Mesopotamia, an ancient Greek term meaning “the land between rivers”, is considered to be the cradle of civilization because this is where we find the origins of agriculture, written language, and cities.
It was known as the land between two rivers, the Tigris to the north and the Euphrates to the south. Rains were seasonal in this area, which meant that the land flooded in the winter and spring and water was scarce at other times. Farming in the region depended on irrigation from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. In ancient times, many resources in Mesopotamia were scarce or absent, which stimulated trade within the region and beyond. Supported by lucrative trade with its neighbors, Mesopotamia grew to become a powerful empire.

Life in Mesopotamia
Prehistory
The settlement of humans in the Near East began with the movement of Homo erectus off the African continent roughly 2 million years ago during the Paleolithic period. Over the course of several thousand years, Homo erectus spread rapidly throughout the Near East and then into Europe and Southeast Asia.
The first three phases of the Paleolithic period (Lower, Middle, and Upper) extend from roughly 2.5 million years BC through 14,000 BC. Each phase is defined by changes in human habitat, stone tool technology, and diet. During most of that time, humans lived in open-air campsites and in small natural caves. They hunted wild animals and fished, gathered wild plants, and wandered over a large geographic area.
During the Epipaleolithic period, between 14,000 BC and 9000 BC, humans lived in circular or semi-circular structures called pit houses. These houses often had hearths and plaster floors and sometimes several pits were linked together to form various rooms.
Plants and animals were domesticated in the Near East roughly between 11,000 and 6500 BC. By 9000 BC, modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) were living in settled communities throughout the Near East.
Between 6000 and 4000 BC, farming communities of increasing size and complexity developed throughout the Tigris-Euphrates valley with a few central towns of perhaps 2000 inhabitants.

The “Sumerians”
The Sumerians were the earliest known group of people to inhabit in Middle Eastern region known as Mesopotamia.
Hunter-gatherers had roamed that part of the Middle East called the Fertile Crescent, and they had planted gardens. By 7000 BCE the crops they planted became a major source of food. They had begun farming, which required permanent settlement.
By 4500 BCE people archaeologists would call Ubaidians were living in towns in Mesopotamia (Greek for "between two rivers") near where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers emptied into the Persian Gulf. The Ubaidians drained marshes. They grew wheat and barley and irrigated their crops by digging ditches to river waters. They kept farm animals. Some of them manufactured pottery. They did weaving, leather or metal work, and some were involved in trade with other societies.
By 4000 BCE to the south in Syria a society existed that had regional centers and a complex government. Here, as with the Ubaidians, people baked bread in huge ovens and manufactured fine pottery. In the year 2000 of modern times, at Tell Hamoukar, archaeologists discovered a protective city wall, and they described the place of their digging as more than a town. They described it as a city. And they found primitive hieroglyphics: markings for recording trade transactions.
It was around 4000 BCE that a people called Sumerians moved into Mesopotamia, perhaps from around the Caspian Sea. By 3800 BCE the Sumerians had supplanted the Ubaidians and Semites in southern Mesopotamia. They built better canals for irrigating crops and for transporting crops by boat to village centers. They improved their roads, over which their donkeys trod, some of their donkeys pulling wheeled carts. And the Sumerians grew in number, the increase in population the key element in creating what we call civilization -- a word derived from an ancient word for city.

The First Farmers
This fragment of an ancient stone bowl illustrates a theme often portrayed in early Mesopotamian art - cows, which have been out grazing all day, are shown returning to the cattle fold at night, where they are greeted by calves, eager to be fed. A herdsman, carrying an implement that may be a fly-whisk or goad, stands between two cows that are facing away from him. Above the central cow's back are two birds, standing back-to-back. The head of one of the calves coming out to greet its mother is visible at the right edge of the fragment.
Domestication of animals such as cattle - as well as the domestication of plants - changed people's lives and the course of human history dramatically. The most significant change was the shift from a nomadic life-style to settled villages. In order to care for crops and herds of animals, people needed to live in one place. This change from hunting and gathering to planting and herding occurred independently in many parts of the world. In northern Mesopotamia, the process occurred over the period 10,000-6000 BC. Here, there was enough rainfall to grow crops, and the region was also home to wheat, barley, sheep, cattle, goats, and pigs, the wild plants and animals that eventually were domesticated.
By 5800 BC, people were living in the southern plains of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The land in this region was exceptionally fertile, but the rainfall was insufficient to grow crops. The rivers were undependable, drying up in the searing heat of the summer. Irrigation was the solution to these problems. Over time, ditches laced the fields near the rivers, making the land a maze of artificial waterways.

The First Cities
In this painting of Babylon, the artist has recreated the view of the eastern portion of the city as it is thought to have looked during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 BC). In the foreground is the Euphrates River, which ran through the center of the city. Next to the Euphrates is the sacred temple complex of the god Marduk (the "Esagila") including the ziggurat, a stepped tower, which probably gave rise to the famed Biblical account of the Tower of Babel. Beyond the Esagila lies the rest of the eastern section of Babylon and its defensive walls. Beyond the walls are the open cultivated fields of the Mesopotamian plains. The city of Babylon around 600 BC was considered a marvel of the ancient world, with a population of 200,000, and a system of defensive walls that ringed the city for ten miles.
For the ancient Mesopotamians, their cities were the centers of life. When they looked back to the beginning of time, they did not see a Garden of Eden, but rather an ancient site called Eridu, which they believed was the first city ever to be created. Ancient Mesopotamia is where the world's first cities appeared around 4000 - 3500 BC.
No one knows for sure why urbanization began in Mesopotamia. The development of cities could have occurred due to environmental conditions. Lack of rainfall might have been the inspiration for people to organize themselves in a common effort to build canals for the irrigation of farmland. Another reason may have been the need for protection on the open plain, which could have led people to gather together to create walled enclaves. Whatever the reasons, this was the first time in history that humankind channeled its energies towards addressing the needs of a community as a whole.

Daily Life
These are well-to-do-family, all the people of ancient Mesopotamia loved to eat! Poorer families seldom had meat, whereas wealthier families ate it regularly. Beef, lamb, pork, goat, ducks, and geese were the meats of choice. Fish, turtles, and shellfish were plentiful in the rivers and canals. Barley and wheat were the staple foods. Grain was crushed and cooked as porridge or ground into flour and baked as unleavened bread. Fruits, oils, juices, and honey were added to the basic recipe and varied the recipe so much that there were more than 300 Mesopotamian words for bread. Barley was also used to make beer, the staple beverage. Locust swarms caused problems by destroying crops, but they were also skewered, roasted, and enjoyed as a tasty delicacy!

Religion
The ancient Mesopotamians worshipped hundreds of gods, each with his/her own name and sphere of activity. Every city had its own patron god or goddess, and there were also deities connected with various professions - such as scribes and builders. But only a few gods - those who controlled major realms of the universe, such as the sky, the sun, and air - received attention as major deities. Anu was the father of the gods and the god of the sky; Enlil was the god of the air; Utu was the sun god and the lord of truth and justice; Nanna was the moon god; Inanna was the goddess of love and war; Ninhursag was the goddess of earth; and Enki was the god of fresh water as well as the lord of wisdom and magic. While they served and revered the great gods, most people felt little connection with these distant beings.
Ordinary people depended on a relationship with their own personal god - a kind of guardian angel - who protected individuals and interceded for them with the great deities.

The Role of Women
The Mesopotamian woman's role was strictly defined. She was the daughter of her father or the wife of her husband. Women rarely acted as individuals outside the context of their families. Those who did so were usually royalty or the wives of men who had power and status.
Most girls were trained from childhood for the traditional roles of wife, mother, and housekeeper. They learned how to grind grain, how to cook and make beverages, especially beer, and how to spin and weave cloth for clothing. If a woman worked outside of her home, her job usually grew out of her household tasks. She might sell the beer she brewed, or even become a tavern keeper. Childbearing and childcare roles led women to become midwives and also to create medicines that prevented pregnancy or produced abortions.
Soon after puberty, a young girl was considered ready for marriage. The families of the future bride and groom arranged marriages. Ceremonies have been described where the future husband poured perfume on the head of the bride. He also gave her family money and other presents. Once a woman was engaged, she was considered part of her fiancé's family. If her husband-to-be died before the wedding, she was then married to one of his brothers or another male relative.

The Invention of Writing
Writing emerged in many different cultures and in numerous locations throughout the ancient world. It was not the creation of any one people. However, the Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia are credited with inventing the earliest form of writing, which appeared ca. 3500 BC. The clay tablets shown here date from around 3200 BC. They were unearthed by Oriental Institute archaeologists at the site of Tell Asmar in Iraq.
The writings on these tablets are simple pictures, or pictograms, which represent an object or an idea. Because clay is a difficult material on which to draw lines and curves, the Mesopotamians eventually reduced pictograms into a series of wedge-shaped signs that they pressed into clay with a reed stylus. This wedge-shaped writing is called cuneiform.
The invention of writing was the dawn of the information revolution. This great technological advance allowed news and ideas to be carried to distant places without having to rely on a messenger's memory. Like all inventions, writing emerged because there was a need for it. In Mesopotamia, it was developed as a record-keeping vehicle for commercial transactions or administrative procedures. There are also texts that served as "copy books" for the education of future scribes. Eventually, cuneiform script was used to produce some of the greatest literary works in recorded history.

Literature
This is the cylinder seal. It is shown with a sample of what the image carved on the seal looks like when it is rolled out onto clay. Here, the sun god - rays emanating from his shoulders - journeys by water in a fantastic vessel. Another deity, who forms the prow of the boat poles it along as the sun god steers. Also traveling with the sun god is a human-headed lion, which has been tied to the prow. Floating in the air above the lion are a plow, a spouted vase with a handle, and two objects, one of which is perhaps a bag of seed. Behind the boat stands a figure representing the goddess of vegetation. She is characterized by ears of grain, which grow from her robe while she holds a flowering branch. The exact meaning of this scene is not known. It suggests a metaphorical journey indicating the relationship of the life-giving rays of the sun to the growth of vegetation and the flourishing of crops.
This seal is typical of the thousands of cylinder seals unearthed at ancient Mesopotamian sites. Depictions on seals sometimes illustrate the mythic traditions that were part of this great civilization's literary heritage. Along with myths, Mesopotamian literary works include epics, folktales, prayers, hymns, proverbs, personal letters, and fables.
The finest literary work from ancient Mesopotamia is the Epic of Gilgamesh. Originally recited aloud, this towering work was probably recorded on clay tablets around 2000 BC, more than one thousand years before the Iliad and the Odyssey were recorded in writing. Gilgamesh is a long narrative poem that describes the deeds of a hero in his quest for identity and the meaning of life. Part man and part god, Gilgamesh deals with such universal themes as the meaning of friendship; fear of sickness, death, and the forces of evil; and the search for immortality.

Law and Government
The Laws of Hammurabi are the longest and best organized of the law collections that survive from ancient Mesopotamia. King Hammurabi, who ruled from 1792-1750 BC, had the laws inscribed on stone stelae which he placed in various temples throughout his realm. The stela from which this cast was made stands almost seven-and-a-half feet tall. At the top of the stela, King Hammurabi stands before the sun god Shamash, the Mesopotamian god of justice, who is seated on his throne. Shamash gives Hammurabi the rod and ring, symbols of kingship and divine justice, thus reinforcing the ancient Mesopotamian belief that laws came from the gods.

Mathematics and Measurement
During the earliest years of recorded history, the ancient Mesopotamians were experimenting with ways to count, measure, and solve mathematical problems. They were the first to give a number a place value and to recognize the concept of zero.
The inscribed object above is a document recording the sale of parcels of land, possibly to a single buyer. Such a record is called a "kudurru." The nine columns of text written on both sides of the stone tablet describe the sales transaction in great detail. Although it is shaped like a clay tablet, the document is made of stone, a rare and expensive commodity in ancient Mesopotamia. The fact that this kudurru is made of stone shows that this document was considered quite significant and that it was intended to be a permanent and indestructible record. Sales records like this one were kept in temples to give them the protection of the gods and, at the same time, make them accessible to public scrutiny. The document records the areas of the fields acquired and the amounts of silver and other commodities used to buy the land. These commodities included sheep fat, wool, and bread.
The ancient Mesopotamians did not have a money economy, so they developed a standardized system of weights to carry out their many commercial transactions. The original medium of exchange was barley. The smallest unit of weight was called a barleycorn, the approximate weight of one grain of barley. Other standard units of weight were the shekel, the mina, and the talent or load. Eventually, silver replaced barley as the medium of exchange, not as coinage but rather as small pieces that had the same weight as a shekel of barley.

Art and Architecture
This drawing is an artist's reconstruction of the Temple Oval at Khafajah, Iraq, as it may have looked around 2700 BC. The Iraq Expedition of the Oriental Institute excavated the remains of the temple and its surrounding community between 1930 and 1934. The temple is surrounded by sturdily built mud-brick homes that were packed closely together along the narrow, winding city streets. The thick walls of the houses provided good insulation against the elements, and flat rooftops provided extra living space.
The climate and readily available natural resources determined building styles and construction techniques in ancient Mesopotamia. These factors not only influenced the appearance of buildings and how they were decorated but also their survival in our archaeological records.
The ancient Mesopotamians developed the arch and column, and they were also familiar with the use of domes. They were masters of construction using bricks made of mud, the one abundant, but impermanent, building material. Brick making was a major Mesopotamian industry, especially in the south, where wood was in short supply and stone was non-existent. Over the centuries, torrential rains and shifting sands destroyed much of southern Mesopotamia's mud-brick architectural heritage. Only crumbled mounds remain as evidence of the great cities that once stood in the deserts of southern Iraq.

Warfare and Empire
This colossal sculpture stands about sixteen feet high and weighs forty tons. It was one of many sculptures that guarded the entrance to the throne room of King Sargon II. A protective spirit known as a lamassu, it was shown as a composite being with the head of a human, the body and ears of a bull, and the wings of a bird.
Between 900-630 BC the kings of ancient Mesopotamia built great palaces filled with colossal stone reliefs such as this. These massive palaces reflected the power that these rulers wielded over an empire that stretched from Egypt to Iran. King Sargon II ruled Mesopotamia and much of the then-known world from his palace at Khorsabad in northern Iraq.

The Mesopotamians became empire-builders for a variety of reasons. They fought for security, believing that they could protect themselves by expanding into areas where threats might arise. They went to war for economic gain, taxing the peoples they conquered, collecting tribute in land and resources, and taking prisoners to serve as slave labor. Warfare was also justified on the grounds of religious beliefs. Conquest was considered the divine mission of the king, whose role was to bring more land, people, and goods under the jurisdiction of the national god, Ashur.