City's Role in Civilizations: Mesopotamia and Rome

A comparative analysis of the role of the city in the development of civilization in Mesopotamia and the Roman Empire.

“Modern day Mesopotamia as we know it now, began solemnly as a collection of huts in the ancient regions of old Mesopotamia. Water flowing from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers shaped a background, encouraging settlement. The fertile land was habited and the warm environment presented the beginnings of a stable civilization.”

Mesopotamia remains a region which has a vast amount of different features surrounding the area making it enticing for civilization; for example, there are rivers (Tigris, Euphrates), a valley known as the ‘Indus Valley’, mountains, floodplains, and deserts. However, the most significant being

In early cities, a temple stood in the centre of the community offering both political and religious needs. These temples also performed major distribution in receiving, storing and disbursing the goods such as seeds for fertile lands and they also kept a large stock of goods in case of a year of bad harvesting or the likelihood of floods destroying fertile lands leaving farmers without land in condition to be able to plant and harvest goods for the city. Soon after the temples were erected and had a production line as such, this is when the first organizations/governments were made. People were made into ‘scribes’ and accountancy’s where they would keep track of what was being brought into and sent out of the temple store houses. The people in power employed citizens for work such as manual labour and other skills needed to create a stable community for example, craftsmen, traders, metal smiths, potters, spinners, weavers and

During time, as it developed more powerful and more well known, “it became one of the most urbanized societies in the pre-industrial world.” During the peak of its empire, it had one of the largest inhabitants on the planet. The empire had an abundance of cities such as the city of Rome. These cities had features such as: overcrowded slums, busy streets, plazas, imposing public administrative buildings, and so on. The Roman Empire controlled around 2000 "cities". The cities all had they’re own communities which meant they looked after themselves without need from a higher power. The majority of the cities formed a grid like pattern. In these blocks would be located homes for the rich and the poor. Also on the streets would be shops, cafes, workshops and