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Writing And
City Life (CH-
2)
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Geography of Mesopotamia
Geography of Mesopotamia
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Geography of Northern Geography of North-
Mesopotamia Eastern Mesopotamia
.

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Geography of Eastern Geography of southern
Mesopotamia Mesopotamia
.
 Geography of Mesopotamia
NORTH EASTERN NORTHERN
This area is covered with grasslands called
In the north-east lie green, undulating plains,
steppes. People living here domesticate animals
gradually rising to tree-covered mountain ranges
and indulge in rearing them as is suited them
with clear streams and wildflowers, with enough
better than agriculture. Animals like goat and
rainfall to grow crops. In that region, agriculture
sheep were feed on low shrubs and in return
began between 7000 and 6000 BCE.
they provide mild wool meat fur etc…

EASTERN SOUTHERN
In this part many tributaries of rivers Tigris and This is part of Mesopotamia is a desert area.
Euphrates are present. This provides routes for Cities and writing emerged here. Rivers like
communication trade and transportation to Tigris and Euphrates carried their loads of
places such as the mountains of Iran silt and mud, making this place highly
fertile for cultivation and thus supported the
establishment of cities
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U R B A N I S AT I O N O F M E S A P O TA M I A
 U R B A N I S AT I O N O F M E S A P O TA M I A
•Urban centers involve in various economic activities such as food production, trade,
manufactures and services.
•City people, thus, cease to be self-sufficient and depend on the products or services of
other people.
•The division of labour is a mark of urban life. For instance, the carver of as tone seal
requires bronze tools that he himself cannot make, and colored stones for the seals
that he does not know where to get. He depends on others for his needs.
•Fuel, metal, various stones, wood, etc., come from many different places for city
manufacturers. Thus, organized trade, storage, deliveries of grain and other food items

from the village to the city were controlled and supervised by the rulers .
•Urban economies required the need of keeping written records
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MOVEMENT OF GOODS INTO CITIES
 Movement of Goods into Cities
• Mesopotamia had rich food resources, however, it lacked supply of raw materials and mineral

resources.

• The ancient Mesopotamians could have traded their abundant textiles and agricultural produce for

wood, copper, tin, silver, gold, shell and various stones from Turkey and Iran, or across the Gulf.

• Beside trade, craft and services, efficient transportation is also essential for urban development

• LANDWAYS : Bullock carts and animals were used as transportation to carry goods like charcoal

and grain sacks.

This way more time was needed and animals must be fed

• WATERWAYS : Boats and barges were loaded with goods and then were transported through canals

and natural channels which were the routes of transportation between small and large

settlements.
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D E V E LO P M E N T O F W R I T I N G
 The Development of Writing
•All societies have languages in which spoken sounds convey certain meanings. This is
verbal communication. Writings too is verbal communication but in a different way.
•The first Mesopotamian tablets, written around 3200 BCE, contained picture-like
signs and numbers. There were about 5,000 lists of oxen, fish, bread loaves, etc.
•Mesopotamians wrote on tablets of clay.
•When a transaction was completed the tablet was thrown away, so each transaction,
however minor, required a separate written tablet.
•By 2600 BCE writing was used for making dictionaries, recording land transfers,
narrating the deeds of kings, and announcing any change in the laws of the
land.
•Sumerian, the earliest known language of Mesopotamia which was gradually
replaced after 2400 BCE by the Akkadian language.
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The System of Writing
 The System of Writing
• The system of writing on moist clay was extremely complex and painstaking. The

scribe had to learn a huge gamut of the wedge-like symbols.

• This followed writing hundreds of syllables as the cuneiform writing did not include

single consonants or vowels to simplify writing.

• The writing was to be accomplished before the tablet dried up.

• We can conclude that the Mesopotamian system of writing was a combination of

intellect, skill, and art.

• The cuneiform system of writing was able to sustain through thousands of years

by outliving the Sumerian language.

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L I T E RA C Y O F M E S O P O TA M I A
 Literacy of Mesapatomia

• Because of the complexity of language and the intricacies of writing on wet tablets

by remembering a huge assortment of wedge-like symbols, literacy was very low in

Mesopotamia

• . Even most kings could not read, and if a king was literate, he made sure that his

exceptional reading ability was proudly recorded.

• Writing skills, however, reflected the mode of speaking

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THE USE OF WRITING
 The use of Writing

•The connection between city life, trade and writing is brought out in a Sumerian epic

poem about Enmerkar, one of the rulers of Uruk.

•It can be inferred from the epic that in Mesopotamian understanding it was kingship

that organized trade and writing.

•Besides being a means of storing information and of sending messages, writing was

seen as a sign of the superiority of Mesopotamian urban culture.

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anisation in Southern Mesopotamia: Temples and K
 Urbanisation in Southern
Mesopotamia:Temples and Kings
•From 5000 BCE, settlements had begun to develop in southern Mesopotamia. These
were of various kinds:
•That gradually developed around temples.
•That developed as centers of trade.
•Imperial cities.
•Early settlers began to build and rebuild temples at selected spots in their villages.
•The god was the focus of worship, people offered grain, curd and fish and god was
also considered the owner of the agricultural fields, the fisheries, and the herds of
the local community.
•The temple gradually developed its activities and became the main urban institution.
•Chiefs who became victorious in wars offered precious booty to the gods and
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LIFE IN CITY
 LIFE IN CITY

• in Mesopotamian society the nuclear family* was the norm,

•A declaration was made about the willingness to marry, the bride’s parents giving

their consent to the marriage.

•Then a gift was given by the groom’s people to the bride’speople.

•When the wedding took place, gifts were exchanged by both parties, who ate together

and made offerings in a temple.

•. When her mother-in-law came to fetch her, the bride was given her share of the

inheritance by her father

 LIFE IN CITY

• Ur was one of the earliest cities that was systematically excavated in the 1930s.Narrow
twisted streets indicate the wheeled carts could not have reached many of the houses.
• Sacks of grain and firewood would have reached on donkey back.
• The narrow winding streets and irregular shaped house plots also indicate the absence of
town planning. Ur did not have street drains like Mohenjo-Daro. And street drains were
absent at Ur.
• Instead of drains clay pipes were found in the inner courtyards of houses
• House roofs sloped inwards and rainwater was channeled via the drain pipes into sumps in
the inner courtyards.
• People had swept their house hold refuse in to the streets. This made street level rise, and
overtime the thresholds of houses had to be raised. So that no mud would flow inside after
rains.
 LIFE IN CITY

Superstitions about houses. As recorded in omen tablets at Ur:

• A raised threshold brought wealth

• A front door that did not open towards another house was lucky

• If the main door of a house open outwards, the wife would be a torment to her husband

• There was a town cemetery at Ur in which the graves of royalty and commoners have been

found, but a few individuals were found buried under the floors of ordinary houses.
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A Trading Town in a Pastoral Zone
 A Trading town in a pastoral town
After 2000 BCE the royal city of Mari flourished.
• Mari was located on the upstream of Euphrates
• Mari had both farmers and pastoralists in its communities.
• Agriculture and animal rearing were carried out in this region
• Most of the region was used for pasturing sheep and goats.
Both herders and farmers had a contradictory relationship. Herders exchanged
animals, cheese, leather and meat in return for, metal tools etc. with the farmers.
• On the other hand, they also had conflict. A shepherd might take his large group of animals
to water across a sown field that resulting in ruining of the crop.
• Herdsmen could raid villages and seize their stored goods. Settled groups mightdeny
pastoralists access to river and canal water in some places.
 A Trading town in a pastoral town
• Herdsmen places.

• Nomadic groups of the western desert filtered into the prosperous agricultural land

• Such groups would come as herders, harvest laborers or hired soldiers and settled down

• These included the Akkadians, Amorites, Assyrians and Armenians.

• The kings of Mari were Amorites and raised a temple at Mari for Dagan, god of steppe.

• Mesopotamian society and culture were open to different cultures

 A Trading town in a pastoral town
Mari as an important Trade Centre

• Mari is a good example of an urban center prospering on trade.

• Wood, copper, wine, tin, oil, etc. were carried in boats along the Euphrates between the

south and Turkey, Syria and Lebanon.

• Boats carrying grinding stones, wood, and wine and oil jars, would stop at Marion their way

to southern cities.

• Officers of this town would go abroad, inspect the cargo and levy a charge of about one-

tenth the value of the goods

• Thus, although the kingdom of Mari was not militarily strong but it was exceptionally

prosperous
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ies in Mesopotamian cultu
 Cities in Mesopotamian culture

• Mesopotamians valued city life . Many communities and cultures lived side by side. After

cities were destroyed in war, they recalled them in poetry.

• The Epic of Gilgamesh remind us the pride of the Mesopotamians who took in their cities

which was written in 12 tablets.

• Gilgamesh was the ruler of Uruk and a great hero who brought people for far and wide

under his control.

• He got a shock when his heroic friend died . He then set out to find the secret of

immortality.

• After a heroic attempt, Gilgamesh failed, and returned to Uruk and started admiring the
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LEGACY OF
 LEGACY OF WRITTING
• Mesopotamia's greatest legacy lies in its scholarly contributions.

• By around 1800 BCE, Mesopotamians had developed advanced mathematical tables.These

tables included operations for multiplication, division, square roots, and compound interest

• Their approximation of the square root of 2 was remarkably accurate.

• They established time divisions we use today: a year of 12 months.

• Each month is divided into four weeks.

• A day is divided into 24 hours.

• An hour is divided into 60 minutes.

 LEGACY OF WRITTING

• Mesopotamians valued city life

• These systems were passed down through Greek and Roman cultures to the Islamic world

and medieval Europe

• Mesopotamians meticulously recorded astronomical events.

• They documented eclipses and the positions of stars.

• These achievements were made possible through writing and urban schools.

• Students studied and expanded on earlier works.

• Efforts to preserve and study their texts show the enduring impact of their intellectual

heritage.
 THAN
K YOU
PRESENTATION BY : RAKSHANTH
M
ARJUN,
SARVESH
RISHAB
CLASS :11
SECTION: I