Mesopotamia

Prior to the Greeks and Romans building entire civilizations, a culture settled in the region between Egypt, India, and the rest of continental Europe which had an abudance of natural irrigation capabilities. This culture was Mesopotamia. Around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the Fertile Crescent was home to a vast culture that developed agriculture, business, and a method of recording day to day tasks and history that the entire culture could read.

The climate and soil of this region are not favorable for preservation of organic artifacts (those made of wood or fabric) and therefore we do not have a lot of artifacts and architecture from this culture apart from the written records made on clay or stone.

WRITTEN RECORDS

Written records were carved into clay or stone and kept record of day to day activities, as well as cultural occurances.

CALENDARS:

Individual years were named after memorable events, or after officials, or the number of years that had elapsed since a king's accession. They used these markers to create a timeline that extends over many generations. Modern historians now have a basic timeline of events going back to 1500 BCE that is accurate to a year or two and some events that go back to 2500 BCE.

MONEY TRANSACTIONS

The earliest of money transactions were little pieces of clay called tokens that represented different amounts. For example, there was one shape of token for a goat, another for cattle, grain, etc. These tokens were pressed into a clay bulla and stored inside. Then the bulla was sealed and the owner's name/seal was imprinted on the outside.

Eventually they realized that the tokens did not need to be stored once they had the impressions, so a piece of flat clay was used and the tokens discarded. Over time, the tokens stopped getting made and they just inscribed the shapes into the clay.

AGRICULTURE

The Mesopotamians realized the full potential of their fertile soil to have a thriving agriculture. In Northern Mesopotamia, they relied heavily on rainfall. The harvest was plentiful and the land was perfect for animal pastures. Now, these areas are covered with layers and layers of future civilization. From demolition and reconstruction of forests, houses, and cultures as well as natural disasters have buried this civilization.

CROPS

There were some crops that would not have survived in the wild, but with the constant protection and cultivation from humans, flourished. Villages traded seeds of food that they normally would not find and learned how to grow them.

A settlement, Maghzaliya in northern Iraq, dating back to 7000 BCE, has revealed that they had sheep, goats, and a few cattle. They also planted wheat, barley and lentil. A stone wall surrounding this settlement suggests that humans were already protecting themselves from other humans and not just natural predators.

NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION

The Neolithic Revolution (10,000 - 6,000 BCE) basically just describes the period where man ceased hunting wild animals and collecting wild plants to settling down in one location, and using herded animals and planted crops for survival. On the fringes fo settled life, there were still mobile or nomadic communities that were more impoverished and therefore followed more traditional methods of living were adhered to.

TRADE

Maghzaliya, the settlement from 7000 BCE was discovered to have a lot of obsidian in it. Obsidian is a black volcanic glass that is used in the manufacture of sharp tools. Evidence suggests that these goods were carried and distributed between settlements. Other art (stone vessels, figurines and rectangular buildings of clay) show the flourishing craft industry coming out of this era.

ART

HASSUNA POTTERY

Hassuna pottery can be recognized by simple shapes that aided in the use of the vessel. They were well fired and therefore more durable. The decoration was of slashed incisions or neatly painted lines.

SAMMARRA POTTERY

Much more elaborate painted decoration occurs on Sammarra pottery. The Samarra people relied more on irrigation systems to have a good agricultural crop. It appears that the Samarian culture took over the Hassuna culture.

HALAF POTTERY

The Halaf culture occurs from 5500 - 5000 BCE. The pottery has very distinctive shapes that reflect their usage. Smaller vessels are thin-walled but strong, with complicated designs painted in one or more colors.

Similarities between the villages of Mesopotamia during this period are abundant including common styles of pottery, food, technology, architecture, ritual practices and ornament. This suggests that the Halaf style was far reaching and other villages quickly adopted styles and methods that were proven to be efficient.

UBAID PERIOD

When the Halaf Period was thriving in Northern Mesopotamia, the Ubaid period was flourishing in Southern Mesopotamia around 4000 BCE. Some early buildings that were excavated from this period had piles of fish on the floor suggesting the importance of fishing to their survival. The fields were all irrigated to bring water to the crops. Canals were dug from local tribuitaries in such a way that it brought just the right amount of water to the land. Too much water would have caused the fertile soil to go barren and salt encrusted.

The city of Eridu was regarded as a city of great antiquity and religious significance. It was the home of Enki, the Sumerian god of the sea and the god of wisdom. After 2500 BCE, the city was used cheifly for the restoration of this historical shrine. Recent excevations suggest that the Ubaid way of life was less liable to disintegration or drastic interruption that was the case for many of the societies in Northern Mesopotamia.

YARIMTEPE

A settlement in north Iraq on the desert steppe. Based on three distinct mounds of earth build one on top of the other suggests that the site was abanadoned, and when repopulated by another group later, was just covered over with dirt as a starting point for the new family. Each mound had very distinct art/pottery. The first and lowest of Hassuna, the second had Halaf and the third was dominated by Ubaid. The clear separation instead of a mix of both suggest that the site was completely abandoned between periods. This could be due to the fact that the soil there was tempermental and too much or too ittle rainfall caused them to seek better ground.

Administrative tablet in Sumerian recording cultic payments of grain for the goddess Bau. Dated to the fourth year of Uru-inim-gina, ruler of Lagash (about 2348 BCE). From Girsu. British Museum

Clay bulla with a few tokens. You can see the impressions of the tokens on the outside as well as faintly see the owners inscription. Sumerian. 3400 BCE

Sumerian writing tokens. Approx 2800 BCE

Hassuna Style

Example of early Hassuna style of incising on a clay pot. About 6000 BCE.

Samarra Style

Hand made bowls from the Samarra period. About 6500 BCE.

Halaf Pottery

The Halaf period potters produced some of the finest wares known from the ancient world. Vessels in the distinctive style of this plate, shaped by hand, well fired, and painted with imaginative designs in one or two colors, were made throughout northern Mesopotamia. From Arpachiyah. About 5000 BCE. British Museum

Ubaid pottery

Dish in the Ubaid pottery style. From Ur. About 4000 BCE.

COSTUME

The mesopotamians wore simple tunics, skirts, shawls and sandals. Scuplture indicates that they had enough knowledge to weave fabric as well as construct sleeves into garments. A lot of aesthetic aspects represented the animals they survived on, mostly sheep. Their headresses and beards were left curly and looks a lot like like sheep's wool. They also used wool and fleece in their garments. Spiral wrapped skirts were adorned with fringe that was a symbol of virility and wealth, as well as drawing attention to the sexual organs of the wearer. One common style of skirt seen in sculpture was the kaunake which was a layered and fringed sheep fleece skirt.

THE CODE OF HAMMURABI

The Code of Hammurabi is a well-preserved Babylonian law code of ancient Mesopotamia, dating back to about 1772 BC. It is one of the oldest deciphered writings of significant length in the world. The sixth Babylonian king, Hammurabi, enacted the code, and partial copies exist on a human-sized stone stele and various clay tablets. The Code consists of 282 laws, with scaled punishments, adjusting "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" as graded depending on social status, of slave versus free man. Nearly one-half of the Code deals with matters of contract, establishing, for example, the wages to be paid to an ox driver or a surgeon. Other provisions set the terms of a transaction, establishing the liability of a builder for a house that collapses, for example, or property that is damaged while left in the care of another. A third of the code addresses issues concerning household and family relationships such as inheritance, divorce, paternity and sexual behavior. Only one provision appears to impose obligations on an official; this provision establishes that a judge who reaches an incorrect decision is to be fined and removed from the bench permanently. A handful of provisions address issues related to military service.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aruz, Joan, Sarah B. Graff, and Yelena Rakic. Cultures in Contact: From Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean in the Second Millennium B.C. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013. Print.

Delaporte, Louis, and V G. Childe. Mesopotamia: The Babylonian and Assyrian Civilization. London: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co, 1925. Print.

Reade, Julian. Mesopotamia. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1991. Print.

Ishtar

Ishtar/Inanna/Ashtart, 2000 BC, Babylonian. The Babylonian mother goddess--known as Ishtar, Inanna, and Ashtart--is here depicted in her characteristic breast-offering pose as the purveyor of all nourishment and fertility. The original sculpture is part of collection in the Louvre Museum, Paris.

Royal Tombs of Ur

Detail of a carved ivory artifact from the Royal Tombs of the Sumerian city of Ur in Mesopotamia. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, PA. Photo by Babylon Chronicle

Palace of Sennacherib

Officer conducts 2 Judeans to the King. Detail of the Assyrian conquest of the Jewish fortified town of Lachish (battle 701 BCE). Part of a relief from the palace of Sennacherib at Niniveh, Mesopotamia (Iraq) British Museum