Social:
Writing emerged in many different cultures and in numerous locations throughout the ancient world. Between 8000 and 3200 B.C the Mesopotamians who are credited to invent the writing system used clay "tokens" to count their goods. However, the rise of the state in about 3200 B.C increased the complexity of the information they wished to store, and so clay tablets were used to record script composed of the symbols on the tokens.
daily-life-of-mesopotamias
From 3100 B.C, the state required each person to record their name along with details of their goods. As writing personal names logographically was very difficult, a system of phonetic writing was developed which gradually evolved into Cuneiform.
In its first stages, cuneiform writing was based on pictographs, but for practical reasons, a system based on straight lines came to prevail. As the pictographs transited to symbols made from straight lines, they lost their original resemblance to the objects they represented.
daily-life-of-mesopotamia
Numbers were represented by repeated strokes or circles. In order to write in cuneiform, a stylus was used to make tapered impressions in clay.
At first every character represented one word, but many words lacked their own symbols. For these, symbols of related objects were used. Initially, cuneiform was written from top to bottom.
Then during the 3rd millennium, this changed into writing from left to right. The signs also took on new form, being turned on their sides. Cuneiform signs were first written and read in columns. Later, they were written and read in rows. This meant that the signs are now rotated by 90 degrees.
Cuneiform writing developed into a mixture between logograms and syllables. Logograms allowed that one sign could be read as more than one sound, and, therefore, having more than one meaning. There were 600 signs in the fully developed cuneiform system.
Half were logograms/syllables, and the other half only logograms. Only in its latest stages, with Ugarit and Old Persian, did cuneiform signs become alphabetic signs. In Old Persian there were 36 characters, including a word-divider.
Furthermore, Cuneiform writing was used to record a variety of information such as temple activities, business and trade. Cuneiform was also used to write stories, myths, and personal letters. The cuneiform script was used to write different languages.
Cuneiform writing originated in southern Mesopotamia, and was created in the Sumerian culture, in order to write in the Sumerian language. Later it was used for Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian. Cuneiform developed into the dominant writing style of the Middle East, and even spread to Egypt, where hieroglyphic writing was normally preferred.
The invention of writing was the dawn of the information revolution. This great technological advance allowed news and ideas to be carried to distant places without having to rely on a messenger's memory. Like all inventions, writing emerged because there was a need for it.
In Mesopotamia, it was developed as a record-keeping vehicle for commercial transactions or administrative procedures. There are also texts that served as "copy books" for the education of future scribes. Eventually, cuneiform script was used to produce some of the greatest literary works in recorded history.
Political:
To trace Mesopotamia wars, you will have to go back to as far as 4000 BC. It was around that time that the city states began developing in ancient Mesopotamia. Growth of numerous city states automatically triggered conflicts and warfare ensued. There was a mad scramble to grab the wealth that was produced in the region which rested between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, known as the Fertile Crescent.
Sumerian Laws: The Sumerians did not, to our knowledge, write down their laws. The king passed a law, and everyone was expected to learn it and obey it. If you broke the law in Sumer, you would be punished. The punishment was set for each infraction. If you stole something, you were punished according to what you stole. If you offended the gods, you were punished. Everyone knew what the punishment was so there was no escape by saying you didn't know. The thing is, the Sumerians were organized into city-states. Each city-state had it own royal family and its own military and its own king and assembly of people. So a king in one city-state might pass a law, and pretty soon, if it was a good law and stuck around, all the city-states adopted the same law. So, although they were separate city-states and fought each other all the time, they also had pretty much the same laws and punishments, culture, urban life-style, language, and religion. People were free to move from city to city for trade and also to live.
Babylonian Laws: As the Sumerian city-states weakened, the city-state of Babylon took over. For a while, ancient Babylon ruled the whole Mesopotamian region in the south. The government and laws of Babylon were like the government and laws of Sumer. There was a king and other nobles who ruled with the help of an assembly of the people. The laws of Babylon were taken from the laws of Sumer. Everyone was expected to know and obey the laws. To ensure that the laws were followed by everyone, one of the kings of Babylon, King Hammurabi, had the laws written down on stone tablets so that everyone would be treated equally under the law. Most of these laws were taken from Sumerian law.
Assyrian Laws: Assyria was a powerful military state in northern Mesopotamia (in what is today northern Iraq). The Assyrian government was led by a king. The king ruled as the earthly representative of the god Ashur, the most powerful god to the ancient Assyrians. Military officers were in charge of local government. The king had other advisers as well, pulled from the nobles. The most important advisor was the chief of staff. The chief of staff decided who could talk to the king on any one day, and who couldn't. Scribes were the only people who could read or write. Like all the Mesopotamians, the Assrians liked to keep lists and write things down. At one time, the Assyrian Empire stretched all the way from Mesopotamia to Egypt. In ancient Assyria, there was no assembly that could overrule the king. The king's word was law.
Religion:
Mesopotamian religious practices varied through time and distance, it was basically characterised by polytheism. Mesopotamian mythology suggests a number of gods and goddesses. Gods represented places and powers in ancient Mesopotamia. Priests were an important part of the Mesopotamian social structure. Temples could be found anywhere in the city.
There were hundreds of thousands of deities. Each god had priests, temples and followers. An was the primary god of Mesopotamians who was the god of heavens. He was also the over arching bowl of heaven.
ancient-mesopotamian-religion
Enlil was the god of the air and the storms. Enlil produced storms or stopped them in order to help men. Enki was the god of water and the earth. Enki was also the patron of wisdom. The goddess of love and war was Inanna.
Sometimes, gods represented certain places. Ashur was the patron god of Assyria and Marduk of Babylon. Enki was associated with the city of Eridu. Dingir was the Sumerian name for the gods and they were called as ilu in Akkadian language.
ancient-mesopotamian-religion
Mesopotamian religion was not only polytheistic, but also henotheistic, where certain gods are viewed superior to others. It was in the later period that the Mesopotamians began ranking the deities in order of importance.
Some gods had human form requiring food and drink. According to J Bottero, gods were not viewed mystically. They were rather seen as high masters who were to be obeyed and feared.
Mesopotamian art reflects the ideas, customs, beliefs and way of life of their people. We know that Mesopotamian civilisation comprise of the Sumerian, the Akkadian, the Assyrian and the Babylonian cultures.
ancient-mesopotamian-art
Mesopotamian art include both cylinder seals and clay plaques and the bigger ones created for the temple and the king. Art was made from natural resources such as stone, shells, alabaster and marble.
ancient-mesopotamian-art
Sumerian art (3500-2300 BC):
The Sumerian palaces were beautifully decorated with gate guardian figures. Sculptures were erect, stylised figures characterised by clasped hands and huge eyes. It was the Sumerians who produced many small, finely carved cylindrical seals made of marble, alabaster, carnelian, lapis lazuli, and stone. A Sumerian container inlayed with shell, lapis lazuli and limestone depicts war and peace.
ancient-mesopotamian-art
Akkadian art (2300-2150 BC):
Akkadian art, though short lived was unique and of high quality. The headless diorite statue of king Manishtusu and a bronze head of a ruler are beautifully modelled. In the victory stele of King Naram Sin, the king is portrayed larger than his soldiers and wears the horned crown of a god. The starts above him indicate his divinity. This is the first work that regards man's status equal to that of god.
Assyrian art (1400-600 BC):
Assyrian art form was narrative relief sculpture. Their art was mostly based on trade and warfare. Palace of Ashurbanipal was a 7th century BC work. They carved reliefs from stone which include dramatic scenes of a lion hunt.
Babylonian art (625-538 BC):
It was in 6th century BC that Babylonian art came into prominence. The Babylonians practised all the Mesopotamian arts and excelled in brightly coloured glazed tiles, used to create relief sculptures.
The best-known piece of art of the Old Babylonian period is the stone stele inscribed with the law code of Hammurabi. The Ishtar Gate, dedicated to the Babylonian goddess is made from blue-glazed brick with images of alternating bas-relief dragons and wild cattle.
Cylinder seals, small stone cylinders covered with a design were the oldest form of art. They were also used as jewellery or magical amulets. The seal represented a particular individual. Many cylinder seals of the Assyrian period depict combat between a superhero human and a monster.
Information from ancientMesopotamians.com