Ancient Mesopotamia Notes

Sumerian Civilization (c. April - 2350 BCE)

  • Located in Southern Mesopotamia (Southern Iraq).
  • Preceded by Sumerian civilization, which was a non-Semitic civilization (distinct language roots from Arabic, Hebrew, etc.).
  • First civilization to produce writing.

Writing

  • Emerged in the middle of the fourth millennium BCE.
  • Known as cuneiform writing (examples in text, figure 1.1, page 13).
  • Originally used to track accounts of goods in temples (centers of Sumerian economy).
  • Evolved over time (chart on page 13, figure 1.1).
  • Symbiotic writing system (not letter-based).

Religion

  • Polytheistic (pantheon of gods and goddesses).
  • Anilil: Most important deity, father of the gods.
  • Creation Myth: Anilil separated heaven and earth; Enki carried out the details of creation (Enki = e n k I).
  • Inanna (Sumerian) / Ishtar (Babylonian): Goddess of love and war.
  • Human beings existed for the pleasure of the gods; no afterlife for humans (unlike later religions).

Cities and Economy

  • 12 cities, with large temples (ziggurats) on mounds.
  • Ziggurats: Centers of religious and economic life, built of clay bricks.
  • Redistributive Economy: King collected taxes for family, court, army, and officials.
  • Kings and priests controlled the economy by regulating the exchange of food and goods.
  • No private market economy.
  • Writing was used to keep track of goods in temples.
  • Workers (slaves or poor free people) worked in temples, large estates, and the king's estates.

Social Structure

  • Social hierarchy and separation between men and women.
  • Patriarchy: Domination by men in political, social, and economic life (origins in Paleolithic era).
  • Urbanization separated men's and women's tasks.
  • Men controlled the public sphere; women (especially middle and upper classes) were often confined to the household.

Warfare and Politics

  • City states often fought each other.
  • Warfare contributed to the rise of monarchies (kings).
  • Kings also served as chief priests of religious cults (similar to Greek city-states and Roman emperors: Pontifex Maximus).

Akkadian Empire (c. 2350 BCE)

  • Sumerian civilization spread into Central Iraq (Akkad).
  • Akkadians (Semitic people from the Arabian Peninsula) developed the first empire.
  • Sargon (c. 2370-2315 BCE): United Akkad and Sumer, founded the Akkadian dynasty.
  • The Akkadian Empire dominated the region (Southern Iraq to Syria to the Mediterranean Coast) for nearly 200 years.

Fall of Akkadian Empire

  • Collapsed around 2100 BCE.
  • Replaced by the Third Dynasty of Ur (Ur III dynasty).
  • Ur III Dynasty (2112-2004 BCE): Developed the first law code.
  • Collapse due to inter-city warfare and attacks by Amorites (from Syria).

Development of Private Trade

  • Began in Assyria (border region of Turkey, Syria, and Iraq) after 2000 BCE.
  • Assyrians developed the earliest form of free market economy.
  • Previously, Mesopotamian economy was dominated by centralized state monopolies.
  • By 1900 BCE, Assyrian kings allowed individuals to transact commerce.
  • Private entrepreneurs maximized profits in successful ventures.
  • Assyrian traders operated in private groups, trading with the Hittite kingdom (Turkey) and Southern/Central Mesopotamia (Iraq).

Law Codes

  • First seen under the Ur III dynasty; more advanced codes developed with Assyrians and Babylonians.

Babylonian Dynasty (c. 2000-1595 BCE)

  • Amorites (Semitic people from Syria) settled in Mesopotamia and developed the Babylonian dynasty.
  • Hammurabi (c. 1792-1750 BCE): Most important ruler, took over the Akkadian Empire.
  • Known for Hammurabi's Law Code (selection in text, page 17).

Hammurabi's Law Code

  • Not based on equality; based on a system of ranks.
  • Divided society into fleet persons, kilometers, and slaves.
  • Different levels of society received different levels of justice (e.g., fines vs. execution).
  • "Eye for an eye, tooth for tooth" principle, but applied differently based on social rank.
  • Athenians later developed the idea of equality before the law.

Babylonian Religion

  • Belief in demons; exorcism was an important practice.
  • More defined creation myth than Sumerians.
  • Marduk: Chief god of the Babylonians.
  • Babylonian Creation Myth: Marduk killed his mother (Tiamat) and split her into heaven and earth; created stars, animals, human beings, and plants.
  • Marduk and his creation myth were heavily promoted by Hammurabi.

The End of Babylonian Dynasty

  • The Babylonian dynasty was eventually brought down in 1595 by the Hittites who had emerged around 1750 in Turkey.
  • Hittite army from the Hittite kingdom in Central Turkey marched into Babylon in 1595 and took over and brought down the Babylonian dynasty.
  • Neo-Babylonian Dynasty: Nearly a thousand years into the future; emerged after the fall of the later Assyrian empire (612 BCE).