The Culture of Mesopotamia Was rich and diverse, its technological and social advances, as well as many of its inventions, are recognized today in the world.
Mesopotamia (from Greek, meaning"between two rivers") was an ancient region in the eastern Mediterranean bounded in the northeast by the Zagros Mountains and in the southeast by the Arabian Plateau, which corresponds to today's Iraq, mostly , But also parts of modern Iran, Syria and Turkey.
Sumerian figure. 2750-2600 BC
The name refers to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The land at that time was distinguished by Mauritanians as"Al-Jazirah"(meaning, the island), a summary of what J.H. Breasted later acclaimed as the Fertile Crescent, where the Mesopotamian civilization began.
Mesopotamia existed from about 5,000 BC, is known as the first evidence of human culture and ended with the rise of the Aqueménide Persians around 1,500 BC.
It was a diverse and culturally rich civilization that grew for several thousands of years and was shaped by many ethnic groups.
Main characteristics of the Mesopotamian civilization
1. Political environment of cities
Around the year 3,000 BC, several cities were erected in Mesopotamia. The cities had their own kings and gods, and did not form a set but were independent of each other.
The lack of a centralized regime meant that there were abundant belligerencies among the states and this undoubtedly contributed to the fall of Mesopotamia.
2. Calendar
The Mesopotamian solar calendar had two seasons, summer and winter. Each New Year began on the first visible lunar, after the vernal equinox.
The struggling astronomers understood the heliocentric model of planetary motion, knowing that the earth rotates on its own axis and, in turn, revolves around the sun.
3. Irrigation system
Mesopotamia was on a large floodplain and built an extensive artificial irrigation system that allowed it to grow a large amount of food.
Mesopotamia relied on the annual flood of the two rivers for fertility, but the limo became an obstacle to its irrigation systems, which consisted of hundreds of canals that irrigated crops.
4. Religion
Mesopotamia was a polytheistic nation, which expresses that they believed in many gods and goddesses. Nevertheless, they were at the same time henoteístas, which appears that certain gods were superior or that many gods were the incarnation or appearances of a main God.
In the last Mesopotamian period, the people began to order the deities in order of importance.
Each god had a priest, a sanctuary and a traditional rite, and there were an impressive number of chapels scattered in the cities.
5. Social classes
The Mesopotamian social strata had three major classes: government officials, nobles and priests resided on the top; Secondly, a class consisting of merchants, craftsmen, workers and farmers; At the end of the social chain were the captives of war and slaves.
The serfs were qualified as free residents and were protected by law.
6. Arts
The Mesopotamian goods manifested the way of life, the customs and the beliefs of the town and generally they were made of stone, snails, minerals and jasper.
The Mesopotamian civilization was composed of Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian cultural influences and art reflected the sum of these cultures.
The arts included paintings, sculptures, and paintings of life and religion. Art and poetry were a large part of rich cities. Art had a religious theme that honored the gods. The Mesopotamians enjoyed music and sports.
7. Architecture
The Mesopotamian palaces were highly decorated and contained solid ivory furniture. The palaces served as socioeconomic institutions and in later times were used as warehouses, workshops and sanctuaries.
Everyone in Mesopotamia lived in houses; The smallest for the poorest people and the larger two-story houses for the richest. The houses were built with mud bricks, plaster and wood.
8. Political Control
The southern states of Mesopotamia were united around the year 2,350 bc, under the power of Sargon, who was the king of Akkad (a city sometimes called Agade). Here, the common language was the Acadian.
After 150 years, this area began to collapse in turmoil, and once the united cities began to function independently of each other.
One of the largest cities was called Ur. Sumerian became once again the written language of choice, although it was no longer spoken.
This was the site of the famous buildings called ziggurats. These were made as sanctuaries. The ziggurats were created as the center of the city.
The ziggurats were a busy place where people gathered to socialize and worship. The ziggurats could have been as high as a 200-foot mountain.
9. Culture
As the civilization of Mesopotamia developed it did so its culture. They developed a variety of festivals, ceremonies, traditions, and more, which became an important part of many lives.
Many of the rituals and ceremonies were based on certain rites of passage, such as birth and marriage.
These events were generally celebrated with a feast that sometimes included music, dancing, and food, although the food available was determined by the social status of the family. Although instruments have been found, it is not known what kind of music they played.
In their daily lives, men went out to work, usually a specialized job, for example a builder or a musician, while the women stayed at home and looked after the house and raised their children.
The average number of children in each household was generally about 3 or 4 children, although these are only those who survived a certain age. Infant mortality was high, as was spontaneous abortion.
To protect an unborn child, the mother used to wear protective amulets, with the symbol of the demon Pazuzu to ward off deities who would wish to harm the unborn child, as well as perform rituals after the child's birth so that certain deities or demons would not steal to his son.
10. Legacy
The legacy of Mesopotamia endures today through many of the most basic aspects of modern life, such as the sixty second minute and the sixty minute minute.
Because the well-being of the community depended on careful observation of natural phenomena, scientific or proto-scientific activities occupied much of the time of the priests.
For example, the Sumerians believed that each of the gods was represented by a number. The number sixty, sacred to the god Anu, was his basic unit of calculation. The minutes of an hour and the degrees of notation of a circle were Sumerian concepts.
The highly refined agricultural method and the meticulous systems of irrigation and water control that gave the Sumerians the reach of surplus production also led to the evolution of large cities.
Urbanization, wheeling, writing, astronomy, mathematics, wind power, irrigation, agricultural development, animal husbandry and narratives that would eventually be rewritten as the Hebrew Scriptures and form the Christian Old Testament came from the Land of Mesopotamia.
References
- Bottéro, Jean; 1995. Mesopotamia: writing, reasoning and the gods. Trans. By Zainab Bahrani and Marc Van de Mieroop, University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226067278
- Kuhrt, Amélie; 1995. The Ancient Near East: c. 3000-330 B.C. 2 Vols. Routledge: London and New York.
- Matthews, Roger; 2005. The early prehistory of Mesopotamia - 500,000 to 4,500 BC, Turnhout 2005, ISBN 2-503-50729-8
- Postgate, J. Nicholas; 1992. Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the dawn of history. Routledge: London and New York.
- Mark, J. J. (2009, September 02). Mesopotamia. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from ancient.eu
- Barbara Krasner. (2016). Ancient Mesopotamian Culture. Google Books: Rosen Publishing Group.
- Stephanie Dalley. (1998). The Legacy of Mesopotamia. Google Books: Oxford University Press.
- Sunita Apte. (2011). Mesopotamia. Google Books: Benchmark Education Company.