C.L.

GUPTA WORLD SCHOOL

HISTORY PROJECT

CLASS :XI

SESSION:2016-17

SUBMITTED BY-

ADITI AGRAWAL

SARTHAK AHUJA

NATURE OF EARLY SOCIETY

1. POPULATION & SOCIAL CLASSES
The population of ancient Mesopotamian cities varied
greatly. In c. 2300 BCE Uruk had a population of 50,000
while Mari, to the north, had 10,000 and Akkad 36,000
(Modelski, 6). The populations of these cities were divided
into social classes which, like societies in every civilization
throughout history, were hierarchical. These classes were:
The King and Nobility, The Priests and Priestesses, The
Upper Class, the Lower Class, and The Slaves.
The king of a city, region, or empire was thought to have a
special relationship with the gods and to be an
intermediary between the world of the divine and the
earthly realm. The depth of a king’s relationship with his
gods, and the god’s pleasure with his rule, was gauged by
the success of the territory he ruled over. A great king
would enlarge his kingdom and make the land prosperous
and, by doing so, show that the gods favored him.
Although many of the regions of Mesopotamia rebelled
repeatedly against the rule of Sargon of Akkad (2334-2279
BCE) and the dynasty he founded, he still became a
legendary figure because of his successful military
conquests and the expanse of his empire. These
accomplishments would have meant that, however an
individual human being or community felt about Sargon’s
rule, he was favored by the gods he served (in his case,
Inanna).
The priests and priestesses presided over the sacred
aspects of daily life and officiated at religious services.
They were literate and considered adept at interpreting
signs and omens. They also served as healers. The first
doctors and dentists of Mesopotamia were priestesses
who attended to people in the outer court of the temple.
Among the most famous priestesses was Enheduanna
(2285-2250 BCE), daughter of Sargon of Akkad, who served
as High Priestess at Ur and is also the world’s first author
known by name. Enheduanna would not have served as a
healer; her day would have been spent in taking care of
the business of the temple and that of the surrounding
complex, as well as officiating at ceremonies.

The upper class included merchants who owned their own

companies, scribes, private tutors, and, in time, high-
ranking military men. Other occupations of the upper class
were accountants, architects, astrologers (who were
usually priests), and shipwrights. The merchant who
owned his own company, and did not need to travel, was a
man of leisure who could enjoy the best beer in the city in
the company of his friends while attended by slaves.
Scribes were highly respected and served at court, in the
temple, and in the schools. Every teacher was a scribe, and
one of the most important disciplines taught in every
Mesopotamian school was writing. Only boys attended
school. While women did enjoy almost equal rights, they
were still not considered intelligent enough to be able to
master literacy. This paradigm remained in place even after
the notable career of Enheduanna. Private tutors were also
held in high regard and were paid well by the wealthy
families of the cities to help their sons excel at their school
work. Private tutors not in the employ of a school (which
was often run by the temple) were considered men of
exceptional intelligence, virtue, and character. They
devoted themselves completely to the student, or
students, under their tutelage and, if they had a client of
high means, lived almost as well as he did.

The lower class was made up of those occupations which

kept the city or region actually operating: farmers, artists,
musicians, construction workers, canal builders, bakers,
basket makers, butchers, fishermen, cup bearers, brick
makers, brewers, tavern owners, prostitutes, metallurgists,
carpenters, perfume makers, potters, jewelry makers,
goldsmiths, cart and, later, chariot drivers, soldiers, sailors,
and merchants who worked for another man’s company.
Of those listed above, prostitutes, perfume makers,
jewelry makers, and goldsmiths could also be considered
upper class professions under the right circumstances
(such as exceptional skill or finding favor in a wealthy
patron or the king). Any member of the lower class could,
however, climb the social ladder. The Assyriologist Jean
Bottero notes that, "the town of Kish was ruled not by a
king but by an energetic queen called Ku-baba, a former
tavern keeper, about whom we know nothing else" (125).
For the most part, women were relegated to the lower
class jobs but, clearly, could hold the same esteemed
positions as males. Women were the first brewers and
tavern keepers and also the first doctors and dentists in
ancient Mesopotamia before those occupations proved
lucrative and were taken over by men.

The lowest social order was the slaves. One could become
a slave in a number of ways: being captured in war, selling
oneself into slavery to pay off a debt, being sold as
punishment for a crime, being kidnapped and sold into
slavery in another region, or being sold by a family
member to relieve a debt. Slaves had no single ethnicity
nor were they solely employed for manual labor. Slaves
kept house, managed large estates, tutored young
children, tended horses, served as accountants and skilled
jewelry makers, and could be employed in whatever
capacity their master saw they had a talent in. A slave who
worked diligently for his or her master could eventually
buy their freedom.

2. HOMES & FURNISHINGS

The king and his court, of course, lived in the palace and
the palace complex. In the cities, homes were built out
from the center of the settlement, which was the temple
with its ziggurat. The wealthiest and highest on the social
ladder lived closest to the center. The homes of the
affluent were built of sun-dried bricks while those of
people of lesser means would have been constructed from
reeds. It should be noted, however, that these buildings
were still considered houses and were not the `huts’ so
often imagined. The historian Bertman describes the
construction of these homes, writing:

To build a simple house, tall marsh plants would be

uprooted, gathered together, and tied into tight bundles.
After holes were dug in the ground, the bundles of reeds
would be inserted, one bundle per hole. After the holes
were filled in and firmly packed, pairs of bundles that faced
each other would be bent over and tied together at the
top, forming an archway. The remaining bundles would
then be joined together in similar fashion…Reed mats
would then be draped over the top to cover the roof, or
hung from a wall opening to make a door (285).
Light in the home was provided by small lamps fueled by
sesame seed oil and sometimes by windows (in more
expensive homes). Windows were constructed of wooden
grill work and, as wood was a rare commodity, windowed
homes were uncommon. The exterior of brick homes was
whitewashed (“a further defense against the radiant heat”,
as Bertman notes) and “there would be only one exterior
door, its frame painted bright red to keep out evil spirits”
(286). The historian Karen Rhea Nemet-Nejat notes that,
“the purpose of a house in southern Iraq was to provide
shelter from the twelve hours of unrelenting heat – the
climate from May to September” (121). After September
came the rainy season of cooler weather when homes
would be heated by burning palm fronds or palm wood.
Palaces, temples, and upper-class homes had ornate
braziers for heating the rooms, while the lower classes
made use of a shallow pit lined with hardened clay. Indoor
plumbing was in wide use by at least the 3rd millennium
BCE with toilets in separate rooms of upper class homes,
palaces, and temples. Tiled drains, built at a slant, would
carry waste from the building to a cesspool or a sewer
system of clay pipes that would transport it to the river. All
homes in the region of Sumer, whether of the rich or poor,
needed the blessing of the brother-gods Kabta and
Mushdamma (deities who presided over foundations,
buildings, construction, and bricks) before any building
project could begin and, upon completion, offerings were
made to the god of completed construction, Arazu, in
gratitude. Every region of Mesopotamia had some form of
these same gods.
Homes were furnished in much the same way they are
today with chairs (which had legs, backs, and, in wealthier
homes, arms), tables, beds, and kitchen ware. In affluent
homes, beds were made from a wooden frame,
crisscrossed with rope or reeds, covered by a mattress
stuffed with wool or goat hair, and had linen sheets. These
beds were often intricately carved and, by the third
millennium, were sometimes “overlaid with gold, silver, or
copper” and “had legs that often terminated with an ox
foot or claw” (Nemet-Nejet, 125). The lower classes, of
course, could not afford such luxury and slept on mats of
woven straw or reeds which were laid on the floor. Tables
were constructed in the same way they still are today (the
more prosperous homes had linen tablecloths and
napkins), and families gathered at the table for the evening
meal in the same way many still do presently.

3.FAMILY & LEISURE

The family was constituted as it is in the modern day with a
mother, father, children, and extended family. Both men
and women worked while the children's lives were
directed according to their sex and social status. Male
children of the upper classes were sent to school, while
their sisters remained at home and learned the domestic
arts; sons of the lower classes followed their fathers into
the fields or whatever line of work they pursued, while the
daughters, as with the upper classes, emulated their
mother’s role in her job. The toys these children played
with were, likewise, similar to toys in the present day such
as toy trucks and dolls.
Families also enjoyed board games (the most popular
being much like the game of Parcheesi) and games of dice.
Images depict families at leisure in much the same way
family photographs do today. Sports seem to primarily
have involved males, and the most popular were wrestling
and boxing among the lower classes and hunting among
the nobility. The family meal, as noted, was similar to that
in the present day with the major difference being the
forms of entertainment during and after the dinner.
Storytelling was an important aspect of an evening meal as
was music. In poorer homes, a family member would play
an instrument or sing, or tell a story, after dinner; the
wealthy had slaves for this purpose or professional
entertainers. These people played instruments familiar to
anyone in the modern day.
The Mesopotamians had singers, of course, and also
percussion (drums, bells, castinets, sistrums, and rattles),
wind instruments (recorders, flutes, horns, and panpipes),
and stringed instruments (the lyre and the harp). Images
throughout Mesopotamia attest to the people’s great love
of music and Bertman writes, “So great, in fact, was a
queen of Ur’s love of music, she could not bear the
thought of being in the afterworld without it; so, with the
help of a sleeping potion in the tomb, she took her royal
musicians with her into the beyond” (295). Inscriptions and
images also depict Mesopotamians listening to music while
drinking beer or reading or relaxing in their home or
garden. Bertman notes that “music was an integral part of
ancient Mesopotamian life. The images on inlaid plaques,
carved seal-stones, and sculpted reliefs transport us back
to a world of sound. We watch a shepherd playing his flute
as his dog sits and attentively listens” (294). Music was
also, at least for the wealthier citizens, an integral part of
the banquet and even private meals.
4.FOOD & CLOTHING
The chief grain crop in Mesopotamia was barley, and so it
is no wonder that they were the first to invent beer. The
goddess of beer was Ninkasi whose famous hymn from c.
1800 BCE is also the world’s oldest beer recipe. Beer is
thought to have originated from fermented barley bread.
The Mesopotamians also enjoyed a diet of fruits and
vegetables (apples, cherries, figs, melons, apricots, pears,
plums, and dates as well as lettuce, cucumbers, carrots,
beans, peas, beets, cabbage, and turnips) as well as fish
from the streams and rivers, and livestock from their pens
(mostly goats, pigs, and sheep, since cows were expensive
to keep and were too precious to be slaughtered for beef).
They would have augmented this diet through hunting
game such as deer and gazelle and birds. The people also
kept domesticated geese and ducks for eggs. The historian
Jean Bottero notes that the Mesopotamians had “an
impressive inventory of goods” which made up their daily
meals and flavored their food with oils and mineral
products (sesame oil and salt, for example) and further
notes that “all these indigenous ingredients were so varied
that, as far as we know, the Mesopotamians never
imported from abroad, so to speak, in spite of the intensity
and geographical extent of their trade” (45-46). Along with
beer (which was so greatly valued it was used to pay
workers' wages) the people drank strong wine or water.
Beer, however, was the most popular beverage in ancient
Mesopotamia and, because of its nutrients and thickness,
often served as the largest part of the mid-day meal.
Men generally wore either a long robe or pleated skirts of
goatskin or sheepskin, and women dressed in one-piece
tunics of either wool or linen. Soldiers are distinctive in the
ancient depictions in that they always wore hooded capes
over their uniforms. Older men are always seen in one-
piece robes which fall to their ankles, while younger men
seem to have worn either the robe or the skirt. Women are
always depicted wearing the robe but these robes were
not uniformly mono-colored. Many different patterns and
designs are seen in the dress of Mesopotamian women,
while the men, except for kings and soldiers and,
sometimes, scribes, are routinely seen in monotone robes.
Shawls, hooded capes, and wraps were used in bad
weather and these were often embroidered and tassled.
Girls dressed like their mothers and boys like their father,s
and everyone wore sandals of greater or more modest
design. Women’s sandals, generally, were more likely to be
ornamented than those of men.

Women and men both wore cosmetics and, as Bertman

writes, “the desire to enhance one’s natural beauty and
allure through the use of cosmetics and perfume is
attested as far back as Sumerian times” (291). Men and
women would outline their eyes with an early form of
mascara, much as the Egyptians are famous for doing, and
perfumes were used by both sexes after bathing. Perfumes
were made by “steeping aromatic plants in water and
blending their essence with oil” (Bertman, 291), and some
of these recipes became so popular that were closely
guarded, since they could raise a perfume maker from a
lower class worker to almost the level of nobility.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would like to express our special thanks of gratitude
to our teacher ,Shashi Ma'am as well as our principal
,Mrs.Savita Singh who gave us the golden opportunity to
do this wonderful project on the topic , Mesopotamian
Town Planning which also helped us in doing a lot of
Research and we came to know about so many new
things we are really thankful to them.
Secondly we would also like to thank our parents and
friends who helped us a lot in finalizing this project
within the limited time frame.
Mesopotamian Archaeology
Mesopotamian archaeology began in the mid-19th
century from within Biblical and Classical scholarship. The
rediscovery of the great capital cities of Assyria and
Babylonia by British and French adventurers, notably
Layard and Botta, is the stuff of legend. The national and
personal rivalries among early explorers led directly to
the great Mesopotamian collections of the British
Museum and the Louvre. From the mid-1900s,
archaeologists from Iraq and Syria have played greater
roles.

Mesopotamian archaeology has closely tracked theoretical

developments in archaeology over the years. The earliest
excavations concentrated on the state and imperial capital
cities with monumental temple and palace architecture
and the sculptures and other artistic products of the ruling
classes. Archaeological approaches were based in
collectionism and Orientalism; these were gradually
replaced by scientific methodologies and a culture-history
approach. The study of agricultural origins in the Fertile
Crescent took place within the context of the New
Archaeology of the 1950s and 1960s; Marxist, Structuralist
and Systems approaches to urbanism dominated the
1970s-80s. Phenomenological and other post-modern
theoretical approaches are visible in the work of many
scholars today.
For decades, school children have learned that human
civilization emerged about 5000 years ago along the
Euphrates River in Mesopotamia, along the Nile, and along
the Indus River.

But archaeologists working in a broad arc from the Russian

steppes through Iran and onto the Arabian Peninsula are
finding evidence that a complex network of cities may have
thrived across the region in roughly the same era,
suggesting a dramatic new view of the emergence of
human civilization.

In a feature in the 3 August issue of Science, news writer

Andrew Lawler details the discoveries by teams of
researchers and the emerging multinational effort to piece
together the array of new evidence into a unified
understanding.

Though their efforts are at an early stage, Lawler writes,

many of the archaeologists say the finds are rewriting
historical understanding of human civilization by offering
"a far more complex picture in which dozens of urban
centers thrived between Mesopotamia and the Indus,
trading commodities and, possibly, adopting each other's
technologies, architectures, and ideas.
"While Mesopotamia is still the cradle of civilization in the
sense that urban evolution began there," Lawler added in
an interview, "we now know that the area between
Mesopotamia and India spawned a host of cities and
cultures between 3000 B.C.E. and 2000 B.C.E."

Evidence to support the new view was discussed and

explored last month by scientists from more than a dozen
countries—including Russia, Iran, Italy, France, and the
United States—at a meeting of the International
Association for the Study of Early Civilizations in the
Middle Asian Intercultural Space in Ravenna, Italy. Lawler
was the only journalist present.
Archaeologists shared findings from dozens of urban
centers of approximately the same age that existed
between Mesopotamia and the Indus River valley in
modern day India and Pakistan. The "most dramatic
evidence," Lawler reports, comes from area in
southeastern Iran, near the Halil River and south of the
modern city of Jiroft, where a team led by Yousef
Madjidzadeh has uncovered the remains of a large and
wealthy city.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Textbook
2.Britannica.com (www.britiannica.com)
3.Ancient history enclyclopedia
(www.ancient.eu)
4.Science Daily (www.sciencedaily.com)

Throughout the decades, Mesopotamian archaeology has

been grounded in robust analyses of chronology and study
of the rich and abundant settlement landscapes and
material culture. The combination of archaeological,
landscape and artifactual data with textual materials, both
complementary and contradictory, allows the creation of a
"deep map" of the region.