Mesopotamia

Widely known as “The Cradle of Civilization”, the mysterious and equally intriguing area in the middle east known as Mesopotamia has provided modern civilization with more than we may know. From material inventions like the wheel or the tank, to moresubstantial influences such as Hammurabi’s Law Code, Mesopotamian civilization is responsible for many ‘firsts’ in human pre-history. In this essay I will focus on two of themost important influential aspects of Mesopotamian culture one being the development of the State, and secondly the invention of written language.

The name Mesopotamia, which in Greek means “between the rivers,” refers to a region of land in the Middle East surrounding the Tigris and Euphrates rivers stretching from the Persian Gulf in the south to the mountains of Armenia in the north.(3)

As a part of the Fertile Crescent, the soil in this region and particularly in the alluvial plain was, due to silt left from flooding, extremely fertile. Because of poor drainage, this silt also left large amounts of salt in the soil which caused many problems, ultimately leading to the invention of irrigation in 5000 B.C. which made farming in the area possible.(2) Although Mesopotamia was not the origin of food production, its emergence in this area plays a very important role in the creation of modern civilization. As population in the area grew and food production increased, a new economy based on irrigation and trade lead to the format...