By Forrest Evans

1

• By Forrest Evans

2
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).

3
Location, Location, Location
Mesopotamia was a cradle of civilization
geographically located between the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers, largely corresponding to
modern-day Iraq.
4
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.
5
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
6
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
7
Zodiac
Brick
Beermmm
Wheels
Irrigation
Reed boat and sail
Battery
8
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
9
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.
10
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
11
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 Godsmankind
• 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.

12
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 garmentseither skirts or
  tunicsprobably made of wool.

13
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.