Author Ellen Rodger Editors Sarah Eason Kelly Spence Janine Deschenes and Kathy Middleton Editorial director Kathy Middleton Design Paul Myerscough Cover design Paul Myerscough Photo research Rachel Blount Proofreader Wendy Scavuzzo Production coordinator and Prepress technician Tammy McGarr Print coordinator Margaret Amy Salter Consultant John Malam archaeologist Written and produced for Crabtree Publishing Company by Calcium Creative Front Cover BKGD A reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate the eighth gate of the city of Babylon The original was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Inset From the Mesopotamian era the Ram in a Thicket is made from gold copper shell limestone and lapis lazuli Title Page BKGD The Ziggurat of Ur a Sumerian temple built during the Early Bronze Age A ziggurat is a pyramid with steps and levels often made of sun-baked mud bricks Inset The Statue of Ebih-Il from an ancient city in Syria The statue of a praying figure is made of gypsum schist shells and lapis lazuli Photo Credits t Top bl Bottom Left br Bottom Right Alamy World History Archive p 9t Getty Images Werner Forman p 15b LACMA www lacma org The Phil Berg Collection p 21b Gift of Robert Blaugrund p 29t Shutterstock Borna Mirahmadian p 22 23 ChameleonsEye p 26 27 Homo Cosmicos p 1bg p 18 19 p 28b Robert Jakatics p 13b Kamira p 17t Nexus 7 p 8 9 Radiokafka p 24 25 Rasoulali p 6 7 p 10 11 p 12 13 SJ Travel Photo and Video p 4 5 IR Stone p 3 p 6 17 p 20 21 Wikimedia Commons Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP Glasg p 23b Mbzt p 11b 1934 1935 excavated by André Parrot Place Temple of Ishtar at Mari p 1fg p 25b Prioryman p 27t Bjørn Christian Tørrissen p 14 15 Whiteghost ink p 28 29 Map p 5 by Geoff Ward Artwork p 29 by Venetia Dean Cover Shutterstock Rasoulali bg Wikimedia Commons British Museum br Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names Rodger Ellen author Title Ancient Mesopotamia inside out Ellen Rodger Description New York New York Crabtree Publishing Company 2017 Series Ancient worlds inside out Includes index Identifiers LCCN 2016058590 print LCCN 2017003326 ebook ISBN 9780778728801 reinforced library binding alkaline paper ISBN 9780778728948 paperback alkaline paper ISBN 9781427118493 Electronic HTML Subjects LCSH Iraq Civilization To 634 Juvenile literature Iraq Antiquities Juvenile literature Classification LCC DS71 R65 2017 print LCC DS71 ebook DDC 935 dc23 LC record available at https lccn loc gov 2016058590 Rodger Ellen author Ancient Mesopotamia inside out Ellen Rodger Ancient worlds inside out Includes index Issued in print and electronic formats ISBN 978-0-7787-2880-1 hardcover ISBN 978-0-7787-2894-8 softcover ISBN 978-1-4271-1849-3 HTML 1 Iraq Civilization To 634 Juvenile literature 2 Iraq Antiquities Juvenile literature 3 Material culture Iraq Juvenile literature 4 Iraq History To 634 Juvenile literature I Title DS69 5 R64 2017 j935 C2016-907263-0 C2016-907264-9 Crabtree Publishing Company www crabtreebooks com Copyright 2017 CRABTREE PUBLISHING COMPANY All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or be transmitted in any form or by any means electronic mechanical photocopying recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of Crabtree Publishing Company In Canada We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities 1-800-387-7650 Published in Canada Crabtree Publishing 616 Welland Ave St Catharines Ontario L2M 5V6 Published in the United States Crabtree Publishing PMB 59051 350 Fifth Avenue 59th Floor New York New York 10118 Published in the United Kingdom Crabtree Publishing Maritime House Basin Road North Hove BN41 1WR Published in Australia Crabtree Publishing 3 Charles Street Coburg North VIC 3058
Contents Who Were the Ancient Mesopotamians Digging Up the Past Between Two Rivers Rulers and Kings Daily Life The Fertile Crescent Originators and Inventors Feats of Architecture Educated Society Gods Faith and Mythology Trade and War Past to Present Make a Model Ziggurat Glossary Learning More Index About the Author 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 31 32 32
WHO WERE THE ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIANS What Is an Ancient Civilization Large settlements of people formed the basis of the first civilizations Through practices such as farming and the development of writing systems government and class systems the settlements of people grew into large cities These ancient civilizations led to the later development of present-day cities states and countries The region called Mesopotamia has been home to four major civilizations many cultures and several empires stretching over 6,000 years Because of this it has been called the cradle of civilization Land Between Two Rivers Mesopotamia’s name comes from the ancient Greek words for between two rivers Mesopotamia was made up of the city-states that grew between and around the Tigris River and Euphrates River The remains of Mesopotamia are located in what are now Iraq Kuwait parts of Syria southern Turkey and western Iran More than 6,000 years ago the Sumerians Mesopotamia’s first known civilization began farming and building cities in southern Iraq They developed the first written language and they are also said to have invented the wheel arithmetic war chariots the first written system of laws and agricultural irrigation Way Way Back The Sumerians were not the only people to live in Mesopotamia Many groups of people settled there over thousands of years The earliest recorded people in Mesopotamia began living there and banding together in small villages from 4000 5500 B C E They were called the Ubaidians named after the village site of Tell al-Ubaid where evidence of their habitation was found Much is still unknown about them but archaeologists describe them as farmers and animal herders Each group of people who lived in Mesopotamia added to and built upon the achievements of the previous group 4
The Euphrates River is 1,740 miles 2,800 km long It is the longest river in western Asia which reaches from Turkey to Yemen and Oman in the south Key The ancient lands of Mesopotamia Present-day borders Iran Nineveh Nimrud T i g r i s R i v e r AKKAD Lagash SUMER Ur Eridu Kuwait Persian Gulf 5 Turkey Syria ASSYRIA Euphrates River Iraq Babylon Jordan BABYLONIA Uruk This map shows the ancient cities of Mesopotamia situated close to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers Saudi Arabia
