FB Post of 25th July 2021 Source, We Love Mesopotamia

Who were the ancient Mesopotamians and where does the origins of science trace back to?

The Sumerians and their kingdom were located in the southern parts of Mesopotamia. They are the oldest known people to have ruled and inhabited Mesopotamia.

The Sumerians laid the foundation for the Mesopotamian culture in many ways such as politics, religion, economically, socially as well as ideologically. The key to their success is most likely due to the geographical location of Sumer.

During the period of 5500-3500 BC cities governed by a centralized administration started to emerge along the river banks of the Tigris and Euphrates. The people who lived there had a long tradition of settling as agriculture had been introduced to the area around 9000 BC. The most important cities of Sumer include places like Eridu which is believed to be one of the first city where people settled down, Ur and the city of Uruk which later on became a big city and played a significant role in the Mesopotamian history.

The most important job in these cities was that of a king. Mesopotamian kings knew the importance of collecting the information and knowledge accessible throughout the kingdom as it was expected of them to rule well and to be well educated. This tradition emerged in Sumerian times and lived on for thousands of years. The priests and priestesses of the kingdom had a lot of power and responsibilities, particularly in the education system of these city-states. Uruk, for example, had a temple area that covered 1/3 of the city’s total surface, that goes to show the significance of religion in their society.

It may have been the lack of natural resources that made the Sumerians invent irrigation systems which led to the development of cities. The only available resources of southern Mesopotamia before the cities emerged would have been reed and clay provided by the two great rivers. They used what they had and were able to build huts, boats and bricks for the city walls. Due to the lack of resources, Sumer established trade routes with places far away from the Mesopotamian heartland such as Anatolia, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Egypt, the Indus Valley and an island that they called Dilmun which is believed to be modern day Bahrain.

Sedentism, irrigation and trade is the key to understanding the sudden appearance of cities and the Mesopotamian culture. To be able to manage these new cities they had to be creative, a mix of new demands and human curiosity probably played a role in the evolution of that which we call science today. How do we distinguish the human pursue of new knowledge and science? The definition varies depending on who you’d ask but what we know for sure is that systematic studies of mathematics, medicine, astronomy and linguistics were a big part of Mesopotamian culture. Skeptics often argue that the Mesopotamian tradition doesn’t qualify to be called science because the Mesopotamians had practical reasons for everything they invented and discovered. The Mesopotamians discovered a lot and laid the very foundation that our society is built upon. It is true that practicality often was the motivation to their inventions but it was not the only reason. Therefore it’s not true to say that it was the only reason behind their success as you will learn.

A semitic speaking group of people known as the Akkadians would soon rule Mesopotamia as king Sargon the Great (Sharru-ukin of Akkad) established the world’s first multi-ethnic empire around 2200 BC. To be able to rule this new empire they had to be even more creative and come up with new ideas and solutions to rule a functioning society.

King Ur-Nammu founded the Third Dynasty of Ur and the Sumerians were able to take control of Mesopotamia once again. Literature flourished during that time period, the empire centralized its government even more, well educated administrators were hired by the kings and the world’s first education system had started to take shape. Ur-Nammu created the first laws, hundreds of years ahead of the famous Hammurabi as many of you might have heard about.

The Old Babylonian Period is the name scholars use to describe southern Mesopotamia around 2000-1600 BC. During this period the people made huge progress in science, mathematics and astronomy in particular. The creation of timekeeping, the 60 minute hour and 365 day calendar emerged during this period. Literature would also have a huge upswing as many classical works were re-written and copied. With it’s population of 150 000 the city of Babylon became the world’s first international metropol which is a possible explanation to its scientific boom. For the first time in history people were able to predict solar and lunar eclipses, they were able to understand the constellation of the planets and stars. What earlier had been seen as the will of the Gods they were now able to calculate and predict by using mathematical theories and methods. Tablets containing correct calculations of the planets and stars can be seen all across the worlds museums of today and most of them were discovered in the Neo-Assyrian capital Nineveh.

The Assyrians, with their base in the city of Assur, had been around for a long time but their empire reached its peak under king Assurbanipal (600 BC). Assurbanipal is best known for his library found in Nineveh which is the main reason to why we know so much about the Mesopotamian cultures. After the fall of Nineveh in 612 BC the mathematical astronomy continued under new kings in the Neo Babylonian empire. The scientific revolution that started in Babylonia and Assyria quickly spread to Greece where it would be further developed. Science and philosophy is often credited to ancient Greece but the foundations of it started long before anyone had heard of Greece. Even the Greeks themselves knew about the much older cultures that had contributed to the development of science. Around the time that the Greeks came in to the picture the ancient Mesopotamian high culture ends.

New cultures would later on rule Mesopotamia and I’ll just quickly mention a few of them. The model of a multiethnic empire under one leader would continue under the Persian king Cyrus the Great and he would later on spread the usage of coins in his empire which lead to better living standards for its people.

The exchange of information between East and West would reach a new peak under the Macedonian king Alexander the Great. After his death in Babylon in 323 BC his empire was split up between his generals, Mesopotamia, the Levant and Iran was given to a general named Seleucos.

Seleucos founded the Seleucid Empire with its base being the capital of Seleucia which was located near modern day Baghdad. By doing this, Hellenistic ideas began to spread over the East and would reach as far away as India.

The Seleucid empire would later on loose it’s power and the Parthian Empire would take its place as ruler of Mesopotamia. Parthia would later on weaken due to its rivalry with Rome.

Once again, Mesopotamia went through a power shift, as the Sasanian Empire took control of the land between the two rivers. The Sasanian rule is considered to be the peak of Iranian culture before the Muslim conquest. They were a well-organized superpower with a centralized government. The tradition of bureaucracy, a well functioned legal and education system and tax-collection was key to their success.

As the religion of Islam were able to unite the Bedouin tribes of the desert the Arabs began their expansion north. It wouldn’t take long before they set their eyes on Mesopotamia as it was an important area for trade. The Arabs would take control of Mesopotamia from the Sassanians in 600 AD and created a new capital built on the ruins of an old monastery that they called Baghdad. A new epicenter of science began to emerge. The Arabs were hungry for knowledge and the Graeco-Arabic translation movement was initiated for ideological, political and practical reasons. This movement that lasted for about 500 years between 750-1250 AD is known as the golden age of Arabic philosophy and science. Its significance for science is many times forgotten about. Almost all Greek philosophical and scientific literature was translated into Syriac – the predominant scientific language among Christian scholars until the second half of the ninth century – and Arabic. As a matter of fact it was Assyrian intellectuals that conducted this huge job of translating texts from Greek to Syriac to Arabic. They would add comments and explain the very complicated Greek works that they would translate.

Even though Mesopotamia went through many power shifts over a long period of time it is still possible to talk about a cohesive Mesopotamian intellectual history. In 1258 AD Baghdad was invaded by the Mongols and the city was sacked and burned. The irrigation systems of the city was destroyed, Baghdad’s caliph was overthrown and a big part of its population was slaughtered. This marks the end of the Mesopotamian intellectual history as we know it. In the year 1400 the war lord Timur Lenk once again invaded Mesopotamia and evened the education institutions and libraries with the ground. Big parts of the Assyrian population were killed in the genocide that followed his conquest.

The inventions and discoveries of Mesopotamia would pretty much be forgotten about until the 1800s. The discovery of Ashurbanipals library by Austen Layard and his Assyrian college Hormuzd Rassam would shine a light on the ancient civilizations of the past and the importance of them.