Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia, literally meaning "the land between the rivers", is the name of the region located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Southwest Asia. This region is part of the area often called the "Fertile Crescent" because of its superiority in agriculture. Mesopotamia was one of only a few regions to develop agriculture completely on its own. Because of its rise in agriculture, it eventually developed one of the earliest civilizations, being only one of three regions to do so completely from scratch, with the other two being Mesoamerica and the Yellow River Valley Civilization in China. Because of its lack of natural barriers, Mesopotamia was prone to foreign invasion. The first of many invaders to rule Mesopotamia was the Sumerians, followed by the Akkadians and then Babylonians. Although new invaders came frequently, the culture of the invading group was not imposed on the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, but rather the invaders took on the lifestyle of the group they conquered, which remained consistant in this region throughout history. Because of this, the characteristics of ancient Mesopotamia remain mostly the same, even though the rulers changed frequently. Politically, Mesopotamia was organized into city-states and ruled by a monarchy with divine authority. The government was tied closely to the religion of the people, with a god-like king who claimed his power came from the gods. They practiced a polytheistic religion believing in gods of nature, and each major city-state had its own patron god. Mesopotamians tended to look upon the universe with a pessimistic view, believing in the afterlife as a punishment, which gave them the focus of living their lives on earth to the fullest. The societies of Mesopotamia were agriculturally based and had a heavy focus on trade and commerce, using silver as a means of currency. Inventions and technologies credited to this region include the wheel, the wedge style form of writing called Cuneiforem, the first written law code (Hammurabi's), and an advanced calendar system. They were also known for written stories such as the Epic of Gilgamesh. Socially, the society was very stratified with an elite group at the top consisting of the king, nobles, and priests, followed by a small merchant class, which was elevated above the common class, consisting of everyone else, from farmers to slaves.

Created by: Frances Grimball September 2, 2008

Edited by: Max Crawford 9/3/08 Edited by: Alexa DeAntonio 9/4/08

Unit 1 Terms

http://kevin.lps.org/PreHistory_Lessons/scavenger.html