What are the main achievements of Mesopotamia? Describe in detail.
Answers
Answer:
It is part of the Fertile Crescent, an area also known as “Cradle of Civilization” for the number of innovations that arose from the early societies in this region, which are among some of the earliest known human civilizations on earth.
Explanation:
Located in modern-day southern Iraq, Sumer was the first civilization in Mesopotamia and arguably the earliest civilization in the world. Renowned expert in Sumerian history Samuel Noah Kramer has listed 39 “firsts“ in human civilization that originated in Sumer. These include The First Schools, The First Bicameral Congress, The First Historian, The First Legal Precedent, The First Pharmacopoeia, Man’s First Cosmogony and Cosmology, The First Proverbs and Sayings, The First Animal Fables, The First Literary Debates, The First Love Song, The First Library Catalogue, The First Literary Imagery, The First Sex Symbolism, The First Lullaby, The First Literary Portrait, The First Elegies and The First Aquarium.
The Sumerian city of Eridu is regarded as the first city in the world. It was founded around 5400 BC on the coast of the Persian Gulf in Southern Mesopotamia. Prehistoric people known as Ubaidians are believed to be the first civilizing force in Sumer, draining the marshes for agriculture, developing trade and establishing industries. With time, Uruk became the most prominent city of Sumer. Among the first cities in the region, it played a leading role in urbanization and state formation in Mesopotamia during what is known as the Uruk period. Uruk’s growth made it the largest Mesopotamian settlement, in both population and area. At its height, around 2900 BC, it had a population between 40,000 and 80,000 living in 6 km2 of walled area. This made Uruk most likely the largest city in the world at the time.
The Akkadian Empire and the Assyrian Empire of Mesopotamia were the largest empires in the world till that point. The Akkadian Empire of 23rd century BC is also considered by some as the first empire in history as it ruled over a multi-ethnic territory through a central government. There were numerous rebellions during the reign of Sargon of Akkad and it is considered by several historians that he had the world’s first professional standing army to protect his empire from the rebellious subjects. The Assyrian Empire triumphed over most of the powerful Mesopotamian kingdoms by 8th century BC to become one of the first superpowers of the ancient world. The phalanx formation is a famous military formation associated with Ancient Greek warfare. The earliest known depiction of a phalanx-like formation is in a Mesopotamian stele from 25th century BC. Also, since many Mesopotamian cities were surrounded by defensive walls, they might have invented siege warfare.