Early civilizations first developed in Mesopotamia over six thousand years ago. Some of the first cities were established, a writing system was developed, empires were created and monumental buildings were constructed.
As each new group of people moved into the region, or took control of the government, they adopted some of the culture, traditions and beliefs of the people who had come before them. Therefore, certain aspects of civilization in Mesopotamia remained the same, and some changed over time.
Much of Mesopotamian history lay buried beneath the sand and soil for thousands of years. However, there were clues, such as the mounds known as 'tells', and the ruins of ziggurats, that treasures lay below the surface. 
In the past two hundred years, people have begun to excavate objects and buildings which reveal the ancient history of this region.
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Why would anyone wish to build a civilization in the middle of the desert in what is now lower Iraq? Because it was a great place to live!
In Northern Mesopotamia, the land is fertile. There is seasonal rain. The rivers and streams are fed from the hills and mountains of the region.
In Southern Mesopotamia, the land is mostly flat and barren. Temperatures can rise over 110 degrees Fahrenheit. There is very little rainfall. Storms do blow in from the Persian Gulf, which cools things off. The area does have slight seasons. It can get quite cool at certain times of the year.
Many thousands of years ago, early settlers wandered into the land between two rivers. Natural vegetation and wildlife kept the people well fed. The rivers provided fresh drinking water, and a place to bathe. These early people settled down, invented a system of irrigation, and began to farm the land.
Why would anyone wish to build a civilization in the middle of the desert in what is now lower Iraq? The answer: Because it was a wonderful place to live.
Many thousands of years ago, early settlers began to build cities along the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. Natural wildlife and vegetation kept them fed while they began to build their new world.
They wove sturdy baskets from the weeds that grew along the riverbanks and made pottery from the wet clay.
Early Pioneers: One day, a group of early settlers wandered into the land between two rivers. No one knows for sure, but there may have been a small band of people already living in the area. If so, the settlers quickly took over. They were real pioneers. They built permanent homes of sun-dried bricks made of mud and straw, and started a new life in the southern region of ancient Mesopotamia.
The people who settled down and began to develop a civilization, in the land between two rivers, are known as the Sumerians.
About a thousand years after the ancient Sumerians settled in the land between two rivers, two new civilizations arose.
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3500 years ago, Babylon was an impressive place. It was a massive walled city, with a network of canals and vivid green crops. Even from a distance, visitors could see the top of the 300-foot high ziggurat long before they reached the huge city gates.
One of the most impressive sites was Procession Avenue, the street that led into the city. Huge brick animals were positioned along both sides of the avenue. The avenue passed under the Ishtar Gates, the elaborate gate to the walled city. The gates were designed with dragons and bulls in honor of the god Marduk.
Once inside the walls that protected the ancient city of Babylon, visitors and traders found many wondrous things to buy, like fresh fruits and vegetables, baked breads and cheese, warm coats, gold jewelry, and date wine.
Inside the wall, life teemed. There was no suburban or country living in ancient Babylon. The people had homes inside the walls of the city. Homes were comfortable. Even the very poor, who lived in tiny townhouses, typically had three levels of living space.
Once you reached your home, it was spacious and comfortable. But sometimes, it was hard to get home. Inside the wall, the streets were narrow and unpaved. Streets or alleys provided access to everyone's front door. People threw their trash out their front door. Now and then, the city covered the streets with a new layer of clay. This buried the trash, but made the level of the street higher. To get inside their homes, people had to build steps down to their front door, or fill in the space between the new street and punch in a new door.
We also know about the great king Hammurabi. Babylonian culture was based on law. Everybody had to obey the law. Hammurabi wrote down and unified all the laws of ancient Babylonia so that everyone had to obey the law equally, rich and poor alike.
The ancient Sumerians worshiped Marduk, but to the ancient Babylonians, Marduk was the most important god of all. When King Hammurabi declared Babylon to be the capital of Babylonia, he built the city of Babylon in Marduk's honor.
Babylonia religious activities were centered around the temple, the ziggurat. Like the Sumerians, the Babylonians held elaborate festivals and had many different kinds of priests. Their priests spent most of their time driving away evil spirits.
Babylonia was a fascinating place with its comfy homes, fair laws, flourishing crops, and gloomy gods.
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Assyrian artists were very talented. We know a great deal about life in ancient Assyria because of the wonderful legacy of art discovered by archaeologists. Talented artisans used art to tell stories of battles and war heroes with scenes painted on ceramics. There are scenes of warrior camps, men striding in armor, and war chariots, and baked bread. Bread must have been very important to these ancient people.
Religion: Not everyone lived in war camps. The Assyrians also built towns. In each town, they built huge buildings. Each building was decorated with huge demons to protect the building and the town from evil influences.
Archaeologists have discovered artifacts that suggest the ancient Assyrians believed in an afterlife. The ancient Assyrians buried their dead with a few of their favorite possessions, like weapons, drinking cups, and other small personal items. The poor would dig a hole somewhere and bury their dead at home. The rich would build a room just for the burial. In both cases, an oil lamp was kept burning near or at the gravesite, perhaps to light the way between worlds, or perhaps in honor of the deceased.
The Assyrians Conquer Babylon! Around 1200 BCE, the Assyrians finally conquered Babylon. Babylon was the greatest city of the age. Rather than take over the city for their own use, the Assyrians leveled it. They hated the Babylonians. Before they destroyed the town, they forced all the people to move to various places in Assyria. That's what the Assyrians always did when they conquered a new people. They moved them around, different people in different places, so the conquered people would find it difficult to revolt.
After they leveled the city, the Assyrians began to worry. What if Marduk, the great god, thought they were attacking him? They worried and worried, and finally decided to rebuilt the city, so that Marduk would not punish them for destroying a city built in his honor.
They really had no use for the city. They rebuilt Babylon, but left it an empty city. Eventually, people found the empty city and moved in. Babylon rose again.
The Library at Nineveh: Around 600 BCE, before the people of ancient Mesopotamia were conquered by the great Persian Empire, the last Assyrian king started a project. He began collecting a library of clay tablets of all the literature of Sumer, Babylon, and Assyria. No one knows how many tablets he actually collected, but when this library was discovered in modern times, over 30,000 tablets still remained in the great library at Nineveh, his capital city.
These tablets are our single most important source of knowledge about ancient Mesopotamia. The tablets include the Story of Gilgamesh, Hammurabi's Code, and many other important documents and stories created by these amazing people - the ancient Mesopotamians.
In the cities, long docks were built along the sides of the rivers so that ships could easily dock and unload the goods they had to trade. Ships brought food, drinks, clothes, jewelry, wine, and other goods up and down the rivers.
The Assyrians, who lived in northern Mesopotamia, were famous traders. They did not use boats to move their goods. They traveled on land. Their donkeys and caravans were known throughout the Mesopotamian area.
When new supplies arrived, whether by boat or by caravan, banquets were held in many upper and lower class homes. There was music and dancing. Poets would recite verses about great kingly deeds. Golden cups filled with sweet delicious date wine would be lifted in each home, in a toast to their host.
The ancient Mesopotamians did not have a lot of natural resources. They counted on trade to obtain the goods they needed and wanted.
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The Upper Class: Men and women wore jewelry, especially rings. Men wore skirts and had long hair, curly moustaches, and long beards. Women wore dresses, off one shoulder. They had long hair, which they braided or wore up in fancy arrangements. It was easy to tell who were the priests. The priests shaved their heads. Everyone wore cloaks made from sheep wool to keep warm in winter.
The Lower Class: In ancient Sumer, people were paid for their work. If they ran a shop or worked in the fields, they were paid for their goods or labor. Stealing was a serious crime and punishment was severe. Everybody paid, even the king.
Although the lower class did not have the luxury lifestyle of the rich, they were comfortable. They worked very hard, but they had homes. They wore jewelry, although perhaps it was not made of gold. They followed the clothing fashions of the time as much as possible.
There was no law that said they could not move up the social scale, or more likely, have their children move up the social scale by becoming a scribe, or a priest or priestess.
The Slaves: When the Sumerians conquered another town, they brought prisoners back with them to act as slaves. Slaves worked for the king, the temple and the wealthy. Slaves were bought and sold. Records have been found recording the amount paid for a slave. Typically, a slave bought at auction cost less than a donkey but more than a cow.
Women in ancient Mesopotamia were not equal to men, but they did have rights.
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From the top of the Ziggurat, you could see the protective wall built about the entire town, and over the wall to the farmlands beyond.
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Once upon a time, a long time ago, King Gilgamesh sat alone in his garden, thinking things over. Something was bothering him. He loved being king of all his people. That was good. He was strong enough to pick up mountains, which was handy on occasion. He could dive down to the deepest point in the ocean and back again in one breath! But he could not fly. And he could not live forever.
It was that "could not live forever" part that really got his camel. After all, wasn't he a god? Well, two-thirds of a god?
Maybe it was that, but for whatever reason, Gilgamesh was very bored. He had run out of cities to conquer. All the monsters ran away the minute they heard he was coming. He had nothing to do that was any fun at all except scare his subject silly with his tempers and his tantrums.
The gods looked down and decided that Gilgamesh needed a challenge. They created a really wild man, who was stronger and faster than Gilgamesh. They named their creation Enkidu.
The gods sent Enkidu down to earth, to cut Gilgamesh down to size. Enkidu went roaring into the city of Uruk, where Gilgamesh had his palace.
Gilgamesh perked up immediately. The two men/gods roared and wrestled and bit and scratched, but neither could beat the other. They started laughing and became the best of friends.
Since there was nothing much to do around town, arm in arm, the two god/men marched off to the forbidden forest, looking for monsters to battle.
When the citizens of Uruk heard their king had left town in search of adventure elsewhere, they were most relieved. They wished their king the best of adventures with his new friend, Enkidu.
Hammurabi was an ancient Babylonian king. He did something that no one had ever done before. The Sumerians had created the first written cuneiform. Using this written language, Hammurabi created the first written set of laws.
In Hammurabi's court, it did not matter if you were rich or poor. If you broke the law, and were found guilty, you would be punished.
Since the laws were clearly written down, everyone was expected to obey them.
Legend says ... The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were built by King Nebuchadnezzar so that the queen, his wife, would have a lovely, private, terraced garden to enjoy.
The gardens were rumored to be about 400 feet wide, 400 feet long, and over 80 feet high. Some historians believe the gardens were built in a series of platforms that all together were 320 feet high. There were paths and steps and fountains and gorgeous flowers, all build to make a homesick queen feel welcomed and loved.
It was supposedly built around 600 BCE, along the bank of the Euphrates River (south of the modern day city of Baghdad, Iraq.)
No one knows if the gardens actually existed, or if they did, if they existed in Babylon, but the legend is a lovely one.
The ancient Sumerians invented them all!
The game of checkers invented at Ur
Games and Toys
Achievements
Invention of the Wheel (thinkquest)
Cylinder Seals
Cuneiform - The First Written Language
Gilgamesh - The First Super-Hero
Hammurabi's Law Code - Written Down, and Applied to Everyone
Hanging Gardens of Babylon (one of the 7 wonders of the world!)
Architectural Marvels
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