How did the culture of the ancient two river basins develop?

The Euphrates and Tigris rivers in West Asia flow from northwest to southeast and into the Persian Gulf. The area they flow through is called the two river basins, also known as the Mesopotamian plain. The regular flooding of the two rivers in ancient times brought fertile soil suitable for farming to this area. The natural environment here is superior, and it is located at the crossroads of east-west traffic. Therefore, before 5000 BC, Sumerians began to settle and multiply here, gradually creating a precedent for the culture of the two river basins. Since then, it has become a national integration. Hot spots of business, trade and culture collision. Different ethnic groups in different regions rule this region alternately. They learn from each other and integrate with each other, creating an ancient civilization with multicultural characteristics.

The production and life needs of natural science and art society are the main reasons for the development of natural science. The development of farming civilization in ancient two river basins needs a more accurate calendar. Through long-term observation and research on the law of the moon's profit and loss, people formulated the lunar calendar. That is, the interval between two new moons is regarded as one month, 29 or 30 days a month, one year 12 months, and 354 days a year. This is more than six days later than the earth's orbit around the sun, so they set up a leap month to solve it. That is, some years are 13 months. The formulation and implementation of the lunar calendar further promoted the development of agricultural civilization in the two river basins.

During the Babylonian period, people could not only distinguish the stars from the five planets, but also drew a star map, which divided the stars in the sky into constellations according to their directions, with *** 12 stations, each of which was 30 degrees. Now that we are talking about the zodiac, this is the result. The names of the constellations Scorpio, Leo, Cancer, Gemini and Libra have been used to this day.

In the new Babylonian period, people in the two river basins established the concept of Zhou. They divide a month into four weeks, seven days a week, and every day there is a star god in charge, the same day and the same month. Fire, water, wood, gold and earth. This method of calculating the sun is widely circulated and is still in use today.

Because of the geographical location of traffic arteries, people in the two river basins are good at doing business. Commercial trade needs accurate calculation, and the flood of rivers needs the annual measurement of land, all of which are inseparable from mathematics, and mathematics has developed accordingly.

In ancient times, people in the two river basins used 10 decimal and 600 decimal at the same time. 10 decimal method provides convenience for the calculation of circle and time. At that time, people divided the circle into 360 "fatness, and divided the day into 12 hours, 30 uz per hour and 360 uz per day. They not only mastered four operations, fractions and ternary equations, but also calculated the areas of irregular polygons and trapezoid, and found that pi was 3.

At that time, the royal family also stipulated and published the standards of length, weight and capacity.

In ancient times, the carving art of the two river basins made extraordinary achievements, among which the cylindrical seal was one of its outstanding achievements.

The so-called cylindrical seal is a kind of seal that engraves inscriptions on the surface of rare cylindrical small stones and rolls on cement to leave marks. The earliest known cylindrical seals were carved from 3400 BC to 2900 BC. The contents of the seal are rich and colorful, including geometric figures, magic patterns, fairy tales and so on. The purpose of the seal, from driving away evil spirits, has gradually developed into a symbol of private property.

There are also the reliefs on the stone pillars in code of hammurabi and the famous lion hunting reliefs, which reflect the artistic achievements of stone carving in the ancient two river basins.

The unique natural environment and superior geographical position of writing and literature provide objective conditions for the emergence and development of multiculturalism in the two river basins.

Around 3500 BC, Sumerians carved graphic characters on stones. By around 3000 BC, they creatively carved simplified graphics and characters on semi-dry clay tablets with sound sticks or sound sticks, or dried them or burned them. Their strokes are from thick to thin, much like wooden wedges, so we call them cuneiform characters. After the invention of cuneiform writing, it was inherited and transformed by different nationalities in different periods in the two river basins, and it was widely popular in West Asia, forming a "cuneiform cultural circle" centered on Sumer. Not only that, it also directly or indirectly influenced ancient Egyptian characters and Phoenician characters, which provided certain conditions for the transition of Phoenician characters to letters all over the world. After more than 3000 years of ups and downs, cuneiform characters are covered by the sediment of two rivers. Around A.D., more advanced alphabetic characters replaced cuneiform characters. 1835, the English scholar Luo discovered the inscription of Bessiton in Iran, and successfully interpreted it in 1857, and the mystery of cuneiform was uncovered, thus giving birth to Assyria.

162 1 year, an Italian businessman, Valla, discovered cuneiform characters in the ruins of Bohris Palace in the ancient Persian Empire on the Iranian plateau and brought them back to Europe, but this did not attract the attention of the academic circles. 1764, Danish niebuhr published a cuneiform rubbings and interpreted it. Since then, academic research and decoding have been carried out. /kloc-At the beginning of the 9th century, German scholar grotte Finn made a major breakthrough in reading and confirmed the nine letters of Persian cuneiform. 1835, Luo, a British diplomat in Persia and a famous oriental scholar, discovered the inscription of Bei Heaton on a cliff in western Iran and risked his life to make it into rubbings. After a long and arduous study, 1857, on the basis of grotte Finn's research, Luo Linsheng first interpreted the ancient Persian, then compared it with Babylonian, and finally interpreted the cuneiform characters of West Asia and Babylon. At the same time, Talbot in Britain, Aubert in France and Sinks in Ireland also deciphered cuneiform respectively, and the mystery of cuneiform was thus uncovered.

The complicated geographical environment, ethnic composition and economic style, frequent ethnic conflicts and changeable political structure have accumulated rich literary materials in the two river basins, and the wise men in the two river basins have created many well-known fables, myths, poems and proverbs by using mature words. Famous works such as Enuma ehrlich and The Story of the Flood. The highest literary achievement is being forgotten.

The epic Enuma ehrlich is a fairy tale about the origin of the world. It describes how Marduk created the sun, the moon, constellations, rivers, lakes, oceans and everything after the decisive battle with the banshee, and created people who serve God. Genesis in the Old Testament basically comes from this fairy tale. The story of the flood is the blueprint of the stories of "the flood destroyed the world" and "Noah's Ark" in the Bible. The Forgotten One, which originated in Sumerian times and was handed down from generation to generation, was written around 2000 BC. The epic poem * * * has more than 3,000 lines and is recorded in cuneiform characters on 12 clay tablets. This epic writing clay tablet is now in the British Museum. The epic describes a forgotten, handsome and brave king of uruk, who was repulsed by the people for building walls and temples, and was violently interfered by the angel of the gods, Qi Yidu. In the battle, they not only formed a friendship between life and death, but also rescued the goddess Hista from her predicament when she was cured of violence. Later, forgetfulness refused the goddess' love and was retaliated by the goddess who turned love into hate. After the hero killed the angel of the goddess, the gods made Enqi sick and punished him with death. In order to save his friend, he went through all kinds of hardships to save Ge Xiang, but he was accidentally swallowed by a snake. The epic story is tortuous and moving, which not only reflects the polytheism and the personification of gods in the two river basins, but also reflects the spirit of human struggle against fate, and occupies an important position in the history of world literature.

Religion and Law Due to the complex regional environment, ethnic composition and changeable political structure, the religious beliefs in the two river basins and surrounding areas are characterized by locality, narrowness and diversity of the times. This feature determines that it is impossible for the religion in this region to develop into a big world religion, but this does not prevent it from providing rich nutrients for the formation of big world religions.

Legends about the origin of the world, the creation of man by God, the extinction of the world caused by floods, Noah's Ark and so on. People in the two river basins have successively become the source of Jewish and Christian classics, and also provided rich materials for the establishment of Islam.

The religious characteristics of the two river basins have also formed a complete divination system in this area, and many western astrology originated in the two river basins.

The geographical location, ethnic composition and the characteristics of commodity economy development in the two river basins determine the rulers' habit of paying attention to legislation in order to safeguard national security and social stability, which is also a particularly important contribution made by the people in the two river basins to human cultural undertakings. In the middle of 3000 BC, Sumerians jumped out of the circle of customary law for the first time and formulated the first code in human history. Unfortunately, only fragments of these codes have survived to this day. In the following historical years, people in the two river basins formulated Ullner Code, Sumerian Code, Birara Code, code of hammurabi Code, Assyrian Code and so on. Among them, code of hammurabi has the greatest influence and the best preservation.

190 1 year, when the French archaeological team under the command of J. Morgan excavated the site of Sousa, the ancient capital of Elam, they found the code of hammurabi carved on the stone tablet. According to textual research, when Elam invaded Babylon, they took the stone tablet back to Susa as a trophy and scraped off some inscriptions. In the future, historians will generally make up for the worn parts according to the manuscript fragments on other clay tablets. Now, this stone tablet is collected in the Louvre Museum in France.

Code of hammurabi consists of three black basalts, 2.25m high, with a top circumference of1.65m and a bottom circumference of1.90m. The code consists of cuneiform characters, with 3500 lines and 282 articles. It consists of preface, text and conclusion, covering all aspects of society and fully embodying the will of slave owners. Code of hammurabi is the first relatively complete written code in human history, and it is one of the important symbols of the development of civilization in the two river basins. It not only had a great influence on the development of the code of the two river basins in the future, but also became a very precious material for studying the social situation of the two river basins and West Asia.

Cities and Architecture The ancient two river basins were the only places where the trade routes in West Asia passed. The superior geographical environment and developed social economy make this region take the lead in evolving from a city-state to a city. However, due to frequent wars, the city was repeatedly destroyed. The most famous city in the two river basins is the ancient city of Babylon, which was rebuilt by Nebuchadnezzar II (626-538 BC), the second king of the new kingdom of Babylon. The city is large in scale, complete in facilities and numerous in palaces and temples, the most famous of which is the "Hanging Garden".

There are three walls in the city of Babylon, with the thickness of 7 meters, 7.8 meters and 3.2 meters respectively. Four horses can stand side by side on the walls. The main city wall is 74 kilometers long, and the two brick walls inside are slightly square. Fiona Fang 16 km, * * has more than 3,000 towers. There are deep ditches dug outside the city, and there is a set of complex water conservancy construction projects, which are usually used for irrigation and transportation, and can flood the surrounding areas in wartime.

The so-called "hanging garden" is actually a rockery garden built by Nebuchadnezzar II on the earth terrace to please his favorite concubine. The rockery is 120 meters long and 25 meters high on each side. It is piled up by layers of stone pillars and slabs, reaching the sky. From a distance, it looks like a hanging garden, hence its name. Rockery is divided into upper, middle and lower floors. Each floor is supported by a large stone pillar, which is covered with an official residence. In order to prevent water seepage, each floor is paved with wicker mats soaked in asphalt, and two layers of Shi Zhuan are laid on it, and then a layer of lead is cast, and then fertile soil is cultivated on it, exotic flowers and grasses are planted, and irrigation water sources and water pipes are provided.

Culture affects the changeable political pattern, complex ethnic relations and the geographical location of the trade routes in West Asia, which not only makes this region one of the earliest cradles of human civilization, but also makes this region a gathering place and transit point for the cultures in the surrounding areas.

The architectural art of ancient Egypt and ancient India was obviously influenced by the two river basins. Almost all the early buildings in ancient Egypt were made of stone, and bricks appeared in the later period. The size and shape of bricks are almost the same as those in the two river basins, and the buttresses of some buildings are also like Sumerian style. The ancient Indian urban culture, which was later than the two river basins, is similar to the two river basins in many ways.

Persia (now Iran), which is located at the edge of the two river basins, is deeply influenced by the culture of the two river basins in terms of urban architecture, political institutions, religion, writing and education system.

The religious beliefs in the two river basins have a great influence on Judaism and Christianity, and many stories, myths, legends and teachings in the Bible mostly come from the two river basins.

The concepts of literature, astronomy, law, mathematics and commodities in the two river basins have also had a far-reaching impact on the western world.

What needs to be pointed out here is that in the process of formation, development and dissemination, the culture of the two river basins, on the one hand, has absorbed and borrowed some foreign cultures based on its own cultural characteristics, which is beyond doubt. On the other hand, the business contact and cultural contact of businessmen promote each other. Therefore, early businessmen objectively played the role of cultural exchange in business activities.