MESOPOTAMIA: THE FIRST CIVILIZATION

Historians do not agree on how best to define the term civilization. But most would accept the view that a civilization is a culture that has attained a degree of complexity, characterized by urban life. In other words, a civilization is a culture capable of sustaining a great number of specialists to cope with the economic, social, political, and religious needs of a large social unit. Other hallmarks of civilization are a system of writing (originating from the need to keep records), monumental architecture in place of simple buildings, and art that is not merely decorative, like that on Neolithic pottery, but is representative of people and their activities. All these characteristics of civilization first appeared together in the southern part of Mesopotamia, the land called Sumer.

Around 6000 B.C.E., after the agricultural revolution had begun to spread from its place of origin on the Northern fringes of the Fertile Crescent, Neolithic farmers started filtering into the Fertile Crescent itself. Although this broad plain received insufficient regular rainfall to support agriculture, the eastern section was able to benefit from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers as sources of irrigation. Known to the Greeks as Mesopotamia (Greek for "between the rivers"), the lower reaches of this plain, beginning near the point where the two rivers nearly converge, was called Babylonia. Babylonia included two geographical areas -- Akkad in the north and Sumer, the delta of this river system, in the south.

Sumer had tremendous agricultural potential as long as environmental problems could be solved: swamps had to be drained, canals had to be dug to bring water to remote fields, and safeguards had to be constructed against flooding. These and other related problems were solved by cooperative effort. Metal workers discovered that copper, when combined with tin, produced an alloy, bronze, which was harder than copper and provided a sharper edge. The beginning of civilization in Sumer is associated with the beginning of this Bronze Age, and the new technology soon spread to Egypt, Europe, and Asia. Between 3500 and 3100 B.C.E. the foundations were established for a type of economy and social order markedly different from anything previously known. This far more complex culture, based on large urban centers populated by interdependent and specialized workers, is what we associate with civilization.

Since the Mesopotamian plain had no stone, no metals, and no timber except its soft palm trees, these materials had to be imported from Syria and Asia Minor. Water transport down the Tigris and Euphrates aided in this process. The oldest sailing boat known is represented by a model found in a Sumerian grave dating to about 3500 B.C.E. Soon after this date, wheeled vehicles appear in the form of war chariots drawn by donkeys. Another important invention was the potter's wheel, first used in Sumer soon after 3500 B.C.E.