hello my name is Kylie and welcome to ancient history the ancient
Mesopotamians part 2 in this video we will examine some key points about their
fascinating culture including their religion art and daily life don't forget
to watch the first part of this series ancient history the ancient
Mesopotamians part 1 okay are you ready to learn about this exciting ancient
culture let's get ready to explore these people from the past
Mesopotamia existed from the beginning of written history in circa 3100 BC to
the fall of Babylon in 539 BC in part one of this series we learned many
important facts about these people including the importance of a large
structure called a ziggurat ziggurats were built of mostly mud and bricks
ziggurats were built in the shapes of a stepped pyramid and had many layers
they're much larger than other buildings in their cities and could be seen for
miles and miles away the ancient Sumerians who lived in this area built
many ziggurats on the very top of each ziggurat stood a
temple or shrine built to honor that city special God it was common for
ancient people to believe in multiple gods this is called polytheism poly
means many and theism means gods the ancient Mesopotamians believed if they
please their gods their crops would be successful they also believed that
floods droughts and other natural disasters were a sign that the gods were
angry over time the ziggurats became much more than temples or shrines to the
gods smaller buildings were built to surround each ziggurat and the entire
area became the center of the city craftspeople
liked carpenters Weaver's and others had small workshops their people gathered to
discuss the government make deals or trades and discuss art merchants traded
products they obtained from traveling to other nearby cities as time went on
trade routes expanded in products such as wheat wood salt dates copper dishes
and tools were traded traders traveled as far away as a Mediterranean Sea
because as iqra' in each city became such an important place for so many
different activities Architects of the time made each one as special as
possible with large mud sculptures carvings and grand entrances
archaeologists think many have been painted a beautiful indigo blue art was
a very important part of Mesopotamian life their artwork rivaled that of
ancient Egyptians they were especially known for their finely carved stone one
of their favorite and readily available stones to carve was alabaster alabaster
vases have been focused and found by archaeologists from different dig sites
in the region where the Mesopotamians lived
they also made both everyday items and art objects from coffer animals were a
favorite subject as they felt the more beautiful and animal sculpture was the
happier the gods would be they hoped then that the gods would reward them
with healthy animals in return as Mesopotamian artists grew more skilled
they began to combine materials like gold lapis lazuli which is a beautiful
blue stone with little gold flakes in it wood and stone one famous example of
this is a statue called the ram in the thicket it is made up of gold copper
shale limestone and lapis lazuli this amazing artifact is now on display in
the British Museum in London England the upper classes are people who had money
or goods to trade love to show off their status using jewelry women were
beautiful hairpins made of gold men wore pins and decorated knives and other
tools made with gold and precious stones as a population and cultures of ancient
Mesopotamia grew medicine and literature became important in popular areas of
study Babylonians who were part of the Mesopotamian civilization were very
interested in studying the human body and being healthy an early text from the
time called diagnostic Handbook was written by a chief scholar during this
time historians believe the ancient Mesopotamians also began the practice of
prescribing pills creams and medicinal drinks they used
forms of physical therapy to help heal injuries and wrote detailed descriptions
of the observations they made while people healed they wrote charts with
symptoms what they thought the symptoms bent and suggested ways to treat the
illnesses this is very much like the medicine practiced by doctors today to
think people took pills from doctors four thousand years ago math and science
were also very important the ancient Mesopotamians invented and used a
mathematical number system called sexagesimal based on the number 60 if
they need a number is larger than 60 they used a combination of the symbols
to create them similar to place value today we actually still use the system
today can you think of where I'll give you a hit it has to do with our arms
well at least some of the time time that's it we break time into parts using
the number 60 there are 60 seconds in a minute 60 minutes in an hour we also
used the number 60 when measuring and using angles in geometry not bad for a
system created several thousand years ago some households and the rich valued
music songs and dances were frequent forms of entertainment in the home the
oude was a string instrument they played daily life for the Mesopotamians was
different depending upon the class to which she belonged poor people had very
hard lives they worked or toiled from sunrise to sunset throughout most of
their history Mesopotamians lived in a patriarchal society this meant men
usually had most of the power and money and status these were passed down
through a family's male relatives and this was very different from the very
early times of their history when it is thought that the men and women ruled
equally the sons of upper-class parents went to school and studied to become
scribes or writers or doctors or government officials girls tended to
home with her mothers to learn how to take care of a household they learned
how to cook take care of younger children do housekeeping and sewing of
clothing even though their society was focused on men having most of the rights
women still had the right to own property and even to get divorced if
their husbands were cool to them this was very unusual for the time period I
hope you enjoyed learning about ancient Mesopotamian culture how many aspects of
their culture can you match up to how we live today remember to practice what
you've learned using our fun online games and quizzes until our next
adventure learning about the past remember to always be clever