HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

LECTURE 2

A B H I S H E K K . V E N K I TA R A M A N I Y E R

A S S I S TA N T P RO F E S S O R

Overview and Timeline of Ancient Mesopotamian Civilization

Mesopotamia is one of the cradles of human civilization. Here, the earliest cities in world history
appeared, about 3500 BC.
c. 5000-3500 BC: The first city-states gradually develop in southern Mesopotamia. This is the
achievement of the Sumerian people.
c. 3500: Writing begins to be developed. At first this is based on pictograms, and takes about
a thousand years to evolve into a full cuneiform script.
c. 2300: King Sargon of Akkad starts conquering the first empire in world history. The empire
reaches its height in c. 2220.
c. 2100: The city of Ur becomes the centre of a powerful Mesopotamian state. It soon falls into
decline. This marks the decline of the Sumerians as the Amorites, a nomadic people, start moving
into Mesopotamia.
1792-49: King Hammurabi of Babylon conquers a large empire. Hammurabi is famous for the
law code which he issues. His empire begins to decline immediately after his death.
c. 1530: Babylonia is conquered by the Kassites, who rule the area for 400+ years.
c. 1500: The Mitanni, an Indo-European people, conquer northern Mesopotamia, plus areas of
Syria and Asia Minor. After 200 years the kingdom of Assyria conquers northern Mesopotamia
from the Mitanni
From 1100: Nomadic peoples such as the Aramaeans and the Chaldeans overrun much of
Mesopotamia. The kingdoms of Babylon and Assyria go into temporary decline.

Ancient River Valley

Civilizations

ANCIENT
MESOPOTAMIA
Oldest known civilization
Cradle of Human
Civilization
Nebuchadnezzar

Ziggurat
Hanging gardens

FIRST SUMERIANS
Sumerians first arrived in region around
5000 BC
Typical Paleolithic people motivated by
search for game
Settled in region and took up farming
Built dams, dikes, and short canals to use
water from the Euphrates
Grew barley and dates and raised sheep
and goats

SUMERIAN AGRICULTURE
Each was crisscrossed by irrigation system of
major canals and minor channels
Designed to bring water from Euphrates to
farmland

Farmland divided into square and rectangleshaped plots

Farmers worked land with plows, seed-drills, and
stone hoes and received yield of 40:1

Other areas set aside as gardens and fruit

orchards
Carts pulled by donkeys and boats on the canals
took produce to the urban center itself

The Beginnings of Writing

Farmers needed to keep records.
The Sumerians were very good farmers. They raised animals such
as goats and cows. Because they needed to keep records of their
livestock, food, and other things, officials began using tokens.
Tokens were used for trade.
Clay tokens came in different shapes and sizes. These
represented different objects. The number of tokens began to be
pressed on the outside of the clay balls. Many experts believe
that this is how writing on clay tablets began.
A system of writing develops.
The earliest form of writing dates back to 3300 B.C. People
back then would draw "word-pictures" on clay tablets using a
pointed instrument called a stylus. These "word-pictures" then
developed into wedge-shaped signs. This type of script was
called cuneiform (from the Latin word cuneus which means wedge).
Who used cuneiform?
Not everyone learned to read and write. The ones that were
picked by the gods were called scribes. Boys that were chosen
to become scribes (professional writers) began to study at the
age of 8. They finished when they were 20 years old.

Geography
This civilisation rose in the
valleys between the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers.
Some say this Fertile Crescent was
the real Garden of Eden.

The layout of cities:

There is not enough at the lower levels of explored mounds to give us a total image of the
Mesopotamian city before the Early Dynastic Period. By then a dozen or so cities containing from
10,000 to 50,000 people prospered, both in lower Mesopotamia or Sumer and further north in
Babylonia.

SUMERIAN
CITY-STATES
City-states gradually emerged over next 1000
years
Ur, Uruk, Lagash, Nippur, Kish, Umma, etc.
Larger than Neolithic settlements and displayed
evidence of economic specialization and strong
political organization

Included the urban center plus surrounding

countryside
Each was also an independent political unit

Lagash
In the city-state (or state), kin and tribal loyalties are, by definition, subordinated and replaced by
political ties. What makes a city-state different from an agricultural town is the synergy created
by its people interacting with each other on the basis of political relationships rather than
traditional blood ties.

Why Did These Cities Develop?

Due to the fertile soil in
Mesopotamia, farming was very
successful. In fact, people were
able to create surpluses of food.
This meant that some people could
stop farming and begin doing other
things, like building a city.

As cities began to develop,

people began to worry about
others who might come and
invade their city. They wanted to
protect themselves from enemies,
so people in Mesopotamia built
walls around their cities.

Historical and Analytical account of cities in

Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia means land between rivers.
Four broad segments of chronology will suffice to govern our discussion.
The first is the so-called
Protoliterate Period, from ca.3500 to 3000 B.C.
Early Dynastic Period, from 3000 to 2350 B.C.
Sumerian Period, from 2350 to 1600 B.C.
Assyrian Period, from 1350 to 612 B.C.

1-Protoliterate Period:
During this time , the towns, which had
probably evolved from agricultural
villages, acquired their battlements of ring
walls; and the temple and the ziggurat
began to gain architectural definition.
Political authority resided in an assembly
of male citizens that selected short-term
war leaders.
2-Early Dynastic Period:

When the role of these leaders was

retained in times of peace as well, kingship,
first elective and then hereditary, became
established. With it raised the monumental
palace, an administrative center which
employed a large retinue of bureaucrats
and entertainers & occupied itself with
raising and supplying an army and
maintaining the defensive system of the city.

Uruk: a substantial ceremonial hub by 3500 B.C.

3-Sumerian Period:
This period saw the rise of empire,
the collective rule of several citystates through the might of a
sovereign king. The first part of the
period is dominated by the Third
Dynasty of Ur whose prodigious
building activity includes the
Ziggurate of Ur-Nammu, the high
point of that building type.

4-Assyrian Period:
The northern region of the two rivers
now flourishes at the expense of
lower Mesopotamia. The Assyrian by
their imposing state reliefs and their
palaces, like the one at Khorsabad.

Ziggurat of Ur Nammu

A Sumerian City
Sumerian city streets were
so narrow that you could
hardly get a cart through
them.
On hot nights, people slept
outdoors on the top of their
houses flat roof.

Sumerian houses faced

away from crowded
streets. Instead, they faced
onto courtyards where
families ate and children
played.

Narrow Streets

Courtyard Area

CITY CHARACTERISTICS
Each city surrounded by walls
Permanent garrisons of soldiers stationed in
towers and at each gate

Wide boulevards crossed city, lined by houses

of the wealthy
Rest of city made up of narrow, twisting alleys
surrounded by small, flat-roofed huts
Homes of farmers, and small craftsmen

A typical Sumerian city with its Ziggurat

The first city

Cities began to emerge in Mesopotamia
(modern Iraq) around 4500 years ago.
Ur, the capital of ancient Sumeria, was
the worlds first city. It supported a

complex and sophisticated society.

Ur(Iraq):
The cities were closed by a wall
and surrounded by suburban
villages and hamlets.
The two monumental centers were
the Ziggurat complex with its own
defensive wall, overseen by a
powerful priesthood, and Palace
of the king.
Lesser temples were sprinkled
here and there within the rest of
the urban fabric, which was a
promiscuous blend of residential
and commercial architecture.
Small shops were at times
incorporated into the houses.
In the later Sumerian period at Ur,
an example of a bazaar was
found.

Ur, the capital city of

Mesopotamia

LAYOUT PLAN OF UR

8
6

3
9

4
5

2.

7
7
6

1.Temenos Precinct
2.Nimin-Tabba Temple
3.Royal Cementery
4.Royal Mausolea

5.Residential Area
6.City Wall
7.Fortification Tower
8.North Harbor
9.West Harbor

Traffic along the twisted network of unpaved streets was mostly pedestrian. At Ur, one
sees on occasion a low flight of steps against a building from which riders could mount,
and the street corners were regularly rounded to facilitate passage.
Street width at the very most , would be 3 meters (9 feet) or so, and that only for the
few principal thoroughfares that led to the public buildings. These would be bordered with
the houses of the rich.

Poorer folk lived at the back ,along narrow lanes and alleys. It is hard to imagine much
wheeled traffic in this maze, though both service carts (with solid wheels) and chariots had
been in use from an early date.
Once walled the land became precious, and the high value of private property kept
public space to a minimum. Ample squares or public gardens were very rare.
The houses were grouped into congested blocks, where partition walls were common.

Ur, residential area southeast of

the
royal mausolea in the twentieth
century B.C.;Plan

The houses were , for the most

part, one-storey structures of
mud-brick, with several rooms
wrapped around a central court.
There were usually no outside
windows, no attempt to contribute to
a street architecture.
The wealthier classes of Ur lived
in ample hoses of dozen or so
rooms, arranged on two storeys,
and whitewashed inside and out.

3.
2.

1.

7.

4
.

8.
6.

1. Courtyard
2. Entry Vestibule
3. Reception Room
(Liwan)
4. Private Chapel
5. Kitchen
6. Lavatory
7. Stair case
8. Drain
9.Shop

5.

1.
1.

1.
3.
1.

4.

9.

Ur, Residential quarter between the Ziggurat precinct and the West
Harbor , Plan

Architects designed
perfect house plan,
rectangles
divided
neatly into orthogonal
rooms
around
a
central living space.
But the reality of
living town played
havoc
with
the
conceptual order of
the architect. The
building lots were not
of uniform size. Each
house was compelled
to
fit
into
a
predetermined space.

Temple and Ziggurats:

The temple constituted the heart

of the Mesopotamian city.
For the townspeople the fields and
their produce belong to the deity. The
seeds, draught animals, and implements
of tiling were supplied by the temple,
and the harvest was stored on its
grounds for distribution to the
community. Craftsmen, organized in
guilds, offered part of their output to
the temple, and so did fishermen with
their catch and builders with their
labor.
The temple complex was the hub of
an economic system that has been
described as theocratic socialism.
With its own wall around it , it formed
the last bulwark against the citys
enemies

There were two

ways in which this
temple differed
from others in the
city. It stood on a
tremendous
platform called
the ziggurat, and
being free of the
pressures of
density in its
ample precinct, its
form could afford
to be both regular
and open.

Uruk

For thousands of years,

Nippur was the religious
center of Mesopotamia.
According to Sumerian
religion, it was at Nippur
where Enlil, the supreme
god of the Sumerian
pantheon, created mankind.
Although never a capital city,
Nippur had great political
importance because royal
rule over Mesopotamia was
not considered legitimate
without recognition in its
temples. Thus, Nippur was
the focus of pilgrimage and
building programs by dozens
of kings including Hammurabi
of Babylon and Ashurbanipal
of Assyria.

Map of
Nippur

GATES

CANAL

TEMPLE
PARK

TEMPLE

Political Timeline

Sumer, 3200-2350 B.C.

Sargons Empire, 2350-2320B.C.

The Amorite invasions, 2100-1900 B.C.

The Dynasty of Ur, 2100-2000B.C.

Reign of Hammurapi of Babylon, 1792-1750 B.C.

Economic: trade and farming

Sumerians (Mesopotamians) were
known to trade with the Egyptians
and the Indus Valley civilizations.
In later years, these trade routes
became Silk Road.

SOCIAL CLASSES
Establishment of a social hierarchy where some people
had more power, wealth, and privileges than others

Equality originally prevailed in Sumerian city-states

But divisions soon appeared
First group to claim special privileges and status were priests
Gave up working and began to live off work of others
Temples given huge tracts of land which priests rented in
small parcels to farmers
Lived off rent
The King
The Governors

The Aristocracy
The Peasantry

SLAVERY
Originated with practice of men selling
themselves and/or their families to pay off
debts
Supplemented by using prisoners of war as
slaves

Demand for slaves increased as

civilization progressed
Advance of civilization did not bring same
benefits to everyone
Some benefited a great deal
Others saw a deterioration in their situation

Civilization brought important benefits but

it also introduced inequality, exploitation,
taxes, and slavery

LUGAL
Cities originally governed by an assembly of
adult males
Kings appeared who claimed to be
representatives of the gods and who took control
of most government functions
Called lugals
Not originally an hereditary position and the kings
power was limited to interpreting the will of the
gods
But this position would become extraordinarily
powerful in a relatively short period of time

GENERAL ANARCHY
Although an occasional city-state would
temporarily control the region from time to time,
more common were long, anarchic periods
where the various city-states fought each other
over boundaries and water rights

Constant warfare, shifting alliances, and

double-crosses were important characteristics
of ancient Sumer

SARGON THE GREAT

The worlds first empire
From Akkad

North of Sumer
Originally settled by
nomads from Arabia
Fairly untouched by
Sumerian civilization
for centuries

THE BABYLONIAN EMPIRE

In 2000 BC, the Amorites moved into
region from Arabia

Settled near Babylon and ultimately took it

over
Amorites/Babylonians prospered and became
wealthiest and more powerful people in
Mesopotamia

Under King Hammurabi, they conquered the

region
Babylonian Empire
Peak of Mesopotamia civilization
Produced first written law code

Empire collapsed shortly after Hammurabis

death

Victim of new invading tribes and jealously

independent spirit of Sumerian city states
Hammurabi

Hanging gardens of Babylonia

The ancient city of Babylon, under

King Nebuchadnezzar II, must
have been a wonder to the
traveler's eyes. "In addition to its
size," wrote Herodotus, a
historian in 450 BC, "Babylon
surpasses in splendor any city in the
known world."
Herodotus claimed the outer walls
were 56 miles in length, 80 feet
thick and 320 feet high. Wide
enough, he said, to allow a fourhorse chariot to turn. The inner walls
were "not so thick as the first, but
hardly less strong." Inside the walls
were fortresses and temples
containing immense statues of solid
gold. Rising above the city was the
famous Tower of Babel, a temple to
the god Marduk, that seemed to
reach to the heavens

Khorsabad:

KHORSABAD

The city was a royal Assyrian foundation, begun in 706 B.C., and abandoned, unfinished,
shortly afterward.
It covered 2.5 Sq.Km. (almost 1 Sq.mile).
There were two arched gates on each side of the square, guarded by stone demons in the
form of human-headed bulls.
On the North-West side one of the gates had been replaced by a bastion that served as a
platform for the royal place.
The Royal place:
The administrative court of honor is at the top of the plan, with the great Throne Room on
the left.
The entrance court is associated with a number of temples grouped along the west side.
They were all served by single ziggurat that was no other example of this Mesopotamian
building type.

4.
3.

2.

1. Citadel wall
2. Entrance court
3. Court of honor
4. Unexcavated

Khorsabad (the ancient Dur Sharrukin, Iraq),

Assyrian city founded by SargonII (721-705 B.C.), Plan

Temple

Entrance
Court

Khorsabad, citadel with royal palace

Court Of
Honor

Citadel Wall

Un-excavated

Khorsabad, citadel with royal palace

Thank you
A b h i s h e k K . V.