Mesopotamia refers to the area near the Euphrates and Tigris river system, which corresponds to modern day Kuwait, Iraq, the northeastern part of Syria, the Southeastern part of Turkey and a small part of southwestern Iran (Potts, 2012, pg.557). In a wider sense, Mesopotamia refers to the area surrounded from the northeast by the Zagros Mountains and from the southwest by the edge of the Arabian Plateau and stretches from the Persian Gulf in the southeastern side to the spurs of the Anti-Taurus Mountains in the northwestern side. The Sumerians, Babylonians, Akkadians, Assyrians, and Chaldeans occupied Mesopotamia region. This region is widely recognized to be the cradle of human civilization. Most of the modern day civilization and organizational structures were first practiced in the ancient Mesopotamian kingdom. These include writing, accounting, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, law, government systems, religion, urbanization and technology.
Development of language and writing started in Mesopotamia. At the onset of civilization in Mesopotamia, the occupants of the region were divided into two distinct groups based on the language they spoke. The first group spoke Sumerian, which is a language with no relation to modern languages, and the second group spoke Semitic, a language associated with Modern Hebrew and Arabic. The Sumerians are the ones who stayed near the two great rivers and built the first cities. Their language was, therefore, the first to be written down in the history of the world. Writing started in Mesopotamia with a small elite of priests and officials learning how to write on cuneiforms. Cuneiforms were wedge shaped writings developed at around 2500BC. Cuneiforms were originally written in the Sumerian language and remained in use for many generations by being adapted for various languages as the world continued becoming civilized.
The Government of Mesopotamia set the standards for government; these standards have been vital for western civilization. Most of the modern day government structures have been borrowed from ancient Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia was the first Nation to establish a government system whish had a head of State (King) assisted by administrators who served various roles. These administrators may reflect our modern day Ministers, Senators or Governors who report to a central government. Mesopotamia gave rise to the first near Communist state where the Sumerian cities had a temple, which stood at the center of their lives both politically and religiously. The god of each city was thought to own the city, and this meant that the temple controlled the productive land of the city and state. People would bring their harvest to the temple, and the priests would give them what they needed for their survival. Mesopotamia gave rise to the first bureaucracies in history; as the temple received stored and disbursed food and other goods while keeping stocks for years of low harvests or floods (O'Brien, 2007, pg.28). Scribes and accountants were, therefore, required to record what was brought into and removed out of the temple stores. These scripts and accountants left behind thousands of documents on clay tablets that were used for keeping these records.
The rise of kingship started in Mesopotamia city-states; this however led to modification of the political dominance of the temple. The king became the representative patron of the god of the cities, and disobeying him was seen as disobedience to the god of the city. The king ensured justice among the people of the city and ensured that these people served their god correctly. This rise of Kingship in Mesopotamia was one of the main factors that contributed to civilization because, without proper leadership, it would be very difficult to continue with civilization process. Ancient Mesopotamia contributed to civilization by creating written law codes that were very essential in ruling people and therefore ensuring that the process of civilization thrived. One of these law codes is the Hammurabi Code, which was written at around 1780 BC (Enders 7& Benoit, 2001, pg.7). This code was a modification of the earlier codes created by the occupants of the Sumerian city-states in Mesopotamia at around third millennium BC. These codes were scribbled on clay tablets or stone pillars so that the public could see them. Mesopotamia started the system of judging people according to their mistakes where they had judges appointed by kings to listen to cases and issue a verdict depending on availability of evidence. Our modern day courts have adopted the structure that was initially developed by the Mesopotamians. We have judges who listen to civil and criminal cases just like the Mesopotamians did. They then issue a verdict based on the evidence presented in court just like it was done in ancient Mesopotamia. Our modern day system of signing contracts before a business deal is borrowed from ancient Mesopotamia. Before two people enter into a business agreement, they have to sign a contract that is legally binding between the two parties. The contract clearly spells out the obligations of each partner and other additional responsibilities as agreed. Ancient Mesopotamia had a body of civil law created to ensure that contracts, agreements and deeds were written clearly on clay tablets so that in case of disputes in the future, they would serve as a reference. Incase a partner to an agreement did anything that was contrary to the initial agreement, reference would be made to the tablets to provide a legal basis upon which the person would be held accountable. Although it has been modified, this system of judgment is still used in the modern day and has been very pivotal in continuation of civilization. The Sumerian city-states in Mesopotamia initiated the use of well-organized and trained armies during wars. War was unavoidable in ancient Mesopotamia as societies fought and disagreed over land and water rights. For this reason, city-states started training soldiers who would fight for them in case of war. Highly trained soldiers would be armed with bronze breastplate and weapons while the less trained would be armed with slings, bows and arrows. Development of good armies was pivotal in civilization since having good armies ensured states were protected and therefore allowed citizens to work on developing their state.
Ancient Mesopotamian economy was based on agriculture just like most pre-modern economies. People from this region were farmers and grew crops such as wheat, turnips, apples, dates, and grapes. They also kept animals such as cattle, goats and sheep. Farming was very suitable in Mesopotamia especially due to availability of water from rivers Tigris and Euphrates. During the dry season, people developed various ways of controlling water so that it could be used for irrigation. The Mesopotamians were therefore initiators of water control on a large scale as they used dykes, canals, reservoirs, aqueducts and drainage channels. This technology was very important in ensuring development as people were able to control and utilize water from rivers in farming. There were other numerous developments in agriculture by the Mesopotamians and all of them played a very important role in civilization. Ancient Mesopotamian people were the first to initiate trade (Spielvogel, 2012, pg.9). The area around Mesopotamia was muddy due to the rivers and therefore it was difficult to find useful minerals for instance stones for building and valuable metals. This lack of precious minerals prompted them to think of trading with their close neighbors with whom they exchanged foodstuffs and craft goods for minerals and precious metal. As they continued to trade, they would travel as far as Syria and Iran in search of more trade partners. This development of trade by the ancient Mesopotamians was very pivotal in civilization since development would not be possible without trade.
Ancient Mesopotamians were responsible for the development of advanced level mathematics in comparison to any other people of their time. By developing advanced level mathematics, they laid foundations for modern mathematics. The Mesopotamians developed the number system based on base 60; this number has been modified to the modern 3600 circle, 60-minute hour and 24-hour day (Tabak, 2004, pg.14). The Mesopotamians developed various formulas and theorems for measuring area and volume of several shapes. These developments in the field of mathematics played a very important role to western civilization, as mathematics is a very essential field especially in research and technological developments. Mesopotamian astronomy was a major branch of science in ancient Mesopotamia. Priests used this science to predict eclipses and solstices and developed the 12-month calendar based on moon cycles. This Mesopotamian knowledge in astronomy played a major influence in the development of Greek astronomy. Developments in astronomy have led to civilization as people can study the space and use various technologies such as the satellite technology, which are essential for communication and other purposes.
Mesopotamians contributed significantly to medical procedures that have been in use up to today. From a text referred to as the Diagnostic handbook, which can be traced to 11th century BC in Babylon, shows the various medical procedures and prescriptions employed by Mesopotamian Doctors. They had developed coherent procedures for diagnosis and examination of the sick. These procedures have been modified in various ways for use in the modern world. These doctors developed the use of creams and pills for treatment as well as use of bandages on injured patients. All these procedures and medical developments played a significant role in civilization, as the health of people is very important in ensuring productivity. Ancient Mesopotamians have contributed significantly to modern day literature and art. A vast amount of literature tracing back to Mesopotamia can be found in most royal libraries. This literature was scribbled on cuneiform scripts and the content inside these cuneiform scripts include poetry, proverbs, hymns, prayers and records of historical events. When it comes to art, ancient Mesopotamian sculpture figures in either clay or stone form has been significant in the development of modern art.
If there is a place that contributed significantly to civilization of the world, it must be the Ancient Mesopotamia. Ancient Mesopotamians were the first people of their age to build cities, develop writing, use large amounts of bronze, and develop complex administration bodies and laws among other significant developments. Imagine how modern day organizations and corporations would run without established bureaucratic systems? There would be no channels of communication between top level managers and the rest of the organization or between government officials and the citizens. How would the world operate without mathematics? Can you imagine life without counting and our developed numerology? Would there be computers to assist in our daily tasks? The answer is that without ancient Mesopotamia much of our knowledge would be non existent or underdeveloped. Modern day statistics, research, planning, medicine and businesses are all bound by mathematics for smooth operation. How would modern day learning and communication be conducted without our advanced writing skills? Without the contributions of ancient Mesopotamia, our western civilization would not function at all. Civilization would be non existent and this research paper would never be written at all! It is, therefore, correct to state that, our Western Civilization owes much to Mesopotamia. Without their significant contributions, we would still be far from civilization.
Works Cited
Potts, Daniel T. A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East. Malden, Mass: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. Internet resource.
O'Brien, Patrick K. Atlas of World History. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2007. Print.
Enders, Mike, and Benoît Dupont. Policing the Lucky Country. Annandale, N.S.W: Hawkins Press, 2001. Print.
Spielvogel, Jackson J. Western Civilization. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2012. Print.
Tabak, John. Numbers. New York: Infobase Pub, 2004. Internet resource.
