7 characterisics of civilization
Mesopotamia
Location
Mesopotamia is now southern Iraq. Mesopotamia means land between the rivers in Greek. The civilization began on the plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
People need this characteristic to understand where Mesopotamia was in the world.
Location is used to find the type of clothes people need to wear, based on the climate, and what type of economy they could have had.
POPULATION
The population of Mesopotamia, the city-states, ranged from about 5,000 to 20,000 people. People need this information to understand how big the state was. Clues to Mesopotamia's history have been found in the ruins and piles of rubble being dug up by archaeologists.
POLITICS
The Sumerian people was ruled by Kings and high priests, and later became monarchies. Sumer's cities were surrounded by mudflats and patches of scorching desert. This meant that each city was cut off from its neighbors, so city became independent, and each city raised their own crops and made their own goods, and became city-states with their own government and economy.
RELIGION
The Sumerian people worshiped many gods, a type of belief known as polytheism. The many gods played a different role in Sumerian life, and were believed to have powers over parts of nature, like rain and wind. Each city-state claimed one god as there own and built temples to honor them. Proof of this has been found in the many digs done by historians.
Economy
A major part of Mesopotamia's economy was farming. Historians believe that the first people were hunters and herders. By about 4000 B.C. some of these groups had moved to the plain of the Tigris-Euphrates valley, and they built farming villages along the two rivers.