Mesopotamia Essay Research Paper Mesopotamia is an

Mesopotamia Essay, Research Paper

Mesopotamia is an ancient civilization that was located in modern day Iraq. It was home to many great political, economic, and cultural developments that were influenced by its climate and geography. Such developments include; agriculture, irrigation, Cuneiform, the wheel for transport, as well as; and a central body of law.

Although the land was fertile, irrigation was essential. Because the Mesopotamian climate didn t have rain for almost eight months of the year and the flood stage was so late in the season, it was essential to prepare dikes and levees to protect the fields (www.dpi.state.wi.us/dpi/dltcl/badgerlink). Irrigation is the artificial watering of land to sustain plant growth by diverting water from it s source to the field, providing not too much nor too little moisture (www.nonline.com). Irrigation expands the amount of arable land and the production of food throughout the world.4 Whenever man irrigates, they do it to conform to the limitations of ecological circumstances. Although irrigation initially extended the life of the land, after a period of time the progressive salt accumulation of the irrigated land cuts down it s yield and it may be necessary to relocate the agricultural territories (www.sunone.com). However, the Old Babylonians found that they could extend the life of the salty soil through crop rotation, overcoming the harsh soil conditions and managing to grow different crops and agriculture (www.washingtonpost.com). Irrigation is one example of how the climate and geography led to a great economic development in Mesopotamia. Irrigation had allowed Mesopotamia to produce a number of crops, in surplus, which was used for trade and thus an economic development.

Another Mesopotamian development, was the development of the wheel for transport. This occurred between 3500-3000 B.C.E. Wheeled vehicles are believed to have appeared after the invention of the potter s wheel, and the wheeled cart replaced the sledge as a means of transportation. In it s simplest form, the wheel was a solid wooden disk mounted on a round axle, to which it was secured by wooden pins. Eventually sections were carved out of the disk to reduce the weight, and radial spokes were devised by about 2000 B.C.E. This was another one of Mesopotamia s developments that was influenced by its climate and geography. The wheel was devised as a more efficient way to do agricultural work. It was an invaluable mechanical means for the controlling the flow and direction of power and force, and also led to the efficient use of animal power for agricultural work. The development of the wheeled carts aided the Sumerians immeasurably in irrigation as well as other urban building projects. Because the wheel was used mostly to relieve the tremendous workload associated with agriculture and irrigation we can say that it was an economic development caused by Mesopotamia s climate and geography..

Mesopotamia is the area from which the earliest forms of writing can be traced. These systems of writing date back to the third millennium B.C.E. In Sumer, a place in Mesopotamia, writing developed in three stages over the course of a millennium. First, writing appeared as carving pictures in stone or stamping them on clay as ownership marks. Such marks were referred to as pictographs. This advanced a little further and the pictures now stood for people, tangible things as well as a few abstract words. After about five hundred centuries, the pictures no longer represented words but had become symbols of syllables that would turn into words when combined. This fully developed writing developed around 2500 B.C.E. and was called cuneiform writing. Cuneiform comes from the Latin word cuneus, which means, wedge . This term was applied to the mode of writing because it was based on wedge-shaped characters impressed mainly on clay but also on stone, metals, wax, and other materials, by a reed stylus with a triangular point. Writing was in the form of ledgers containing inventories of items stored in temples and records of livestock or other items managed by the temple. Because ninety percent of the cuneiform writing was in the form of business and administrative records, I believe that Mesopotamian writing would not have advanced so quickly if it wasn t for the geography and climate of the country. I think this because Mesopotamia was dominated by a surplus of agriculture and was able to receive materials that they did not have through trade. Writing had developed mostly to keep track of inventories of livestock, so I concluded that writing would not have developed in Mesopotamia if it wasn t for the climate and geography of the country.

As Mesopotamian people began to settle down after the transition from food gather to food producer, cities began to develop for the first time. As a result of the cities, a body of law was established to conduct the people. The body of law was called the Code of Hammurabi, after its establisher. The Code of Hammurabi is the oldest known extensive collection of laws. Hammurabi was one of Mesopotamia s greatest monarchs. This is because he had been victorious over four powerful princes, had unified Mesopotamia and now had established a body of law. There were two hundred and eighty two different laws. The laws would deal with various offences, with trade and commerce, marriage, family and property, the fees and responsibi