MESOPOTAMIA--- THE RISE OF CIVILIZATION #1

THE FACTS OF  HISTORY AND GEOLOGY PROVE MANKIND WAS FIRST FOUND IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND SPECIFICALLY THE AREA KNOWN AS MESOPOTAMIA. I WELL REMEMBER MY FIRST TEACHERS I HAD IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND SCHOOL [ANGLICAN] MY FATHER SENT ME TO AT AGE 7, USING THE WORD MESOPOTAMIA. YOU HARDLY EVER HEAR IT USED ANY MORE; THESE LECTURES BY ALEXIS CAUGHT MY EYE IN THE PUBLICATION OF STUDIES "THE TEACHING COMPANY" SEND ME ON A REGULAR BASIS.  ALEXIS GIVES 36 LECTURES, HALF HOUR EACH. SHE IS WORTHY OF HER Ph D. I WILL ONLY BRING YOU A FEW OF THOSE LECTURES - Keith Hunt

MESOPOTAMIA----- IT'S HISTORY AND WHERE CIVILIZATION  WAS  ONCE  CENTERED

FROM  THE  LECTURES  "BETWEEN  THE  RIVERS: THE HISTORY OF ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA" BY  PROFESSOR  ALEXIS Q. CASTOR PhD

LECTURE 2 --- GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENT

"THE WORD MESOPOTAMIA WHICH IS A GREEK TERM, DESCRIBES THE LAND BETWEEN TWO RIVERS.  HINTS AT THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE LAND OF THE REGION.....IN THIS LECTURE I WILL FIRST GIVE YOU THE OVERVIEW OF THE GEOGRAPHY TO ORIENT YOU; THEN WE WILL LOOK MORE SPECIFICALLY AT WATER AVAILABILITY, WITHIN THE REGION.....

AFTER DESCRIBING  THE  WATER RECOURSES, WE WILL EXAMINE THE VARIETY OF ENVIRONMENTS, AND HOW THESE DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS PROMOTED DIFFERENT LIFE-STYLES, IN MESOPOTAMIA. 

THEN WE LOOK AT RESOURCES THAT WERE NOT READILY AVAILABLE, BUT WERE HIGHLY DESIRED, AND HOW THEY WERE ACQUIRED,  BY RULERS FOR HIS CONTROL, OF THESE EXOTIC RESOURCES.

FINANLLY I WILL TRY TO UNRAVEL THE DIFFERENT NAMES, THAT ARE APPLIED TO THE REGION, AND WHY WE USE THEM. THERE IS A METHOD TO THE MADNESS.

A LOOK AT A MAP OF THE REGION SHOWS A DIVERSE GEOGRAPHY OF THE REGION--- PLAINS, MOUNTAINS, DESERTS, AND MARSHLANDS.

CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MESOPOTAMIA CONTAIN A FERTILE PLAIN TO THE EAST AND WEST OF TWO RIVERS.....

NORTHERN MESOPOTAMIA IS HILLIER WITH ROLLING PLAINS THAT LEAD UP TO THE MOUNTAINS AROUND THEM. ONE OF THE KEY RANGE OF MOUNTAINS IS THE ZAGROS MTS. THAT RUN FROM THE NORTH-WEST TO THE SOUTH-EAST..... THE ZAGROS MOUNTAINS RUN FOR OVER 9 HUNDRED MILES AND FORM  THE EASTERN BORDER WITH IRAN..... SOME OF THE MOUNTAINS IN THIS RANGE .... ARE OVER 16 THOUSAND FEET HIGH. THEY FORM A FORMIDABLE BORDER BETWEEN THESE TWO REGIONS.

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THESE ZAGROS MOUNTAINS IS THE IRANIAN PLATEAU......

THE MOUNTAINS OF THE ZAGRO WAS HOME TO SEMI-MIGRANT PEOPLES WHO OFTEN INVADED MESOPOTAMIA.....

WE OFTEN DON'T HAVE MUCH INFORMATION ABOUT THESE TRIBES, OTHER THEN THE FACT THEY INVADED, AND FORM A SOMEWHAT MYSTERIOUS GROUP. 

THE ZAGROS MOUNTAINS JOIN INTO THE NORTHERN TAURUS MTS. AND FORM THE NORTH BORDER OF MESOPOTAMIA.

BEYOND THIS WAS ANATOLIA [MODERN TURKEY] AND ANATOLIA WAS AN IMPORTANT TRADING NATION.  TIN WAS AN IMPORTANT RESOURCE BROUGHT FROM ANATOLIA......

THIS WAS AN AREA IN WHICH THERE WERE FREQUENT CONTACTS.....

TO THE WEST OF THE EUPHRATES RIVER  ARE DESERTS, THE ARABIAN DESERT. AND THESE AREAS SEPARATE THE MESOPOTAMIA REGION FROM THE LEVANT COAST---- SYRIA AND PALESTINE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA....

THESE DESERTS WERE FORMIDABLE AND COULD NOT REALLY BE CROSSED UNTIL THE CAMEL CAME INTO USE, IN THE FIRST MILLENNIUM B. C. BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN THEY WERE DESOLATE.  WE KNOW THERE WERE SOME ANIMALS  THAT SHOWED CONNECTIONS TO AFRICA.... AND THERE WERE GROUPS OF NOMADIC TRIBES....

BUT THERE WERE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THESE GROUPS AND SETTLED CULTURES. THEY BROUGHT THEIR FLOCKS TO PASTURE NEAR AREAS OF CITIES. AND THEY WOULD PROVIDE RESOURCES FOR THE CITIES IN RETURN FOR WHAT THE CITIES COULD OFFER THEM.

THE DESERTS WERE AN AFFECTIVE PROTECTIVE BORDER FOR MESOPOTAMIA. AS AFFECT AS THE MOUNTAINS TO THE EAST AND NORTH DID.

IN THE SOUTH WERE MARSHLANDS THAT COVERED MOST OF THE SOUTH REGION.  AND THIS IS WHERE THE RIVERS MET AND ENTERED THE MOUTH OF THE PERSIAN GULF.

THIS AREA IS SOMEWHAT EXOTIC TO US TODAY, WE KNOW THERE WAS SETTLED LIFE THERE. AND THE PEOPLE IN THE MARSHLANDS LIVED IN REED-HUTS, THAT WERE BUILT ON ISLANDS. THEY WERE SURROUNDED BY WATER; THEIR MAIN PROFESSION AS YOU CAN IMAGINE WAS FISHING. IT'S A LITTLE HARD TO KNOW WHAT THEIR LIFE-STYLE WAS, WE DO NOT HAVE MANY TEXTS THAT DESCRIBE THEM. BUT WE KNOW IT WAS A RICH AREA AND ONE THAT HAD VERY SIGNIFICANT CONTACTS WITH THE REST OF MESOPOTAMIA, AND SO TRADING LINKS, THAT WOULD MOVE DOWN INTO THE PERSIAN GULF.

THE LANDS THAT I HAVE DESCRIBES SHOWS THAT IN THE PLAINS IT COULD SUPPORT LARGE CITIES, SURROUNDED BY AGRICULTURAL FIELDS, ESPECIALLY IN SOUTHERN MESOPOTAMIA.

AND THIS COMBINATION OF URBAN AND AGRICULTURAL WAYS OF LIFE, SUPPORTED THE IDEA OF A RICH MESOPOTAMIA WAY OF LIFE..... WORSHIPPING THE SAME GODS.... THIS IS GOING TO CONTINUE IN WHATEVER OVERTHROW OF POLITICAL WAYS.....

ONE OF  THE IMPORTANT DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN REGIONS OF MESOPOTAMIA WAS THE EASE OR DIFFICULTY TO ACCESS WATER....

IN THE NORTH-EAST RAINFALL USUALLY ALLOWED A COMMUNITY TO SUPPLY ITSELF. BUT OF COURSE RAINFALL IS NOT ALWAYS RELIABLE.  FURTHER SOUTH IN CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MESOPOTAMIA AN ARTIFICIAL WATER SUPPLY WAS NECESSARY. AND THIS WAS SUPPLIED BY IRRIGATION FROM THE TWO RIVERS,  THE TIGRIS AND ESPECIALLY THE EUPHRATES RIVER.

THESE RIVERS BEGAN IN ARMENIA AND CAME THROUGH THE TAURUS MOUNTAINS FROM THE NORTH AND RAN DOWN TO THE PERSIAN GULF. 

THE TIGRUS RIVER IS ABOUT 1100 MILES LONG, IT'S A FASTER RIVER, IT'S STRAIGHTER,  AND HAS A DEEPER RIVER BED, AND MADE IT MUCH MORE DIFFICULT TO EXPLOIT WITH CHANNELS FOR IRRIGATION. DEEPER RIVER BED MEANT WATER HAD TO BE LIFTED OVER THE BANKS, COULD NOT JUST DIG A CHANNEL AND LET THE WATER DRAIN OUT. IT WAS NOT UNTIL THE ASSYRIANS GAINED ENOUGH TECHNOLOGY AND MAN-POWER THAT THE TIGRUS WAS USED FOR IRRIGATION. AND THE ASSYRIANS WERE ACTIVE IN THE FIRST MILLENNIUM B. C.

THE EUPHRATES IS A LONGER RIVER, IT'S ABOUT 1700 HUNDRED MILES LONG, MUCH SLOWER ..... WITH NUMEROUS TURNS AND ZIG-ZAGS, WITH OFFSHOOT, THAT  COULD ALSO BE USED FOR AGRICULTURE. IT HAS A MUCH LOWER BANK THAN THE TIGRUS. MAKES IT VERY EASY TO CUT INTO FOR IRRIGATION DITCHES, AND CANALS. 

BOTH OF THESE RIVERS TEND TO FLOOD. AND FLOODS WERE A GREAT THREAT TO THE AGRICULTURE OF THE AREA..... SO STILL A LEVEL OF UNCERTAINTY IN THE AGRICULTURAL HARVEST.

THE TIGRUS AND EUPHRATES ARE THE CLOSEST TOGETHER IN THE CENTAL AND SOUTHERN PART OF MESOPOTAMIA, WHERE WE'LL SEE SETTLEMENTS AND CITIES RISE THE EARLIEST.

CITIES WERE OFTEN FOUNDED TO THE EAST OF THE EUPHRATES RIVER, IN ORDER TO PROVIDE SUFFICIENT ACCESS TO IRRIGATION CANALS LEADING FROM THE RIVER. 

IF YOU LOOK AT A MAP OF ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA CITIES WITH THIS IDEA IN MIND, YOU MAY BE SURPRISED HOW FAR THEY WERE FROM IT, THE EUPHRATES.  THIS WAS CAUSED BY ARTIFICIAL CHANGES, USE OF IRRIGATION CANALS IN ANTIQUITY UP THROUGH THE MODERN DAY, WITH DAMS TO DEVERT THE WATER TO AGRICULTURE WHERE IT IS TODAY.  AND ALSO BY THE SILT THAT IS CARRIED BY THE RIVERS THAT NATURALLY SHIFTS THE RIVER BED OFF ITS COURSE.

AGRICULTURAL AND IRRIGATIONS IN THE SOUTH BROUGHT SOCIAL INTERMIXING, SO IMPORTANT FOR DOING LARGE PROJECTS AS IRRIGATION CANALS. THIS MEANS A COMMUNITY HAS TO HAVE A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO AGREED, OR WERE FORCED BY SOME AUTHORITY WHO WERE JOINED IN THIS GROUP PROJECT. 

IRRIGATIONAL CANALS WERE AN IMPORTANT INDICATOR IN THE GROWTH OF A CITY. AND EVENTUALLY THE LARGER STATES.  AS I'VE SAID THE ASSYRIANS WERE THE FIRST TO USE THE TIGRUS RIVER, SO THIS SHOWS US AN IMPORTANT ASPECT OF THEIR WAY OF RULING......

KINGS.... IT WAS IMPORTANT FOR THEM TO ASSURE THEIR PEOPLE THEY HAD THE MEANS FOR GOOD AGRICULTURE AND  SO A GOOD WAY OF LIFE.

A FINAL ASPECT OF WATER IN THE AREA IS FOUND IN THE HIGH WATER TABLE OF SOUTHERN MESOPOTAMIA..... THE TWO PLATES UNDER THIS AREA BRING THE WATER TO THE TOP,  BUT ALSO SALT.  THE SALINIZATION REDUCES FERTILITY DRASTICALLY  AND CAN EVENTUALLY REDUCE IT TO A DESERT AND INSUFFICIENT AGRICULTURE CAN BE PRODUCED.....

THIS MAY BE A CAUSE OF THE FAMINES SOME OF OUR TEXTS RECORD.

LET'S MOVE NOW FROM WATER TO OTHER ASPECTS OF THE ENVIRONMENT.

SPECIFICALLY FOOD RESOURCES."

TO BE CONTINUED