Mesopotamia appears to have been the birthplace of the first civilization.

• The area is separated into two natural zones that run roughly north and south of contemporary Baghdad.

• As previously stated, irrigation is critical in the south (Babylonia); agriculture is conceivable in the north (later Assyria) with rainfall and wells.

• The south has high yields from irrigated fields, whereas the north has lower yields but considerably more land under cultivation, allowing it to produce more than the south.

The ancient Mesopotamian towns appear to have been constructed during the fourth millennium B.C.E. by a people known as the Sumerians in the country of Sumer, which is the southern part of Babylonia.

• The Sumerian metropolis of Uruk was the biggest city in the world by 3000 B.C.E.

• Several Sumerian city-states, independent political entities consisting of a great city and its surrounding region, existed in southern Mesopotamia from around 2800 to 2370 B.C.E., organised along north-south lines along the major watercourses.

• Uruk, Ur, Nippur, Shuruppak, and Lagash were among these cities.

• Some of the city-states created alliances with each other that appeared to have both political and religious importance.

• Water and agricultural land disputes led to constant fighting, and over time, larger cities and leagues destroyed weaker ones and developed to establish kingdoms governing multiple city-states.

Peoples who spoke Semitic languages (languages related to Arabic and Hebrew) controlled northern Mesopotamia and Syria, as opposed to the Sumerians.

• The Sumerian language does not exist.

• But far smaller than the Akkadian Empire.

• Sumerian culture and literature flourished throughout this time period.

• Epic poetry were written to celebrate the deeds of the rulers of Ur's forefathers.

• Agriculture, livestock husbandry, trade, and other affairs were meticulously recorded by a highly centralized bureaucracy.

• Over 100,000 of these papers have been discovered in Sumerian city ruins.

In general, penalties were harsh, literally based on the notion of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," while Sumerian law sometimes imposed fines rather than bodily mutilation or death.

• Disputes over property and other grievances were initially heard by local city assembly of important citizens and leaders of government.

• For a price, professional judges heard cases at the city gate.

• Witnesses and written evidence had to be provided in Mesopotamian trials, and a written judgement had to be rendered.

• False testimony was a capital offense.

On the idea that no one would risk swearing a false oath, the disputing parties would sometimes submit to an oath before the gods.

• In circumstances when proof or oath could not prove the truth, the disputing parties may submit to an ordeal, such as being thrown into the river, for the god to judge who was speaking the truth.

• Capital sentence cases might be appealed to the monarch.

• Hammurabi was preoccupied with the minutiae of his empire, and his preserved letters frequently deal with tiny local conflicts.

The Elamites raided Ur from the east and seized the king.

• The Amorites, a Semitic-speaking population from the north and west, entered Mesopotamia in great numbers, settling near Sumerian towns and eventually establishing their own dynasties in several of them, including Uruk, Babylon, Isin, and Larsa.

Sumerian dominance came to an end with the collapse of the Third Dynasty of Ur, and the Sumerians eventually faded as a distinct tribe.

• Only in writing did the Sumerian language survive as the learned language of Babylonia, taught in schools and utilized by priests and intellectuals.

• Sumerian was held in such high regard that when Alexander the Great arrived in Babylon in 331 B.C.E., seventeen centuries after the destruction of Ur, Sumerian was still in use.

The Sumerians were clearly controlled by monarchs in some way, according to the earliest historical documents.

• In ancient art, the early Sumerian monarchs are seen leading an army, murdering prisoners, and making presents to the gods.

The sort of regulation varies depending on the period and area.

• For example, in later Assyria, the king acted as head priest; in Babylonia, the priesthood was independent from monarchy.

• Royal princesses were occasionally designated as priestesses of major gods.

  • Enheduanna, the daughter of Sargon of Akkad, was one of the most renowned of them.

  • She is the first author in history whose works may be linked to a specific person.

  • Despite being an Akkadian, she produced sophisticated, impassioned, and profoundly personal poetry in Sumerian.

A proper writing system was essential for government, business, and scholarship.

• Because of the wedge-shaped markings they formed by writing on clay tablets with a cut reed stylus, the Sumerians devised the writing system now known as cuneiform (from the Latin cuneus, "wedge").

• Initially, the writing approach was shaky, providing only a few phrase parts to assist a reader recall information he presumably already understood.

• Later, individuals considered writing entire phrases in the sequence in which they would be uttered, in order to impart new information to a reader.

• The Sumerian writing system included thousands of characters, some of which represented words and others sounds.

Certain characters represented a variety of sounds or words, and some sounds may be represented by many characters.

The image attached shows an astrological calendar.

The ancient Mesopotamians spent a lot of thought and effort into finding indications that they felt would predict future events, deciphering the significance of these signals, and taking precautions to avoid evil.

• Mesopotamians believed in divination in the same manner that many people now believe in science.

• The sacrifice of sheep and goats was one of the first divination methods utilized by the Mesopotamians.

• The guts of the sacrificial animals were inspected by seers for deformations that may prophesy the future.

  • Clay tablets chronicled specific deformations as well as historical events that they predicted.

The hunt for omens in the entrails of sacrifice animals was extremely significant for Mesopotamian monarchs, who usually conducted that procedure before embarking on major state activities.

• However, animal sacrifice was costly. As a result, most Mesopotamians utilized

  • Debt slavery predominated over chattel slavery.

  • Because interest rates were so high, up to 33.3 percent, consumers frequently defaulted on loans.

  • One reason interest rates were so high was that the government canceled certain sorts of loans, debt slavery, and commitments on a regular basis, putting lenders at danger of losing money.

  • If debtors committed themselves or members of their family as guarantee for a loan, they became the creditor's slave; their labor went to pay the loan's interest.

  • Debt slaves could not be sold, but they may be released by repaying the loan. True chattel slavery did not emerge until the NeoBabylonian era (612–539 BCE).

  • Despite laws prohibiting fleeing slaves or slaves who deny slavery.