Professional Documents
Culture Documents
LECTURE 2
Mesopotamian
Abhishek K. Venkitaraman
Assistant Professor
Early Human Migration out of Africa
man-made determinants
trade
political power
religion
defense
mobility
EARLY CIVILIZATIONS
Location of Ancient Mesopotamian Civilization
Location of Ancient Mesopotamian Civilization
The
Aristocracy
The
Peasantry
SLAVERY
Originated with practice of men selling
themselves and/or their families to pay
off debts
◦ Supplemented by using prisoners of
war as slaves
Demand for slaves increased as
civilization progressed
In the city-state (or state), kin and tribal loyalties are, by definition, subordinated
and replaced by political ties.
Why did these cities develop?
Inventions -
Writing
Wagon wheel
Potter’s wheel
Number system, demarcation of time
Religious Beliefs - Ziggurats
Through daily rituals, attention to the deities, proper funeral practices and simple civic duty, the people of
Mesopotamia felt they helped maintain balance in the world and kept the forces of chaos and destruction at bay
•The Mesopotamian thinking - instruction for the layout and design of temple precincts
came directly from the gods – in the form of a mysterious dream
•Position of king was enhanced and supported by religion
•Each god had control of certain things and each city was ruled by a different god
•The belief that gods lived on the distant mountaintops gave rise to Ziggurats
•The word ziggurat comes from the Assyrian for ‘raised up’ or ‘high’. Ziggurats were built in
the centre of the city
•Connection between heaven and earth
•Stepped pyramid – Temple complex
Historical and Analytical account of cities in
Mesopotamia
When the role of these leaders was retained in times of peace as well, kingship,
first elective and then hereditary, became established. With it raised the
monumental palace, an administrative center which employed a large retinue of
bureaucrats and entertainers & occupied itself with raising and supplying an army
and maintaining the defensive system of the city.
This period saw the rise of Ziggurat of Ur
empire, the collective rule of Nammu
several city-states through
the might of a sovereign king.
The first part of the period is
dominated by the Third
Dynasty of Ur whose
prodigious building activity
includes the Ziggurate of Ur-
Nammu, the high point of that
building type.
4-Assyrian Period:
The northern region of the two rivers now flourishes at the expense of
lower Mesopotamia. The Assyrian by their imposing state reliefs and their
palaces, like the one at Khorsabad.
Timeline in Mesopotamia 3500-2000
B.C. (5500-4000 B.P.)
3500 B.C. Cities growing across Mesopotamia
3200 B.C. Pictographic record keeping
3000 B.C. Signs used to write Sumerian
2800 B.C. Legendary rulers like Gilgamesh
2600 B.C. Royal Tombs of Ur
2400 B.C. Signs become cuneiform
2300 B.C. Sumerian cities united by King Sargon
of Agade (Akkad)
Cities 3000-2300 B.C.
Timeline
2200 B.C. Agade Empire expands and declines
2100 B.C. Ur becomes the capital of a new empire
2000 B.C. Ur destroyed by Elamites & Amorites
Agade Empire 2250 B.C.
•The city of Uruk (present day Warka in Iraq) was a large city with a
possible population of 50 thousand
•Dependent on a single economy of agriculture
•Wheel was used and a system of weights was developed
•Dedicated to God Anu – The God of sky
Materials:
• Earth plaster used to seal and finish exterior and interior spaces of common residences
• Lime plaster used to seal and finish exterior and interior spaces of wealthy residences, places, and temples
• A type of terrazzo used as flooring (Burnt lime + clay + natural colour pigment)
• Terracotta panels used for decoration
• Bitumen used to seal plumbing
City of Ur
SURROUNDING
FIELDS AND
VILLAGES
Street width at the very most , would be 3 meters (9 feet) or so, and that
only for the few principal thoroughfares that led to the public buildings.
These would be bordered with the houses of the rich.
Poorer folk lived at the back ,along narrow lanes and alleys.
Once walled the land became precious, and the high value of private
property kept public space to a minimum. Ample squares or public gardens
were very rare.
The houses were grouped into congested blocks, where partition walls
were common.
Ur, residential area southeast
of the royal mausolea in the
twentieth century B.C.;Plan
3.
2.
1. Citadel wall
2. Entrance court
3. Court of honor
4. Unexcavated