Chaldeans

The Chaldeans overthrew the Assyrians around 612 B.C. They set up the second Babylonian Empire led by King Nebuchadnezzar. King Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem and enslaved the Jews. Nebuchadnezzar built the Hanging Gardens of Babyon. The Chaldeans advanced astronomy by making correct observations of the sun, moon, planets and stars. The tower of Babel is said to have been built during this time. After Nebuchadnezzars death in 562 B.C. the Chaldeans Empire fell. By 539 B.C. they were conquered by the Persians.

Assyria / Assyrians

The Assyrians lived in the northern part of Mesopotamia. They were always at war with someone. They had their own language and lifestyle. The Assyrians were famous traders that were known for their donkeys and their caravans all over the area. The Assyrians had very talented artists. Around 1200 B.C. the Assyrians conquered Babylon and they leveled the city. They really hated Babylonians.

Babylon

About a thousand years after the Sumerians settled, two new civilizations came along. One of them was the aggressive warriors The Assyrians and the other was The Babylonians. Babylon was in the southern part of Mesopotamia near the Persian Gulf. Babylon sounds like it was a really cool place, it had massive walls in the city that protected it and it had a network of canals and amazing green crops. Everyone lived really well in Babylon, even the poor lived in a 3 story house. The Babylonians became important when Hammurabi made it the capital of his kingdom of Babylonia. Hammurabi became the king of the city of Babylon around 1792-1750 B.C. Hammurabi united all of Mesopotamia. Hammurabi was most famed for The code of Hammurabi and it contained 282 laws, like "an eye for an eye," severe punishment for crimes. Another famous thing about Babylon is The Hanging Gardens that were one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The Babylonians inherited many of the achievements of the Sumerians and were very influenced by their culture.

Inventions

1. Water clock
2. 12 month calendar based on lunar cycles
3. 1st writing system
4. The wheel
5. The plow
6. The sailboat

Trade & Transport

Mesopotamia didn't have many natural resources. So they needed to trade with the countries beside them to get what they needed to live. Textiles, grains and oils from Babylonia were traded for wine, wood and precious metals from other countries. Other countries traded their stuff too. They didn't use money to trade goods and services. They used the barter system.

The Mesopotamians used boats to transport their stuff. They used three different kinds of boats. They used a guffa boat which was shaped like a tub, they used wooden boats with triangular sails and they used the kalakuu which is a type of raft.
The Sumerians invented the wheel so that the really heavy stuff could go by wagon.

Gods / Godesses

Mesopotamia had a lot of gods and godesses. Every city state had its own god/godess who owned everything and everyone. The people believed that their world was controlled by gods. There were four all powerful gods. An was the god of heaven, Enlil was the air god, Enki was the water god and Ninhursag was mother earth god. Then these four gods created more like Utu the sun god and Nanna the moon god.

Religion / Ziggurats

Almost all of the cities of ancient Mesopotamia had a ziggurat which is a very large pyramid shaped structure that housed the city-state's patron god. A lot of the time they were decorated with pillars and other decorations. There are 32 ziggurats known of today in and around Mesopotamia. This was a sacred place that only priests could enter. It was the priests job to care for the needs of the gods. Priests were very important in Sumerian society.

Edubba / Education

Only the wealthiest boys were allowed to go to school and learn reading, writing and math. Girls weren't allowed.
Sumerian schools were called edubba, they were also called tablet houses. School lasted from early morning until evening. They would write on clay tablets. They went to school for 12 years and the teachers severely disciplined students, sometimes they hit them with a stick. When they were finished school they became a scribe which was a high paying job in Sumer.

The Sumerians were the first people to develop a system of writing.

Sumer / Sumerians

Around 3500 B.C. in Southern Mesopotamia the people known as Sumerians made up the world's first civilization. They learned to control the Tigris and Euphates rivers by constructing levees and irrigation canals. There was no building stone and hardly any trees in Sumer, so the people built city walls, public buildings and their homes out of sun dried mud brick.
Some people believe that this is where the Garden of Eden was.

They evolved into self governing city states. They took pride in their city states. At times they were at war with each other because of boundary issues. They would even attack a neighbour to prove its strength. Some of the chief cities were Ur, Erech and Kish.

Mesopotamia

Here is some stuff I learned about Mesopotamia for a school report.

Mesopotamia is a greek word that means the land between two rivers. The Tigris river and Euphrates river. The rivers begin in Eastern Turkey, they come together in S.E. Iraq and they empty into the Persian Gulf. This would be present day Middle Eastern Iraq. This was also know as the crossroads of the world. Mesopotamia commands access to three continents: Asia, Africa, and Europe. Lots of people call Mesopotamia the cradle of civilization because it's the place where the world's first civilization lived.

The two rivers created the Fertile Crescent. Even though the people had a really dry hot climate and they had to deal with seasonal flooding that was really difficult and challenging the farmers learned how to control the rivers and produce awesome crops.