People of Mesopotamia
It's easy to look back on ancient civilizations and see how differently they lived compared to modern civilizations. Technology definitely helps define that difference. But, when you take a closer look at the people and how societies functioned you will see there’s not much of a difference at all. There was a beginning and an end to the civilization, important and interesting events that happened, different social classes with different lives, and a busy life of creating a place for people to live. This is the Mesopotamia life that happened over 10,000 years ago.
The Mesopotamian civilization began in 5000 BC. According to ducksters.com the Mesopotamians developed their civilization in 5000 BC using their irrigation systems to farm the new land they found, expanding the civilization. For example, each time a family came to join the civilization they would use their irrigation systems to farm the area that they were going to live and then they would build their home, expanding the Mesopotamian civilization. The Mesopotamian civilization ended due to an attack. According to ancient civilization volume 2, when the Phocians attacked the Mesopotamians they overpowered them and took over. During the attack the Phocians grew more powerful, ending the Mesopotamian civilization.
Rulers were a big part of the Mesopotamian civilization. One of the rulers of Mesopotamia was Sargon. One thing that was remarkable about him is that he created the first empire. Another ruler was King Hammurabi. King Hammurabi was remarkable because he was the first ruler to write his laws down on clay tablets. The third ruler is Gilgamesh. He was remarkable because he created masterpieces in cuneiform literature. According to ducksters.com these are three rulers and what is remarkable about them. Mesopotamia felt that the government had bad laws. According to Mr. Donn the Mesopotamia government had bad laws and the Mesopotamians wanted them to get rid of them. For example one of the laws was if the son is going to hit his father then his hands were going to get cut off.
Not long after the beginning of the Mesopotamian civilization began social classes. These classes included upper class, middle class, lower class, and slaves. According to ducksters.com these four classes have certain things they do. Upper class would be considered the elite of society. They were thought of as elite because they had the best clothing and supplies. It would be nice to be in the middle class but not the best. This is because they don't get treated like royalty like the upper class does but would be very similar. Lower class was not a desirable class, but not the worst. Those in the lower class had to work extremely hard. If they worked hard enough they could move up to middle class. Then, there were the slaves. This would be the worst class to be in. Slaves wouldn't have a good life because they have to work for people constantly. If you are in upper class you are considered royalty. When in middle class you wouldn't be royalty but you would be wealthy. If you were in lower class you would have the same supplies as middle but your things would have been made differently making your supplies worth less. If you were a slave you would work for all of others and just get basic meals. According to Mr. Donn these are how all the classes work. In this system you could move up a class if you proved you could be in that class.
Finally, the Mesopotamians settled where they did because Mesopotamia had good soil. According to Mr. Donn this is why they settled in Mesopotamia because of the good soil. The good soil also was one of their resources because it gave them good crops. Another good resource that was very helpful throughout their life was pottery. The Mesopotamians used pottery for a mostly everything they did in their civilization. One of the cities in Mesopotamia was Uruk. According to ducksters.com they made it a city-state with their farming irrigation techniques. Their farming irrigation techniques is probably how they made a lot of their cities. In Mesopotamia there were some very serious laws. According to Hammurabi's code of laws one law that was very serious was if a son would hit his father his hands would be cut off. Imagine if we had laws like that today.
The beginning and the end, the exciting and important events that happened, the society classes that came with different lives, and creating a place for families to come together and live their lives. This life was a struggle but the Mesopotamians seemed to be successful. So, while the Mesopotamian civilization did things a little differently, they still had a lot in common with modern civilizations.