Writing and City Life
❇️ Meaning of Mesopotamia :-
🔹 This word is made up of two Greek words 'mesos' i.e. middle 'potamos' i.e. river. Mesopotamia refers to the fertile land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
️❇️ Mesopotamia :-
🔹Located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, this region is now part of the Republic of Iraq. Urban life begins in this civilization. Urban life began in Mesopotamia. Mesopotamian civilization is famous for its prosperity, urban life, vast and rich literature, mathematics and astronomy.
❇️ ️Major sources of historical information of Mesopotamia :-
🔹 There are buildings, statues, pots, ornaments, tools, coins, clay plates and written documents.
️❇️ Mesopotamian language :-
🔹 In this civilization, first 'Sumerian' language, then 'Akkadian' language and later 'Aramaic' language was spoken.
🔹1400 AD. NS . Gradually, Aramaic language entered, it was similar to the Hebrew language and in 1000 AD. NS . After that it was widely spoken and is still spoken in some parts of Iraq today.
️❇️ Geographical location of Mesopotamia :-
🔹 This area is now part of the Republic of Iraq.
🔹Its urbanized southern part was called Sumer and Akkad, later this part came to be called Babylonia.
🔹 Its northern part came to be called Assyria after the Assyrian occupation.
🔹The construction of cities in this civilization was done in 3000 AD. NS . was started in Uruk, Ur and Mari were its famous cities.
🔹There are steppe grasslands here, so animal husbandry is a better means of livelihood than farming. Therefore, agriculture, animal husbandry and trade are the various means of livelihood here.
🔹The people here used causa to make tools. The head of a woman has been found in the Uruk city here, which is carved out of white marble - Varka Shirsha.
🔹The division of labor and social organization were the characteristics of urban life and economy.
🔹Food resources were rich here but there was a lack of mineral resources, which were imported from Turkey, Iran or countries across the Gulf.
🔹The transport system for trade here was good by waterways. The Euphrates River was famous as a world route for trade.
🔹To keep accounts, transactions, in the urban economy, the art of writing developed here.
️❇️ Agriculture and Climate of Mesopotamia :-
🔹The rivers named Dzla and Euphrates have been coming out of the northern mountains and have been bringing fertile fine soil with them. When these rivers flood or when their water is taken to the fields for irrigation, then this fertile soil gets deposited there.
🔹The desert part here which is located in the south is also cultivated here and when the Euphrates river reaches these deserts, it divides into many small streams and does irrigation work like canals. Wheat, barley, peas and lentils are cultivated here.
🔹The cultivation of southern Mesopotamia used to be the most productive. However, there was some shortage of rainfall required to grow the crop.
🔹The main occupation of the steppe region was animal husbandry. Apart from farming here, sheep and goats were reared on steppe grasslands, northeastern plains and hill slopes.
️❇️ The oldest cities of Mesopotamia :-
🔹The construction of cities in this civilization was done in 3000 AD. NS . was started in Uruk, Ur and Mari were its famous cities.
🔹There was lack of town-planning method in Ur city, the streets were crooked and narrow. The drainage system was not good. The people of Ur used to consider the omens while building the house.
🔹2000 AD. NS . After that the city of Mari on the upstream of the Euphrates River flourished as the royal capital. It was situated at a very important trading place. Because of this it was very prosperous and happy. Here the palace of Gymrillium has been found and a temple has also been found.
️❇️ Writing Art :-
🔹The first plaques found in Mesopotamia are around 3200 BC. NS . They were written on them by the cuneiform script with the sharp point of the reed. These plates were dried in the sun.
️❇️ Features of Writing System :-
🔹The syllable or cuneiform symbol was used for the sound, it is not a single consonant or vowel.
🔹There were different symbols for different sounds, due to which the clerk had to learn hundreds of symbols.
🔹Before drying, they had to be written on a wet band.
🔹A skilled person was needed to write.
🔹In this, the sounds of a particular language had to be given a visual form.
️❇️ Cuneiform (Cuneiform) :-
🔹It is derived from the Latin word 'cuenius', meaning touch and forma meaning 'shape'.
️❇️ Time Count :-
🔹The scholarly tradition of time-calculation and mathematics is the greatest contribution of Mesopotamia to the world.
🔹The people of this civilization were familiar with multiplication, square root, compound interest etc.
🔹The people here divided a year into 12 months, 1 month into 4 weeks, 1 day into 24 hours and 1 hour into 60 minutes to calculate the time.
❇️ ️Types of cities of Mesopotamia :-
🔹Cities that developed around temples
🔹Cities that developed as centers of trade
🔹Royal city
️❇️ Urbanization / Settlement of cities :-
🔹Cities and towns were not the only places to live for a large number of people. When economic activities other than food production start developing in an economy, then the density of population in a place increases. As a result, towns start settling down.
🔹Apart from food production, trade, production and various types of services also play an important role in urban economies. The people of the city do not remain self-sufficient and they have to depend on other people of the city or village for the goods produced or services rendered by them. Transactions take place between them. Thus we see that the village people are also associated with the urban activities.
️❇️ Features of urban life :-
🔹There is division of labor in urban life.
🔹People associated with different work are connected with each other through transactions.
🔹Essential things like fuel, metals, different types of stones, wood etc. for urban manufacturers come from different places.
❇️ ️Movement of goods in the cities of Mesopotamia :-
🔹No matter how rich the food resources of Mesopotamia were, it lacked mineral resources. In most parts of the south there was a shortage of stones for making tools, seals, coins and jewellery.
🔹The wood from Iraqi palm and poplar trees was not particularly good for making vehicles, wheelbarrows or boats.
🔹There was no metal available for making tools, utensils, or ornaments.
🔹The Mesopotamians probably imported wood, copper, tin, silver, gold, shellfish and various types of stones from Turkey and Iran or countries across the Gulf, for which they exported their textiles and agricultural products in large quantities. .
️❇️ Transport :-
🔹The easiest and cheapest mode of transport was the waterway. Waterways were the main means of transport for Mesopotamian cities.
️❇️ Temples of Mesopotamia :-
🔹Some early Mesopotamian temples resembled simple houses, the only difference being the outer walls of the temple, which folded inward and outward at certain intervals. Ur (moon) and Inanna (goddess of love and war) were the main deities here.
🔹It was made of raw bricks.
🔹These temples housed various types of gods and goddesses, such as Ur, the moon god and Innana, the goddess of love and war.
🔹These temples were built with bricks and got bigger with time. Because many rooms were built around their open courtyards.
🔹Some early temples were no different from ordinary houses – because the temple was also the home of a deity.
🔹The outer walls of the temples were bent inwards and outwards after certain intervals, this was the specialty of the temples.
❇️ Deity Worship :-
🔹The deity was the focal point of worship.
🔹People used to bring food, curd, fish for the deity.
🔹The adorable god was theoretically believed to be the lord of the fields, fisheries and livestock of the local people.
🔹When the time came, the process of converting the produce into productive goods such as oil extraction, grain grinding, spinning and weaving of woolen clothes etc. was done near the temples.
❇️ Rulers of Mesopotamia :-
🔹This division of time was adopted by the successors of Alexander and from there it reached the world of Rome and Islam and later into medieval Europe.
🔹Gilgamesh:- Uruk was the ruler of the city, was a great warrior, who had subdued far and wide territories.
🔹The Assyrian ruler Asur Banipal had set up a library in Nineveh by ordering many clay plates from Babylonia.
🔹Nabopolassar in 625 AD. NS . It liberated Babylonia from Assyrian suzerainty.
🔹331 AD NS . Babylon remained a major city in the world until it was defeated by Alexander in AD. Nabonidus was the last ruler of independent Babylon.
