B.C.E.

The people who lived there didn’t have a name for the whole region, but the ancient Greeks call this area Mesopotamia, meaning “between the rivers”. Mesopotamia was located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in the Middle East.

For centuries the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia lay buried under mounds of dirt. Then, in the mid-1800s, travelers from Europe began to dig up the past. Some came to the deserts of the Middle East seeking works of art to display in museums Others hoped to find proof that Bible stories set in the region were true. Still others were searching for evidence of how people lived long ago In their quest for knowledge and treasure, these explorers uncovered long lost cities, temples, libraries and palaces. Their discoveries shed light not just on Mesopotamia’s past but on the very beginning of history.

c B.C.E.- Farming Begins in the Fertile Crescent c B.C.E.- The first pottery is made c B.C.E.- Increased settlement-villages grow and eventually become towns c B.C.E.- Age of Invention- new technologies include the world’s first wheeled vehicle, the manufacture of bronze, development of the potter’s wheel and the invention of writing (cuneiform) c B.C.E.- The earliest library containing over 20,000 clay tablets c B.C.E.- Foreign invaders destroy Ur, and Sumerian civilization declines c B.C.E.- Hammurabi becomes king of Babylon c B.C.E.- The Code of Hammurabi is engraved in stone (laws and punishments) c B.C.E.- The Atrahasis (known as the Mesopotamian Flood Story) is written c B.C.E.- Babylon is sacked by foreign invaders c B.C.E.- The Assyrian Empire rises to power c B.C.E.- The Assyrians introduce the world’s first cavalry units c. 612 B.C.E.- Rebels destroy the Assyrian capital at Nineveh and establish the New Babylon Empire c.539 B.C.E.- Cyrus the Great of Persia captures Babylon, marking the end of the last Mesopotamian empire c. 334 B.C.E.- Alexander the Great and the Greek Army invade the city of Babylon

Artisans produced the practical objects that were the foundation of their civilization, such as tablets for writers, weapons for warriors, and tools for farmers and builders. Artists created treasures to glorify the kings and gods. The line between artisan and artist was often blurred as skill and creativity turned even everyday objects into works of art.

ZIGGURAT- A MULTISTORY TEMPLE PLATFORM OR MOUND, IN THE FORM OF A STEPPED PYRAMID, WITH A SHRINE TO A GOD ON THE TOP. MUD BRICK The main building material of the Sumerians was mud brick, just as it is in modern Iraq. Mud is plentiful and the bricks are good at keeping out the heat. Unfortunately, the crumble over time. The homes of the earliest Mesopotamians turned to dust thousands of years ago.

Most Mesopotamian artisans worked with readily available materials. The most common craft material was clay. Potters turned wet clay into pots, plates, bowls, and jars. Other clay workers made bricks and tablets. Glassmaking was another important craft. Artisans discovered how to make glass from a combination of sand and other ingredients about 3,300 years ago.

Skilled artisans and artists also worked with materials that were in short supply. These items were highly valued. Metalsmiths combined imported copper and tin to make bronze. Bronze was used to make practical goods such as tools and weapons as well as luxury items such as vessels and statues. Carpenters made merchant ships, war chariots, and furniture for temples and palaces. The used both fine imported woods as well as local timber.

The people of Mesopotamia believed it was important to show constant devotion to the gods. Since it was impossible to pray all the time they hired sculptors to make small stone “praying statues” which they placed in the temple as their stand-ins. Cylinder seals were like official stamps or signatures. When the seal was rolled over a soft piece of clay it created a continuous pattern. In Mesopotamian mythology, a lamassu was a protective spirit with the body of a winged bull or lion and a human head. The lamassu statues protected the throne room in a palace.

A relief is a sculpture in which the figures stand out from a flat background. This archer on horseback would be considered a low-relief because he is slightly raised from the background. The lamassu on the slide before would be considered a high-relief because it is raised higher off the background and appears more sculptural. A mosaic is a picture or design made from small pieces of colored tile, stone, glass, or other materials. This mosaic is Marduk’s Dragon. It was the symbol of the creator god Marduk. The dragon has a scaly body, a snake’s head, a scorpion’s tale, the feet of a lion in the front and the talons of a bird of prey in the back. This piece is also a low relief sculpture.

The invention of writing was probably the greatest achievement in Mesopotamian history. Because history is a written record of the past there was no history until writing was invented. Picture-words known as pictographs were the first type of marks they made. Eventually the pictographs developed into hundreds of wedge-shaped symbols drawn with a stylus. These became the building blocks of the first writing system, known as cuneiform, from the Latin word for “wedge”.