Mesopotamia: City Life and Urbanization

• City life originated in Mesopotamia
• Mesopotamia is from the Greek words 'mesos' (middle) and 'potamos' (river)
• Mesopotamia is a flat land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, now part of Iraq
• Northern Mesopotamia features an upland steppe suitable for animal herding
• Agriculture started in Mesopotamia between 7000 and 6000 BCE
• The soil was fertile, but agriculture faced threats from natural causes
• Important Mesopotamian cities include Ur, Lagash, Kish, Uruk, and Mari
• Excavation work in Mesopotamia began 150 years ago

Urbanization in Mesopotamia

• Mesopotamian civilization followed a definite plan in its organization
• Cities and towns developed when the economy allowed people to specialize in areas other than food production
• Urban economies included food production, trade, manufacturing, and services
• Mesopotamian society featured a defined social structure
• Cities were helpful for the manufacturer
• Labor division was typical of urban life in Mesopotamia
• Mesopotamian tablets from around 3200 BCE contained picture-like signs and numbers
• Writing emerged to maintain transaction records due to the complexity of city life
• Mesopotamians wrote on clay tablets
• Mesopotamia's scholarly tradition of time reckoning, mathematics, and the calendar is a major legacy

Political Factors

• Around 1100 BCE, Assyrians established a kingdom in the north, leading to the region being known as Assyria
• Sumerian was the first known language
• Writing served purposes beyond record-keeping, including dictionary creation and legal validation
• Kingship organized trade and writing
• Early settlers constructed temples, beginning with small shrines of unbaked bricks
• Temples served as residences for various gods
• These temples were centers of religious events, each dedicated to a specific deity

Social and Economic Factors

• Settlements developed in southern Mesopotamia by 5000 BCE
• Mesopotamian society had nuclear families, often with married sons living with parents
• The father was the head of the family
• A ruling elite had emerged
• Wealth was not equally distributed
• Mesopotamian society was patriarchal
• Ur, one of the earliest cities, is often compared to Mohenjodaro
• Uruk was considered the city "par excellence" in Mesopotamian tradition
• Urbanism, trade, and record-keeping were key economic factors
• Writing in Mesopotamia began in 3200 BCE and was used for records
• By 2600 BCE, letters evolved into cuneiform in the Sumerian language

Cultural Factors and Writing

• Writing was a skilled craft that visually conveyed language sounds
• Literacy was limited; mainly kings and a few others could read
• Official letters from the king could be read
• Connections are evident between city life, trade, and writing
• A Sumerian epic poem about King Enmerkar highlights these connections
• Kingship organized trade and writing
• Mesopotamian society and culture were open to different people and cultures, resulting in an intermixture culture
• Cuneiform is a Mesopotamian script derived from the Latin 'cuneus' (wedge) and 'forma' (shape)
• By 2600 BCE, the letters became cuneiform and were used for Sumerian
• Cuneiform writing in Akkadian lasted until the first century CE

Legacy and Sources

• Tablets were written around 32000 BCE
• The Bible (Old Testament) is a source of information
• The British Museum holds Mesopotamian artifacts
• Texts also preserve Mesopotamian knowledge
• Mesopotamian scholars developed a calendar by dividing time into years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds
• Literature: Gilgamesh, written on twelve tablets, a famous Mesopotamian epic.
• Literature was written by the ruler of Uruk in 2700 BCE
• Mathematical contributions included multiplication/division tables, squares, square root tables, compound interest tables, and geometry problems