradition, Uruk was the city par excellence, often known simply as The City. 
• Enmerkar’s Trade Expedition: Enmerkar is associated with the organization of the first trade of Sumer: in the early days, the epic says, ‘trade was not known’. 
  • Quest for Materials: Enmerkar wanted lapis lazuli and precious metals for the beautification of a city temple and sent his messenger out to get them from the chief of a very distant land called Aratta. 
  • Mesopotamian Civilization: Negotiations, Challenges, and the Quest for Precious Materials: Five mountain ranges, six mountain ranges, seven mountain ranges he crossed. 
    • The messenger could not get the chief of Aratta to part with lapis lazuli or silver, and he had to make the long journey back and forth, again and again, carrying threats and promises from the king of Uruk. 
• Cultural Prestige of Writing in Mesopotamian Civilization: Besides being a means of storing information and of sending messages afar, writing was seen as a sign of the superiority of Mesopotamian Civilization urban culture.

Conclusion
Exploring the Core of Mesopotamian Civilization: This discussion delves into the heart of urbanism, unraveling the intricate economic tapestry that defined Mesopotamian Civilization cities. From diversified economies and metal tool production to the division of labor and the crucial role of organized trade and storage, discover the significance of urban dynamics in shaping the societal fabric of ancient Mesopotamia.

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