The Mesopotamian civilization developed between the Trigris and Euphrates rivers, whose waters were the means of irrigation for the fields. They are territories that we can currently locate on the map in the Middle East area. Over the years, they have seen how new prosperous civilizations have emerged for the development of humanity. This culture were the forerunners of techniques such as the plow, they knew the roads with four-wheel vehicles and the sailboat.
The name Mesopotamia has been translated into different ancient languages existing at that time and comes to mean between two rivers. This is due to the geographical location where they were located. Don't you know all the history behind the Mesopotamian civilization? Do not wait a second longer and enter this new world.
Historical facts about the Mesopotamian civilization
The Mesopotamian civilization arises around the 4000 BC century and in it, the first permanent settlements are developed. It was located in an area whose land was very fertile between two rivers, the Tigris River and the Euphrates, what we know today on the map as the region of Iraq. The name of this region comes from this area where they settled as we mentioned at the beginning, being between two bodies of water, the name of Mesopotamia is defined as "land between rivers".
Egypt and Greece were two civilizations that developed in parallel, that is, gradually and in a more isolated manner than the rest. Mesopotamian civilization was characterized by hosting different empires and cultures that underwent a joint evolution., hence Mesopotamia is considered the cradle of civilization. You can read more about the historical origin of civilizations that have influenced humanity.
There were four, the main cultures that stood out in this stage of history, the Sumerian civilization, the Akkadian, the Assyrian and the Babylonian., who are responsible for the creation of new agricultural techniques in order to take advantage of the flooding that rivers suffered during times of abundant rainfall, which helped them create cities with greater populations.
Mesopotamian civilization: origin
If we focus on the origin of the civilization that we are talking about in this publication, we have to go back to the historical stage of prehistory, at the end of the Neolithic period. This stage was characterized by the way of life of the human species, in small groups, dedicated mainly to hunting or gathering food.
The civilization knew how to take advantage of its location between two rivers to use that water as food for its plantations., so agriculture was developing and the same happened with livestock, being able to generate food for both the population and the animals.
Over time, Mesopotamian civilization evolved and began to form the first settled peoples. This event marked a before and after for them and for history, which was developed throughout the map until reaching the current world.
Major rivers of the Mesopotamian civilization
As we have been commenting, The main rivers that bathed the cultivation fields of this civilization were two, the Tigris River and the Euphrates. Thanks to them, prosperity was possible in the Mesopotamian peoples.
- Tigris River: It has a total length of 1850 kilometers. One of the characteristics of this river is its great slope, from its birth point to its mouth it has a 1150 m drop.
- euphrates riverThis river stretches a total of 2800 km. It has a vertical drop of over 4 meters, yet runs smoothly throughout its entire course. Some of its tributaries, such as the Taurus, Balih, and Habur, cross what was once the territory occupied by Mesopotamian civilizations.
Both rivers during the time of Mesopotamia suffered constant floods, which helped to fertilize the cultivated land of civilizations.
Main characteristics of the Mesopotamian civilization
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The Mesopotamian civilization had a series of characteristics by which it could be said that they were represented, then we will discover them for you.
- agriculture and livestock activities were the main and, food gathering and hunting were left in the background
- The social structure that had been created had a dense population and was organized by families and also by division of labor
- own cultures of this civilization crossed with others close as they were, Egypt or the Indus Valley
- La variety of cultures that populated it: Sumerians, Arcadians, Assyrians and Babylonians
- Se developed knowledge about mathematics, astronomy and architecture. The first cuneiform writing system appears
- They created one of first legal documents written with laws on stone and tablets of clay material, this occurs during the time that the Babylonians inhabited
- The present religion was polytheistic, so different gods were worshiped, each with a temple and certain worship rituals
Contributions left by the Mesopotamian civilization
We are not only going to explain to you what the Mesopotamian civilization is and its main characteristics, but also We are going to accompany you to discover what were the main contributions of this civilization.
- Writing system: the first traces of writing are found, it should be noted that they predate the Egyptian system of hieroglyphs. This writing was called cuneiform because of its wedge shape.
- Calendar: a Mesopotamian calendar that represented the two seasons of the time; summer and winter.
- law code: laws in the Semitic language that were written on a stone or clay tablets. In them, annotations of punishments for criminals always based on their social class appeared.
- Astronomy: The data that has been discovered throughout history shows that it was a civilization that believed in a planetary system and that, in addition, the planet earth rotated on another luminous one.
Mesopotamian cultures
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The region of Mesopotamia was divided into different peoples; to the north were the Assyrians and to the south the Babylonians. The latter encompassed two more territories: Akkad in the upper part and Sumeria in the lower part. As we just mentioned, Mesopotamian cultures were diverse and distinguished from one another not only by their origins but also by their lifestyles. It's time to discover what the main Mesopotamian cultures were based on.
The Sumerians
We are talking about the first civilization in the Mesopotamian region, they founded the first cities such as Uma, Ur, Eridu and Ea. Although you may be surprised to read this, during this period of history, there was already an understanding of what the state meant, not only as a social model but also as a political one. It must be said that this was an old way of understanding, but it was dominated by a figure whose power was absolute over the people.
The first pictograms date from this stage, which would mean the origin of writing.The technique they used was to assign a word to a drawing. The development of such important buildings as temples and walls was fundamental to the development and protection of cities.
the akkadians
As has always happened throughout history, events that are not as desired as invasions happen. Various nomadic peoples; Syrians, Hebrews and Arabs invaded the territories already developed by the Sumerian culture. This event is around the 2500 century BC
The Akkadian civilization was the most important group in the Mesopotamian region due to King SargonThis figure founded the capital of Agade when the Lugalzagesi Empire was defeated. Later, this king had to face various conflicts due to power struggles, an event that led to the fall of the Akkadian Empire in 2200 BC.
The Assyrians and Babylonians
There was a brief reconquest by the Sumerians, to the lands that the Akkadians had taken from them. The Babylonian and Assyrian empires were among the most important and influential in the Mesopotamian region.Thanks to them, a new model of a united empire was created that was adopted by other modern monarchs in Western Europe.
Under the power of Hammurabi, the struggle to achieve the extension of the territory and a cultural dominance began, thus making Babylon the capital. During this period, the first laws on a prosperous administrative system were written; this was due to the fact that the empire had a lot of dominion and this needed to be controlled.
During this period, the importance of this empire stands out, due to the extensive military practices with which it dominated the people. They were characterized by their ruthlessness, refusing to let anything or anyone surpass them, destroying everything in sight and imposing their rules and culture. It is worth noting that this culture introduced new forms of irrigation, in addition to an important cultural legacy that survives to the present day.
What do you think of everything we have taught you about this civilization? Did you find it interesting and did you learn something new? We have helped you to understand in a deeper way what the Mesopotamian civilization is, where we can locate it on the map, why they were so important in history and what cultures inhabited them. As we have told you, we hope that this publication has been of interest to you, and that from now on if someone asks you about this topic, you will know how to explain things as interesting as the ones we have explained to you today.