MESOPOTAMIA

THE WORLDS FIRST CIVILIZATION

Civilizations are complex

societies. They have cities,

organized governments,
art, religion, class
divisions, and a writing
system.

MESOPOTAMIA
THE LAND BETWEEN TWO RIVER

THE FOUR SUBCULTURES

SUMER
AKKADIAN
BABYLONIAN
ASSYRIAN

SUMER
SUMER WAS THE MOST

SOUTHERMOST REGION OF
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA {MODERN
DAY IRAQ AND KUWAIT} WHICH IS
GENERALLY CONSIDERED THE
CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION.
SUMERIAN CALLED THEMSELVES
BLACK HEADED PEOPLE AND
THEIR LAND ,IN CUNEIFORM SCRIPT
WAS SIMPLY THE LAND OR THE
LAND OF BLACK HEADED PEOPLE

AKKADIAN
The Akkadian Empire was an ancient Semitic

empire centered in the city of Akkad and its

surrounding region, also called Akkad in ancient
Mesopotamia.

BABYLONIAN
The name is thought to derive from bav-il or bav-ilim

which, in the Akkadian language of the time, meant

Gate of God or `Gate of the Gods and `Babylon
coming from Greek.

ASSYRIAN
Assyria is named for its original capital, the ancient

city of Aur which dates to c. 2600 BC (located in

what is now the Saladin Province of northern Iraq),
originally one of a number of Akkadian city states in
Mesopotamia

ETYMOLOGY
MESO--- Means MIDDLE
POTAMIA--- Means RIVER

Literally means land between

rivers

ARCHITECTURE
The architecture of Mesopotamian is the ancient

architecture of the region of the

TigrisEuphrates river system (also known as Mesopotamia
), encompassing several distinct cultures and spanning a
period from the 10th millennium BC, when the first
permanent structures were built, to the 6th century BC.
Among the Mesopotamian architectural accomplishments
are the development of urban planning, the
courtyard house, and ziggurats. No architectural profession
existed in Mesopotamia; however, scribes drafted and
managed construction for the government, nobility, or
royalty. The Mesopotamians regarded 'the craft of building'
as a divine gift taught to men by the gods as listed .

MESOPOTAMIA
TRADE AND TRANSPORTATION
Mesopotamia was a region which did not have many

natural resources. Therefore, the people who lived there needed

to trade with neighboring countries in order to acquire the
resources they needed to live.
Grain, oils and textiles were taken from Babylonia to foreign
cities and exchanged for timber, wine, precious metals and
stones. In addition, merchants from other countries travelled to
Babylonia to exchange their goods.
Merchants used several different methods for transporting their
goods depending on what they were transporting. For example,
grain was quite bulky and was best transported on a boat,
whereas precious stones were likely to be small, so they could be
transported on foot or by donkey.

ART AND CRAFT

The art of Mesopotamia has survived in the

archaeological record from early hunter-gatherer societies

on to the Bronze Age cultures .Widely considered to be
the cradle of civilization, Mesopotamia brought significant
cultural developments, including the oldest examples of
writing. The art of Mesopotamia rivalled
that of Ancient Egypt as the most grand, sophisticated
and elaborate in western Eurasia .
The main emphasis was on various, very durable, forms
of sculpture in stone and clay; little painting has survived,
but what has suggests that painting was mainly used for
geometrical and plant-based decorative schemes, though
most sculptures were also painted.