Ancient Mesopotamia Essay

Introduction

The Fertile Crescent is regarded as the home to some of the first civilizations in the world. Ancient Mesopotamia, which is often viewed as the cradle of civilization, was once home to some of the influential cities in the history of human beings. Mesopotamia defines a Greek word for the land between two rivers. Mesopotamia is the western Asian region situated between rivers Euphrates and Tigris. Moreover, Mesopotamia is the home of the area called Fertile Crescent, where there was the first proof of agriculture. In this region, the early human civilizations undertook the first steps from societies of hunters and gatherers to settled communities. In Mesopotamia, there were some of the world's most significant innovations which shaped humankind. For example, the wheel, idea of minutes, hours, and seconds, and the written language were introduced in Mesopotamia. There were different rulers in the region alongside the cultural changes among the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia. The early settlements in the area were in around 14,000 B.C. Before ancient Mesopotamia was recorded, there were the first evidence and signs of modern civilization which happened in steps. In 10,000 B.C., the first proof of early culture included transition to settled living, farming legumes and grains, evidence of houses, and the burial of the dead in ceremonies (Styring et al., 2017). After the period, there was the start of the rise of modern society. The civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia left significant footprints with cultural beliefs and language. This is attributed to contemporary society's central location.

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The Roles of the Environment in Shaping Mesopotamian Societies

The development of Mesopotamia was supported by different geographical and environmental factors, including fertile lands and rivers. The soil in Mesopotamia was productive, which provided humans with reasons to live in the region and start farming activity. By 5,800 B.C.E., people lived in the region referred to as the Fertile Crescent to maximize on the rich soil. The richness of the earth was from the nearby runoff from the mountains, which frequently dumped nutritious silt into the floodplain. The region also stretched from the current times Iraq and Kuwait to northwards of turkey. Before the founding of Mesopotamia, the Neolithic humans were primarily hunters and gatherers doing sporadic farming. The unique fertility of Mesopotamia gave humans the chance of settling in one place to take part in agriculture. Another environmental factor was the trade routes, especially the location of Mesopotamia in central Asia and the rivers contributing to the aspect of trade routes. During Mesopotamia, smaller civilizations existed to the west in North Africa and Europe, and the east in India. For the regions to take part in trade, they have required to transverse the territory of Mesopotamia between them (Iqbal, 2017). This gave Mesopotamia instance access to resources not part of its regions such as precious metals and timber. At the same time, Mesopotamia effectively developed crucial aspects of civilization, such as a token system for keeping the trading records.

Additionally, while the soil in Mesopotamia was very fertile, the semiarid climate of the region lacked much rainfall, with a minimum of ten inches yearly. The two main rivers of the area, Euphrates and Tigris offered a source of water which ensured there was continued wide-scale farming. Irrigation provided Mesopotamia civilization with the chance of stretching the river's waters to their farmlands. This resulted in engineering advances such as the construction of dams, canals, aqueducts, drains, and reservoirs. One of the primary duties of the king was the maintenance of these critical waterways. Another crucial environmental factor in the development of the Mesopotamia region was the flat with few mountains regions. The Mesopotamia region was relatively flat with few forests and few mountains. Therefore, the individuals living in the area were increasingly susceptible to invasion and conquest by foreigners since there were a few neutral areas to hide. The vulnerability led to the creation of significant organizational aspects of human civilizations such as professional warfare, the concept of empire, and government (Iqbal, 2017). In the first millennium B.C.E., the Mesopotamia region housed the first multinational empire in the world called the Assyrian empire. The Assyrian empire launched government innovations included the division of the empire into provinces. The geography of Mesopotamia also made governance an increasingly daunting task, with many rebellions happening.

Mesopotamia Governments

The Mesopotamian cities began as farming villages, where farming activity led to surplus food for the growth of the village population. With the gods establishing themselves as essential beings among the early Mesopotamian civilizations, priests who acted as intermediaries were the most crucial people, and they rapidly assumed the role of governance. Climate change was necessary for every simple type of management. For farming to continue offering enough food, villages started irrigation of crops which needed labor in the construction and maintenance of dams and canals. The organizing of the labor required intelligent leadership, which called for secular leaders capable of guiding communal labor (Bott, 2015). When the farming villages grew into great Mesopotamian cities, both secular leaders and priests were part of the governance of the complex society.

Through the specialization of labor, there was more sense for priests fully involving themselves in ensuring the gods were happy while the secular leaders controlled the city. Slowly, the secular leaders developed into powerful kings dominating the Mesopotamian city's governance. The king was obliged to safeguard the city, to offer law, order, and justice and ensured everyone cared. Kings created dynasties, while leadership positions were patriarchal (Bott, 2015). Government officials also took tithes from farmers, where they oversaw communal labor vital for the maintenance of irrigation canals, water resources, and aqueducts. It was not until the Akkadians assumed power that Mesopotamia established its first empire.

The Importance of Innovation and Technologies Which Allowed Civilizations to Expand

Mesopotamia is the region where many important inventions and discoveries were made. It was at Mesopotamia where agriculture started, and it was the invention of agriculture which ensured that humans stayed in the same area for a longer time without relying on hunting. The Sumerians first introduced the writing concept known as cuneiform for maintenance of business records, and it was used in trade and astronomy. Cuneiform developed from simple pictograph. Another important innovation was urban civilization or urbanization, where humans started living in specific places. Introduction of agriculture ensured human beings traded and launched the idea of taxes. Mesopotamian urbanization started during the Uruk period (Ross, 2016). With the civilization beginning to flourish, people began trading, and they required accurate systems for counting the goods they received. The Sumerians were the first people to launch the idea of counting, and they also introduced the sexagesimal system, which developed the 12 month year.

Moreover, the oldest map was introduced in Babylonia in 2300 BC, where ancient cytography was used in simple sketches in the clay tablets. The ideas launched in Mesopotamia were adopted in Rome and Greece, which were used in advancing the map further. During the Sumerian period, there was also the development of the idea of astrology as everyday incident required spiritual connotations. It was believed that every bad or good thing occurred for a reason. The ancient astrologers viewed the planets' locations and advised people in political positions in line with their observations. Constellations were used in daily activities, and they were depended upon in marking seasons for sowing or harvesting crops. Additionally, they marked the sky's movements and were used in the prediction of celestial events such as eclipses. With time, human beings learned about the domestication of bulls, horses, and other vital animals that was duly followed by the invention of the carriage or chariot (Ross, 2016). The chariot marked the first mode of personal transportation and has been used for years in the sport, general use, and warfare. The first chariot was firstly adopted in 3200 BC in Mesopotamia, and it was duly approved by each civilization until there was the introduction of motorized transportation.

Conclusion

A lot of the discoveries and inventions during the ancient Mesopotamia were more advanced during the later civilizations. Nonetheless, the designs in Mesopotamia resulted in basic things required for human beings to settle in groups, including agriculture, urban culture, and writing. Mesopotamia is undeniably the cradle of civilizations, and factors such as the environment and technological inventions ensured that Mesopotamia developed from a hunters and gatherers mindset to city-like areas.

References

Bott, S. E. (2015). Mapping the Heart of Mesopotamia. NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY, 78(3), 163. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Suzanne_Bott/publication/282032340_Mapping_the_Heart_of_Mesopotamia_A_Bittersweet_Legacy_in_the_Landscape_of_War/links/5601c7e608ae42bbd541f321/Mapping-the-Heart-of-Mesopotamia-A-Bittersweet-Legacy-in-the-Landscape-of-War.pdf

Iqbal, S. (2017). Impact of Environment on Architecture of Mesopotamia concerning the Use of Materials, Tools, and Mode of Construction. Retrieved from https://press.ierek.com/index.php/ARChive/article/download/111/39

Ross, J. C. (2016). Technological Innovation in the Uruk Period. Agency and Identity in the Ancient Near East: New Paths Forward. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=zmneCwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT164&dq=The+Importance+of+Innovation+and+Technologies+in+mesopotamia&ots=SgfklZ96O6&sig=VVkyFeO3G4M3BjGB8Bc2TQzfNgI&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

Styring, A. K., Charles, M., Fantone, F., Hald, M. M., McMahon, A., Meadow, R. H., ... & Soltysiak, A. (2017). Isotope evidence for agricultural extensification reveals how the world's first cities were fed. Nature Plants, 3(6), 17076. Retrieved from https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:bdb67f96-7b54-4beb-8f75-66d6535da386/download_file?safe_filename=Styring%2Bet%2Bal%2BNature%2BPlants%2BApr17.pdf&file_format=application%2Fpdf&type_of_work=Journal+article