Lecture # 3: Ancient Mesopotamian
Civilization:
Presented by
Abul Kalam Azad
Senior Lecturer, GED
Northern University Bangladesh
E-mail: kalamadd@gmail.com
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Introduction to World Civilization
 What was the starting point of
civilization? This is the crucial asking to
understand the chronology of ancient
civilization. There are some debates to
get a concrete history of world
civilization. According to the existing
literature, the most primitive civilization
was that of Mesopotamian. Sometimes,
this notion seems to be confusing for
some writers showed in their analyses
that Egyptian civilization was the most
ancient. Therefore, we’ll detect the
certain point of the introduction
to world civilization, firstly, on
the
basis
of
Lewis
Henry
Morgan’s measurement scale, a
theory of savagery to barbarism
to civilization and secondly, on
the timelines of the history.
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Fig: Successive Stages of History to Morgan
Stages
Traits
Savagery
 Hunting & Gathering;
 Technological
inventions like fire, bow
& pottery
 Domestication of
Barbarism
animals;
 Agriculture; and
 Metalworking
Civilization Alphabet and writing
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Civilization: Timelines
Type
Mesopotamian
Timelines
 4000 BC: Mesopotamian culture &
the 1st known writing by the
Sumerians
 3500 BC: civilization 1st took shape
 3100 BC: oldest poetry, first literate
civilization
Egyptian
4000 BC: Archeological records
3150 BC: unified state & civilization
developed around the river Nile
3100 BC: Civilization appears full
blown before the First Dynasty;
Writing; a solar calendar tec.
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Ancient Mesopotamian Civilization
Mesopotamian civilization is considered as
the most ancient civilization on the planet
earth. Mesopotamia" is derived from two
Greek terms mesos, meaning ‘middle’ and
potamoi, ‘rivers’. So, the name literally
means
‘land
between
the
rivers.’
Mesopotamia was geographically located
between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers,
largely corresponding to modern Iraq as well
as some parts of northeastern Syria,
southeastern Turkey, and southwestern Iran.
Due to its fertility, James Henry Breasted
regarded this area as "Fertile Crescent”.
Map of Mesopotamian Civilization
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1. The Sumerians
The first true civilization on planet
earth developed in Mesopotamia, and
the people who built this first
civilization
are
known
as
the
Sumerians. Ironically, little more
than a century ago, nothing was
known of the Sumerians. The first
civilization in history had been lost
to history. Slowly, over the past
hundred years, and largely due to the
efforts of the Universities of Chicago
and Pennsylvania, the puzzle has
been slowly pieced together.
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Features of Sumerian
Govt.
Society
1. No definite central government ;
2. Few city states were emerged;
3. City states were Free and self dependent
e.g., Ur, Lagash, Umma and Nippur;
4. The king of the city state were called the
Patesti. He was the chief of the military,
irrigation and agriculture system.
1. Three classes were Elite class, Middle class
and lowest class;
2. The rulers, the Priests, The Imperial advisors
and all the officers were in the elite class;
3. The doctors, the teachers, Small
businessmen, landowners and all the labors
were in the middle class.
4. All types of the slaves were in the lowest
class.
Features of Sumerian
Culture
Architecture
1. Writing system was known as Cuneiform;
2. Different designs or signs/ symbols were
developed into graphs representing people,
animals, plants temples, gods and cities;
3. They preserved the symbols after burning
the plate of mud;
4. Though they introduced the written system,
they failed to invent a particular alphabet.
1. Temple served as the home of goddes;
2. Unattractive huts for people but attractive for
the priests;
3. They built palaces in different city states;
4. They used bricks in the wall;
5. The symbols of their expert in architecture
were in the graveyard; and
6. They also built the graveyard after the death of
their king or queen
Features of Sumerian
Mythology
1. Religion were mainly nature worship;
2. They believed that every God had
particular characteristics;
3. They thought that man has been
created for the prayer of goddes like
Shamash, Enlil (God of the air), Ishtar
(goddess of love and fertility and war),
Nergal (God of the death), and Enki
(Water god and god of wisdom);
4. They thought Shamash as the source
of light and temperature;
5. The main temple was called the
Ziggurat.
2. The Babylonians (About 1900-1800BC)
Over the centuries the ability of the "Kings of Sumer
and Akkad" to maintain order in Mesopotamia
gradually weakened, a new tribe of Semites began
to descend into the Euphrates Valley, just as the
Akkadians had done under Sargon. These were the
Amorites (an ancient Semitic-speaking people) from
Syria near the Mediterranean. They seized the city
of Babylon, which is about 50 miles south of
Baghdad, the current capital of Iraq. Now at that
time Babylon was an insignificant town on the edge
of the Euphrates river, but it was there that the
Amorites established their capital and their king,
thereby establishing what historians know as the
Old Babylonian Empire. Eleven kings would occupy
the throne of Babylon, and the sixth of these was
Hammurabi.
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Features of Babylonians
Govt.
Hammurabi
Codes
1. Hammurabi reigned from 1792-1750 B.C.;
2. He established his kingdom upon order,
justice, and peace;
3. An eight foot column of black stone was
engraved with some 282 laws and
statutes;
4. The
top
of
the
stone
shows
Hammurabi receiving the law from the
sun god, Shamesh
1. The laws were assumed as divine;
2. Judges were appointed to try cases where
the principle of “an eye for an eye and a
tooth for a tooth” continued to be
practiced;
3. Death penalties were common;
4. Conviction for adultery meant death for
both parties concerned;
Features of Babylonians
Hammurabi Codes
5. Women occupied a comparatively high
position having own property, equal rights in
divorce and bringing lawsuit and being
engaged in business;
6. They became professional scribes;
7. Justice to the widow and the orphan was
assured;
8. Heavier fines were imposed upon the rich than
upon the poor for they could better afford to
pay;
9. The lower classes and even slaves were
protected by law;
10. Slaves might own property, marry, and will
their possessions to their children; and
11. Freedom from bondage was obtained easily.
Features of Babylonians
Socioeconomic
Architecture
1. Highly developed Agriculture;
2. Their most important crops were grape,
olive (see next slide), nut, and different
types of fruits;
3. Trade was regulated under government
supervision;
4. The interest rate, promissory notes,
deeds of settlements were well defined.
Babylonian architecture has disappeared
almost completely. Their main temple
Ziggurats were built in stages. There were
rooms for Grave etc.
Zigurat
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Features of Babylonians
Religion
Literature &
Learning
1. Their chief god was Marduk;
2. The chief objective of the Babylonians
behind their worship were to get more
benefits from god to escape their sin;
3. They excused their sin that they were not
god and could do no better;
4. They were relatively uninterested in after
life;
5. They concentrated on improving man’s
existence on earth.
1. Babylonians
were highly prized for
learning. “He who shall excel in tablet
writing will shine like the sun” was one of
the most popular proverb in that moment;
2. The people were trained for the work of
the temple, school, and other cultural
works were encouraged;
Literature & Learning
Features of Babylonians
3. They were enriched in epic and
other literature work;
4. They also developed the poetry
that time;
5. Babylonians
studied
the
Mathematics,
Astronomy
and
Astrology;
6. They first introduced the lunar
calendar
and
surveyed
the
universe.
Science and technology
▶Astronomy: The Babylonian astronomers
were enthusiastic to study the stars and
sky.
▶Mathematics: The Mesopotamians used a
sexagesimal (base 60) numeral system.
▶Medicine: The most extensive Babylonian
medical text was the Diagnostic Handbook
written by the physician Esagil-kin-apli of
Borsippa,
during
the
reign
of
the
Babylonian king Adad-apla-iddina (10691046 BC).
▶Technology:
They
invented
many
technologies e.g., the wheel.
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Holidays, Feasts, and Festivals
Ancient mesopotamians had ceremonies
each month. The theme of the rituals and
festivals for each month is determined by
six important factors:
▶The phase of the Moon;
▶ The phase of the annual agricultural cycle;
▶ Solstices of the solar year;
▶ The mythos of the City and its divine Patrons;
▶ The success of the reigning Monarch;
▶ Remembrance of specific historical events
(founding, military victories, temple holidays,
etc.)
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Family life
Mesopotamia across its history became
more and more a patriarchal society, in
which the men were far more powerful
than the women. Thorkild Jacobsen and
others
have
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.
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As for schooling, only royal offspring and
sons of the rich and professionals such as
scribes, physicians, temple administrators,
and so on, 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. Women in
Mesopotamia had rights. They could own
property and, if they had good reason, get a
divorce.
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Causes of Decline
The decay and death of the Mesopotamian
civilization can be ascribed to three main
causes:
 the absence of a national government,
 the foundation by Alexander and his
successors of new cities competing with
and eventually superseding the older
settlements, and
 the profound ethnic, linguistic, religious
and cultural changes introduced by
successive waves of invaders --- Persians,
Greeks, Arameans, pre-Islamic Arabs --who could neither be kept at bay not
assimilated.
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