Cultural Legacy of Ancient Mesopotamia to Successor Civilizations (Essay Sample)

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Cultural Legacy of Ancient Mesopotamia to Successor Civilizations
Introduction
The modern day Iraq occupies the territory that historians have considered as the location of the earliest civilization. In more geographical terms, contemporary Iraq corresponds to Mesopotamia as it is known from the Old Testament documentations. According to many Western religious traditions and mythologies, the ancient territory of Mesopotamia was rich in resources, leading its neighbors as a land of abundant water resources, abundant wildlife, and verdant vegetation. As a result, from the very early stages in history, Mesopotamia attracted hordes of people from the neighboring lands. By around 6100 BC, most of the areas in this early state had been occupied and settled by immigrants mainly from the Iranian and Turkish highlands (Dalley 78). During the ancient times, southern Mesopotamia, the most affluent region in Mesopotamia, was referred to as Sumer. Historically, it has not been established on the exact date when the Sumer settled in the area. However, historians have had a common ground that the population of Sumer included the earliest inhabitants of the region, consisting of a mixture of ethnic and linguistic groups. The Sumerian culture developed incorporating the elements of both the immigrants and natives of the land (Marshack 342). Naturally, the Sumerians were very creative, tolerating the ever changing moods of Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Mesopotamia was located between the two rivers. Most of the well known Sumerian legacies such as literature, art, language, and religion developed as adaptive responses to the two rivers. Altogether, ancient Mesopotamia impacted cultural practices impacted a great deal on the many successor civilizations (Marshack 345).
Ancient Mesopotamia was home of a stream of civilizations that included Assyria, Akkad, Babylonia, and Sumer. These states altogether dominated the ancient Near East for more than three millennia. Not only did the kingdom of ancient Mesopotamia impact on her neighbors but also the entire world. The Mesopotamian culture has been well celebrated to date for the civilization it brought to the world. Different aspects of this culture including art, literature, language, and religion have been adopted across the world. Mesopotamian lucrative history can be traced back during the rise of the Akkadian Empire in 2300 BC (Dalley 132). During this era, tremendous developments on language were achieved under King Sargon. Akkadian language emerged as a result, coming alongside the cuneiform, which was a wedge-shaped script. Historically, ancient Sumer was the first civilization in Mesopotamia, coming before the Akkad, Babylon, and Assyria. Some of the cultural facts originating from Sumer were the earliest form of settlements and the development of city-states and villages. Such settlement patterns could be later used in the kingdom of Rome and the city states of Greece. Pottery and art were also features of the ancient Sumer civilization. Babylonia, a major kingdom in the Mesopotamian Empire at the time, reigned between 18th and 6th century BC (Dalley 162).
Literature and writing
The invention of writing was the most outstanding legacy Mesopotamia left to all the successor civilizations including the modern day world (Dalley 182). The Sumerians had developed a system of written representation that was used as a way of communicating. Pictograms were the earliest kind of writings. Over time, Sumerians developed pictograms to a more advanced form of writing known as cuneiform. This was as a result of the development of more complex societies in ancient Mesopotamia and thus pictograms would not conform to the advancing needs of the growing civilizations. Phonograms were a feature of the cuneiform whereby a certain sound was used to represent a particular character (Dalley 231). Altogether, cuneiform involved an arrangement of impressions embossed on clay using a wedge-shaped piece of a reed that had been chopped-off. The combination of sound and characterization in writing developed through the subsequent civilizations to the kind of writing in the present society. From the time of the ancient Mesopotamia, the formation of any functional society dictated the use of written records in order to necessitate the implementation of social organizational structures. Therefore, the invention of writing was an important historical achievement to all the subsequent cultures. For instance, Sumerians wrote all cultural inventions including beliefs, values, and agricultural techniques in cuneiform. These writings were used hundreds of years later by the subsequent civilizations to organize their social structures and improve their agricultural production (Dalley 243).
Recording of literature has remained to be one of the most outstanding legacies the ancient Mesopotamia left to its successors (Oppenheim 79). Scribes were among the successor civilizations who held a lot importance to the literacy brought about by the Mesopotamia civilization. They attached more weight to the literate civilization than the merchants and kings. They underwent deep learning to master on how to write intricate cuneiform characters. As such, communities relied on the Scribes to record important societal data, information, and events. The importance of the Mesopotamian civilization was recognized not only through the works of the Scribes but also by the unique pieces of literature produced as a result. For instance, subsequent production of the Babylonian poem, “The Wrath of Erra,” the Sumerian myth, “The Descent of Inanna and Dumuzi’s Death,” and the Babylonian myth, “Epic of Gilgamesh” were a manifestation of the importance of Mesopotamian civilization to the successor civilizations (Oppenheim 239).
The “Epic of Gilgamesh” was a story by the king of the Uruk state, one of the component city states of the ancient Mesopotamia, which depicted his deep sorrow for the passing of his friend (Jacobsen 243). In addition, Gilgamesh story featured other themes like the short-lived nature of man’s life and the devastating floods that rocked the state at the time. The emotional impressions and multifarious conceptualization presented in Gilgamesh’s story served as ground for all subsequent stories done in the Near Eastern regions. The Babylonians copied and improved Sumerian literature. Odyssey and Iliad followed literary themes of the story of Gilgamesh. The Old Testament came as a result of the wisdom writings adopted by the ancient Mesopotamian culture. The Hittites were among one of the strongest civilizations emerging after the decline of the Babylon Empire. Their rule lasted between 1450 to 1200 B.C.E with their civilization featuring an oriental monarchy and a sun god representing the king (Marshack 169). Much of the Hittites’ culture was adopted from the Babylonians of the ancient Mesopotamia. For instance, they incorporated the Hammurabi code, used Babylonian literary styles, and wrote cuneiforms in conveying information. The Phoenicians were the first maritime civilization. In addition to using the cuneiform developed by the Sumerians, they invented an alphabet with 22 consonants thus increasing the use of sound and character system of the cuneiform (Marshack 205).
Social system
In addition to establishing a civilized system of writing and literature that was adopted by all successor civilizations, ancient Mesopotamia also prided in a social system that could be admired by many (Woolley 321). The Sumerians had developed a naming system that involved then use of one’s first name and the name of his/ her father. As a result, subsequent generations have adopted this system especially in professional situations. The ancient Mesopotamians adopted nuclear families including a man, wife, children, and in some circumstances a domestic slave for tending the home. When children were born, they were named after the city-states in which they resided. For instance, children were given names of the Mesopotamian cities like Lagash, Nippur, Ur, Kish, and Uruk (Dalley 204). This showed the how respective families were devoted to their hometowns. The Babylonians, due to their nomadic way of life, adopted extended families where parents, grandparents, children, and other relatives settled as one household. In the event an individual wanted to sell a piece of land among the cities of ancient Mesopotamia, he/ she had to acquire the signatures of his/ her siblings and/ or other relatives. Some of the immediate civilizations that adopted these kinds of social organizations included the Egyptian and the Neo-Babylonian (Chaldean) Empires (Woolley 338).
The ancient Mesopotamia was largely an agrarian society with the chief occupations being raising livestock and growing crops. These were the activities most sustainable in the land given that there was constant flow of water from Euphrates and Tigris rivers. In the ancient Mesopotamian society, both men and women worked. Besides farming, other occupations included priesthood, teacher, fisherman, potter, artisan, healer, scribe, and shoe maker (Bertman 224). At the top of the society, lied the priests and the kings. In Mesopotamia, women enjoyed equal rights as men and thus could acquire and own land, participate in trade contracts, and run their businesses. Essentially, the earliest bear brewers and healers found in ancient Mesopotamia were women. The neighboring towns of Nagar, Kutha, Marad, and Zabala were the first to adopt the occupational system practiced in Mesopotamia (Woolley 183). However, some occupations like priesthood were preserved for the men in such civilizations as the Assyrians, Egypt, and the Medes. In the farming practice, different groupings among the Mesopotamia immigrants were involved in different fields. For...