City Life of Mesopotamia

The Republic of Iraq was once the thriving Mesopotamia, occupying the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Mesopotamia was witness to the early urbanisation in the southern part. Even the Old Testament refers to Shimer as a land of cities with brick buildings in the Book of Genesis.

The city life of Mesopotamia offers an intriguing insight into peoples’ status and occupations. We can understand the development of transportation by learning about the movement of goods in Mesopotamia. The city segregated labour class and royal class. The number of occupations started growing after people began living in cities, circa 4000 B.C.

The geography of Mesopotamia 

Iraq offers a fascinating blend of different environments with adequate rainfall to support agriculture.

• North – Steppe, a stretch of upland, offers the perfect environment for animal herding as a source of livelihood. There is abundant grass after rains and winter for sheep.
• North-east – The green expanse ascends gradually to mountain ranges adorned by trees, wildflowers, and crystal clear streams of water. This part of the land witnessed the beginning of agriculture between 7000 and 6000 BCE.
• East – Thanks to the tributaries of the Tigris river, people had no problem moving into the Iranian mountains.
• South – This is the place where the first cities of Mesopotamia flourished despite the desert. The rivers carried the fine mud into the fields during the floods to transform the desert into fertile land.

Influence of Euphrates River on farming and animal herding

The remarkably productive agriculture in southern Mesopotamia is attributed to the river of the Euphrates. The southern part of Mesopotamia was ideal for growing crops despite the scanty rainfall because Euphrates water filled the channels in the fields after flooding the banks.It helped a variety of crops grow like peas, lentils, barley, and wheat. Milk, wool, and meat were also abundantly available because the sheep and goats could graze on north-eastern planes. People in southern Mesopotamia had easy access to fish because of the rivers. The river Euphrates helped the city life of Mesopotamia flourish and prosper.

Understanding the significance of urbanism

Other than agriculture, economic growth was primarily responsible for urban development. It ushered in a large number of people from every village in the vicinity. Following are the main factors that drove the urban economy:

• Business trade
• Manufacturing
• Services

The development of the city life of Mesopotamia was primarily because of the division of labour. It involved specialisation and distribution of work according to skills and expertise. A cobbler could not produce leather, and therefore a butcher and cobbler depended on each other to earn their living. Similarly, a blacksmith would require someone to supply raw materials like metal pieces, coal, and tools to produce agricultural tools, knives, and other metal products. The coordination of different occupations encouraged seamless interactions.

Movement of goods into cities

Mesopotamia could not boast of its mineral resources as much as its food resources. Apart from the scarce mineral resources, Mesopotamia also lacked other essential resources like metal, wood, and stones. These were vital for making tools, carts, ornaments, and vessels. We can safely assume that the Mesopotamians engaged in trading the rich supplies of textiles and agricultural produce in exchange for the following items:

• Silver
• Gold
• Copper
• Wood
• Tin
• Shell
• A variety of stones

The trading activities with countries like Turkey and Iran or other gulf countries were mutually beneficial because these countries did not have a sound agricultural background.Industrious people of southern Mesopotamia began exchanging surplus goods with other countries, thanks to efficient transportation. However, it was not feasible to use animals or carts to transport goods. The option was too expensive because the animals needed feeding on the way.The obvious answer to this problem was the river route. Small and large cities of Mesopotamia were already leveraging the canals for transportation across all settlements. The development of the city life of Mesopotamia owes a lot to the viable means of transportation.

Urbanisation in southern Mesopotamia

The settlements in southern Mesopotamia date back to 5000 BCE. Some of these settlements developed into cities of different kinds. Following are the main types of cities of Southern Mesopotamia:

• Cities built around temples
• Cities that flourished as centres of trade
• Imperial cities

There were several settlers during the initial period that kept on building and rebuilding temples. People believed temples to be Gods’ residences and people always carried curd, grains, and fish to the temples for offering to God.They believed that God was the owner of all animal herds, fisheries, and agricultural fields. Temples were the places where most manufacturing and processing took place. These included weaving, spinning, oil pressing, and grinding of grains. The slow and steady growth of temples led to the development of city life of Mesopotamia around these places of worship.The early Mesopotamian settlements were witness to continuous warfare because of the fight for land and water. Nature was also playing spoilsport with frequent flooding, shifting the courses of canals and rivers, and so forth. It resulted in more conflicts. The war leaders started doing developmental work after a few initial years of hostilities and looting. The main developments involved the beautification of temples. These activities made the kings more popular among communities.

Life in the city

The economic divide separated the elite from commoners. City life of Mesopotamia caused only a handful of people to become rich, and a large section of the society had no access to jewellery, gold artefacts, and other expensive items.Cities of Mesopotamia had narrow winding lanes that permitted the movement of goods like sacks of grains on donkey backs. There are shreds of evidence of rainwater harvesting as the roofs of houses had inward sloping.

Conclusion

The earliest evidence of urbanisation in Mesopotamia is from the Bronze Age. Urban Mesopotamia was home to well-organised community-living that blended several cultures. There was close coordination between workers of different occupations in the city life of Mesopotamia.Trade was responsible for the development of writings as people wanted to maintain records of myriad transactions. Cities of Mesopotamia like Mari and Urk were open to visitors. It was the reason behind the vibrancy of the Mesopotamian culture. The prime location and proximity to the river Euphrates enabled trade and agriculture to flourish.