Mesopotamian Civilization Essay

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Muhlberger (2011) Mesopotamian civilization, which began around 5000 B.C. and really blossomed around 3000 B.C., made a bigger impression on the historical tradition. Mesopotamia is a late, Greek word for the country we now call Iraq (though some parts of Mesopotamia are in Iran). It means "the land between the rivers." From all accounts, it is rather unimpressive to the eye, because it is simply a great plain of mud between two muddy rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. There has never been enough rain in the country to support an extensive agriculture. In the earliest days the farmers seem to have lived on the edges of marshes hunting the animals that lived there, fishing, and collecting all kinds of plant foods; agriculture was added to…show more content…
It comprises the civilizations of Sumer and Akkad (third millennium B.C.) as well as the later Babylonian and Assyrian empires of the second and first millennium. The key element in the development of Mesopotamian cultures was the gradual adaptation to the ecological conditions of the region. The earliest Mesopotamian settlements, dating back to the sixth millennium, were found here. The success of Mesopotamian agriculture was its ability to produce enough surpluses not only to feed the laboring masses but to free a large sector of the population from subsistence efforts. There was enough grain to support full-time craftsmen, bureaucrats and administrators, cult performers, and other professionals. Mesopotamia is marked by the ability to absorb new populations, but the process was by no means smooth and unproblematic because it demanded considerable social adjustment to settled and urban life. Although the literate sources always stress cultural continuity, the different values of immigrant peoples did contribute to changes in the political structure and social norms. Mesopotamian culture was always heterogeneous. Written history in Mesopotamia began in the so-called Early Dynastic period III (c. 2600–2350 B.C.). At this time, the country was divided into a number of individual cities with their surrounding

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