Most important contributions of MESOPOTAMIA

The history of humanity is made up of numerous civilizations and cultures, each contributing something of value thanks to what we have been able to evolve as a species. The largest contributions usually come from ancient cultures, since they were times in which the human being was not yet capable of many things and it was easier to create things. To list all the things that one of the main ancient towns contributed to the history of mankind, in this lesson from a Professor we must talk about the contributions from Mesopotamia.

Before listing and explaining the numerous contributions given by Mesopotamia we must talk about this civilization, to understand its extension, its characteristics and other elements that allow us to know one of the peoples that started the societies human.

Mesopotamia is the way you call a area located in the Middle East, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that was occupied by important civilizations during the Ancient Age, some of these peoples being those of Babylon, Assyria, Acadia and Chaldea. The appearance of so many important towns makes it one of the

most important cultural areas from the history of mankind, the cradle of European and Arab cultures and even some Asian areas, many of the main characteristics of these regions being born from the place.

The importance of Mesopotamia lies in the fact that it was in this region that the evolution of human beings of the Neolithic Revolution, causing the discovery of livestock and agriculture and, therefore, the step towards a sedentary society, originating the Mesopotamian peoples. Its evolution spread throughout the world, creating the societies we know today, and therefore this contribution is vital to understanding current human beings.

Peoples and civilizations of Mesopotamia

To understand the importance of Mesopotamia we must list the main peoples that inhabited the area, explaining briefly its main characteristics, since the four cultures have played a very important role in the Age Ancient. The Mesopotamian peoples They were the following ones:

• Sumerian: Considered as the first town in the history of mankind. They founded huge cities that prospered thanks to the great management of irrigation by the Sumerians. They were also the first to use pictograms, which we could say is the origin of what years later would be writing.
• Acadia: They arose from the invasions of peoples who sought the life that the Sumerians had, seeking to conquer the area in order to possess their wealth and influence. Made up of Arab, Hebrew and Syrian groups, they were able to prosper until they were able to found the Akkadian Empire. Years later the different peoples that formed Acadia occupied a vital importance in the history of humanity, being the protagonists of some of the most important religions.
• Babylon: The largest of the empires in the Mesopotamia area, reaching the shores of the Mediterranean and maintaining influence until many centuries later, when he faced Alexander the Great and the Hellenes. It could be said that Babylon was the mirror where the European monarchs who sought to centralize power looked at themselves, giving an account of the great centralization that they came to have. King Hammurabi of Babylon is still considered to this day as one of the most important monarchs in history, being the cause of the enormous power of Babylon.
• Assyria: They occupied an area near Babylon after the death of their king Hammurabi. They took advantage of the weakness of the rest of the peoples to form a powerful alliance that years later would end up forming the Achaemenid Empire. It was one of the first peoples to focus their power on military life, conquering numerous peoples to be able to impose their culture in a violent way and with it increase their power throughout the region.

Once we understand what we mean when we talk about Mesopotamia, we must talk about the main contributions that we have referred to from this people, in order to understand how different our world would be today without the existence of this set of cultures. Therefore, below we must talk and explain the main contributions of Mesopotamia, analyzing the reasons for its discovery and the usefulness it has had subsequently.

The city

The first cities of the history of mankind arise during the Copper Age, but if a place in the world this was common is in Sumerian, emerging huge cities at a great speed due to the early discovery of agriculture and livestock.

The irrigated agriculture It gave great income and surplus, so the Sumerians could keep large cities fed and at the same time trade with other regions to achieve enormous wealth. Generally, these first large cities were the result of the union of small villages, but little by little they became more similar to what we understand as a city.

Cuneiform writing

The creation of writing was a key moment in human history, since it allowed the passage from Prehistory to the Ancient Age, and from what we can say that the passage between these two periods was thanks to the cultures of Mesopotamia. The first writing system was the cuneiform, being created by the Sumerians and having an essential role in the trade of the region, being so important that even after the disappearance of the Sumerians, its use was maintained.

The wheel

The history of the invention of the wheel It has been one of the most interesting and changing in human history, and there have been many theories about its possible origin. The most accepted theory speaks that the creation of the wheel took place in Mesopotamia, since the Older remains of a chariot have been discovered in the city of Ur, belonging to the culture Sumerian. This discovery is not only the oldest sample of the wheel in human history, it is also considered as proof that the first vehicle in the history of mankind was found in society Sumerian.

Agriculture and Livestock

For centuries, human beings were hunters and gatherers, only being able to eat what they were allowed to eat. nature, and due to them being nomads, since they had to move from location when in an area they stayed Without food. The enormous wealth of the rivers of Mesopotamia allowed the citizens of the area to dedicate themselves to the agriculture and livestock, and thanks to this they become sedentary and live on what they cultivated and they raised.

Irrigation and innovations agricultural

Not all areas were equally prosperous in terms of the amount of water and, therefore, the people of Mesopotamia innovated to create the system known as irrigation, which consisted of canals or trenches to move water from areas with greater amounts of liquid to drier ones, thus achieving that all land could be cultivated.

On the other hand, the Mesopotamians were able to use metals to achieve great innovations agricultural crops, which allowed to increase production and reduce the time it took to collect the sowing.

Timing

Another of Mesopotamia's contributions is that they began to measure time. And it is that something as everyday as the accounting of time can be said that it came from the Mesopotamians, since it was they who they fixed that the hours lasted 60 minutes and the minutes 60 seconds, Since each god represented a number and the god An, who represented the minutes and hours, was represented by the number 60. Most later peoples adapted this system as something natural, causing many civilizations, including us today, track time by means of the number 60.

Legal system

Mesopotamian society was the first to create a complex legal code, in which the main norms of society and the different punishments for each one were established of crimes, being also the first system that established that the convicted person could speak in his defending. The code was written by Hammurabi, King of Babylon, and was later adapted to numerous cultures, modifying numerous elements, but serving as an influence on the legal system of many peoples of the Ancient Age.

Post

Nowadays it seems very simple the postal system all over the world, but it is interesting to know that its origin took place in the peoples of Mesopotamia, since that in the Bible it is commented how in Assyria the nobles exchanged letters with a complex system of shipments. We do not know for sure if this correspondence was only focused on the upper classes, or if the opposite was something common to all citizens of Assyrian cities, something that would be key to communication in an empire so big.

Architectural advancements

The great advances in architecture is also another of the most outstanding contributions of Mesopotamia. In the Mesopotamian cultures some of the first complex systems of architecture originated, being regions and cities where they stand out big buildings difficult to find in other areas, a clear example being the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, that made up one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. Among the main architectural elements originated in Mesopotamia we must speak of the dome and the vault, being key elements of the works in later centuries.

Myths

Present in all the mythologies of the world, we could say that the first great myths were born in the religions of Mesopotamian cultures, being especially important those that speak of their heroes and gods, that centuries later the Greeks would adapt. We must understand that religion and mythology predated the peoples of Mesopotamia, but the myths it was something new and that it had a key paper in the later old towns.