Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia was located in what is now Iraq, northeastern Syria, and small portions of southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran. The civilizations were built around the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. This area is considered to be the Fertile Crescent, because the rivers provided nutrients for rich soil and vegetation. Many also consider this area to be the cradle of civilization, because it was home to the first civilizations. These empires, Sumer, Babylonia, Assyria, and Akkad, earned their power from this region. The two strongest, Sumer and Akkad, ruled the Fertile Crescent until they were dominated by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C.E.. Alexander's conquer put the area under Greek control. The Parthians took control in 150 B.C.E., and it was used as a battleground between them and the Romans. Around 300 years later, it fell to the Persians.
The written language was, of course, Sumerian, and the first coherent written language in existence. Semitic language was originally used, but was replaced by Akkadian during their reign. Sumerian cuneiform was still used for important purposes. The most well-known piece of literature from Mesopotamia is the Epic of Gilgamesh, written by the Babylonians. The tale is kept within twelve books, and was translated from Sumerian to English. Each book contains a different story or adventure about Gilgamesh.
The early mathematics of Mesopotamia were based on a sexagesimal system, which is where we inherited our 60 minute hours, 24 hour days, and 360-degree circle. They also used a seven-day-week calendar. Mesopotamians studied ways of finding the area of different shapes, and were almost entirely accurate in their estimations. For example, to measure the circumference of a circle, they would triple the diameter, and the area would be found using one-twelfth the square of the circumference. These equations would be entirely correct if pi was rounded to a solid 3. In a recent discovery of a new Mesopotamian tablet, pi was represented as 28/5, or 3.125, a very close estimate to our pi, at 3.141.
Our current use of astronomy also dates back to this time. Astronomy was very important to the Mesopotamian people because they believed that it was connected to their religion, and they predicted solstices and eclipses as forewarnings for omens. They invented a 12 month calendar, and separated it into two seasons, summer and winter. Over time, they took a new approach to understanding astronomy, and began to study philosophy as a way of connecting nature to the early universe. Many current historians refer to this as the first scientific revolution. Mesopotamian astronomy influenced much of the Greek, Indian, Central Asian, and Western European astronomy.
Mesopotamians were one of the first Bronze Age peoples, and made many technological advancements for the time. Some of these advancements included metal and copper-working, irrigation and water storage, and lamp making. They used these new metal discoveries to make armor, weapons, and to decorate palaces.
In Mesopotamian religion, it was believed that the world was a flat disc in a wide open space, and that above the world was heaven. While this is slightly similar to many religions, the Mesopotamians were polytheistic, meaning they believed in multiple Gods. This belief system was the common core for the area, but religion varied slightly between different regions. Sumerians for example, often posed philosophical questions, such as "Why are we here?" and "How did we get here?" They used the Gods to create explanations for such questions.
The majority of Mesopotamian government was divided into city-states around the river. In the center of these city-states was a ziggurat, a large temple-like structure. The ziggurats were used as the source of government, church, and a trade center for the city. They were lead by a Priest or King with high power, and believed they had direct communication with the Gods, and therefore their word was law.
Several things could have contributed to the fall of the Mesopotamian culture: cities could have become overcrowded, which in turn would lead to pollution and disease; like most civilizations, war could have destroyed them, whether it was between them and other cultures, or if it was between themselves; and their irrigation system, which ran all the way to the sea, would have brought in too much salt to rest on the soil, poisoning plants needed to sustain life.
The written language was, of course, Sumerian, and the first coherent written language in existence. Semitic language was originally used, but was replaced by Akkadian during their reign. Sumerian cuneiform was still used for important purposes. The most well-known piece of literature from Mesopotamia is the Epic of Gilgamesh, written by the Babylonians. The tale is kept within twelve books, and was translated from Sumerian to English. Each book contains a different story or adventure about Gilgamesh.
The early mathematics of Mesopotamia were based on a sexagesimal system, which is where we inherited our 60 minute hours, 24 hour days, and 360-degree circle. They also used a seven-day-week calendar. Mesopotamians studied ways of finding the area of different shapes, and were almost entirely accurate in their estimations. For example, to measure the circumference of a circle, they would triple the diameter, and the area would be found using one-twelfth the square of the circumference. These equations would be entirely correct if pi was rounded to a solid 3. In a recent discovery of a new Mesopotamian tablet, pi was represented as 28/5, or 3.125, a very close estimate to our pi, at 3.141.
Our current use of astronomy also dates back to this time. Astronomy was very important to the Mesopotamian people because they believed that it was connected to their religion, and they predicted solstices and eclipses as forewarnings for omens. They invented a 12 month calendar, and separated it into two seasons, summer and winter. Over time, they took a new approach to understanding astronomy, and began to study philosophy as a way of connecting nature to the early universe. Many current historians refer to this as the first scientific revolution. Mesopotamian astronomy influenced much of the Greek, Indian, Central Asian, and Western European astronomy.
Mesopotamians were one of the first Bronze Age peoples, and made many technological advancements for the time. Some of these advancements included metal and copper-working, irrigation and water storage, and lamp making. They used these new metal discoveries to make armor, weapons, and to decorate palaces.
In Mesopotamian religion, it was believed that the world was a flat disc in a wide open space, and that above the world was heaven. While this is slightly similar to many religions, the Mesopotamians were polytheistic, meaning they believed in multiple Gods. This belief system was the common core for the area, but religion varied slightly between different regions. Sumerians for example, often posed philosophical questions, such as "Why are we here?" and "How did we get here?" They used the Gods to create explanations for such questions.
The majority of Mesopotamian government was divided into city-states around the river. In the center of these city-states was a ziggurat, a large temple-like structure. The ziggurats were used as the source of government, church, and a trade center for the city. They were lead by a Priest or King with high power, and believed they had direct communication with the Gods, and therefore their word was law.
Several things could have contributed to the fall of the Mesopotamian culture: cities could have become overcrowded, which in turn would lead to pollution and disease; like most civilizations, war could have destroyed them, whether it was between them and other cultures, or if it was between themselves; and their irrigation system, which ran all the way to the sea, would have brought in too much salt to rest on the soil, poisoning plants needed to sustain life.