
Building Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia, an eye catching, ancient civilization with city-states built hundreds of years ago by astonishing rivers. With grandeur buildings, built to the heavens to social classes with many different job roles Mesopotamia faced many challenges, to become a boasting civilization.
As the civilization grew and city-states developed. Akkad was one of the first major city-state. Akkad was the center of the world’s first empire, likely located in Southern Mesopotamia east of the Tigris River. Uruk was another popular city. Uruk was so big it had a population of nearly 80,000 people, it was also located in Southern Mesopotamia. As the religious center of the empire, Assur was located on the western bank of the Tigris River.
Present day Mesopotamia is now areas such as Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, and Turkey. Mesopotamia means land between two rivers. The rivers are the Euphrates River and the Tigris River. Mesopotamians developed by the river in order to have fresh water to drink and water to cook with. Where Mesopotamia is located and the area around it is called the Fertile Cresent. The Fertile Cresent is actually shaped like a cresent. In fact the Euphrates River and the Tigris River still flow through Iraq and much of Syria.
The Mesopotamians used mud-brick made out of clay found nearby the rivers. The buildings were all made from the same material. Their houses were at least two stories this was the same even for different social classes. During this time when they built the main buildings, like the ziggurat, they built them as high as possible to be close to the heavens.
They used mud-brick because it got hard and was easy to make and work with. Another reason they used mud-brick was because it was an available resource. The mud-brick would erode from the rain over time. Where homes were built varied on the social classes.
Mesopotamia is split into four social classes. The upper class, the middle class, lower class, and slavery.
Upper class and middle class were good social classes to be in they were wealthy and had good lives. Lower class consisted of farmers. Lower class were poor and lived away from the ziggurat. The upper and middle class were close to the ziggurat. Slaves lived with their owners. Or owed money or had committed a crime. Slaves were a main work force in the development of Mesopotamia.
Mesopotamia has breathtaking and stunning buildings and architecture. With three major city-states such as Uruk, Assur, and Akkad, populations grew up to 80,000. Cities surrounded two rivers, Euphrates and Tigris. Different social classes,such as upper class, lower class, and slaves. However through it all Mesopotamia has created a name for being the first civilization known to man.