Name: 偉大的文明：美索不達米亞 (Grandes Civilizaciones: Mesopotamia)
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T06:24:38.000Z
Duration: 11 min 14 s
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The Ancient Near East and Mesopotamia form a vast area

It is in this vast area where the fundamental transition from lifestyles,

based on hunting and gathering to agriculture, took place.

It was here where temples and cities were first erected,

where the writing appeared and where great kingdoms and empires emerged.

The heart of the Middle East is Mesopotamia,

land between rivers, as named by the Greek historians.

This vast geographic area of ​​almost 80,000 km2,

includes modern Iraq and parts of Iran and Syria.,

thanks to irrigating the fertile plains through which they run,

made the life in this region of extreme conditions,

with current temperatures above 50 degrees in summer and very low annual rainfall.

The land and water were the main resources,

providing abundant grass and a thriving agriculture.

The inhabitants of Mesopotamia were offered a variety of animals for food.

The steppes were inhabited by gazelles, deer and wild asses.

In the mountains there were deer, wild boars, tigers, lions,

sheep, goats, pigs and cows are in the diet of the people of Mesopotamia.

It was not until the end of the third millennium BC

when the horse and camel are domesticated.

The emergence of agriculture led to major changes.

From 8500 BC, the sedentary stretches across the Middle East.

Places like Jericho, Shanidar, Zawi Chemi,  Karim Shefer, Cayönü, Jarmo and others

have great advances in farming techniques and materials.

In the Anatolian upland, Hacilar, Hasan Can and Suberde show a high degree of civilization,

but the largest settlement and best preserved is Çatal Huyuk.

With an area of ​​12 ha, throughout all the settlement there may be about 1000 homes,

in which must have lived a population of more than 5000 people.

Walls are made of mud and almost stuck to each other,

the entrance to the houses are made from the roof,

The decoration of houses, with paintings, skulls and bull's horns, among other elements,

as well as structures called sanctuaries,

have allowed the suggestion that its population reached a high level of ritualization.

advanced places like Samarra or Hassunna,

have a pottery decorated with geometric motifs.

More importantly than these cultures was the one of Tell Halaf,

Its people developed new technical skills

and created one of the most beautiful ceramics in the entire history of this region.

A short time later, in southern Mesopotamia a flourishing settlement occurs;

the people, maybe coming from east or southern Iran attracted

abundant water, lush palm groves and conditions for hunting and fishing.

The most significant deposits were from Eridu, El Obeid, Uruk and Jemdet Nasr.

presented the features of an advanced society and a theocratic organization.

The Ubaid period is characterized by its unique households,

with Madhhur Tell in Iraq being one of the best studied.

On this site, archaeological excavations brought to light a house,

the house of Usaid, built with walls made of adobe bricks.

It consisted of a large central room, flanked by a series of smaller rooms.

was that in the place remains of elements from the daily life were found,

such as vessels for eating, drinking, cooking or storing food, stone hoes, grinding stones, etc..

Uruk provides to humanity the oldest known examples of writing,

It's an already complete system with over 700 different signs,

and their role should be primarily economic,

to control and manage the wealth of the temples.

The first clay tablets recorded the sale of products such as grain, beer or livestock.

Others are lists that scribes learn to read and write.

The signs are often obvious, meaning simple figures in which,

for example, a spike represents the barley.

Over time they adapted the form of signs to write with a reed stylus.

The result was that the incisions were wedge shaped, hence the name of cuneiform.

Along with writing, other inventions of this period are on the path to civilization.

Uruk's culture was spread throughout the lower Mesopotamia,

provides full control of new techniques such as the wheel and the car,

the navigation, the potter's wheel, the plow or smelting.

The work of copper,  from the fourth millennium BC,

the lost wax method, allowed making articles of gold, silver and lead.

While these developments arise, society is becoming increasingly urban.

City-state like Lagash, Ur, Kish and Tutub,

among many others, populate the landscape of southern Mesopotamia.

Now divided,  we are in the third millennium,

Sumerian cities, as Kafadye are dominated by a large temple,

and are surrounded by walls because disputes are frequent.

Some even count 24,000 residents and have a great market.

and ensuring proper treatment becomes an important issue,

and for that reason,  cylinder seals are made,

in which are recorded scenes that are marked to pass on a clay surface.

The city-state, even though it was politically autonomous,

shared cultural traits like language or religion.

The ruler of one of these cities, Sargon of Akkad,

will rise above the rest and founded the first major state in the region, Akkadian,

Also, the temples of the cities are evolving into stepped ziggurats.

One of the oldest and most famous was built in Ur in 2100 BC.

The great ziggurat of Babylon may have inspired the biblical description of the Tower of Babel.

By 2000 BC, Akkadian supremacy already disappeared due to external pressures.

The Middle East is a land of warring city-states,