Earlier the task of transportation of goods, food grains and other essential commodities were carried by the beasts of burden or bullock-carts. It was time consuming activity and a lengthy process. The river Euphrates helped the people to get rid of this task. It flows almost through the entire region of Mesopotamia. It provided people one of the cheapest means of transport, which made possible to transport bulk goods with any difficulty. The boats guided by the direction of winds were available free of cost. Several stream emerging of it provided an excellent source of water transportation. Most of the trade began to carry out on this route. Hence, we can say that the river of Euphrates was a well renowned trade-route.

1. The great palace of Mari was the residence of the royal family, the hub of administration, and a place of production, especially of precious metal ornaments.

2. It was so famous in its time that a minor king came from north Syria just to see it, carrying with him a letter of introduction from a royal friend of the king of Mari, Zimrilim.

3. Daily lists reveal that huge quantities of food were presented each day for the king's table: flour, bread, meat, fish, fruit, been and wine. He probably ate in the company of many others, in or around courtyard 106, paved white.

4. You will notice from the plan that the palace had only one entrance, on the north. The large, open courtyards such as 131 were beautifully paved. The king would have received foreign dignitaries and his own people in 132 a room with wall paintings that would have awed the visitors.

5. The palace was a sprawling structure, with 260 rooms and covered an area of 2.4 h

The royal capital of Mari flourished after 2000 BCE. Mari is situated much further upstream on the Euphrates; rather than on the fertile southern plain. Some communities in the kingdom of Mari had both farmers and pastoralists. Most of its territory was used for pasturing sheep and goats. Exchange of materials was the norm between herders and farmers. But access or denial of access to water resources often led to conflict between herders and farmers. Nomadic communities of the western desert often came to the prosperous agricultural heartland. Some of them also worked as harvest laborers or hired soldiers. Some of them became prosperous and settled down. A few gained power to establish their own rule. Akkadians, Amorites, Assyrians and Aramaeans were examples of such herders.

1. Mesopotamian Writing:

• The first Mesopotamian tablets, written around 3200 BCE, contained picture-like signs and numbers.
• Writing began when society needed to keep records of transactions – because in city life transactions occurred at different times, and involved many people and a variety of goods
• Mesopotamians wrote on tablets of clay.

2. Modern Writing: The greatest legacy of Mesopotamia to the world is its scholarly tradition of time reckoning and mathematics, calender.

Early cause of urbanization was as follows: 1.Surplus agricultural production or rural prosperity 2.Availability of efficient transport 3.Rise of trade and commerce 4.Division of labour 5.Development of writing

It is often said that natural fertility and high levels of food production were the causes of early urbanization. It is because of the following reasons:

• Natural fertility encourages settled life and agricultural production.
• It paved the way for animal husbandry.
• Fertility of the soil was also helpful in the beginning of new occupations.
• Flourishing trade and commerce is also another major factor for urbanization.
• The development of art of writing and administration played a very critical role in the development of urbanization.

Geography: 

• City life began in Mesopotamia (Mesopotamia is derived from the Greek words ‘mesos’, meaning middle, and ‘potamos’, meaning river.)
• It is a flat land between the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers that is now part of the Republic of Iraq.
•  In the north, there is a stretch of upland called a steppe, where animal herding offers people a better livelihood than agriculture
• Agriculture began between 7000 and 6000 BCE.
• Soil was very fertile here but agriculture was threatened because of natural causes.
• Ur, Lagash, Kish, Uruk and Mari were some of its important cities.
• The excavation work started 150 years ago.

The south is a desert - and this is where the first cities and writing emerged. This desert could support cities because the rivers Euphrates and Tigris,which rise in the northern mountains, carry loads of silt. When they flood or when their water is let out on to the fields, fertile silt is deposited.

Religious beliefs of Mesopotamia were as follows: 1.God was the main focus of worship.There were various god who were worshipped like Moon god of Ur,Inanna goddess of love and war. 2.To him people brought the grains,curd and fish bones(floors of some early temples had thick layers of fish bones) 3.According to them God was the theoretical owner of agricultural fields, fisheries and herds of local community.

 

The Mesopotamians believed in several gods. Each city had its own special god. People performed ceremonies each month. The theme of the rituals and festivals for each month was determined by the phases of the moon. The king was the chief priest and thus occupied an important position in the society. He was conisdered as the representative of God on the earth. 

the Mesopotamians buried their deads with various objects such as weapons, ornaments and vessels. This shows that they believed in life after death. 

(i) The division of the year into 12 months according to the revolution of the moon around the earth, the division of the month into four weeks, the day into 24 hours, and the hour into 60 minutes - all that we take for granted in our daily lives has come to us from the Mesopotamians.

(ii) These time divisions were adopted by the successors of Alexander and from there transmitted to the Roman world, then to the world of Islam, and then to medieval Europe.

(iii) Whenever solar and lunar eclipses were observed, their occurrence was noted according to year, month and day. So too there were records about the observed positions of stars and constellations in the night sky.

Role of kings in Construction and maintenance of temples in Mesopotamia

 

1. As the archaeological record shows.villages were periodically relocated in Mesopotamian history because of food in the river and change in the course of the river. There were man-made problems as well. Those who lived on the upstream stretches of a channel could divert so much water into their fields that villages of downstream were left without water.

 

2. When there was continuous warfare in a region, those chiefs who had been successful in war could oblige their followers by distributing the loot and could take prisoners from the defeated groups to employ in the temple for various works. 3. In time victorious chiefs began to offer precious booty to the gods and thus beautify the community's temples.

 

They would send men out to fetch fine stones and metal for the benefit of the god and community and organise the distribution of temple wealth in an efficient way by accounting for things that came in and went out.

 

4. War captives and local people were put to work for the temple or directly for the ruler. This rather than agricultural tax, was compulsory. Those who were put to work were paid rations. It has been estimated that one of the temples took 1,500 men working 10 hours a day, five years to build.

 

5. With rulers commanding people to fetch stones or metal ones to come and make bricks or lay the bricks for a temple, or else to go to a distant country to fetch suitable materials.Hundreds of people were put to work at making and baking clay cones that could be pushed into temple walls, painted in different colours, creating a colourful mosaic

The facts of the Mesopotamia seal:

1. In Mesopotamia until the end of the first millennium BCE, cylindrical stone seals, pierced down the centre, were fitted with a stick and rolled over wet clay so that a continuous picture was created.

2. They were carved by very skilled craftsmen, and sometimes carry writing : the name of the owner, his god, his official position, etc.

3. A seal could be rolled on clay covering the the string knot of a cloth package or the mouth of a pot keeping the contents safe. When rolled on a letter written on a clay tablet, it became a mark of authenticity. So the seal was the mark of a city dweller's role in public life.

Answer:
Industrial Revolution is the name given to a series of changes that brought about a transition from production by hand to production by machine.

Despite of natural fertility ,agriculture was subject to hazards because of following reasons: 1.Natural reasons: -Euphrates sometimes have too much water one year that it flood the crops and next year it would change it's course altogether. - Records show that villages in Mesopotamia were periodically relocated. 2. Man-made reasons: -People who live on stretches of upstream used that much water as a result of which people on downstream were left with not water. -Or they neglect to clean the silt in their channels thus blocking the flow of water. Conclusion: As a result of these natural and man made problems there was a continuous warfare in this region and inspite of natural fertility , agriculture was subject to hazards.

In spite of natural fertility, agriculture was the subject to hazards because:

• River Tigris was overflowed during the particular month of a year.
• The river often changed its course which causes water scarcity in a particular region.

Inspite of natural fertility agriculture was subject . Explain(writing an city life)

Species:. The term 'Species' is used to describe the group of organisms that can produce fertile offsprings. Human species are differentiated from each other on the basis of the structure of their bones.

Hominid :

Hominoids have a larger body.

They do not have tails like monkeys.

 There is a longer period of development and dependency amongst Hominoids.

 

 

The Regional Continuity model of human origin asserts that modern Homo sapiens developed from different regional populations of archaic Homo sapiens that had previously evolved from regional populations of Homo erectus.

The replacement model asserts that there was a single origin of Homo sapiens in Africa and that these anatomically modern humans migrated out from Africa and replaced all other lesser-evolved humans throughout Europe and Asia.

Positive feedback is a process that occurs in a feedback loop in which the effects of a small disturbance on a system include an increase in the magnitude of the perturbation. ... Mathematically, positive feedback is defined as a positive loop gain around a closed loop of cause and effect.

Boundaries of Roman Empire

• The ancient Roman empire which was spread across the three continents namely – Europe, Asia and Africa.
• To the North, the boundaries of the empire were formed by two great rivers – the Rhine and the Danube.
• To the South, by the huge expanse of desert called the Sahara.
• To the East river Euphrates and to the West Atlantic Ocean.
• This vast stretch of territory was the Roman Empire. That is why Roman Empire is called an Empire across Three Continents.
• The Mediterranean Sea is called the heart of Rome’s empire.

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Meaopotamia is situated between Euphrates and Tigris

Thanks

The contributions: 

1. The Mesopotamians were the first people to introduce the use of the potter's wheel to the world.

2. They were the first to enter into written trade agreement.

3. They also introduced to the world the idea of a written Code of Law.

4. They were the first people to divide a day into 24 hours, an hour into 60 minutes and a minute into 60 seconds.

5. They were first to develop a script and established the libraries and reading rooms.

Large expansion of Roman territory was in a less advanced state. Transhumance was spread in the countryside of Numidia. These pastoral and semi-nomadic communities were often on the move, carrying their oven-shaped huts (called mapalia). As Roman estates expanded in North Africa, the pastures of those communities were hugely reduced and their movements more tightly regulated. Even in Spain the north was much less developed, and inhabited largely by a Celtic-speaking peasantry that lived in hilltop villages called castella.

In the conquered provinces, a new administrative structure was imposed. The administration was headed by governors and tribal chieftains. The central treasury got its revenue from taxes paid by Muslims as well as its share of the booty from raids. The soldiers (mostly Bedouins), lived in camp cities at the edge of the desert. This helped the soldiers to remain within reach of their natural habitat as well as the caliph’s command. The ruling class and soldiers received shares of booty and monthly payments. The non-Muslim population retained their rights to property and religious practices on payment of taxes (kharaj and jiziya). Jews and Christians were declared protected subjects of the state and given a large measure of autonomy in their communal affairs.

The ruling class of the early Islamic state comprised almost entirely the Quraysh of Mecca. The third caliph, Uthman (644-56); who too was a Quraysh, packed his administration with his own men. This intensified the conflict with other tribesmen. Opposition in Iraq and Egypt, along with opposition in Medina, led to the assassination of Uthman.

After Muhammad’s death, many tribes broke away from the Islamic state. Some even raised their own prophets to establish communities modeled on the umma. Abu Bakr, the first caliph, suppressed the revolts by a series of campaigns. Umar, the second caliph, shaped the umma’s policy of expansion of power. It was not possible to maintain the umma out of the modest income from trade and taxes. So, the caliph and his military commanders mustered their tribal strength to conquer the lands belonging to the Byzantine Empire in the west and the Sasanian Empire in the east.

On the eve of the Arab invasions, these two empires had declined in strength due to religious conflicts and revolts by the aristocracy. In three successful campaigns (637-42), the Arabs brought Syria, Iraq, Iran and Egypt under the control of Medina. The success of the Arabs was contributed by military strategy, religious fervor and the weakness of the opposition. The third caliph, Uthman, launched further campaigns and extended the control to Central Asia. Within a decade of the death of Muhammad, the Arab-Islamic state controlled the vast territory between the Nile and the Oxus.

Muslims believe that the Quran, the central religious text of Islam, was revealed to Muhammad by God, and that Muhammad was sent to restore Islam, which they believe to be the unaltered original monotheistic faith of Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. Muslims believe that God is the only true reality and sole source of all creation. Everything including its creatures are just a derivative reality created out of love and mercy by God's command, "..."Be," and it is." and that the purpose of existence is to worship or to know God. Belief in the Oneness of God: Muslims believe that God is the creator of all things, and that God is all-powerful and all-knowing. God has no offspring, no race, no gender, no body, and is unaffected by the characteristics of human life.

There was a social organization in place initiated by people of southern Mesopotamia to equip with foreign expeditions and direct the changes

Ur 1.Absence of town planning: Narrow winding streets because of which sacks of grains and firewood was carried on donkey's back instead of wheeled carts and irregular sizes of plot indicate absence of town planning. 2.Drainage: Clay and drain pipes were found in the inner coutyards of Ur houses instead of street drains in Mohenjodaro. 3.Rainwater harvesting: It is thought that the roof of Ur houses were sloped inwards and rainwater was channelled via drainpipes to sump in the inner courtyards. 4.Way to privacy: Light came in the houses of Ur through the door opening into courtyards install of window which gave families their privacy. 5.Superstitions: There are various superstitions about houses of Ur recorded in omen tablets such as -A raised thresehold would brought wealth. -A house's gate which don't open to another was lucky -If the main wooden door open outside instead of inside then the wife will be torement to husband. 6.Town sematary: There was a town sematry in Ur where graves of royalty and common people were found buried.Some people's body was also found buried under their houses only. Conclusion: Ur was a town which lacks town planning, lacked proper drainage system and people lived there with privacy and some superstitions.Addition to this there was a town sematry in Ur .

The discovery of the Sumerian city of Ur has shed light on the lives of the early Mesopotamians. The Mesopotamian cities fell short in terms of town planning as compared to the Harappan centres but followed a uniform pattern nevertheless. The city was divided into three parts - the sacred area, the walled city on a mound and the outer town. The sacred area consisted of the temple tower or the ziggurat dedicated to the patron god of the city. There were also smaller temples of other gods. This area also had the storehouse as well as the offices. People resided in the walled city and the outer town areas. Houses were constructed along the streets, and each house had a central courtyard with rooms attached around it.

The first Mesopotamian tablets, were written around 3200 BCE. These contained picture-like signs and numbers. A tablet was made of clay. A scribe would wet clay and pat it into a size which could be comfortably held in one hand. The sharp end of a reed (cut obliquely) was used as a writing tool. Wedge-shaped (cuneiform) signs were pressed on the smooth surface of the tablet; while the tablet was still moist. After that, the tablet was dried in the sun. Hundreds of tablets have recovered from Mesopotamian sites. Writing was used not only for keeping records, but also for making dictionaries, giving legal validity to land transfers, narrating the deeds of kings, and announcing the changes in the customary laws of the land.

The System of Writing: The sound; represented by a cuneiform sign was not a single consonant or vowel, but syllables. So, a Mesopotamian scribe had to learn hundreds of sounds. Writing was a skilled craft. It was an enormous intellectual achievement.

Literacy: Because of the complexities involved in writing, very few people could read and write