Mesopotamia was the site of the earliest civilization, located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Living in larger communities offered advantages like physical and material security as well as allowing cultural and moral values to flourish. Mesopotamian culture was rich in trade, warfare, and innovation - they invented writing, irrigation, mathematics, the wheel, and metalworking. Religion also played a central role, with each city centered around a ziggurat temple dedicated to patron gods who were believed to rule the natural world.

2. Living, culture and religion
By
Sana Idrees

3.  Geography of Mesopotamia
 Living
 Culture pattern
 Religious practices

4.  Mesopotamia was the first civilization of history called Sumerian
civilization. It appeared about 3500 BC ago.
 The word “Mesopotamia” means the land between rivers
 It was spread over an area 300 miles long and 150 miles wide
 It was cradle of homogenous yet diverse cultures
 It included modern day countries of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordon,
Palestine and others
 Its northern areas consisted of plains while southern area
consisted of jungle and marine life. It is also called fertile
crescent

6. Living in larger communities offered a number
of advantages:
 Physical security like protection against both internal and
external aggression
 Material security like sustained supply of food and other
items of daily use
 Freedom to observe and perpetuate their ethical, moral and
cultural values

7.  Mesopotamia had a rich history of trade and warfare
 The first writing system cuneiform originated from
Mesopotamia
 They built dams to keep the rivers from flooding their fields
 Sumerians were the first to :
• Irrigate fields
• Develop mathematics
• Invent wheel
• Work with metal
• Devise a written law code
• Develop trade system

8.  It had many cites like Uruk, Aridu, Ur, Larsa and Habuba
 Each city had its own government, rulers, warriors and its
own patron god
 At the center of each city was a temple called ziggurat
( massive pyramid structure). Temple was city’s religious and
economic center

9.  Sumerians were religious people
 They believed in number of Gods
 They believed that the universe was ruled by these gods,
who were anthropomorphic and who represented various
natural phenomenon, for example, the city of Ur constructed
a ziggurat for Nanna, the god of the moon.