Ancient Mesopotamia for Kids | Learn all about the history of ancient Mesopotamia

Ancient Mesopotamia A society or civilization is a group of people of all ages and backgrounds, who live, work, and play together. Things like entertainment and technology, homes and schools, government and businesses make up a civilization. You live in a modern civilization. In contrast, an ancient civilization existed thousands of years ago. We can learn many important things from ancient civilizations. This video is about ancient Mesopotamia, which was the first civilization in the world. This was the first time that people gathered into large cities. They learned to read and write, and they formed governments to establish order. That's why ancient Mesopotamia became the foundation for all future civilizations of nations and empires. Ancient Mesopotamia was mostly located in an area known today as Iraq, as well as in the present-day countries of Iran, Turkey, and Syria. That area today has a very dry climate. It's mostly desert, with hot temperatures and little rainfall. That makes it difficult for farming. But thousands of years ago, that wasn't the case. The word Mesopotamia means the land between rivers. It was named that because it was located between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. The rivers helped many plants to grow. And the area was very green due to the rich soil and occasional rain that fell throughout the year. The plants in that area attracted many animals to the region. The people living there hunted the animals and gathered the plants. They were called hunters and gatherers. If they couldn't find enough food or animals to gather and hunt, they would have to move around to different regions to find food. Around 8,000 BC, the people slowly discovered that if they planted a seed, a plant would grow from that seed. This was a life-changing discovery. The people no longer had to rely only on the plants that grew naturally. Now they could grow their own plants using seeds that could be planted in many different areas. This was the beginning of agriculture or farming. The people started to take the natural plants and turn them into crops. The farmers of Mesopotamia began to grow plants like barley, wheat, onions, garlic, and lettuce. Farmers also began to raise animals on their farms like sheep, cows, pigs, donkeys, and oxen. Much more food was available with farming than there was with hunting and gathering. Farmers could now grow food for an entire village. Because of this, people did not need to travel from place to place to find food anymore. They could settle or live in one place. Irrigation was discovered during this time. It was a way to water farmland without having to wait for rain. Water from the flooded rivers could be saved in pools and canals for use during dry times. This is what we do today. Maybe you have seen some irrigation canals near your neighborhood. The Mesopotamians built canals that could take water from one of the rivers they lived near and transport it to many farms in the area. Irrigation and farming made it easier for people who lived in that area. So more people began to settle and live there as well. They began to form villages and towns. Over time, those villages grew into larger towns and cities. As time passed, more inventions, advancements, and growth occurred, and Mesopotamia became the first human civilization in the world. As the people became more organized and the cities grew, they developed into a civilization they called Sumer. The people of Mesopotamia called themselves Sumerians. Sumerians built their homes and buildings with bricks made from mud and straw baked in the sun. They called their large cities city-states. A city named Eridu was created first. It was one of the oldest cities in the world. Cities from Eridu still exist today. Different city-states sometimes fought each other, which led them to build walls around their individual cities for protection. But their farms were located on the outside of the city walls. When invaders came into the area, the people would have to run back into the city for safety. Each of the city-states had its own ruler. The rulers were like kings or governors. Sometimes they were also religious leaders. If the person was a ruler and a religious leader, they had more power. The forming of government is often credited to the Sumerians. Their government leaders oversaw building projects and tried to keep the city running smoothly. Religion was very important to the Sumerians. In the center of every city, there was a large temple called a ziggurat. It was dedicated to each city's main god. A ziggurat looked like a pyramid with lots of steps leading to a flat top. A priest performed religious rituals and sacrifices in these temples. The Sumerians were polytheistic, which means that they worshipped many gods. They believed their kings descended or came from the gods. They also believed that the earth was flat and that the stars were little holes in the sky where light from the heavens shone through. The Sumerians earned money for the various jobs they did. Those that earned more money wore nicer clothing and lived in better homes than those that earned less money. The Sumerians began to live differently from each other based on how much money they made, and they soon divided into social classes. People in the lower class made the least amount of money. The middle class made more money than the lower class, and the richest people were called the upper class. These classes or groups of people still exist in society today. The Sumerians lived in the Mesopotamian region. Other city-states like Akkad and Babylon became more powerful than Sumer. These city-states grew into empires. They fought each other and conquered areas near them. A king named King Hambarabi created an empire out of the former kingdoms of Sumer and Akkad. Babylon became the capital city of that empire. It became most famous for its architecture, government, and laws. Mesopotamians had laws that governed them. If a citizen broke one of the laws, they were punished. King Hambarabi created 282 laws called the Code of Hambarabi. The laws were engraved on a seven-foot-tall stone pillar that still exists. It is preserved in the Louvre Museum in France. Here are a few Hammarabi's laws and punishments. See if you think they are fair. If a man hit another man that was considered a higher class than he, that man was whipped sixty times. If a man caused someone to go blind, then his eye was blinded. Maybe you've heard the saying, an eye for an eye, which means if you do something bad to someone, they can do it back to you. That saying comes from the Code of Hammarabi. Do those punishments sound harsh? Are you grateful you aren't ruled by those same laws today? Many years after Babylon was formed, another city-state called Assyria conquered Babylon. Assyria became the first military power in history, which means they were the first people to create a large and powerful army. Their army used camels and chariots with metal wheels. Persia, another city-state, came to power after defeating Assyria. They became the largest empire. They eventually controlled most of Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. They built the Persian Royal Road, which was an ancient highway that helped people travel quickly throughout the empire. Messengers that rode on horses could travel 1,677 miles, that's 1,677 miles, on the road in just seven days. It took them 90 days if they were walking. Can you imagine being a messenger back then and walking three months just to deliver a single message? It kind of makes you grateful for text messaging. The Persian Royal Road also increased long-distance trade. A religion called Zoroastrianism became a major religion in ancient Persia. It was different than polytheism. Zoroastrianism was the belief in only one god. Another word for that is monotheism. A lot of technology was developed during the ancient Mesopotamian era. Here are some of the inventions that came from that time period. The wheel. Ancient Mesopotamians were the first to use the wheel for a wagon. This helped with transportation, farming, and trade. The number system. Instead of using a number system based on 10, they used a system based on 60. This was used for minutes and seconds. They also used a 12-month calendar and a 7-day week calendar. In addition, they divided a circle into 360 degrees. This system is still used today. Writing. Ancient Mesopotamians developed one of the earliest methods to record information. Using pictures for symbols, they came up with a type of writing called cuneiform. The symbols represented sounds just like our modern alphabet. Scribes, who were the only people at the time that knew how to write, used a wedge-shaped tool to press sticks and reeds into wet clay tablets to make the symbols. They used those tablets to write on because paper hadn't been invented yet. Astronomy. Using advanced math, they recorded the movements of the stars, planets, and the moon. This information was used to create the first calendar. Medicines. Babylonians recorded medical history to diagnose and treat illnesses with creams and pills. Your society still does that today. When you go to the doctor or dentist, they keep a chart or medical record all about you. The past medical history helps them know how to help you. Glasswork. Assyrians developed glazes for glasswork, pottery, and art to help it last longer. A few other inventions included a potter's wheel, bronze metal to make tools, looms to weave cloth from wool, maps, and a simple machine called Archimedes' screw for lifting water to higher levels. Mesopotamia existed at least 8,000 years ago. It lasted for thousands of years until the Persian Empire was destroyed. The important period in history influenced many aspects of the civilizations that came after it. Archaeologists continue to learn new things from artifacts and writings made by these ancient people. Thanks for following Clarendon Learning. Be sure to subscribe. For more free resources, check us out at clarendonlearning.org.