Mesopotamia Research Paper

In Southwest Asia, there is a large band of fertile land called the Fertile Crescent. It curves between the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf. Within the Fertile Crescent are two rivers: the Tigris and Euphrates. Both these rivers begin in present day Turkey and flow south through Iraq to the Persian Gulf. The land between these two rivers is called Mesopotamia, which in Greek literally means “between the rivers.” The conditions in this land helped bring about the rise of the world’s first civilizations. One of the first civilizations that developed in Mesopotamia were the Sumerians. Around 3000 BC, large cities started to appear. At the heart of these cities, large pyramid shaped structures called ziggurats towered over everything else. Massive walls circled each of these cities, and over time, the cities and the land they controlled developed into city-states, which are political units with their own governments. Religion within Sumerian city-states included practicing polytheism, which is the belief in many gods. They believed that each god controlled a city-state and that they were a lot like humans. Because of these beliefs, the …show more content…
However, some aspects of Sumerian culture were adopted by these invading peoples and so, Sumerian civilization continued to influence life in Mesopotamia. One of the first to invade Sumer were the Akkadians around 2330 BC. Under the ruler Sargon I, he created the first permanent army. He used this army to conquer all of Sumer and formed the world’s first empire; Sargon’s Empire. It stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. The Akkadians adopted cuneiform from the Sumerians which became the official language of the government. They helped spread Sumerian culture far beyond the Tigris and Euphrates valleys. However, Sargon’s Empire eventually fell to other invading tribes. It lasted for about 140