3.2 Ancient Mesopotamia

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Identify characteristics of civilization in Ancient Mesopotamia
• Discuss the political history of Mesopotamia from the early Sumerian city-states to the rise of Old Babylon
• Describe the economy, society, and religion of Ancient Mesopotamia

In the fourth millennium BCE, the world’s first great cities arose in southern Mesopotamia, or the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, then called Sumer. The ancient Sumerians were an inventive people responsible for a host of technological advances, most notably a sophisticated writing system. Even after the Sumerian language ceased to be spoken early in the second millennium BCE, Sumerian literary works survived throughout the whole of Mesopotamia and were often collected by later cities and stored in the first libraries.