Land Between Two Rivers

Unit 2 Section 1

The region known as the Fertile Crescent stretches in an arch from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. The Fertile Crescent is a region in southwest Asia that was the site of the world's first civilizations.

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Geographic Setting and Location

Mesopotamia is an ancient civilization that is located in the Fertile Crescent. We refer to it as the land between two rivers. It held cities and states that created the first major and lasting cultures that we know of. This region is located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and one of its most populated areas was Sumer. Sumer could be found at the southeast end of Mesopotamia bordering the Persian Gulf. The reason this region saw a rise in population was because it had fertile soil, which was great for farming. Farming created a surplus of food, which in turn provided enough nutrients for people to grow their families and the over all population.

Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers were the source of life for the people of Mesopotamia. In the spring, melting snow at the top of the Zagros and Taurus Mountain ranges, would travel and flood the land. On its journey to the Persian Gulf the flood waters would bring nutrient rich top soil to Mesopotamia and farmers would use it to grow their crops.

The rivers would also supply fresh water, fish, clay, strong reed for boats, and a route for travel.

Unfortunately the floods were unpredictable. This meant that people could not know when it would flood. Without warning the flood waters could come and wipe out people, homes, animals, and farms. This forced the survivors to rebuild and hope for less destruction in the next flooding season.

The First Cities

Surpluses of food from farming allowed communities to grow. This encouraged the creation of cities. By 3500 BCE some of the earliest known cities arose in a southern region of Sumer along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

Formation of Independent Cities

Cities in Sumer shared common cultures and languages, but they were not completely united under a singular ruler. They remained politically independent as city-states. A city-state is a city that is also a separate and independent state. For example, imagine if New York City was not just a city, put the 51st state in the U.S. Each Sumerian city acted as an independent state with its own special gods/goddesses, its own government, its own army, and its own king.

Sumerian Cities

Public squares were the busiest part of the city. Market places would have merchants selling goods along with musicians, acrobats, and beggars filling major streets. For a fee scribes would write letters for those who could not read or write. Scribes are professional writers. Housing faced away from the crowded streets and into courtyards where families would spend their time. Homes were lit by own lamps at night, and in the hotter months families could be found sleeping outside on their flat roofs.

Sumerian Religion

Temples

A ziggurat is a temple of the ancient Sumerians and Babylonians, made of terraces connected by ramps and stairs, roughly in the shape of a pyramid.

Religious, economic and social activities all took place at the temple sites. This means that it could function as a market place as well as a city-hall. At the top of each ziggurat was a shrine to the gods and goddesses. Ancient Sumerians believes that gods descended to earth by using the ziggurat as a stairway.

Religious Beliefs

The people of ancient Sumer worshiped many gods and goddesses. This is a practice known as polytheism, or a belief in more than one god. Poly is a Greek prefix for many and Theism means belied in god or gods.

Sumerians had myths that warned that the gods would punish people who angered them and reward those who served the gods well. Myths are stories about gods or legends that explain peoples' beliefs.

Honoring the Gods

The Sumerians honored their gods in the religious ceremonies. Temple priests washed the statues of the gods, burned incense, laid out offerings and played music. In some ancient religions, after presenting plates of food to the gods, people would eat the offering believing that it might bring blessings or admirable qualities from the gods they worshiped. Through studying Sumerian religion historians can determine what was important in society.

The Fall of Sumer

Sumer became a very wealthy city-state, but because of this people continually fought over land, resources, and use of the river water. Around 2300 BCE Sumer was united by King Sargon of Akkad. He brought together the fighting city-states in the Sumerian region, improved the government and military, and unified the area for about 100 years. After this Sumer fell back into smaller city-states and then was taken over by Babylonia.

Farming in Mesopotamia

Farming in 'the land between two rivers' required learned skills and focus. The rivers could be generous with soil one year and limited in the next. Natural elements like frost, drought, flood, weeds, or invasive insects could cause an area to starve. Families worked together in farming communities to create a stable source of food. When cities began to develop governments created huge farms. Major crops included wheat, barley, millet, cucumbers, and figs.

After the government got involved farmers were allotted a certain amount of water each year to prepare their soil and grow their crops. The opening of the flood gates for irrigation was determined by city officials. Farmers would use animal grazing to help limit weeds and break up the soil. With the invention of the plow they started having oxen draw the plow to do this, and then they would plant their seeds. At first seeds were planted by hand but eventually farmers attached funnels to their plows and let the seeds spread more evenly behind the plows.

Plows and stone-bladed sickles were among the first farming tools used. With progress in the Bronze Age many developed metal tools to be more efficient. Pottery was used to store and measure grain that was produced.

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