Sumerian & Mesopotamian Civilization

Sumerian Civilization Sumer was one of the early civilizations of the Ancient Near East, located in the southern part of Iraq, from the time of the earliest records in the mid-fourth millennium B.C.E. to the late third millennium B.C.E.  Sumer together with Ancient Egypt and the Indus Valley Civilization is considered the first settled society in the world to have manifested all the features needed to qualify fully as a "civilization." The development of the City State as an organized social and political settlement enabled art and commerce, writing and architectures, including the building of Temples (ziggurats) to flourish. The history of Sumeria dates back to the beginning of writing and also of law, which the Sumerian are credited with inventing.  Sumerians called themselves the black headed people and their land, land of the civilized lords. Agriculture and hunting The Sumerians adopted the agricultural mode of life. They grew barley, chickpeas, lentils, wheat, dates, onions, garlic, lettuce, leeks and mustard. They also raised cattle, sheep, goats, andpigs. They used oxen as their primary beasts of burden and donkeys or equids as their primary transport animal. Sumerians caught many fish. Sumerian agriculture depended heavily on irrigation. The irrigation was accomplished by the use of canals, channels, dikes, weirs, and reservoirs. There was frequent floods. After drying, they plowed, harrowed, raked the ground three times. Unfortunately the high evaporation rate resulted in gradual salinity of the fields. As a result, farmers had converted from wheat to the more salt-tolerant barley as their principle crop.The farmers would use threshing wagons to separate the cereal heads from the stalks. Architecture Sumerian structures were made of plano-convex mudbrick, not fixed with mortar or cement. Mud-brick buildings eventually deteriorate, and so they were periodically destroyed, leveled, and rebuilt on the same spot. This constant rebuilding gradually raised the level of cities, so that they came to be elevated above the surrounding plain. The resultant hills are known as tells, and are found throughout the ancient Near East. The most impressive and famous of Sumerian buildings are the ziggurats, large layered platforms which supported temples. The Sumerians also developed the arch. With this structure, they were able to develop a strong type of roof called a dome. They built this by constructing several arches. Culture Sumerian culture may be traced to two main centers, Eridu in the south and Nippur in the north. The deity Enlil was considered lord of the ghost-land. Whereas, god Enki was the god of beneficence, ruler of the freshwater depths beneath the earth, a healer and friend to humanity who was thought to have given us the arts and sciences, the industries and manners of civilization; the first law-book was considered his creation. Eridu had once been a seaport, and it was doubtless its foreign trade and intercourse with other lands that influenced the development of its culture. The earth, it was believed, had grown out of the waters of the deep. The Code of Hammurabi was based on Sumerian Law. Focus was on the development of city states.Treaties from ancient Sumeria indicate a preference for solving disputes through negotiation. For the Sumerians, commerce and trade was better than conflict. Though women were protected by late Sumerian law and were able to achieve a higher status in Sumer than in other contemporary civilizations, the culture was male-dominated. There is much evidence that the Sumerians loved music. It seemed to be an important part of religious and civic life in Sumer. Lyres were popular in Sumer. Economy and trade Discoveries of  lapis lazuli from northeastern Afghanistan, beads from Dilmun (modern Bahrain), and several seals inscribed with the Indus Valley script suggest a remarkably wide-ranging network of ancient trade centered around the Persian Gulf. There are references to trade with far lands for goods such as wood that were scarce in Mesopotamia. In particular, cedar from Lebanon was prized. The Sumerians used slaves, although they were not a major part of the economy. Slave women worked as weavers, pressers, millers, and porters.Sumerian potters decorated pots with cedar oil paints. They knew the skill of baking in fire. Sumerian masons and jewelers knew and made use of  ivory, gold, silver, carnelian and lapis lazuli. Military Early chariots 2600 B.C.E. The almost constant wars among the Sumerian city-states for 2000 years helped to develop the military technology and techniques of Sumer to a high level. The infantrymen carried spears, equipped with copper helmets and leather shields. The spearmen are shown arranged in a phalanx formation, which required training and discipline, and so implies they were professional soldiers. The Sumerian military used carts harnessed to onagers (wild ass). These early chariots served primarily as transports, though the crew carried battle-axes and lances. The Sumerian chariot comprised a four or two-wheeled device manned by a crew of two and harnessed to four onagers. The wheels had a solid three-piece design. Sumerian cities were surrounded by defensive walls. Religion Sumer was a polytheistic, or henotheistic, society. There was no organized set of gods, with each city-state having its own patrons, temples, and priest-kings; but the Sumerians were probably the first to write down their beliefs. Sumerian beliefs had significant influence on  Mesopotamian mythology, religion, and astrology. The Sumerians worshipped gods equivalent to heaven, earth, star, moon, and mother goddess. there were hundreds of minor deities. The Sumerian gods  had associations with different cities, and their religious importance often waned with the political power of the associated cities. The gods were said to have created human beings from clay for the purpose of serving them. The gods often expressed their anger and frustration through earthquakes and storms: the gist of Sumerian religion was that humanity was at the mercy of the gods. Sumerians believed that the universe consisted of a flat disk enclosed by a tin dome. Sumerian temples consisted of a forecourt, with a central pond for purification. The temple had a mudbrick table for animal and vegetable sacrifices. Granaries and storehouses were usually located near the temples. After a time the Sumerians began to place the temples on top of multi-layered square constructions built as a series of rising terraces: the ziggurats. Technology Examples of Sumerian technology include: the wheel, cuneiform, arithmetic and geometry, irrigation systems, sumerian boats, lunisolar calendar, bronze, leather, saws, chisels, hammers, braces, bits, nails, pins, rings, hoes, axes, knives, lancepoints, arrowheads, swords,glue, daggers, waterskins, bags, harnesses, armor, quivers, scabbards, boots, sandal (footwear), harpoons, and beer. The Sumerians had three main types of boats: skin boats comprising of animal skins and reeds clinker-built sailboats stitched together with hair, featuring bitumen waterproofing wooden ships, sometimes pulled upstream by people and animals walking along the nearby banks Language and writing The most important archaeological discoveries in Sumer are a large number of tablets written in Sumerian around 3500 B.C.E. Sumerians invented picture-hieroglyphs that developed into later cuneiform, and their language vies with Ancient Egyptian for credit as the oldest known written human language. An extremely large body of hundreds of thousands of texts in the Sumerian language has survived, the great majority of these on clay tablets. Known Sumerian texts include personal and business letters and transactions, receipts, lexical lists, laws, hymns and prayers, magical incantations, and scientific texts including mathematics, astronomy, and medicine. Monumental inscriptions and texts on different objects are also very common. However, it did not had a well structured grammar. Legacy Most authorities credit the Sumerians with the invention of the wheel, initially in the form of the potter's wheel. The new concept quickly led to wheeled vehicles and mill wheels. The Sumerians' cuneiform writing system is the oldest. The Sumerians were among the first formal astronomers, correctly formulating a heliocentric view of the solar system They invented and developed arithmetic using several different number systems. They invented the clock with its 60 seconds, 60 minutes, and 12 hours, and the 12 month calendar which is still in use. They may have invented military formations and introduced the basic divisions between infantry, cavalry and archers. They developed the first known codified legal and administrative systems, complete with courts, jails, and government records. The first true city states arose in Sumer. The practice of writing expanded beyond debt/payment certificates and inventory lists and included history, legend, mathematics, astronomical records and other pursuits generally corresponding to the fields occupying teachers and students ever since. Accordingly, the first formal schools were established, usually under the auspices of a city-state's primary temple. Finally, the Sumerians ushered in the age of intensive agriculture and irrigation. Wheat, barley, sheep and cattle were foremost among the species cultivated and raised for the first time on a grand scale. These inventions and innovations easily place the Sumerians among the most creative cultures in human pre-history and history. Downfall This period is generally taken to coincide with a major shift in population from southern Iraq toward the north, as a result of the increase in soil salinity. Soil salinity in this region had been long recognized as a major problem. Poorly drained irrigated soils, in an arid climate with high levels of evaporation, led to the deposit of crystalline salt in the soil, eventually reducing agricultural yields severely. There was a shift from the cultivation of wheat to the more salt-tolerant barley, but this was insufficient, and during the period from 2100 B.C.E. to 1700 B.C.E., it is estimated that the population in this area declined by nearly three fifths . This greatly weakened the balance of power within the region, weakening the areas where Sumerian was spoken.. Mesopotamian Civilization "Mesopotamia" is a Greek word meaning, "Land between the Rivers". The region is a vast, dry plain through which two great rivers, the Euphrates and Tigris, flow. These rivers rise in mountain ranges to the north before flowing through Mesopotamia to the sea. The land is too dry to grow many crops on. As a result, much of it has home to herders of sheep and goat. Near the rivers themselves, the soil is extremely fertile. It is made up of rich mud brought down by the rivers from the mountains, and deposited over a wide area during the spring floods. When watered by means of irrigation channels, it makes some of the best farmland in the world.  The marshy land near the sea also makes very productive farmland, once it had been drained. Here, the diet is enriched by the plentiful supply of fish from the lagoons and ponds. It is this geography which gave rise to the earliest civilization in world history.  Agriculture is only possible in the dry climate of Mesopotamia by means of irrigation. A dense population grew up here along the Tigris and Euphrates and their branches in the centuries after 5000 BC. By 3500 BC, cities had appeared. The surplus food grown in this fertile landscape enabled the farming societies to feed a class of people who did not need to devote their lives to agriculture. These were the craftsmen, priests, scribes, administrators, rulers and soldiers who made civilization possible. Language and Writing of Ancient Mesopotamia The first script to be used was based on pictures, and is therefore known as "pictographic" around 3500 BC. They were gradually becoming more "phonetic" - that is, reflecting spoken words. Finally, around 2500 BC, the script had evolved into "cuneiform" - or wedge-shaped - writing. This was written by means of triangular-tipped stylus tools being pressed onto wet clay. Learning to write in cuneiform was a long and rigorous process, and literacy was confined to a small elite of priests and officials. Cuneiform was at first written in the Sumerian language which retained importance as the language of administration, religion and high culture. However, in the centuries after 2000 BC, it increasingly fell out of everyday use. The waning of these languages had to do with the rise and fall of ruling kingdoms and empires with which they were linked. Government of Ancient Mesopotamia One of the most remarkable things about Mesopotamian civilization is that states organized their populations more tightly. In truth, this situation is the result of gradual steps taken over even thousands of years; however, the sheer scope of the state's control over the lives of the people is astonishing. Politically, the each Sumerian city formed its own city-state, composed of the city itself and the farmland for several miles around. These city-states were fiercely independent from one another, and warfare between them was frequent. Priests and bureaucrats The god of the city was held to own the city; in practice, this translated into the temple controlling the productive land of the city-state. There are indications that the common people (who were under the temple's authority) brought what they grew to the temple, and received back what they needed to live on from the priests. If this is correct, then we have here as near a communist state as we ever get in history. Thus the temple acted as a major centre of distribution: receiving, storing and disbursing the food (and other goods, such as seed and agricultural implements) as needed, and keeping back stocks for years of poor harvest or floods. In these circumstances the first bureaucracies in history emerged. Scribes and accountants were needed to keep track of what was being brought into and sent out of the temple store houses. They left behind them thousands and thousands of documents on clay tablets. The temple would also have employed a large number of menial labourers, as well as skilled craftsmen, and probably even traders who were dispatched to barter with peoples further afield for much needed building materials and other products. In a sense, in fact, the farmers too were temple employees, working the god's land and under the authority of the temple priests and overseers.  Kings By the mid-third millennium, the political dominance of the temple was seriously modified by the rise of kingship in all the Mesopotamian city-states; it seems likely that this development was linked to the endemic warfare that set in between city-states at this time (attested by the appearance of city walls). It may have been that the high priests of the temples became more and more important as the people of the city looked to them for military leadership. In any event, during the early third millennium BC kingship arose in all the city-states, and in subsequent centuries became powerful. The king was held to be the earthly representative of the patron god of the city. His primary duty was to ensure that the people served their god properly. Because the people believed themselves to be the slaves of their god, they were also viewed as being slaves of the king. However, the king was also seen as the shepherd of his people, and his duty was not simply to ensure their obedience; it was also to provide justice and order, to protect property, and of course to defend the people from attack. Larger states From time to time, one of these city-states would succeed in conquering its neighbours, with the conquering ruler becoming acknowledged by other kings as their overlord, or high king. Extensive states would thus be formed temporarily, enduring for a generation or two. As time went by, however, the independence of the city-states was gradually undermined as more enduring states covering many cities arose. From the early 2nd millennium, southern Mesopotamia was usually unifiedunder the control of various dynasties, ruling from the large city of Babylon. As a result, this region came to be called Babylonia. Some time later, northern Mesopotamia came to be dominated by the Assyrians. Administration Mesopotamian rulers had wide duties. Not only had they to maintain law and order, but they had to ensure that the canals and irrigation systems were in proper working order, so that agriculture could thrive. As a result, much of the bureaucratic apparatus that had grown up to serve the temple was now under the orders of the king, to assist him. By this date, Mesopotamian states also had a regular postal system at their service. To sustain the state apparatus, Mesopotamian landowners had to pay the king a portion of the crops they grew. They also had to provide labour services ("corvee") to work on the irrigation dykes, channels and canals, and men for the army - theoretically, every male was liable for military service, with only a few exemptions. Also, the king owned large estates from which he could draw income. The individual cities were also responsible for the upkeep of their local irrigation systems, and could raise their own labour for this. To meet their local government needs, the subordinate cities could impose their own taxes and dues, as well as levy duties on local trade. Law One of the major contributions of ancient Mesopotamia to government practice was the development of written law codes. The most famous of these is the Code of Hammurabi, written about 1780 BC.   Cases were heard by judges appointed by the king; in important cases, a panel of judges was appointed. Appeals could be made to the king. Indeed, it seems that one of the reasons for Hammurabi issuing his Code was to make it clear to all his subjects on what basis decisions would be arrived at if appeals were made to the royal court. A person could not be convicted unless there was clear evidence of his or her guilt. However, carelessness or negligence could be harshly punished. By modern standards, punishments could be harsh - many crimes carried the death penalty (with sentences ranging from hanging to burning). Flogging was used for various crimes, but fines were the most common punishment. As well as criminal law, there was a well-developed body of civil law. Contracts, deeds and agreements had to be written on a clay tablet, witnessed on oath and placed in the temple archives, so that in case of dispute they could be referred to later. Warfare Warfare was endemic in early Mesopotamian society, as cities quarrelled over land and water rights. The Sumerian city-states organized the first true armies (as opposed to warrior bands) in history. We know very little about how these armies were composed or organized. Fragmentary evidence suggests that there was a small permanent corps of trained soldiers, which would be supplemented in times of war by a larger group of citizens. Their elite soldiers were armed with bronze armour and weapons, and less-well armed but more mobile troops were deployed slings and bows and arrows. In the 2nd millennium BC, Mesopotamian armies adopted a new piece of military technology, the horse-drawn chariot. This was an innovation. Mastering chariot warfare demanded considerable training and practice, and the adoption of this technology must have given further impetus to the use of trained, perhaps even professional, soldiers. Religion Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic; more than 2,000 gods and goddesses have been identified. The chief of the gods varied from period to period. The Every household, village and city had its own god. Everything that happened on Earth had a divine dimension to it. The overriding purpose of man was to serve the gods. In early Mesopotamian times this meant that the entire economic life of a city-state was geared to the service of the temple. Later, kings as representatives of the gods on Earth were responsible for the people's service to the gods. This gave religious justification for their complete authority over their subjects.   Mesopotamian cosmology viewed the world as a flat disc, with a canopy of air above, and beyond that, surrounding water above and below. The universe was held to have come out of this water. The Mesopotamians had a rich store of myths and legends. The most famous of these today is the epic of Gilgamesh, due to the fact that it contains a legend of the flood.   Economy and Society The early Mesopotamian city-state was, to a very large extent, a self-sufficient economic unit. The temple had an immense degree of control over economic activity. Craftsmen - metal-smiths, potters, spinners, weavers, carpenters - and labourers were employees of the temple. Long-distance trade caravans were organized and supplied by the temple, and the traders were temple servants. As time went by this situation was modified by the rising importance of the secular ruler, the king. As he grew in power, little by little he arrogated more economic control to himself. This was achieved through taking land (the primary economic asset) from the temple, and diverting the work of scribes, overseers, craftsmen and workmen to his own purposes. In course of time, the king granted lands and wealth to his officials and supporters, and so created a private market for goods and services separate from either king or temple. Nevertheless, throughout ancient Mesopotamian times, temples and palaces retained huge economic influence. Agriculture The Mesopotamian economy was based primarily on agriculture. The Mesopotamians grew a variety of crops, including barley, wheat, onions, turnips, grapes, apples and dates. They kept cattle, sheep and goats; they made beer and wine. Fish were also plentiful in the rivers and canals. The rivers Tigris and Euphrates, and their numerous branches, made farming possible in Mesopotamia. However, floods were frequent. Farming was carried out by peasants rather than by slaves (mass slavery tends to be a response to a shortage of labour). All remained liable to forced labour on irrigation projects, or on the construction and maintenance of temples, palaces and city walls. The Mesopotamians were the first people to attempt to control water on a large scale by the use of an integrated system of dykes, reservoirs, canals, drainage channels and aqueducts. Until the spread of the use of iron, in the first millennium BC, farming implements were made of stone and bone. Metals such as bronze were far too expensive to use in this way, while copper was too soft for most uses. Wood was also quite rare, as there is little tree cover in the region. However, the soil of Mesopotamia, once watered, is easy to work, and agriculture was highly productive. Trade Since the region fell short of useful minerals such as stone for building, precious metals and timber; this had the effect of stimulating trade with neighbouring regions, and beyond. Early in Mesopotamia's history food surpluses and craft goods were exchanged for mineral resources. Later, Mesopotamian merchants ventured further afield, with trading contacts being developed with peoples in Syria and Asia Minor in the west, and in Iran and the Indus civilization, in the east. With the coming of the Bronze Age, in about 3000 BC, an added incentive to trade was the desire to acquire the copper and tin needed to make this valuable metal. Once Mesopotamian states started to equip their soldiers with bronze armour and weapons, this hunger intensified. However, these minerals are only found in widely scattered locations, so the search for them involved developing long distance trade routes. Trade caravans were organized by specialist agents. Most bulk goods was transported by river. Sea-going ships were also used, with trading voyages being made to the ports. Temples acted as banks, with merchants and landowners acting as lenders. Written drafts (inscribed on clay tablets) were used by merchants to draw "money" from the temple-banks. Temples also made loans on their own account. Settlements The ancient Mesopotamians lived in cities, which formed the core of the city-states. These cities were surrounded by numerous satellite villages, and in the case of the larger cities, smaller towns were also under their authority. The typical Mesopotamian city was built around the temple, a monumental structure sitting at the centre of a complex of granaries, storehouses and other administrative buildings. A monumental royal palace would also stand nearby, sometimes rivalling the temple in magnificence. One or more wide streets connected the central area to the city gates. Away from these public spaces, the large homes of the elite and the squat mud dwellings of the common people crowded together. The larger cities were composed of several districts, each one centred on its own temple (whose god was subordinate to the patron god of the city). Around the harbour were the homes of foreign traders, who would not have been allowed to live in the city itself. Surrounding this built up area was the territory ruled from the city. Nearest the city were the irrigated farms and meadows. There was the large courtyard-style house of a wealthy landowner. Beyond the fertile farmland would be the grassland where shepherds and nomads grazed their sheep and goat; and beyond this, the desert. Social classes Most of the population in ancient Mesopotamia were farmers, working small plots of land. Above them stood a very small elite group made up of the ruling classes - kings, courtiers, officials, priests and soldiers. Merchants and craftsmen also held a high position in society. The elite was greatly restricted in size by the difficulty, length of time and expense it took to acquire literacy and numeracy. Access to schooling was available only to the children of elite families. The vast majority of ordinary folk needed their children to be contributing to the family income as soon as they were able, and not spending time in education. Very probably literacy was seen as a mysterious and sacred skill, conferring high status on those who possessed it. Near the bottom of society was an underclass of landless labourers and beggars. These had only restricted rights as citizens; and right at the bottom was a class of slaves, who had very few rights. They could be bought and sold like other property. They worked as household servants, as workers in workshops, and in other menial roles. However, they could acquire property, and even own other slaves. They also had the right to buy their freedom, if they were able. The Family Most marriages were monogamous, though concubines were farily frequent, especially in wealthy families. Women had a respected place in Mesopotamian society, at least by the time of Hammurabi's Code. They had rights and duties as citizens, they could act as witnesses in court, and they could own property. She brought a dowry into the family, and although divorce was entirely a husband's prerogative, the divorced wife would take her dowry with her out of the marriage. A widow took the husband's place at the head of the household until her children were adults. Should she remarry, the children still retained their full rights to their father's inheritance. A father had complete control over his children's lives, even to the point of selling them into slavery, until they married. A father could will his inheritance to any of his children, but generally daughters received an equal share with their brothers. They also developed an impressive body of scientific knowledge through close observation of the natural world. Exhaustive lists of animals, plants and minerals have come down to us, as well as lists of Geographical features - rivers, mountains, cities and peoples. Plans of cities have been discovered. The Mesopotamians also showed a practical grasp of chemical processes in many fields. Science, Mathematics and Technology Numerous technological advances can be attributed to the Mesopotamians: irrigation, the plough, the sail, clay bricks, the potters wheel, metal-working (including metal armour and weaponry), writing, accounting, filing, glass and lamp making, weaving and much more.  Mesopotamian science was particularly fruitful in three areas, mathematics, astronomy and medicine.  Mathematics: The Mesopotamians laid many of the foundations for modern mathematics. They produced detailed mathematical tables, as well as texts posing advanced mathematical problems. From these we know that they developed a number system based on base 60, which has given us the 60-minute hour, the 24-hour day, and the 360-degree circle. The Sumerian calendar was based on the seven-day week. They developed theorems on how to measure the area of several shapes and solids, and came close to an accurate measure of the circumference of circles. They fully understood square roots and cube roots. Astronomy Mesopotamian priests produced astronomical tables, and could predict eclipses and solstices. They worked out a 12-month calendar based on the cycles of the moon. Mesopotamian astronomical knowledge was later to have a major influence on Greek astronomy. Astronomy and astrology were inextricably bound together: the movement of the heavenly bodies were seen as having a direct influence on the affairs of men. Medicine Medicine and religion went hand in hand. Disease was seen as a sign of the gods' displeasure with a person, or even as a manifestation of evil spirits indwelling them. The duty of the doctor was to identify the sin which had caused such displeasure, and to prescribe the correct religious ceremony to bring about healing. Mesopotamian doctors had developed rational techniques of diagnosis, prognosis, physical examination, and prescriptions alongside the more mystical elements of their trade. Doctors used bandages, creams and pills in their treatments. This involved a sound understanding of the properties of different herbs and minerals. Art and Culture Literature The literature contains prayers, hymns, myths, epic poetry, collections of proverbs, works on theology, philosophy, politics and astrology, books of spells, historical records and many other kinds of texts. The best-kown piece of Mesopotamian literature is the Gilgamesh Epic, a long poem. Art The main forms of Mesopotamian art which have come down to us are sculptured figures in stone and clay. Few paintings have survived, though most sculpture was also painted. Mesopotamian sculpture comes in all sizes, and appears in the round and as reliefs. It often depicts animals, such as goats, rams, bulls and lions, as well as mythical creatures such as lions and bulls with men's heads. Others show gods and goddesses, as well as priests and worshippers. Most human figures from the early period have large, staring eyes, and, on men, long beards. As time goes by the figures become increasingly realistic. Later, sculpture takes on a colossal form, with giant statues guarding the royal palaces. On a smaller scale, cylinder seals come from all periods of Mesopotamian history, beautifully executed, with highly complex and sophisticated designs. Architecture Temples: Mesopotamian temples were designed to a rectangular plan. They were brick-built temple-mounds, taking the form of a layered platform. Constructing these great buildings demanded high level design and engineering skills. Their exact proportions show that their builders had a complete mastery of the mathematics involved. Surrounding the central temple building was a complex of ceremonial courtyards, shrines, burial chambers for the priests and priestesses, ceremonial banquet halls, along with workshops, granaries, storehouse and administrative buildings, as temples were main centres of economic and administrative activity in ancient Mesopotamia. Palaces:  The palaces of Mesopotamian rulers were large and lavishly decorated. These complexes housed craftsmen's workshops, servants quarters, food storehouses, shrines, and of course the domestic accommodation for the royal family. The largest of these led off to the throne room, of a size and majesty designed to stun visitors. The palace walls were decorated with carved stone slabs on which pictorial and textual depictions of cultural scenes or the the Kings' deeds. Gates and important passageways were flanked with massive stone sculptures of mythological figures. Outside, these palaces were often adjoined to expansive gardens and parks. Houses: The materials used to build a Mesopotamian house were the same as those used today: sun-baked brick made of mud mixed with straw, mud plaster and wooden doors. These all used materials naturally available in the locality. Most large houses, whether in town or country, were built around a courtyard. Off one side was a large square room, where the family received guests and ate together. Leading off this room were the private family quarters. Other sides of the courtyard led to the kitchen, store rooms and servants accommodation.  Ancient Mesopotamia's place in World History Ancient Mesopotamia must surely be the most influential civilization in world history. For a start, it was the first. The Mesopotamians were the first to build cities, use the potter's wheel, develop writing, use bronze in large quantities, evolve complex bureaucracies, organize proper armies, and so on. Mesopotamian civilization deeply influenced the Greek, Roman and Islamic civilizations. A whole range of technologies and scientific advances were thus made in ancient Mesopotamia which eventually found their way to Medieval and Modern European civilization. To the east, powerful Mesopotamian influences flowed into India; for example, the Sanskrit alphabet is based on the Aramean script. So, the Mesopotamians built long and well; they were the giants upon whose shoulders later ages have stood.