Give me some information about Mesopotamia.

(Mesopotamia) Greek means the land between two rivers.

The original meaning is "Hejian area", also known as "two river basins". Broadly speaking, it refers to the middle and lower reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, east to Zagros Mountain, west to Syrian desert, south to Persian Gulf and north to Toros Mountain. The northern part is a mountainous area, which passes through grasslands and plains to reach the swamp and river delta in the south. Mesopotamia is one of the oldest cradles of human culture, and irrigated agriculture is the main foundation of its cultural development. In 4000 BC, the culture was relatively developed, and the Babylonian and Assyrian empires appeared. Since then, it has been ruled by Persia, Macedonia, Rome and the Ottoman Empire. After World War I, its main part became independent Iraq. In a narrow sense, it only refers to the area between the two rivers.

One of the earliest civilizations in the world-Mesopotamia civilization (also known as Two Rivers Civilization) originated in Sumer (middle and lower reaches), the watershed of Tigris River and Euphrates River. Mesopotamia is the seat of Babylon, in today's Iraq.

From 4000 BC to 2250 BC, the civilization of the two rivers reached its peak, which was called "the land of Shinar" in the Old Testament. The fertile soil piled up on both sides of the two rivers is called "fertile crescent belt" in history (the area with the same name as the "Golden Triangle" in South America is called "evil crescent belt"). Because the two rivers will not flood regularly like the Nile, it is necessary to observe the astronomical phenomena to determine the time. Sumerians living in the lower reaches invented the lunar calendar, which divided the year into 12 months and ***354 days, and invented the leap month, which was 1 1 day different from the solar calendar. Divide an hour into 60 minutes and take 7 days as a week. He can also calculate fractions, add, subtract, multiply and divide, solve quadratic equations with one variable, and invent 10 decimal method and 16 decimal method. They divided the circle into 360 degrees until π was close to 3. Even calculate the area of irregular polygons and the volume of some cones.

In 4000 BC, Sumerians first invented hieroglyphics with ideographic symbols and signifier symbols, because most of these characters were carved on bricks, stones or black basalt. On the clay tablet, "the pen is heavy and the imprint is deep", which looks like a wedge, so it is called cuneiform writing.

A famous example is the New Babylon Wall, one of the "Seven Wonders of the World". The city wall is bright blue as the background color, from white; A yellow lion; The patterns of cows and dragons are all over the city wall, arranged orderly from top to bottom, strutting and lifelike. It was called "Hanging Garden" by later generations.

Later, the Nile civilization and the Indus civilization developed under the impetus of the two river civilizations. The Greeks learned mathematics, physics and philosophy from there; Jews learned theology from there and spread it all over the world; Arabs learned architecture from there and used it to educate the whole barbaric Europe in the Middle Ages.

Around 2000 BC, the Amorites established the Kingdom of Babylon, with Babylon as its capital. In 1792 BC, Hammurabi ascended the throne, conquered Sumerians and Akkadians, unified the Mesopotamian plain, and promulgated the code of hammurabi, which was the first relatively complete written code in the world, but it was not the earliest, and the earliest was called the Ullner Code. There are 282 code of hammurabi, carved on a 2.25-meter-high black basalt pillar. ..

In 689 BC, the kingdom of Babylon was destroyed by Assyria. In 605 BC, the new kingdom of Babylon destroyed Assyria. Later, the Temple came to power and was finally wiped out by Persia in the Iranian plateau in 538 BC. The civilization of the ancient two river basins ended as an independent whole.

[Edit this paragraph] Mathematics in Mesopotamia

Archaeologists excavated about 500,000 clay tablets engraved with cuneiform characters in Mesopotamia in the first half of the19th century, which spanned many periods in Babylonian history. Among them, nearly 400 books were identified as pure mathematical books, which contained numerical tables and some mathematical problems. Now the mathematical knowledge about Babylon comes from the analysis of these original documents.

arithmetic

The ancient Babylonians were skilled calculators, and their calculation programs were realized with the help of multiplication tables, reciprocal tables, square tables and cubic tables. The Babylonian method of writing numbers deserves our attention. They introduced a numerical system based on 60 (hexadecimal), which was also used by Greeks and Europeans for mathematical calculation and astronomical calculation in the16th century. Up to now, the angle, time and other records are still in hexadecimal.

algebra

Babylonians have rich knowledge of algebra, and many clay tablets contain problems of linear and quadratic equations. Their process of solving quadratic equations is consistent with today's solution and formula method. In addition, they also discussed some cubic equations and multivariate linear equations.

On a clay tablet (No.322, purington) from BC 1900 to BC 1600, a number table was recorded, and it was found that there were two groups of numbers in it, namely, the hypotenuse length of a right triangle with an integer length and a right side length, from which another right side length was deduced, that is, the integer solution of the indefinite equation was obtained.

geometry

Babylonian geometry is closely related to actual measurement. They know that the corresponding edges of similar triangles are proportional, and they can calculate the area of a simple plane figure and a simple three-dimensional volume. We now divide the circumference into 360 equal parts because of the ancient Babylonians. The main feature of Babylonian geometry lies in its algebraic properties. For example, the problem of horizontal line parallel to one side of right triangle leads to quadratic equation; Cubic equation appeared when discussing the volume of prism.

The mathematical achievements of ancient Babylon reached a very high level in early civilization, but the accumulated knowledge was only the result of observation and experience, and there was no theoretical basis.

[Edit this paragraph] Historical overview

Mesopotamia (Greek: the place between the Tigris River and the Euphrates River (flowing into Babylon) gave birth to the earliest civilization in human history-the ancient Babylonian civilization around BC19th century (China Xia Dynasty); Because there is no natural barrier in this area, Babylon presents a diversified cultural development trend.

The place between the Tigris River and the Euphrates River is called Mesopotamia, which means "between the two rivers". Every spring, the snow on the plateau melts, and these two rivers flood in Mesopotamia. Especially in the downstream area, the terrain is low and concave, almost completely submerged. A Babylonian myth that has been handed down to this day vividly reflects this situation: an ancestor of a Babylonian king dreamed that he met a fairy. God told him that the flood would flood the earth to punish human sins. Because he has always been devout to God, and God wants to save him. The man obeyed God's command, built an ark, moved his family to the boat, and took some animals and some seeds with him. Soon, dark clouds filled the sky, darkness covered the earth, storms hit, floods flooded all life, and only the ark floated on the boundless water. On the seventh day, the wind stopped and the river was calm. At this time, the ark floated to a mountain. The people on board released the animals from the ark, scattered seeds on the mountains, and life on earth began again. Many myths of human nations are influenced by ancient Babylonian legends. The story of the famous Noah's Ark in the West also evolved from this legend: a man named Noah built an ark according to God's command, and the whole family sat on it to escape the flood. After the flood receded, Noah released a pigeon. Soon, the pigeon came back with a freshly twisted olive in its mouth, Ye Fei, to let Noah know that the flood had receded and everything was back to life. Later, westerners regarded pigeons and olive branches as symbols of peace.

Of course, neither the immortal nor the dove of peace can bring real peace and happiness to people. To overcome the flood, people must rely on themselves. Babylonians learned to build dams, canals and rivers in the struggle against floods. After the flood subsided, like the Egyptians, they also enjoyed the benefits of regular flooding of the river. The flood brought a lot of silt, which made the soil on both sides very fertile. Coupled with strong sunshine and abundant water resources, crops are harvested every year. It is said that wheat was first planted in Babylon.

The Assyrians who lived in the north of Babylon were very powerful. In the 8th century BC (China has entered the Spring and Autumn Period), Assyria became a huge military empire. Babylon was conquered by it, and Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, Asia Minor and Egypt were also included in its territory. Except Greece and Italy, it occupied almost the whole Mediterranean coast. The capital of Assyria is Nineveh, where many magnificent palaces have been built.

In 6 12 BC, the Chaldeans living in Babylon joined forces with the Medes in the east to attack Ada. They rushed into Nineveh with bloody spears and shields. The whole city residents were slaughtered, even the children were not spared. The last king of Assyria, Sinsarikhon, and his palace were burned to ashes. Since then, this huge empire and its capital have disappeared from the ground.

There are two barren hills along the Tigris River, which are said to be the ruins of Nineveh. /kloc-in 0/845, Layard, an Englishman, excavated two Assyrian palaces here, and found the famous giant cow statue with wings and many exquisite stone carvings. Later, he continued to dig and dug up 28 palaces and halls in three years. However, this is not Nineveh, but another city in Assyria called Kara. The real Nineveh is sixty or seventy kilometers north of Kara. 1849, Layard discovered the ruins of the grand palace of King Sinukili (more than 700 BC) here. This palace was burned by the Medes. Many clay tablets engraved with pictures and cuneiform characters have traces of fire. The two libraries in the palace are full of clay tablets engraved with cuneiform characters. The largest piece is 3 meters long and more than 2 meters wide, and the smallest piece is less than 1 inch long, with only one or two lines engraved. These clay tablets are Assyrian books more than 2,500 years ago, which are rich in content, including knowledge of history, law, religion and natural science. A few years later, archaeologist Russum discovered the palace hall and another library of King Subanj. There are many myths about Assyria and Babylon engraved on the clay tablets collected in the library. Assyrian palaces were built by thousands of slaves, most of whom were captured by Assyrians in the war. When slaves work, some wear chains and fetters, and some are firmly tied together by chains. There are soldiers with weapons watching. Pictures reflecting these scenes have also been unearthed. A large number of cultural relics excavated by Nineveh enable us to clearly understand the history of the rise and fall of the Assyrian Empire.

The Chaldeans who defeated Assyria established a new country in Babylon. In order to distinguish it from Babylon Wang Guoxiang, which was destroyed by Assyria, people called it the New Babylonian Kingdom. King Nebuchadnezzar of new Babylon built the capital of Babylon into a fortress-like city. Even by today's standards, its scale is amazing. The city is square, each side is 22.2 kilometers long. The wall around the city is about 8.5 meters high and is made of brick and paint. Four horse-drawn chariots can run on the wide wall. There are 100 bronze gates in the city. There is also a deep moat around the city wall. The Euphrates River flows under the city walls and through the city. There is also a big palace in the city of Babylon. There is a "hanging garden" in the palace, which is called one of the seven wonders of the world by later generations.

During the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar (605-562 BC), Babylon was the most powerful country. He led troops to attack Syria, sent troops to Palestine, seized Jerusalem, destroyed the Jewish kingdom, forced Jews to move to Babylon as slaves and became "prisoners of Babylon". In his later years, he also invaded Egypt. In recent decades, the population of Babylon has reached more than 65,438+10,000, with merchants from all over Asia, and the slave economy has developed greatly. However, behind the prosperity, there has been a crisis lurking. The hatred and resistance of conquered foreigners against the slave owners in Babylon continued to occur. The poor and peasants in their own families became slaves because of bankruptcy, which aggravated the class contradiction in China, and the contradiction between slave owners' classes for power and interests became increasingly fierce. After Nebuchadnezzar's death, the domestic political situation immediately became turbulent. In six years, eight kings were abolished and two were killed. In the East, the increasingly powerful Persian Empire conquered Medea, an ally of Babylon, and formed a situation where the army was under siege.

The slave owners in Babylon were busy fighting for power and profit and enjoying themselves. They think their walls are so high and strong that no one can break them. They never imagined that the enemy would use the Euphrates River across the city wall to break into houses. One night, a young prince in Babylon was holding a carnival party. King Ju Lushi of Persia ordered the construction of a dam on the Euphrates River, and put water on one side of the dam. His army sneaked into the city from the riverbed on the other side and captured Babylon without fighting. It is said that some Babylonian businessmen were inside the Persians. This happened in 538 BC (the late Spring and Autumn Period in China).

In 88, the new Babylonian kingdom perished. Babylon's prosperity, Babylon's miracle, Babylon's high walls and bronze doors and its "hanging gardens" have all become piles of barren hills and wasteland. Babylonian ruins were gradually excavated from 1899, enabling people to study its past more accurately. However, the excavation work encountered difficulties, and the influence of groundwater made the city of Babylon in Cuba face the danger of being completely destroyed. How to reduce the water level of rivers has become a research topic for experts in many countries.

However, people are always worried that in this ancient and magical land, with civilization, the war has never stopped. This land which is very suitable for human habitation is said to be the prototype of the Garden of Eden in the Bible. However, perhaps because of its superior geographical location, it has also become a stage for politics and war. When Baghdad has become the most exquisite city in the world, the whole of Europe is still in a wild state. It was once a world-famous metropolis and the hometown of Arabian Nights. Its achievements in science, philosophy and literature are rare in the history of civilization. Throughout the history of the rise and fall of the two river basins for thousands of years, which war is not the destruction of civilization?

Note: ancient Babylon is the name of the birthplace of civilization; The principle of Mesopotamia is the position of Babylon today.

The historical era of the ancient two river basins. It began in the Isinasha period (about 20 17 BC-0/763 BC) and ended in the first dynasty of Babylon (about 1894-BC 1595 BC). BC/KLOC-At the beginning of the 6th century, it was destroyed by the Hittites. Rulers are amorites.

In this era, the economic form of great slavery collapsed, bronze tools were widely used and production developed greatly; On this basis, the city-states formulated codes; The status of temples has declined; The two river basins are generally symbolized, and Sumerians have merged with Giuseppe.

[Edit this paragraph] Rulers of past dynasties

In the second half of 2nd/Kloc-0th century BC, after Elam wiped out the Third Dynasty in Ur, Amorites took advantage of the weakness to establish two countries, Ishin and Larsha, in Sumer. The founders were all heads of the Amorites. Yixin and Lalsha have been facing each other for more than 200 years.

At the beginning of the 9th century BC/KLOC-the Amorites' Amner Num tribe got rid of the control of Ishin in Babylon, and its leader Sumabu established the first dynasty in Babylon. At this time, the main city-states in the two river basins were Assyria, Mali and Elam.

Babylon was still weak at the beginning of its establishment, but because it is located in the commercial hub of the two river basins, the territory is rich in water and fertile land, and its political and economic strength is constantly increasing. During the reign of the 6th King Hammurabi (about 1792 ~ BC 1750), he successively conquered Ising, uruk, Larsha and other countries, and occupied southern Assyria, establishing a centralized slavery empire from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean coast, calling himself "King IV".

However, Hammurabi's rule has not been consolidated. When Sam Suyluna, his successor, was in power, there was an uprising in the south of the two river basins, and there was an internal struggle against debt slavery, which led to the decline of the first Babylonian dynasty. BC 1595, Hittite ruler Mulki Rees I finally destroyed it.

[Edit this paragraph] Political system

The political system of the city-state in the Babylonian era was different from that in the Sumerian Akkadian era and the third Ur dynasty (see UR). After the reunification of Hammurabi, a centralized autocratic system was established. The king monopolizes political, military, diplomatic, judicial and religious powers and directly appoints central and local officials.

The big government has a governor who appoints the officials in big cities as "Shakanaku" and those in small cities as "Labia Num". Some cities (such as Xipal, etc. ) obtained a certain degree of autonomy, and the city commercial supervisor was elected from wealthy families for a term of 1 year, responsible for taxation, canal excavation, wall construction, management of public warehouses and docks, etc.

Hammurabi's domestic policy is basically a continuation of Isis's city-state policy. In the process of unification, the basic policy of Hammurabi's foreign policy is to make far-reaching friends and attack near, and the flexible alliance serves the overall goal of unifying the two river basins.

[Edit this paragraph] Class relations and land system

Ancient Babylonian society was divided into three levels:

1, Avilu, a free man, the upper class is the ruling class, and the lower class is mostly yeomen and soldiers who pay taxes, perform military service and corvee.

2. Muhixinu, a free man attached to the royal land, had other dependent classes similar to Muhixinu in Babylonian times.

3. Waldo (male slave) and Amtu (female slave) are slaves.

The land system in ancient Babylon was very complicated. The land occupied by the royal family during Hammurabi's period can be divided into three categories:

1, "Support (maintain) the palace"; Land granted on terms of service; Land granted on the condition of paying taxes (tribute). Soldiers, officials, Tamuka (commercial agent, usurer) and so on obtained land on the condition of service. Soldiers Ledu and Bayiru got royal land for military service. His land can be inherited by his adult son, but it is still conditional on military service; Whoever refuses or hires someone to perform military service on his behalf shall be sentenced to death.

2. "Neigongren"; Refers to people who own most of the royal land on the condition of paying taxes (paying tribute), are exploited and controlled by the royal family, and their land cannot be bought, sold, mortgaged or passed on to female heirs.

3. In addition to royal land, ancient Babylonian society also had temple land, urban land and private land. Documents such as code of hammurabi and archaeological contract documents prove that private land accounts for a considerable amount, and land tenancy and employment relations have become popular. The land rent is generally 1/2 or 1/3 of the harvest. The land rent for orchards and vegetable gardens is two-thirds of the harvest.

The value of land changes with the supply of irrigation water, and the rent of some gardens supplying irrigation water is as high as 3/4 of the harvest. The usury industry is very active, and both temples and hotels operate usury industry. The active usury industry promoted the development of debt slaves. Debt slaves are called kisato. In the aspect of family and marriage, it also preserves the patriarchal remnants of patriarchy and husband power. Parents can sell their wives or children as slaves, or make them debt slaves. Children must pay for other people's children killed by their parents. The development of debt slavery led to the debtor's resistance. After Hammurabi, the struggle against debt slavery broke out, which led to the king's release order. This is also one of the important reasons for the demise of ancient Babylon.

Privilege of ancient Babylonian priests

The priest is the attendant of the temple, and is responsible for presiding over sacrificial activities, festival ceremonies, chanting prayers, divination and so on. They were one of the most special classes in ancient Mesopotamia.

Most of the gods in Mesopotamia were enshrined in temples. Therefore, there are countless temples in Mesopotamia. According to statistics, archaeologists at Sumerian site alone have unearthed 3,500 temples!

Mesopotamia paid attention to the blessing and enjoyment of the world, built temples to worship the gods and maintained good relations with them, so as to bless the good weather, the country and the people. Therefore, in a country, temples are often the best buildings after palaces. All ethnic groups are willing to spend a lot of money to build temples. The Babel described by Herodotus in his works is the most representative temple.

Since there are countless temples, the number of priests who serve as temple attendants is naturally amazing. They are not only numerous, but also powerful.

In Mesopotamia, the kingship of the country was restricted by three kinds: law, nobility and priest. Among them, the priest is the most powerful. The king is the spokesman of God, his power is given by God, and the representative of God is the priest. In the eyes of ordinary people, a monarch can't be justified if he doesn't get a scepter from a priest. When the priest authorizes the king on behalf of God, there is usually a solemn ceremony. Under this theocracy, priests have great privileges.

In addition, priests are an important economic force of the country. They control and manage the wealth in the temple. Due to the position of religion in national life, temples in Mesopotamia have accumulated countless wealth. The king usually allocates part of the land as temple property and designates an area for paying rent and taxes. If a foreign war is won, the first place to send prisoners of war and trophies is the temple. Coupled with all kinds of offerings offered by the people, the temple is not only full of food, vegetables and fruits, but also a lot of gold and silver treasures. As managers of wealth, priests rented land, operated banks and participated in commercial activities, which increased the property of temples. Therefore, priests get wealth from God and power from wealth, and become the privileged class of society.

Priests mostly come from noble families, and their careers are hereditary, and their titles are passed down from generation to generation. They are also often a minority of people whose cultural knowledge is monopolized by the state. In schools established in temples, priests are both administrators and teachers. Usually education instills religious ideas in students, so they are also a class with monopoly ideas.

Pastors are also divided into different grades. Senior priests are responsible for presiding over major sacrificial activities, while ordinary priests are responsible according to their grades. For example, Karoo and Nanu are responsible for singing hymns, Nisaku is responsible for hosting libation, Namuk is responsible for cleaning, and Banu is responsible for exorcism. In addition, there are priests who specialize in divination and interpretation of omens. They are responsible for praying for good luck to God, reading dreams and astrology.

The book Mesopotamia

Author: Jean botero

Translator: Yu Zhongxian

Subtitle: Tracing the Starting Point of Near East Civilization

introduce ...

Between the Tigris River and the Euphrates River, there is a land of silence, a land of mud and reeds. There is nothing but a strange clay tablet engraved with wedge-shaped abstract symbols. 1802, the dawn of an intellectual adventure lights up here. Those mysterious symbols and cuneiform characters were finally deciphered in less than half a century, thus clearly revealing the most brilliant civilization in the ancient Near East-Mesopotamia civilization. 1843, the research made rapid progress, and a French diplomat discovered an Assyrian palace in Hall Szabad. Nineveh, followed by Nibert, Assyria, Valka and Nipur, were all dug out of the sand one after another. Archaeology has moved towards philology.