2.

Research on the civilizations of:

2.1 India

India is a country in South Asia whose name comes from the Indus River. The
name `Bharata’ is used as a designation for the country in their constitution
referencing the ancient mythological emperor, Bharata, whose story is told, in part,
in the Indian epic Mahabharata. According to the writings known as the Puranas
(religious/historical texts written down in the 5th century CE) Bharata conquered
the whole sub-continent of India and ruled the land in peace and harmony. The
land was, therefore, known as Bharatavarsha (`the sub-continent of
Bharata’). Homonid activity in the Indian sub-continent stretches back over
250,000 years and it is, therefore, one of the oldest inhabited regions on the
planet.

Archaeological excavations have discovered artifacts used by early humans,

including stone tools, which suggest an extremely early date for human habitation
and technology in the area. While the civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt have
long been recognized for their celebrated contributions to civilization, India has
often been overlooked, especially in the West, though her history and culture is just
as rich.

PRE-HISTORY OF INDIA

The areas of present-day India, Pakistan, and Nepal have provided archaeologists
and scholars with the richest sites of the most ancient pedigree. The species Homo
heidelbergensis(a proto human who was an ancestor of modern Homo sapiens)
inhabited the sub-continent of India centuries before humans migrated into the
region known as Europe. Evidence of the existence of Homo heidelbergensis was
first discovered in Germany in 1907 and, since, further discoveries have established
fairly clear migration patterns of this species out of Africa. Recognition of the
antiquity of their presence in India has been largely due to the fairly late
archaeological interest in the area as, unlike work in Mesopotamia and Egypt,
Western excavations in India did not begin in earnest until the 1920’s CE. Though
the ancient city of Harappa was known to exist as early as 1842 CE, its
archaeological significance was ignored and the later excavations corresponded to
an interest in locating the probable sites referred to in the great Indian
epics Mahabharata and Ramayana (both of the 5th or 4th centuries BCE) while
ignoring the possibility of a much more ancient past for the region. The village of
Balathal (near Udaipur in Rajasthan), to cite only one example, illustrates the
antiquity of India’s history as it dates to 4000 BCE. Balathal was not discovered
until 1962 CE and excavations were not begun there until the 1990’s CE.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS IN THE PAST FIFTY YEARS HAVE DRAMATICALLY

CHANGED THE UNDERSTANDING OF INDIA’S PAST AND, BY EXTENSION, WORLD
HISTORY.
Archaeological excavations in the past fifty years have dramatically changed the
understanding of India’s past and, by extension, world history. A 4000 year-old
skeleton discovered at Balathal in 2009 CE provides the oldest evidence of leprosy
in India. Prior to this find, leprosy was considered a much younger disease thought
to have been carried from Africa to India at some point and then from India to
Europe by the army of Alexander the Great following his death in 323 BCE. It is
now understood that significant human activity was underway in India by the
Holocene Period (10,000 years ago) and that many historical assumptions based
upon earlier work in Egypt and Mesopotamia, need to be reviewed and revised. The
beginnings of the Vedic tradition in India, still practiced today, can now be dated, at
least in part, to the indigenous people of ancient sites such as Balathal rather than,
as often claimed, wholly to the Aryan invasion of c. 1500 BCE.

MOHENJO-DARO AND HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION

The Indus Valley Civilization dates to 5000 BCE and grew steadily throughout the
lower Ganetic Valley region southwards and northwards to Malwa. The cities of this
period were larger than contemporary settlements in other countries, were situated
according to cardinal points, and were built of mud bricks, often kiln-fired. Houses
were constructed with a large courtyard opening from the front door, a
kitchen/work room for the preparation of food, and smaller bedrooms. Family
activities seem to have centered on the front of the house, particularly the
courtyard and, in this, are similar to what has been inferred from sites in Rome,
Egypt, Greece, and Mesopotamia.

Excavation site at Mohenjo-daro

The most famous sites of this period are the great cities of Mohenjo-Daro and
Harappa both located in present-day Pakistan (Mohenjo-Daro in the Sindh province
and Harappa in Punjab) which was part of India until the 1947 CE partition of the
country which created the separate nation. Harappa has given its name to the
Harappan Civilization (another name for the Indus Valley Civilization) which is
usually divided into Early, Middle, and Mature periods corresponding roughly to
5000-4000 BCE (Early), 4000-2900 BCE (Middle), and 2900-1900 BCE (Mature).
Harappa dates from the Middle period (c. 3000 BCE) while Mohenjo-Daro was built
in the Mature period (c. 2600 BCE). Harappa was largely destroyed in the 19th
century when British workers carried away much of the city for use as ballast in
constructing the railroad and many buildings had already been dismantled by
citizens of the local village of Harappa (which gives the site its name) for use in
their own projects. It is therefore now difficult to determine the historical
significance of Harappa save that it is clear it was once a significant Bronze Age
community with a population of as many as 30,000 people. Mohenjo-Daro, on the
other hand, is much better preserved as it lay mostly buried until 1922 CE. The
name `Mohenjo-Daro’ means `mound of the dead’ in Sindhi. The original name of
the city is unknown although various possibilities have been suggested by finds in
the region, among them, the Dravidian name `Kukkutarma’, the city of the cock, a
possible allusion to the site as a center of ritual cock-fighting or, perhaps, as a
breeding center for cocks.
Mohenjo-Daro was an elaborately constructed city with streets laid out evenly at
right angles and a sophisticated drainage system. The Great Bath, a central
structure at the site, was heated and seems to have been a focal point for the
community. The citizens were skilled in the use of metals such as copper, bronze,
lead and tin (as evidenced by art works such as the bronze statue of the Dancing
Girl and by individual seals) and cultivated barley, wheat, peas, sesame, and
cotton. Trade was an important source of commerce and it is thought that ancient
Mesopotamian texts which mention Magan and Meluhha refer to India generally or,
perhaps, Mohenjo-Daro specifically. Artifacts from the Indus Valley region have
been found at sites in Mesopotamia though their precise point of origin in India is
not always clear.

The people of the Harappan Civilization worshipped many gods and engaged in
ritual worship. Statues of various deities (such as, Indra, the god of storm and war)
have been found at many sites and, chief among them, terracotta pieces depicting
the Shakti (the Mother Goddess) suggesting a popular, common worship of the
feminine principle. In about 1500 BCE it is thought another race, known as the
Aryans, migrated into India through the Khyber Pass and assimilated into the
existing culture, perhaps bringing their gods with them. While it is widely accepted
that the Aryans brought the horse to India, there is some debate as to whether
they introduced new deities to the region or simply influenced the existing belief
structure. The Aryans are thought to have been pantheists (nature worshippers)
with a special devotion to the sun and it seems uncertain they would have had
anthropomorphic gods.

At about this same time (c. 1700-1500 BCE) the Harappan culture began to decline.
Scholars cite climate change as one possible reason. The Indus River is thought to
have begun flooding the region more regularly (as evidenced by approximately 30
feet or 9 meters of silt at Mohenjo-Daro) and the great cities were abandoned.
Other scholars cite the Aryan migration as more of an invasion of the land which
brought about a vast displacement of the populace. Among the most mysterious
aspects of Mohenjo-Daro is the vitrification of parts of the site as though it had
been exposed to intense heat which melted the brick and stone. This same
phenomenon has been observed at sites such as Trap rain Law in Scotland and
attributed to the results of warfare. Speculation regarding the destruction of the
city by some kind of ancient atomic blast (possibly the work of aliens from other
planets) is not generally regarded as credible.

THE VEDIC PERIOD

The Aryan influence, some scholars claim, gave rise to what is known as the Vedic
Period in India (c. 1700- 150 BCE) characterized by a pastoral lifestyle and
adherence to the religious texts known as The Vedas. Society became divided into
four classes (the Varnas) popularly known as `the caste system’ which were
comprised of the Brahmana at the top (priests and scholars), the Kshatriya next
(the warriors), the Vaishya (farmers and merchants), and the Shudra (laborers).
The lowest caste was the Dalits, the untouchables, who handled meat and waste,
though there is some debate over whether this class existed in antiquity. At first, it
seems this caste system was merely a reflection of one’s occupation but, in time, it
became more rigidly interpreted to be determined by one’s birth and one was not
allowed to change castes nor to marry into a caste other than one’s own. This
understanding was a reflection of the belief in an eternal order to human life
dictated by a supreme deity.

While the religious beliefs which characterized the Vedic Period are considered
much older, it was during this time that they became systematized as
the religion of Sanatan Dharma (which means `Eternal Order’) known today
as Hinduism (this name deriving from the Indus (or Sindus) River where
worshippers were known to gather, hence, `Sindus’, and then `Hindus’). The
underlying tenet of Sanatan Dharma is that there is an order and a purpose to the
universe and human life and, by accepting this order and living in accordance with
it, one will experience life as it is meant to be properly lived. While Sanatan Dharma
is considered by many a polytheistic religion consisting of many gods, it is actually
monotheistic in that it holds there is one god, Brahma (the Self), who, because of
his greatness, cannot be fully apprehended save through the many aspects which
are revealed as the different gods of the Hindu pantheon. It is Brahma who decrees
the eternal order and maintains the universe through it. This belief in an order to
the universe reflects the stability of the society in which it grew and flourished as,
during the Vedic Period, governments became centralized and social customs
integrated fully into daily life across the region. Besides The Vedas, the great
religious and literary works of The Upanishads, The Puranas, The Mahabharata,
and The Ramayana all come from this period.

In the 6th century BCE, the religious reformers Vardhaman Mahavira (549-477
BCE) and Siddhartha Gautama (563-483 BCE) broke away from mainstream
Sanatan Dharma to eventually create their own religions of Jainism and Buddhism.
These changes in religion were a part of a wider pattern of social and cultural
upheaval which resulted in the formation of city states and the rise of powerful
kingdoms (such as the Kingdom of Magadha under the ruler Bimbisara).
Increased urbanization and wealth attracted the attention of Cyrus, ruler of the
Persian Empire, who invaded India in 530 BCE and initiated a campaign
of conquest in the region. Ten years later, under the reign of his son, Darius I,
northern India was firmly under Persian control (the regions corresponding to
Afghanistan and Pakistan today) and the inhabitants of that area subject to Persian
laws and customs. One consequence of this, possibly, was an assimilation of
Persian and Indian religious beliefs which some scholars point to as an explanation
for further religious and cultural reforms.

THE GREAT EMPIRES OF ANCIENT INDIA

Persia held dominance in northern India until the conquest of Alexander the Great
in 327 BCE. One year later, Alexander had defeated the Achaemenid Empire and
firmly conquered the Indian subcontinent. Again, foreign influences were brought to
bear on the region giving rise to the Greco-Buddhist culture which impacted all
areas of culture in northern India from art to religion to dress. Statues and reliefs
from this period depict Buddha, and other figures, as distinctly Hellenic in dress and
pose (known as the GandharaSchool of Art). Following Alexander’s departure from
India, the Maurya Empire (322-185 BCE) rose under the reign of Chandragupta
Maurya (322-298) until, by the end of the third century BCE, it ruled over almost all
of northern India.

Chandragupta’s son, Bindusara reigned between 298-272 BCE and extended the
empire throughout the whole of India. His son was Ashoka the Great (lived 304-
232, reigned 269-232 BCE) under whose rule the empire flourished at its height.
Eight years into his reign, Ashoka conquered the eastern city-state of Kalinga which
resulted in a death toll numbering over 100,000. Shocked at the destruction and
death, Ashoka embraced the teachings of the Buddha and embarked on a
systematic programme advocating Buddhist thought and principles. He established
many monasteries and gave lavishly to Buddhist communities. His ardent support
of Buddhist values eventually caused a strain on the government both financially
and politically as even his grandson, Sampadi, heir to the throne, opposed his
policies. By the end of Ashoka’s reign the government treasury was severely
depleted through his regular religious donations and, after his death, the empire
declined rapidly.

The country splintered into many small kingdoms and empires (such as the Kushan
Empire) in what has come to be called the Middle Period. This era saw the increase
of trade with Rome (which had begun c. 130 BCE) following Augustus Caesar’s
conquest of Egypt in 30 BCE (Egypt had been India’s most constant partner in trade
in the past). This was a time of individual and cultural development in the various
kingdoms which finally flourished in what is considered the Golden Age of India
under the reign of the Gupta Empire (320-550 CE).

The Gupta Empire is thought to have been founded by one Sri Gupta (`Sri’ means
`Lord’) who probably ruled between 240-280 CE. As Sri Gupta is thought to have
been of the Vaishya (merchant) class, his rise to power in defiance of the caste
system is unprecedented. He laid the foundation for the government which would
so stabilize India that virtually every aspect of culture reached its height under the
reign of the Guptas. Philosophy, literature, science, mathematics, architecture,
astronomy, technology, art, engineering, religion, and astronomy, among other
fields, all flourished during this period, resulting in some of the greatest of human
achievements. The Puranas of Vyasa were compiled during this period and the
famous caves of Ajanta and Ellora, with their elaborate carvings and vaulted rooms,
were also begun. Kalidasa the poet and playwright wrote his
masterpiece Shakuntala and the Kamasutra was also written, or compiled from
earlier works, by Vatsyayana. Varahamihira explored astronomy at the same time
as Aryabhatta, the mathematician, made his own discoveries in the field and also
recognized the importance of the concept of zero, which he is credited with
inventing. As the founder of the Gupta Empire defied orthodox Hindu thought, it is
not surprising that the Gupta rulers advocated and propagated Buddhism as the
national belief and this is the reason for the plentitude of Buddhist works of art, as
opposed to Hindu, at sites such as Ajanta and Ellora.
A Bodhisattva, Gandhara

THE DECLINE OF EMPIRE AND THE COMING OF ISLAM

The empire declined slowly under a succession of weak rulers until it collapsed
around 550 CE. The Gupta Empire was then replaced by the rule of Harshavardhan
(590-647) who ruled the region for 42 years. A literary man of considerable
accomplishments (he authored three plays in addition to other works)
Harshavardhan was a patron of the arts and a devout Buddhist who forbade the
killing of animals in his kingdom but recognized the necessity to sometimes kill
humans in battle. He was a highly skilled military tactician who was only defeated in
the field once in his life. Under his reign, the north of India flourished but his
kingdom collapsed following his death. The invasion of the Huns had been
repeatedly repelled by the Guptas and then by Harshavardhan but, with the fall of
his kingdom, India fell into chaos and fragmented into small kingdoms lacking the
unity necessary to fight off invading forces.

In 712 CE the Muslim general Muhammed bin Quasim conquered northern India,
establishing himself in the region of modern-day Pakistan. The Muslim invasion saw
an end to the indigenous empires of India and, from then on, independent city
states or communities under the control of a city would be the standard model of
government. The Islamic Sultanates rose in the region of modern-day Pakistan and
spread north-west. The disparate world views of the religions which now contested
each other for acceptance in the region and the diversity of languages spoken,
made the unity and cultural advances, such as were seen in the time of the
Guptas, difficult to reproduce. Consequently, the region was easily conquered by
the Islamic Mughal Empire. India would then remain subject to various foreign
influences and powers (among them the Portuguese, the French, and the British)
until finally winning its independence in 1947 CE.
2.2 Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia (/ˌmɛsəpəˈteɪmiə/, Ancient Greek: Μεσοποταμία "[land] between

rivers"; Arabic: ‫ بلد الرافدين‬bilād ar-rāfidayn; Kurdish: ‫ ;ميزۆپۆتاميا‬Persian: ‫ ميانرودان‬miyān
rudān; Syriac: ‫ ܒܝܬ ܢܗܪܝܢ‬Beth Nahrain "land of rivers") was a historical region
situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in modern days roughly
corresponding to most of Iraq plus Kuwait, the eastern parts of Syria,
Southeastern Turkey, and regions along the Turkish-Syrian and Iran–Iraq borders.
The Sumerians and Akkadians (including Assyrians and Babylonians) dominated
Mesopotamia from the beginning of written history (c. 3100 BC) to the fall of
Babylon in 539 BC, when it was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire. It fell
to Alexander the Great in 332 BC, and after his death, it became part of the
Greek Seleucid Empire.
Around 150 BC, Mesopotamia was under the control of the Parthian Empire.
Mesopotamia became a battleground between the Romans and Parthians, with
western parts of Mesopotamia coming under ephemeral Roman control. In AD 226,
eastern part of it fell to the Sassanid Persians. Division of Mesopotamia between
Roman (Byzantine from AD 395) and Sassanid Empires lasted until the 7th
century Muslim conquest of Persia of the Sasanian Empire and Muslim conquest of
the Levantfrom Byzantines. A number of primarily neo-Assyrian and Christian
native Mesopotamian states existed between the 1st century BC and 3rd century
AD, including Adiabene, Osroene, and Hatra.
Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic
Revolution from around 10,000 BC. It has been identified as having "inspired some
of the most important developments in human history including the invention of
the wheel, the planting of the first cereal crops and the development
of cursive script, mathematics, astronomy and agriculture."
Etymology

The regional toponym Mesopotamia comes from the ancient Greek root words
μέσος (meso) "middle" and ποταμός (potamos) "river" and literally means "(Land)
between two/the rivers". It is used throughout the Greek Septuagint (ca. 250 BC)
to translate the Hebrew equivalent Naharaim. An even earlier Greek usage of the
name Mesopotamia is evident from The Anabasis of Alexander, which was written in
the late 2nd century AD, but specifically refers to sources from the time
of Alexander the Great. In the Anabasis, Mesopotamia was used to designate the
land east of the Euphrates in north Syria.
The Aramaic term biritum/birit narim corresponded to a similar geographical
concept. Later, the term Mesopotamia was more generally applied to all the lands
between the Euphrates and the Tigris, thereby incorporating not only parts of Syria
but also almost all of Iraq and southeastern Turkey. The neighbouring steppes to
the west of the Euphrates and the western part of the Zagros Mountains are also
often included under the wider term Mesopotamia.
A further distinction is usually made between Northern or Upper Mesopotamia and
Southern or Lower Mesopotamia. Upper Mesopotamia, also known as the Jazira, is
the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris from their sources down
to Baghdad. Lower Mesopotamia is the area from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf and
includes Kuwait and parts of western Iran.
In modern academic usage, the term Mesopotamia often also has a chronological
connotation. It is usually used to designate the area until the Muslim conquests,
with names like Syria, Jazirah, and Iraq being used to describe the region after that
date. It has been argued that these later euphemisms are Eurocentric terms
attributed to the region in the midst of various 19th-century Western
encroachments.

Geography
Mesopotamia encompasses the land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, both
of which have their headwaters in the Armenian Highlands. Both rivers are fed by
numerous tributaries, and the entire river system drains a vast mountainous region.
Overland routes in Mesopotamia usually follow the Euphrates because the banks of
the Tigris are frequently steep and difficult. The climate of the region is semi-arid
with a vast desert expanse in the north which gives way to a 15,000 square
kilometres (5,800 sq mi) region of marshes, lagoons, mud flats, and reed banks in
the south. In the extreme south, the Euphrates and the Tigris unite and empty into
the Persian Gulf.
The arid environment which ranges from the northern areas of rain-fed agriculture
to the south where irrigation of agriculture is essential if a surplus energy returned
on energy invested (EROEI) is to be obtained. This irrigation is aided by a high
water table and by melting snows from the high peaks of the northern Zagros
Mountains and from the Armenian Highlands, the source of the Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers that give the region its name. The usefulness of irrigation depends upon the
ability to mobilize sufficient labor for the construction and maintenance of canals,
and this, from the earliest period, has assisted the development of urban
settlements and centralized systems of political authority.
Agriculture throughout the region has been supplemented by nomadic pastoralism;
where tent-dwelling nomads herded sheep and goats (and later camels) from the
river pastures in the dry summer months, out into seasonal grazing lands on the
desert fringe in the wet winter season. The area is generally lacking in building
stone, precious metals and timber, and so historically has relied upon long-distance
trade of agricultural products to secure these items from outlying areas. In the
marshlands to the south of the area, a complex water-borne fishing culture has
existed since prehistoric times, and has added to the cultural mix.
Periodic breakdowns in the cultural system have occurred for a number of reasons.
The demands for labor have from time to time led to population increases that push
the limits of the ecological carrying capacity, and should a period of climatic
instability ensue, collapsing central government and declining populations can
occur. Alternatively, military vulnerability to invasion from marginal hill tribes or
nomadic pastoralists has led to periods of trade collapse and neglect of irrigation
systems. Equally, centripetal tendencies amongst city states has meant that central
authority over the whole region, when imposed, has tended to be ephemeral, and
localism has fragmented power into tribal or smaller regional units. These trends
have continued to the present day in Iraq.
History
The pre-history of the Ancient Near East begins in the Lower Paleolithic period, but
writing began with a pictographic script in the Uruk IV period (ca. 4th millennium
BC), and the documented record of actual historical events — and the ancient
history of lower Mesopotamia — commence in the mid-third millennium BC with
cuneiform records of early dynastic kings, and ends with either the arrival of
the Achaemenid Empire in the late 6th century BC, or with the Muslim conquest and
the establishment of the Caliphate in the late 7th century AD, from which point the
region came to be known as Iraq. During this period Mesopotamia housed some of
the world's most ancient highly developed and socially complex states.
The region was one of the four riverine civilizations where writing was invented,
along with the Nile valley in Egypt, the Indus Valley Civilization in the Indian
subcontinent, and the Yellow River in China. Mesopotamia housed historically
important cities such as Uruk, Nippur, Nineveh, Assur and Babylon, as well as major
territorial states such as the city of Eridu, the Akkadian kingdoms, the Third
Dynasty of Ur, and the various Assyrian empires. Some of the important historical
Mesopotamian leaders were Ur-Nammu (king of Ur), Sargon of Akkad (who
established the Akkadian Empire), Hammurabi (who established the Old Babylonian
state), Ashur-uballit II and Tiglath-Pileser I (who established the Assyrian Empire).
Studies have reported that most Irish and Britons are descendants of farmers who
left modern day Iraq and Syria 10,000 years ago. Genetic researchers say they
have found compelling evidence that four out of five (80%) of white Europeans can
trace their roots to the Near East. In another study, scientists analysed DNA from
the 8,000-year-old remains of early farmers found at an ancient graveyard
in Germany. They compared the genetic signatures to those of modern populations
and found similarities with the DNA of people living in today's Turkey and Iraq.
Periodization

 Pre- and protohistory

 Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (10,000–8700 BC)

 Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (8700–6800)

 Hassuna (~6000 bc–? BC), Samarra (~5700 BC–4900 BC) and Halaf
cultures (~6000 BC–5300 BC) cultures

 Ubaid period (~5900–4400 BC)

 Uruk period (~4400–3100 BC)

 Jemdet Nasr period (~3100–2900 BC)

 Early Bronze Age

 Early Dynastic period (~2900–2350 BC)

 Akkadian Empire (~2350–2100 BC)

 Third Dynasty of Ur (2112–2004 BC)

 Early Assyrian kingdom (24th to 18th century BC)

 Middle Bronze Age

 Early Babylonia (19th to 18th century BC)

 First Babylonian Dynasty (18th to 17th century BC)

 Minoan eruption (c. 1620 BC)

 Late Bronze Age

 Old Assyrian period (16th to 11th century BC)

 Middle Assyrian period (c. 1365 BC–1076 BC)

 Kassites in Babylon, (c. 1595 BC–1155 BC)

 Late Bronze Age collapse (12th to 11th century BC)

 Iron Age

 Syro-Hittite states (11th to 7th century BC)

 Neo-Assyrian Empire (10th to 7th century BC)

 Neo-Babylonian Empire (7th to 6th century BC)

 Classical antiquity

 Persian Babylonia, Achaemenid Assyria (6th to 4th century BC)

 Seleucid Mesopotamia (4th to 3rd century BC)

 Parthian Babylonia (3rd century BC to 3rd century AD)

 Osroene (2nd century BC to 3rd century AD)

 Adiabene (1st to 2nd century AD)

  Hatra (1st to 2nd century AD)

 Roman Mesopotamia (2nd to 7th centuries AD), Roman Assyria (2nd

century AD)

 Late Antiquity

 Asōristān (3rd to 7th century AD)

 Muslim conquest (mid-7th century AD)

Language and Writing
The earliest language written in Mesopotamia was Sumerian,
an agglutinative language isolate. Along with Sumerian, Semitic languageswere also
spoken in early Mesopotamia. Subartuan a language of the Zagros, perhaps related
to the Hurro-Urartuan language family is attested in personal names, rivers and
mountains and in various crafts. Akkadian came to be the dominant language
during the Akkadian Empire and the Assyrian empires, but Sumerian was retained
for administrative, religious, literary and scientific purposes. Different varieties of
Akkadian were used until the end of the Neo-Babylonian period. Old Aramaic, which
had already become common in Mesopotamia, then became the official provincial
administration language of first the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and then the Achaemenid
Empire: the official lect is called Imperial Aramaic. Akkadian fell into disuse, but
both it and Sumerian were still used in temples for some centuries. The last
Akkadian texts date from the late 1st century AD.
Early in Mesopotamia's history (around the mid-4th millennium BC) cuneiform was
invented for the Sumerian language. Cuneiform literally means "wedge-shaped",
due to the triangular tip of the stylus used for impressing signs on wet clay. The
standardized form of each cuneiform sign appears to have been developed
from pictograms. The earliest texts (7 archaic tablets) come from the É, a temple
dedicated to the goddess Inanna at Uruk, from a building labeled as Temple C by its
excavators.
The early logographic system of cuneiform script took many years to master. Thus,
only a limited number of individuals were hired as scribes to be trained in its use. It
was not until the widespread use of a syllabic script was adopted under Sargon's
rule that significant portions of Mesopotamian population became literate. Massive
archives of texts were recovered from the archaeological contexts of Old Babylonian
scribal schools, through which literacy was disseminated.
During the third millennium BC, there developed a very intimate cultural symbiosis
between the Sumerian and the Akkadian language users, which included
widespread bilingualism. The influence of Sumerian on Akkadian (and vice versa) is
evident in all areas, from lexical borrowing on a massive scale, to syntactic,
morphological, and phonological convergence. This has prompted scholars to refer
to Sumerian and Akkadian in the third millennium as a sprachbund. Akkadian
gradually replaced Sumerian as the spoken language of Mesopotamia somewhere
around the turn of the 3rd and the 2nd millennium BC (the exact dating being a
matter of debate), but Sumerian continued to be used as a sacred, ceremonial,
literary, and scientific language in Mesopotamia until the 1st century AD.
Literature
Libraries were extant in towns and temples during the Babylonian Empire. An old
Sumerian proverb averred that "he who would excel in the school of the scribes
must rise with the dawn." Women as well as men learned to read and write, and for
the Semitic Babylonians, this involved knowledge of the extinct Sumerian language,
and a complicated and extensive syllabary.
A considerable amount of Babylonian literature was translated from Sumerian
originals, and the language of religion and law long continued to be the old
agglutinative language of Sumer. Vocabularies, grammars, and interlinear
translations were compiled for the use of students, as well as commentaries on the
older texts and explanations of obscure words and phrases. The characters of the
syllabary were all arranged and named, and elaborate lists were drawn up.
Many Babylonian literary works are still studied today. One of the most famous of
these was the Epic of Gilgamesh, in twelve books, translated from the original
Sumerian by a certain Sîn-lēqi-unninni, and arranged upon an astronomical
principle. Each division contains the story of a single adventure in the career
of Gilgamesh. The whole story is a composite product, although it is probable that
some of the stories are artificially attached to the central figure.

Science and Technology

Mathematics
Mesopotamian mathematics and science was based on a sexagesimal (base
60) numeral system. This is the source of the 60-minute hour, the 24-hour day,
and the 360-degreecircle. The Sumerian calendar was based on the seven-day
week. This form of mathematics was instrumental in early map-making. The
Babylonians also had theorems on how to measure the area of several shapes and
solids. They measured the circumference of a circle as three times the diameter and
the area as one-twelfth the square of the circumference, which would be correct
if  were fixed at 3. The volume of a cylinder was taken as the product of the area
of the base and the height; however, the volume of the frustum of a cone or
a square pyramid was incorrectly taken as the product of the height and half the
sum of the bases. Also, there was a recent discovery in which a tablet used  as
25/8 (3.125 instead of 3.14159~). The Babylonians are also known for the
Babylonian mile, which was a measure of distance equal to about seven modern
miles (11 km). This measurement for distances eventually was converted to a time-
mile used for measuring the travel of the Sun, therefore, representing time.
Astronomy
From Sumerian times, temple priesthoods had attempted to associate current
events with certain positions of the planets and stars. This continued to Assyrian
times, when Limmulists were created as a year by year association of events with
planetary positions, which, when they have survived to the present day, allow
accurate associations of relative with absolute dating for establishing the history of
Mesopotamia.
The Babylonian astronomers were very adept at mathematics and could
predict eclipses and solstices. Scholars thought that everything had some purpose
in astronomy. Most of these related to religion and omens. Mesopotamian
astronomers worked out a 12-month calendar based on the cycles of the moon.
They divided the year into two seasons: summer and winter. The origins of
astronomy as well as astrology date from this time.
During the 8th and 7th centuries BC, Babylonian astronomers developed a new
approach to astronomy. They began studying philosophy dealing with the ideal
nature of the early universe and began employing an internal logic within their
predictive planetary systems. This was an important contribution to astronomy and
the philosophy of science and some scholars have thus referred to this new
approach as the first scientific revolution. This new approach to astronomy was
adopted and further developed in Greek and Hellenistic astronomy.
In Seleucid and Parthian times, the astronomical reports were thoroughly scientific;
how much earlier their advanced knowledge and methods were developed is
uncertain. The Babylonian development of methods for predicting the motions of
the planets is considered to be a major episode in the history of astronomy.
The only Greek-Babylonian astronomer known to have supported
a heliocentric model of planetary motion was Seleucus of Seleucia (b. 190
BC). Seleucus is known from the writings of Plutarch. He supported Aristarchus of
Samos' heliocentric theory where the Earth rotated around its own axis which in
turn revolved around the Sun. According to Plutarch, Seleucus even proved the
heliocentric system, but it is not known what arguments he used (except that he
correctly theorized on tides as a result of Moon's attraction).
Babylonian astronomy served as the basis for much of Greek, classical Indian,
Sassanian, Byzantine, Syrian, medieval Islamic, Central Asian, and Western
European astronomy.

Medicine
The oldest Babylonian texts on medicine date back to the Old Babylonian period in
the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. The most extensive Babylonian medical
text, however, is the Diagnostic Handbook written by the ummânū, or chief
scholar, Esagil-kin-apli of Borsippa, during the reign of the Babylonian king Adad-
apla-iddina (1069-1046 BC).
Along with contemporary Egyptian medicine, the Babylonians introduced the
concepts of diagnosis, prognosis, physical examination, and prescriptions. In
addition, the Diagnostic Handbook introduced the methods
of therapy and etiology and the use of empiricism, logic, and rationality in
diagnosis, prognosis and therapy. The text contains a list of medical symptoms and
often detailed empirical observations along with logical rules used in combining
observed symptoms on the body of a patient with its diagnosis and prognosis.
The symptoms and diseases of a patient were treated through therapeutic means
such as bandages, creams and pills. If a patient could not be cured physically, the
Babylonian physicians often relied on exorcism to cleanse the patient from
any curses. Esagil-kin-apli's Diagnostic Handbook was based on a logical set
of axioms and assumptions, including the modern view that through the
examination and inspection of the symptoms of a patient, it is possible to determine
the patient's disease, its etiology, its future development, and the chances of the
patient's recovery.
Esagil-kin-apli discovered a variety of illnesses and diseases and described their
symptoms in his Diagnostic Handbook. These include the symptoms for many
varieties of epilepsy and related ailments along with their diagnosis and prognosis.
Technology
Mesopotamian people invented many technologies including metal and copper-
working, glass and lamp making, textile weaving, flood control, water storage, and
irrigation. They were also one of the first Bronze Age societies in the world. They
developed from copper, bronze, and gold on to iron. Palaces were decorated with
hundreds of kilograms of these very expensive metals. Also, copper, bronze, and
iron were used for armor as well as for different weapons such as swords, daggers,
spears, and maces.
According to a recent hypothesis, the Archimedes' screw may have been used by
Sennacherib, King of Assyria, for the water systems at the Hanging Gardens of
Babylon and Nineveh in the 7th century BC, although mainstream scholarship holds
it to be a Greek invention of later times. Later, during the Parthian or Sasanian
periods, the Baghdad Battery, which may have been the world's first battery, was
created in Mesopotamia.
Religion and Philosophy
Ancient Mesopotamian religion was the first recorded. Mesopotamians believed that
the world was a flat disc, surrounded by a huge, holed space, and above
that, heaven. They also believed that water was everywhere, the top, bottom and
sides, and that the universe was born from this enormous sea. In addition,
Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic. Although the beliefs described above were
held in common among Mesopotamians, there were also regional variations. The
Sumerian word for universe is an-ki, which refers to the god An and the
goddess Ki. Their son was Enlil, the air god. They believed that Enlil was the most
powerful god. He was the chief god of the pantheon. The Sumerians also posed
philosophical questions, such as: Who are we?, Where are we?, How did we get
here? They attributed answers to these questions to explanations provided by their
gods.
Philosophy
The numerous civilizations of the area influenced the Abrahamic religions, especially
the Hebrew Bible; its cultural values and literary influence are especially evident in
the Book of Genesis.
Giorgio Buccellati believes that the origins of philosophy can be traced back to early
Mesopotamian wisdom, which embodied certain philosophies of life,
particularly ethics, in the forms of dialectic, dialogues, epic
poetry, folklore, hymns, lyrics, prose works, and proverbs.
Babylonian reason and rationality developed beyond empirical observation.
The earliest form of logic was developed by the Babylonians, notably in the
rigorous no ergodic nature of their social systems. Babylonian thought
was axiomatic and is comparable to the "ordinary logic" described by John Maynard
Keynes. Babylonian thought was also based on an open-systems ontology which is
compatible with ergodic axioms. Logic was employed to some extent in Babylonian
astronomy and medicine.
Babylonian thought had a considerable influence on early Ancient
Greek and Hellenistic philosophy. In particular, the Babylonian text Dialogue of
Pessimism contains similarities to the agonistic thought of the sophists,
the Heraclitean doctrine of contrasts, and the dialectic and dialogs of Plato, as well
as a precursor to maieutic method of Socrates. The Ionian philosopher Thales was
influenced by Babylonian cosmological ideas.
Festivals
Ancient Mesopotamians had ceremonies each month. The theme of the rituals and
festivals for each month was determined by at least six important factors:

1. The Lunar phase (a waxing moon meant abundance and growth, while a
waning moon was associated with decline, conservation, and festivals of the
Underworld)

2. The phase of the annual agricultural cycle

3. Equinoxes and solstices

4. The local mythos and its divine Patrons

5. The success of the reigning Monarch

6. The Akitu, or New Year Festival (First full moon after spring equinox)

7. Commemoration of specific historical events (founding, military victories,

temple holidays, etc.)

Music
Some songs were written for the gods but many were written to describe important
events. Although music and songs amused kings, they were also enjoyed by
ordinary people who liked to sing and dance in their homes or in the marketplaces.
Songs were sung to children who passed them on to their children. Thus songs
were passed on through many generations as an oral tradition until writing was
more universal. These songs provided a means of passing on through
the century’s highly important information about historical events.
The Oud (Arabic:‫ )العود‬is a small, stringed musical instrument used by the
Mesopotamians. The oldest pictorial record of the Oud dates back to
the Uruk period in Southern Mesopotamia over 5000 years ago. It is on a cylinder
seal currently housed at the British Museum and acquired by Dr. Dominique Collon.
The image depicts a female crouching with her instruments upon a boat,
playing right-handed. This instrument appears hundreds of times throughout
Mesopotamian history and again in ancient Egypt from the 18th dynasty onwards in
long- and short-neck varieties. The oud is regarded as a precursor to
the European lute. Its name is derived from the Arabic word ‫ العود‬al-‘ūd 'the wood',
which is probably the name of the tree from which the oud was made. (The Arabic
name, with the definite article, is the source of the word 'lute'.)
Games
Hunting was popular among Assyrian kings. Boxing and wrestling feature frequently
in art, and some form of polo was probably popular, with men sitting on the
shoulders of other men rather than on horses. They also played majore, a game
similar to the sport rugby, but played with a ball made of wood. They also played a
board game similar to senet and backgammon, now known as the "Royal Game of
Ur."’
Family Life
Mesopotamia, as shown by successive law codes, those of Urukagina, Lipit
Ishtar and Hammurabi, across its history became more and more a patriarchal
society, one in which the men were far more powerful than the women. For
example, during the earliest Sumerian period, the "en", or high priest of male gods
was originally a woman, that of female goddesses, a man. Thorkild Jacobsen, as
well as many others, has suggested that early Mesopotamian society was ruled by a
"council of elders" in which men and women were equally represented, but that
over time, as the status of women fell, that of men increased. As for schooling, only
royal offspring and sons of the rich and professionals, such as scribes, physicians,
temple administrators, went to school. Most boys were taught their father's trade or
were apprenticed out to learn a trade. Girls had to stay home with their mothers to
learn housekeeping and cooking, and to look after the younger children. Some
children would help with crushing grain or cleaning birds. Unusual for that time in
history, women in Mesopotamia had rights. They could own property and, if they
had good reason, get a divorce.

Burials
Hundreds of graves have been excavated in parts of Mesopotamia, revealing
information about Mesopotamian burial habits. In the city of Ur, most people were
buried in family graves under their houses, along with some possessions. A few
have been found wrapped in mats and carpets. Deceased children were put in big
"jars" which were placed in the family chapel. Other remains have been found
buried in common city graveyards. 17 graves have been found with very precious
objects in them. It is assumed that these were royal graves. Rich of various periods
have been discovered to have sought burial in Bahrein, identified with Sumerian
Dilmun.
Economy and agriculture
Irrigated agriculture spread southwards from the Zagros foothills with the Samara
and Hadji Muhammed culture, from about 5,000 BC. Sumerian temples functioned
as banks and developed the first large-scale system of loans and credit, but the
Babylonians developed the earliest system of commercial banking. It was
comparable in some ways to modern post-Keynesian economics, but with a more
"anything goes" approach.
In the early period down to Ur III temples owned up to one third of the available
land, declining over time as royal and other private holdings increased in frequency.
The word Ensi was used to describe the official who organized the work of all facets
of temple agriculture. Villeins are known to have worked most frequently within
agriculture, especially in the grounds of temples or palaces.
The geography of southern Mesopotamia is such that agriculture is possible only
with irrigation and good drainage, a fact which has had a profound effect on the
evolution of early Mesopotamian civilization. The need for irrigation led the
Sumerians, and later the Akkadians, to build their cities along the Tigris and
Euphrates and the branches of these rivers. Major cities, such as Ur and Uruk, took
root on tributaries of the Euphrates, while others, notably Lagash, were built on
branches of the Tigris. The rivers provided the further benefits of fish (used both for
food and fertilizer), reeds, and clay (for building materials). With irrigation, the food
supply in Mesopotamia was comparable to the Canadian prairies. The Tigris and
Euphrates River valleys form the northeastern portion of the Fertile Crescent, which
also included the Jordan River valley and that of the Nile. Although land nearer to
the rivers was fertile and good for crops, portions of land farther from the water
were dry and largely uninhabitable. This is why the development of irrigation was
very important for settlers of Mesopotamia.
Other Mesopotamian innovations include the control of water by dams and the use
of aqueducts. Early settlers of fertile land in Mesopotamia used wooden plows to
soften the soil before planting crops such as barley, onions, grapes, turnips,
and apples. Mesopotamian settlers were some of the first people to
make beer and wine. As a result of the skill involved in farming in the
Mesopotamian, farmers did not depend on slaves to complete farm work for them,
but there were some exceptions. There were too many risks involved to make
slavery practical (i.e. the escape/mutiny of the slave). Although the rivers sustained
life, they also destroyed it by frequent floods that ravaged entire cities. The
unpredictable Mesopotamian weather was often hard on farmers; crops were often
ruined so backup sources of food such as cows and lambs were also kept. Over time
the southernmost parts of Sumerian Mesopotamia suffered from increased salinity
of the soils, leading to a slow urban decline and a centering of power in Akkad,
further north.
Government
The geography of Mesopotamia had a profound impact on the political development
of the region. Among the rivers and streams, the Sumerian people built the first
cities along with irrigation canals which were separated by vast stretches of open
desert or swamp where nomadic tribes roamed. Communication among the isolated
cities was difficult and, at times, dangerous. Thus, each Sumerian city became
a city-state, independent of the others and protective of its independence. At times
one city would try to conquer and unify the region, but such efforts were resisted
and failed for centuries. As a result, the political history of Sumer is one of almost
constant warfare. Eventually Sumer was unified by Eannatum, but the unification
was tenuous and failed to last as the Akkadians conquered Sumeria in 2331 BC only
a generation later. The Akkadian Empire was the first successful empire to last
beyond a generation and see the peaceful succession of kings. The empire was
relatively short-lived, as the Babylonians conquered them within only a few
generations.
Kings

Further information: Sumerian King List, List of kings of Babylon, and List of
Assyrian kings

The Mesopotamians believed their kings and queens were descended from the City
of Gods, but, unlike the ancient Egyptians, they never believed their kings were real
gods. Most kings named themselves “king of the universe” or “great king”. Another
common name was “shepherd”, as kings had to look after their people.
Power
When Assyria grew into an empire, it was divided into smaller parts,
called provinces. Each of these was named after their main cities, like
Nineveh, Samaria, Damascus, and Arpad. They all had their own governor who had
to make sure everyone paid their taxes. Governors also had to call up soldiers to
war and supply workers when a temple was built. He was also responsible for
enforcing the laws. In this way, it was easier to keep control of a large empire.
Although Babylon was quite a small state in the Sumerian, it grew tremendously
throughout the time of Hammurabi's rule. He was known as “the law maker”, and
soon Babylon became one of the main cities in Mesopotamia. It was later called
Babylonia, which meant "the gateway of the gods." It also became one of history's
greatest centers of learning.
Warfare
With the end of the Uruk phase, walled cities grew and many isolated Ubaid villages
were abandoned indicating a rise in communal violence. An early
king Lugalbanda was supposed to have built the white walls around the city.
As city-states began to grow, their spheres of influence overlapped, creating
arguments between other city-states, especially over land and canals. These
arguments were recorded in tablets several hundreds of years before any major
war—the first recording of a war occurred around 3200 BC but was not common
until about 2500 BC. An Early Dynastic II king (Ensi) of Uruk in Sumer, Gilgamesh
(c. 2600 BC), was commended for military exploits against Humbaba guardian of
the Cedar Mountain, and was later celebrated in many later poems and songs in
which he was claimed to be two-thirds god and only one-third human. The
later Stele of the Vultures at the end of the Early Dynastic III period (2600–2350
BC), commemorating the victory of Eannatum of Lagash over the neighboring rival
city of Umma is the oldest monument in the world that celebrates a
massacre. From this point forwards, warfare was incorporated into the
Mesopotamian political system. At times a neutral city may act as an arbitrator for
the two rival cities. This helped to form unions between cities, leading to regional
states. When empires were created, they went to war more with foreign countries.
King Sargon, for example, conquered all the cities of Sumer, some cities in Mari,
and then went to war with northern Syria. Many Assyrian and Babylonian palace
walls were decorated with the pictures of the successful fights and the enemy either
desperately escaping or hiding amongst reeds.
Laws
City-states of Mesopotamia created the first law codes, drawn from legal
precedence and decisions made by kings. The codes of Urukagina and Lipit
Ishtar have been found. The most renowned of these was that of Hammurabi, as
mentioned above, who was posthumously famous for his set of laws, the Code of
Hammurabi (created c. 1780 BC), which is one of the earliest sets of laws found
and one of the best preserved examples of this type of document from ancient
Mesopotamia. He codified over 200 laws for Mesopotamia. Examination of the laws
show a progressive weakening of the rights of women, and increasing severity in
the treatment of slaves.

Kunst

The art of Mesopotamia rivalled that of Ancient Egypt as the most grand,
sophisticated and elaborate in western Eurasia from the 4th millennium BC until
the Persian Achaemenid Empire conquered the region in the 6th century BC. The
main emphasis was on various, fortunately very durable, forms of sculpture in
stone and clay; little painting has survived, but what has suggests that painting
was mainly used for geometrical and plant-based decorative schemes, though most
sculpture was also painted.
The Protoliterate period, dominated by Uruk, saw the production of sophisticated
works like the Warka Vase and cylinder seals. The Guennol Lioness is an
outstanding small limestone figure from Elam of about 3000–2800 BC, part man
and part lion. A little later there are a number of figures of large-eyed priests and
worshippers, mostly in alabaster and up to a foot high, who attended temple cult
images of the deity, but very few of these have survived. Sculptures from
the Sumerian and Akkadian period generally had large, staring eyes and long
beards on the men. Many masterpieces have also been found at the Royal
Cemetery at Ur (c. 2650 BC), including the two figures of a Ram in a Thicket,
the Copper Bull and a bull's head on one of the Lyres of Ur.
From the many subsequent periods before the ascendency of the Neo-Assyrian
Empire Mesopotamian art survives in a number of forms: cylinder seals, relatively
small figures in the round, and reliefs of various sizes, including cheap plaques of
moulded pottery for the home, some religious and some apparently not.
The Burney Relief is an unusual elaborate and relatively large (20 x
15 inches) terracotta plaque of a naked winged goddess with the feet of a bird of
prey, and attendant owls and lions. It comes from the 18th or 19th centuries BC,
and may also be moulded. Stone stelae, votive offerings, or ones probably
commemorating victories and showing feasts, are also found from temples, which
unlike more official ones lack inscriptions that would explain them; the
fragmentary Stele of the Vultures is an early example of the inscribed type, and the
Assyrian Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III a large and solid late one.
The conquest of the whole of Mesopotamia and much surrounding territory by the
Assyrians created a larger and wealthier state than the region had known before,
and very grandiose art in palaces and public places, no doubt partly intended to
match the splendor of the art of the neighboring Egyptian empire. The Assyrians
developed a style of extremely large schemes of very finely detailed narrative low
reliefs in stone for palaces, with scenes of war or hunting; the British Museum has
an outstanding collection. They produced very little sculpture in the round, except
for colossal guardian figures, often the human-headed lamassu, which are sculpted
in high relief on two sides of a rectangular block, with the heads effectively in the
round (and also five legs, so that both views seem complete). Even before
dominating the region they had continued the cylinder seal tradition with designs
which are often exceptionally energetic and refined.
Architecture
The study of ancient Mesopotamian architecture is based on
available archaeological evidence, pictorial representation of buildings, and texts on
building practices. Scholarly literature usually concentrates on temples, palaces,
city walls and gates, and other monumental buildings, but occasionally one finds
works on residential architecture as well. Archaeological surface surveys also
allowed for the study of urban form in early Mesopotamian cities.
Brick is the dominant material, as the material was freely available locally, whereas
building stone had to be brought a considerable distance to most cities.
The ziggurat is the most distinctive form, and cities often had large gateways, of
which the Ishtar Gate from Neo-Babylonian Babylon, decorated with beasts in
polychrome brick, is the most famous, now largely in the Pergamon
Museum in Berlin.
The most notable architectural remains from early Mesopotamia are the temple
complexes at Uruk from the 4th millennium BC, temples and palaces from the Early
Dynastic period sites in the Diyala River valley such as Khafajah and Tell Asmar,
the Third Dynasty of Ur remains at Nippur (Sanctuary of Enlil) and Ur (Sanctuary
of Nanna), Middle Bronze Age remains at Syrian-Turkish sites
of Ebla, Mari, Alalakh, Aleppoand Kultepe, Late Bronze Age palaces
at Bogazkoy (Hattusha), Ugarit, Ashur and Nuzi, Iron Age palaces and temples
at Assyrian (Kalhu/Nimrud, Khorsabad, Nineveh), Babylonian(Babylon), Urartian (T
ushpa/Van, Kalesi, Cavustepe, Ayanis, Armavir, Erebuni, Bastam) and Neo-
Hittite sites (Karkamis, Tell Halaf, Karatepe). Houses are mostly known from Old
Babylonian remains at Nippur and Ur. Among the textual sources on building
construction and associated rituals are Gudea's cylinders from the late 3rd
millennium are notable, as well as the Assyrian and Babylonian royal inscriptions
from the Iron Age.