Mesopotamia | The Open Book | Education Videos

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The Civilization between the Rivers
One of the earliest civilizations that flourished in south western Asia was Mesopotamia. Literally the name means the land between two rivers Euphrates and Tigris.
Here we look at some of the historical facts associated with this civilization.
The region was a centre of culture and extended its influence up to the Indus Valley civilization.
The area is flat alluvial land and mainly used for agriculture since ancient times. Since it was richly endowed with water it became the area where there was heavy population. This area was the southern end and initially the northern end was the seat of culture but was slowly overtaken by the south as the people rose to the challenge.
The availability of enough raw materials to produce goods enabled this area to even export agricultural products from time immemorial but strangely little is found of wood or metal in these parts.
The raw material that epitomizes Mesopotamia is clay and clay art is of prime importance here.
Clay was used for writing purposes too. Cuneiform art, cuneiform literature is all used to express the work in this civilization showing the intricate levels to which clay was used by them.
Ancient Mesopotamia had many languages and cultures and history has been broken up into eras accordingly. The civilization had no geographical unity and no permanent capital and as a result the variety stands out.
The script and pantheon show its unity but here also there is complexity and variety.
During the 3000 years of the civilization we find that each civilization gave birth to the next.
The world of mathematics and astronomy are indebted to this civilization. The sexagesimal system of numbers had its origin in this civilization.
The code of Hammurabi a legal system can be traced to this civilization.
Writing pervaded all aspects of life and the result a highly developed bureaucracy. High administrative skills can be seen among the people as they had huge estates to manage.
Above all what stands out is its literature and it cannot be said that a fully fledged account of this cuneiform literature is available as most of the writing was on clay tablets and these were only partially reclaimable.
Mesopotamian religion did not believe in afterlife .They felt that all people irrespective of good or bad went underground as ghosts and ate dirt.
The king administered on behalf of the Gods and he was responsible for distribution of food. Central grain storage was necessary.
Mesopotamia discovered the wheel, plough irrigation systems and sailboats.
They were servants of God and were there because He loved them.
Their written language started as pictographs and was cumbersome to understand.
In conclusion it can be said that they had peculiar beliefs but they were one of the earliest civilizations which gave the world new ideas.