Writing And City Life

There is no denying the fact that natural fertility and food production were the causes of early urbanisation. Following arguments could be given in its favour:

(I). Natural fertility became the base of developed agriculture.

(II). Grasslands came into existence due to natural fertility which gave impetus to animal husbandry.

(III). Agriculture and animal rearing made human life permanent because now man became a food producer. Now there was no need for him to wander from one place to another in search of food.

(IV). When life became permanent then agricultural communities came into existence which started to live each other in huts. In this way villages came into existence.

(V). Higher level of food production led to exchange of goods. As a result, size of villages began to increase. New occupations were also started which were the indicators of urbanisation.

Necessary conditions of urbanisation:

(a). Highly productive agriculture

(b). water transport

(c). division of labour

Outcome of the growth of cities:

(a) The lack of metal and stone

(b) The use of seals

(c) The military power of kings that made labour compulsory.

Mobile animal herders might take their flocks across a sown field to water which ruined the crop. They could raid agricultural villages to seize their stored goods. Sometimes herders were also denied access to river, by settled groups, and canal water along a particular set of path. There might be conflict. But mobile animal herders were not necessarily a threat to town life. They required exchanging their young animals, leather, cheese and meat for metal tools, grain, the manure of a penned flock etc. Through Mesopotamian history, animal herders of western desert filtered into the prosperous agricultural heartland. Such herders came in as herders, became prosperous and settled down. Some of them gained the power and established their own rule which include the Amorite, Akkadian, Assyrian and Aramaean communities. The kings of Mari belonged to Amorite community.

The temples around that time were small shrines constructed with the help of unbaked bricks and had outer walls going in and out at regular intervals. Early temples have been like a house due to following reasons:

1. The temple symbolizes the community as a whole where everyone stayed together in unity and harmony just like one would live in their own house.

2. Temple was used as a place for the production of processed grains, also for grinding, spinning and weaving, just as same as done in a household.

3. Facts and figures about this era tell us that Mesopotamian rulers were priests. They lived in the temple and administered form there itself. Since temples were used for residential purposes they started to be looked and built as a home.

4. Temple was not just used for rituals and ceremonies but also contained space for warehouse, workshops and living quarters for workers and artisans.

Several new institutions came into being once city life had begun. These institutions included temples, schools, tablet writers, trade centres, sea making, permanent army, craftsman, builds, sculptures etc. Out of these new institutions, temples, trade centre and art of writing would have depended on the initiative of the king. All these institutions held a great importance Temple might be the place for functions and meetings, ceremonies holding religious values and king would have shown personal interest in its maintenance and would have taken initiative to build more of the temples and take care its construction.

Trade Centres took the new city’s economical direction; with the increasing trade with neighbouring cities and expansion of market within the territory had developed due to king’s initiative and support to establish them therefore would have played an significant role in the expansion of trade market and centres.

The kings of this era specifically focused on the writing. They legitimized some symbols and codes for writing to keep it uniform and identical. Writing used to keep records, to converse and to send messages; we can find it on tablets or stone engraftation. Thus, initially these new institutions had developed and flourish with the help of king’s initiative.

Ancient stories tell us a lot about the civilisation of Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia was situated between the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers (now part of the Republic of Iraq) Mesopotamian civilisation was rich in wealth, city life, literature, mathematics and astronomy. One by one, three civilisation flourished there. These included Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian civilisation. These civilisations are collectively known as the civilisation of Mesopotamia. Social, economic and religious life of this civilisation is given below:

(i). Social life. Mesopotamia society was divided into three classes. The first two classes consisted of higher people. People of these classes lived in good houses, wore good clothes and enjoyed several privileges. People of the third class were slaves and they lived in huts. Women enjoyed lower status in Mesopotamia society.

(ii). Economic life. Economic life of Mesopotamia was very prosperous. They were agriculturalists. Agriculture was developed. They had constructed dams across rivers for irrigation. They knew the use of tin, copper and bronze. They knew how to weave cloth, construct buildings make ornaments and several other articles. They also traded with their neighbouring countries.

(iii). Religious life. Mesopotamians worshipped many gods and goddesses. They made their idols and placed them in temples. Every town had its own god and goddess. Sumerians called their temples Ziggurat. Their main gods were Shamas (the sun), Sin (the Moon), Anu (the Sky), and Eninel (the Air), etc. The main god of Babylonians was Marduk and goddess was Ishter, Asur was the major god of Assyrians Priests held a respectable place in society.