THE CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION WAS NOT IN AFRICA
CONTINUING LECTURE 2 — MESOPOTAMIA
BY ALEXIS CASTOR PhD
“LET’S MOVE NOW FROM WATER TO OTHER ASPECTS OF THE ENVIRONMENT; SPECIFICALLY FOOD RESOURCES.
WHAT DID THESE PEOPLE EAT?
AWAY FROM THE RIVERS MESOPOTAMIA CAN BE CLASSIFIED AS A SUB-DESTER. KIND OF A DESTER BUT NOT SO BAD. IT CERTAINLY WOULD PROVIDE ENOUGH SUBSTANCE FOR HERDS OF SHEEP AND GOATS. SO YOU WOULD NOT HAVE TO SACRIFICE VALUABLE AGRICULTURAL LAND IN ORDER TO PASTURE YOUR FLOCKS. YOU TAKE THEM INTO THE DESERT. THIS WOULD REQUIRE YOU TO TRAVEL FARTHER, BUT IT WOULD GIVE YOU ANOTHER AREA TO USE. THE DESERT ALSO SUPPORTED A NUMBER OF WILD ANIMALS THAT WERE USED FOR MEAT. JACKALS, LIONS, GAZELS…. MANY OF THESE ANIMALS HAVE BEEN HUNTED INTO EXTINCTION. BUT WE SEE THEM REPORTED IN THE TEXTS AND SERVED AT FEATS IN MESOPOTAMIA.
THE MARSHES IN THE LOW-LYING AREAS SUPPORTED AN EVEN GREATER VARIETY OF WILD LIFE. INCLUDING SEVERAL SPECIES OF BIRDS, FISH AND OTHER WATER CREATURES. AND AGAIN TEXTS RECORED OF OF THESE SPECIES BROUGHT IN AT LAVISH FEASTS…..
THE MARSHLANDS ALSO SERVED FOR POLITICAL REFUGEES, CRIMINALS. THIS IS ANOTHER IMPORTANT FEATURE OF THIS ENVIRONMENT. AN 8TH CENTURY BABYLONIAN KING ESCAPED TWICE TO THE REGION HE CALLED “THE SEA LAND” FROM HIS ASSYRIAN OVER-LORD. HE MANAGED TO COLLECT REINFORCEMENTS FROM THIS AREA.
THIS KIND OF THING REMAINED TO THE PRESENT AREA, WHEN HUSAIN ORDERED THE DRAINING OF THAT AREA, AGAINST THOSE WHO OPPOSED HIS RULE. IT IS ESTIMATED THAT ONLY 10 TO 20 PERCENT OF THE MARSHES REMAIN TODAY. A RECLAMATION HAS BEEN BEGUN BUT IT IS UNLIKELY TO BE SUCCESSFUL; TOO MUCH DAMAGE HAS BEEN INFLICTED.
AS WE LOOK AT THE SOUTHERN COAST LINE THERE IS SOME DEBATE ABOUT THE LOCATION OF THE MOUTH OF THE PERSIAN GULF. IT USED TO BE ASSUMED THAT THE COAST-LINE WAS FARTHER INLAND, RIGHT UP TO THE BORDERS OF THE SOUTHERN CITIES THAT WERE DISCOVERED. BUT IN THE MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY THIS IDEA WAS CHALLENGED. AND GEOLOGISTS ACCEPTED THAT THE ANCIENT COAST-LINE WAS ABOUT WHERE IT IS TODAY. THE ISSUE IS NOT SETTLED HOWEVER, AND AS YOU LOOK AT MAPS YOU MAY FIIND DIFFERENT LEVELS. KEEP IN MIND THIS IS STILL AN ONGOING STUDY AND DEBATE.
CITIES WOULD APPEAR CLOSE TO WHERE THERE WAS NATURAL RECOURSES; AND IN MESOPOTAMIA, THE PLAINS NEAR THE RIVERS WERE THE GREAT CULTURAL CENTERS. THE RIVERS NOT ONLY SUPPLIED THE WATER FOR FOOD SUPPLY, FOR THE CITIES, BUT ALSO AN EASY MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION. SO GOODS, PEOPLE, IDEAS, CAN TRAVEL UP AND DOWN THE RIVERS. IF YOU KEEP THIS IN MIND THAT THE RIVERS WERE USED IN MANY DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF LIFE, IT WILL HELP TO EXPLAIN THE COHERENT LIFE THAT IS SO STRIKING, FOR LIFESTYLES, AND DIFFERENT PARTS OF MESOPOTAMIA.
IN CONTRAST, THE MOUNTAIN RANGES FOSTERED SMALLER AND MORE ISOLATED, AND MORE INDEPENDENT GROUPS. CITIES APPEAR SOMEWHAT LATER HERE. LARGE CITIES WERE NOT THE NORM UNTIL THE END OF THE SECOND MILLENNIUM, AND INTO THE FIRST MILLENNIUM. AND TRADE BECOMES A MUCH MORE IMPORTANT AND DOCUMENTED ASPECT OF SOCIETY. IN THE NORTH THEY WERE MUCH CLOSER TO KEY TRADE ROUTES THAT CONNECTED EAST AND WEST, AND TO THE MEDITERRANEAN.
SO AS WE LOOK MORE CLOSELY AT THIS AREA WE CAN BEGIN TO SEE WHY PEOPLE SETTLED WHERE THEY DID. IN SOUTHERN MESOPOTAMIA THER’S NOT ENOUGH RAINFALL TO SUPPLY AGRICULTURE WITH ONLY ABOUT AN AVERAGE 10 INCHES A YEAR. SO YOU NEED A PRETTY COMPELLING REASON TO LIVE THERE. AND THAT COMPELLING REASON WAS THE FERTILITY OF THE SOIL, WHICH CAN REACH A ONE TO TWENTY SEED TO HARVEST YIELD PER YEAR. THE TRADE-OFF IS THAT A COMMUNITY WOULD HAVE TO EXPEND A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF LABOR, TO CREATE AN ARTIFICIAL WATER SOURCE, DRAINING FROM THESE RIVERS.
AND AS POPULATION DENSITY IN THE AREA INCREASED NEIGHBORING CITIES BEGAN TO COMPETE FOR PRIME FARM LAND. WHICH WOULD BE THE AREA RIGHT NEAR THE RIVER. ONE OF OUR EARLIEST HISTORICAL CONTEXT IS THE 150 YEAR WAR, LASTING FROM ABOUT 2500 TO 2350 B. C. BETWEEN THE SOUTHERN CITIES OF UMMA AND LAGASH. AND THIS WAR WAS PROMPTED BY CONFLICTS OVER BORDERS AND FARM LANDS.
IN NORTHERN MESOPOTAMIA THE REGION BENEFITS FROM A MORE ABUNDANT RAINFALL WHICH OFFSETS THE NEED FOR IRRIGATION. BEING HILLIER THE TERRANE WOULD MAKE IT MORE DIFFICULT FOR IRRIGATION CANALS, THAN IN THE SOUTHERN LOWLANDS. THE LAND IN THIS AREA COULD BE USED FOR GRAZING FLOCKS OR FOR AGRICULTURE, SINCE YOU NEEDED LESS LABOR TO PRODUCE THE NECESSARY SUPPLIES, THAN TO CHANGE WHAT THE AREA WAS BEST FOR.
IN GENERAL THERE SEEMS TO BE LESS PRESSURE IN THE NORTH THAN IN THE SOUTH. AND SO FROM THE BEGINNING WE CAN SEE THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHER REGION. AND AS WE START TO COLLECT MORE EVIDENCE AND LOOK AT THIS IDEA MORE CLOSELY WE SHALL SEE THAT THE CONTRAST CONTINUES.
WE’VE SEEN WHAT THE LAND LOOKED LIKE AND WHAT RESOURCES WERE AVAILABLE, SO WHAT RESOURCES WERE NOT AVAILABLE?
THERE WERE TWO THAT WERE ESPECIALLY DESIRABLE. METAL AND TIMBER.
AND MESOPOTAMIA RULERS WANTED THESE RESOURCES, IN ALMOST EVERY PERIOD THAT WE SHALL DISCUSS.
THEY ARE NOT WIDELY AVAILABLE IN MESOPOTAMIA ITSELF, THOUGH THERE ARE SOME TIMBER RESOURCES IN THE NORTH, BUT USUALLY BOTH TIMBER AND METAL WERE IMPORTED FROM THE EAST AND FROM THE WEST. THESE ARE BOTH LUXERY GOODS ESSENTIAL FOR THE BUILDING PROJECTS THAT WOULD HANCE A RULERS PRESTIGE. SO A RULER WHO WANTED TO SHOW OFF HIS CONTROL OF RESOURCES MIGHT USE CEDER FROM LEBANON IN A TEMPLE HE WAS RENOVATING. THIS WOULD BE RECOGNIZED BY VISITORS AS SOMETHING THAT WAS EXOTIC, AND SOMETHING THAT WAS EXPENSIVE, AND THEREFORE IT SHOWED OFF WHAT THE KING COULD OFFER TO HIS PEOPLE.
CONTROL OF TRADE ROUTES WAS ONE OF THE PRIMARY MOTIVATIONS APART FROM LAND, FOR DISPUTES BETWEEN CITIES AND WITH OTHER CULTURES……
HISTORIANS APPLY DIFFERENT NAMES TO THESE AREAS DEPENDING ON A PARTICULAR AREA UNDER REVIEW.
AND SO IT CAN SEEM VERY CONFUSING AT FIRST. KNOWING THE CODE YOU WILL SEE IMMEDIATELY WHAT AREA AND WHAT CULTURE WAS MOST IMPORTANT IN MESOPOTAMIA. AND YOU WILL ALSO BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND AND GIVES YOU A ROUGH IDEA OF THE DATE.
SOME OF THE NAMES THAT WILL B ECOME FAMILIAR TO YOU AND THE AREA——
SUMERIA
AKKAD
BABYLONIA
ASSYRIA
PERSIA
AND THESE ALL REFLECT THE DOMINANT CULTURE OF THE TIME. SOMETIMES THE CONTROL IS CULTURAL AND SOMETIMES IT IS POLITICAL. SUMERIA OR SUMER WILL BE ONE OF THE FRASES WE USE IN THE FIRST PART OF THE COURSE. THIS IS THE AREA WHERE CITIES BEGIN, SO CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MESOPOTAMIA. IT IS ALSO THE LANGUAGE THAT IS USED IN THESE REGIONS. BUT IT DOES NOT REPRESENT A SPECIFIC ETHNIC GROUP…..
AT THE SAME TIME NORTHERN MESOPOTAMIA, THIS AREA THAT IS HILLIER AND HAS MORE MOUNTAINS, IS CALLED AKKAD. WHICH WAS ALSO NAMED AFTER THE LANGUAGE THAT WAS USED, EVEN THOUGH BOTH CULTURES USED THE LANGUAGES INTERCHANGEABLY, NEAR THE END OF THE PERIOD WE WILL BE DISCUSSING.
SUMER, SUMERIAN, AKKAD, AKKADIAN, WERE MOST IMPORTANT IN THE 3RD AND 2ND MILLENNIUM B. C. AND IT’S IMPORTANT TO NOTE THEY EXISTED AT THE SAME TIME, AND THAT THEY WERE TWO EQUALLY IMPORTANT CULTURES. THEY WERE INDEPENDENT OF EACH OTHER UNTIL SAGON OF AKKAD UNIFIED THE REGION IN THE 23RD CENTURY
B. C.
IN THE SECOND MILLENNIUM THE SOUTH AND CENTRAL MESOPOTAMIA WAS CALLED BABYLONIA AFTER THE CITY OF BABYLON. THE TERM IS USED TO FIRST DESCRIBE THE RISE OF HAMARBI THE 18TH CENTURY RULER AND LAW GIVER, KING OF BABYLON, WHO LIKE SAGON UNIFIED THE NORTH AND SOUTH.
THE POLITICAL CONTROL THAT HAMARBI ESTABLISHED DID NOT LAST LONG AFTER HIS DEATH. BUT THE CULTURAL UNITY EXISTED FOR SEVERAL CENTURIES AFTER HIS DEATH. AND SO THAT MEANS THAT THE AREA CONTINUED TO BE REFERRED TO AS A SINGLE CULTURE.
ASSYRIA, LIES ABOVE BABYLONIA, IN NORTHERN MESOPOTAMIA, AND WAS THE LEADING STATE OF MESOPOTAMIA IN THE LATE 2RD AND EARLY 1ST MILLENNIUM. ASSYRIA GREW FROM THE CITY OF ASHUR WHICH WAS A TRADING POST WITH CONNECTION TO ANATOLIA [MODERN TURKEY]. AND WOULD EXTEND TO THE COAST OF SYRIA, PALESTINE, ASLO CALLED THE LAVANT, AND EVEN REACHED EGYPT, FOR A FEW YEARS ANYWAY.
WHILE ASSYRIA IS GROWING AND EXPANDING IN THE NORTH, BABYLONIA CONTINUED AND IT MAINTAINED THAT CULTURAL ASPECT THAT EVEN THE ASSYRIANS RESPECTED, THAT WOULD CAUSE THE ASSYRIANS TO LEAVE BABYLONIA ALONE AND GIVE THEM SPECIAL TREATMENT, EVEN AS THEY POLITICAL REBELS, DESIRING TO DEFEAT ASSYRIA.
BY THE 6TH CENTURY, ASSYRIA WAS DEFEATED BY THE PERSIAN TRIBE WHO WERE SOUTH WEST IN IRAN. THEY CONTROLLED MESOPOTAMIA, SYRIA, PALESTINE, EGYPT, AND ATOLIA, AND EVEN REACH INTO TRYING TO GO INTO EUROPE VIA GREECE, IN THE 5TH CENTURY B. C.
THE PERSIAN EMPIRE WOULD CONTINUE UNTIL ALEXANDER THE GREAT CROSSES INTO ASIA MINOR [TURKEY] IN 334 B. C. AND MOVED ACROSS TO IRAN AND INDIA. CREATING AN EMPIRE THAT NO ONES WAS ABLE TO REPLICATE.
WE HAVE SEEN IN THIS LECTURE A GREAT VARIETY IN ENVIRONMENT AND GEOGRAPHY, AND HAVE SEEN THEY HAVE IMPORTANT RAMIFICATIONS. THE RIVERS, ESPECIALLY THE EUPHRATES RIVER, MITIGATES THE LACK OF RAINFALL IN THE SOUTH. IT HAS CERTAIN FEATURES, SHALLOWER, AND IS ESPECIALLY WELL SUITED FOR IRRIGATION AND LARGE SETTLEMENT. THIS DESIRABILITY OF THE EUPHRATES CREATES SOME PRESSURE OR ARIBLE OR FERTILE LAND AND THIS WILL CAUSE CONFLICTS.
IN THE NORTH THE MOUNTAINS WERE BARRIERS AND ALSO THE SOURCE OF SOME TIMBER. AN EREA THAT RECEIVED MORE RAIN. NO IRRIGATION WAS NEEDED FOR SURVIVAL. AND AN AREA WHICH FLOCKS COULD BE PASTURED. AND THE LAND USED FOR AGRICULTURE AS WELL. THE DESERTS TO THE WEST, LIKE THE MOUNTAINS, PROVIDED A NATURAL DEFENCE, AND WERE THE HOME OF SEMI-NOMADIC TRIBES.
THE MARSHLANDS IN THE SOUTH, THE MOST ROMANTIC AND PROVOCATIVE FOR US TO TRY TO IMAGINE A VERY DIFFERENT STYLE OF LIVING. THIS WAS AN AREA OF FISHERMEN. HUNTERS, AGRICULTURE, HAD NO ROLE TO PLAY HERE. AND LIKE THE MOUNTAINS AND EVEN THE DESERTS, THIS AREA COULD EASILY CREATE COMMUNITIES THAT FELT INDEPENDENT AND UNCONNECTED TO THE LARGE CITIES.
IN LECTURE 5 WE SHALL RETURN TO EXAMINE CONDITIONS FOR AGRICULTURE AND URBANIZATION THAT MADE MESOPOTAMIA THE SITE OF EARLY SETTLEMENT…..”
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TO BE CONTINUED
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