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Their Lives and Power • Mesopotamian history extends from the emergence of Urban societies in Southern Iraq in the 5th millennium BC to the arrival of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC (which is seen as the hallmark of the Hellenization of the Near East, therefore supposedly marking the "end" of Mesopotamia).
Location, Location, Location Mesopotamia was a cradle of civilization geographically located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq.
This is a map of some Mesopotamian trade routes. Mesopotamia people created new trade routes and eased the transport of goods to various areas. Trade provides mankind's most significant meeting place, the market.
Trade Route • These trade routes provided a marketplace for new ideas and technologies. • Mesopotamian people developed many technologies to fill the marketplaces among them metal making, glassblowing, lamp making, textile weaving, and could predict eclipses and solstices. Pictures of inventions
New ideas and Inventions Mesopotamians were also one of the first Bronze Age people in the world. Early on they used copper, bronze and gold, and later they used iron. More Innovations They invented things such as beer, wine, wooden plows, brick, the wheel(possible), the reed boat and sail, cuneiform script Glass blowing, electric battery(no one is sure how they used it), the Zodiac, the current 60-minute hours and 24-hour days, as well as the 360 degree circle were also invented by them. Their calendar was one of the first to measure weeks of seven days each. Pictures of inventions
Zodiac Brick Beer…mmm Wheels Irrigation Reed boat and sail Battery
Known Artifacts Continued Some Gold Artifacts Mesopotamian "map of the world" in the British Museum, London. It is the earliest extant map. The clay tablet is 12.2 cms tall. The map was composed in Babylon(a city in Masopotamia) and is the only Mesopotamian map drawn on an international scale. It is also the only known map of the world dating from the Neo-Babylonian Period(Persian Period, circa 500 BC). Lamp leaves necklace Helmet Lyre Detail Dagger Coin of Herod Philip II (4 BC to 34 A.D. Other Mesopotamian coins Mesopotamian pots/jugs/jars/vases
Statues, tablets, hieroglyphics, etc. Marble Mask 3000 B.C. Stone tablet 2100 B.C. Statue of a woman2600 B.C. Lyre 2600 B.C. "God Kill" at Sin Temple 1800 B.C. Statue of a man Hieroglyphics from Inana Temple 2900 B.C. Sitting Figure 6000 B.C. Lion Game Board2660 B.C. Nimrud 880 B.C.
These very sophisticated people can up with flood control, water storage, as well as irrigation. This allowed them to create Babylon, a major city in Mesopotamia, which is home to one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World – the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Culture Religion • - Mesopotamian religion was the first to be 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. • Primary Gods and Goddesses • El- father of Gods;mankind • Anu -god of heaven; may have been the main god before 2500 B.C. • Ninhursag- mother goddess; progenitor with An of the gods; assists in creation of man. • Enlil)- god or air; pantheon leader from 2500 B.C.; father of the gods; king of heaven & earth. • Enki -lord of the abyss, semen & wisdom; god of water, creation, fertility. • Nanna- moon god. • Inanna -- love and war. • Utu- god of the sun and justice. • Mot- sterility, death, and the underworld • Ninlil -bride of Enlil.
Music, holidays, housing, clothing. • Music-Cuneiform sources reveal an orderly organized system of diatonic scales, depending on the tuning of stringed instruments in alternating fifths and fourths. Instruments of Ancient Mesopotamia include harps, lyres, lutes, reed pipes and drums. The vocal tone or timbre was probably similar to the pungently nasal sound of the narrow-bore reed pipes, and most likely shared the contemporary "typically" Asian vocal quality and techniques, including little dynamic changes and more graces, shakes, mordents, glides and microtonal inflections. Singers probably expressed intense and withdrawn emotion, as if listening to oneself, as shown by the practice of cupping a hand to the ear. Mesopotamia music was very loud and weird. Musicians were trained in schools and formed an important professional class in Mesopotamia. • Holidays- The Mesopotamians were also the first to celebrate the Sabbats, which were held in accordance with the lunar calendar. The very word Sabbat (or Sabbath) derives from the Assyrian word Sabattu, which means “a day of rest for the heart,” The celebrations are traditionally marked by the observance of the moon, and thus begin at night. In August 1st , is a festival marked by the baking of loaves of bread to represent an aspect of the Sun God. Following this is October 31 or Scorpio astrologically. This is a good time for honoring the Dead and Ancestral spirits, as the Mesopotamian tradition focused heavily on ancestor worship. This is also a time to honor Ereshikgal and Ningal, the Goddess and God of the Underworld, and perhaps to retell the stories of exceptional or deified heroes (sometimes called the “honored dead”) such as Gilgamesh. This is kind of like Halloween. • Houses- The materials used to build a Mesopotamian house were the same as those used today: mud brick, mud plaster and wooden doors, which were all naturally available round the city,[8] although wood could not be naturally made very well during the particular time period described. Most houses had a square center room with other rooms attached to it, but a great variation in the size and materials used to build the houses suggest they were built by the inhabitants themselves. • Clothing- Both men are wearing traditional ancient Mesopotamian clothing: long, fringed, robelike garments—either skirts or tunics—probably made of wool.
Food, Government, Games, Family. • Food-Normally people ate two meals a day. Except for the rich, most people ate unleavened bread, and drank large amounts of beer (up to one gallon a day). Cow's milk was also drunk, but it quickly turned sour in the hot climate. Because meat was expensive, most people ate cooked vegetable stews. Fish was an important source of protein. Fruits included apples, pears, grapes, figs, quinces, plums, apricots, mulberries, melons, and pomegranates. Pistachio nuts were also enjoyed. Cakes for special occasions were also made with butter, cheese, dates, flour, and raisins. • Government- The Mesopotamians seem to have developed one of the world's first systems of monarchy; the early states they formed needed a new form of government in order to govern larger areas and diverse peoples. The very first states in human history, the states of Sumer, seemed to have been ruled by a type of priest-king, called in Sumerian; among their duties were leading the military, administering trade, judging disputes, and engaging in the most important religious ceremonies. The priest-king ruled through a series of bureaucrats, many of them priests, that carefully surveyed land, assigned fields, and distributed crops after harvest. • Games-Hunting was popular among Assyrian kings. Boxing and wrestling were featured frequently in art, and a form of polo was probably popular, with men sitting on the shoulders of other men rather than on horses.[3] They also had the first board game similar to one we have now (backgammon)It's called the UR game board. It's from the city called Abraham which they believed came from god.[ • Family-Mesopotamia was a patriarchal society, the men were far more powerful than the women. 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.
