Babylon was a minor city-state in the center of Mesopotamia for a century Mesopotamia is a region located in southwestern Asia, located between the Tigris Rivers and Euphrates. The word “Mesopotamia” is formed from the words meso, meaning between or in the middle, and potamos, meaning river, which forms the definition, land between two rivers in Greek. The history of Mesopotamia is marked by various inventions that changed the world, such as the concept of time, mathematics, sailing boats, maps and writing. The rulers of the region often changed from different areas and cities over a thousand-year period. Mesopotamia is part of the Fertile Crescent, also known as the Cradle of Civilization, due to the many inventions created in the region. The region is now home to modern-day Iraq, Kuwait, Türkiye, and Syria. Mesopotamia's history, government system, and culture truly shaped the world into what it is today. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay After its founding in 1894 BC Things changed with Hammurabi's reign from 1792 to 1750 BC Hammurabi was an exceptional ruler who established a bureaucracy with taxation. He freed Babylon from foreign rule and then ruled the southernmost part of Mesopotamia, making Babylon stable and embedded in the region. The Babylonian Empire lasted 260 years until it was invaded in 1531 BC. Between 626 and 539 BC, Babylon again dominated with the Neo-Babylonian Empire. This empire was later overthrown in 539 BC by the Persians who ruled the area until the time of Alexander the Great in 335 BC. Mesopotamian government revolved around the Code of Hammurabi. Around 1754, Hammurabi, the sixth king of Babylon, created a collection of 282 laws. It is considered the most significant document of the first dynasty of Babylon and was a revision of the previous laws of Sumer, Akkad and Assyria. It is comparable to the code of the Sumerian king Ur-Nammu of Ur, written from 2100 to 2050 BC. The Code of Hammurabi is one of the oldest deciphered writings of considerable length in the world. The document highlighted punishments based on social status. For example, if a person of higher rank broke a slave's arm, he would have to pay a fine. Some consider the Code to be a constitutional form of government. The laws were organized into groups, so that citizens could easily read the code. One of the best known laws was number 196 “If a man puts out another man's eye, they put out his own eye”. If anyone breaks a man's bone, they will break his bone. If anyone puts out a free man's eye or breaks a free man's bone, he will pay a gold mina. If anyone destroys an eye of a man's slave or breaks a bone of a man's slave, he shall pay half his price. The discovery of the Code of Hammurabi came when archaeologists, including an Egyptologist named Gustav Jequier, discovered the code in 1901 at the ancient site of Susa in Khuzestan, a translation was published in 1902 by Jean-Vincent Scheil. A basalt steel containing the cuneiform code inscribed in the Akkadian language is currently on display in the Louvre, Paris, France. Replicas of the codex are found in various other museums around the world. Religion played a significant role in Mesopotamian culture, they believed that God influenced every aspect of human life. People prayed at home and took part in many religious observances on the streets during the holy holidays. The Mesopotamians were polytheistic and worshiped a multitude of minor Gods and thousands of minor Gods. Each Mesopotamian city had its own patron god or goddess. Each Mesopotamian era or culture interpreted each God differently. For example, Marduk, the godof Babylon, was known as Enki or Ea in Sumer. Some Mesopotamian myths were reflected in the Bible, such as the Garden of Eden, the Flood, the Creation, and the Tower of Babel. As the world's oldest religion, Mesopotamian ideologies have strongly influenced today's monotheistic religions, such as Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. In early Mesopotamia, the priests were the highest authority from God. The priests therefore were both representatives of God and mediators between God and the people. Later, secular power was established in a king, although kings had specific religious duties. Kings ruled by God's favor and were partially granted God-like authority. Kings, priests and priestesses were the most honored in Mesopotamian society. As civilization developed, culture also did the same. Many traditions, holidays and ceremonies, but also many other things. Most rituals and traditions were based on rites of passage, such as marriage and birth. These occasions were celebrated with a banquet that included music, dancing and food. The food provided usually depended on the social status of the family. As for music, although instruments had been found, it was not known what kind of music they played. In Mesopotamian daily life, men went out and worked, typically a skilled job such as a builder or musician. Women would stay at home, attend to children's needs, and complete household chores. The average number of children in a Mesopotamian family was around 3 or 4, this would be the number of children if they survived to a certain age. There was a high infant mortality rate and a high rate of miscarriages. To protect an unborn child, a mother would wear a protective amulet, with the symbol of the demon Pazuzu to ward off deities who would cause harm to the unborn child, as well as perform rituals after the child's birth so that evil will beings would not have stolen their children. The Mesopotamian gods were very similar to humans. They would fight, eat, drink, marry and have children just like people would. Even though they were immortal, they felt pain and paradoxically were killed. The four most important deities were An, Ki, Ninhursag, Enlil and Enki who ruled the sky, earth, air and sea. Elil slowly took away all of An's power and eventually became the most powerful God. These four Gods were the ancestors of the rest of the pantheon. There were three other gods who had great significance in Mesopotamian religion, Nanna, another name for the moon god, another name for the moon god, Sin, the sun god, Utu, the god of judgment, and Inanna, the goddess of love and war. The pantheon of gods of Mesopotamia constitutes the rich mythology of the civilization. Education was the gateway to an elite lifestyle for all empires included in the Fertile Crescent. The first schools were founded by the Sumerians in southern Mesopotamia. Education came about when the invention of writing arrived in the mid-4th millennium BC. The kings then realized that they needed educational scribes. At first the writing consisted of pictographs, but gradually developed into wedge-shaped cuneiform signs etched into the clay. Modern scholars have taken the term from the Latin word Cuneus, meaning wedge-shaped. The marks were shaped like wedges due to the triangular shape of the pens used. With the creation of writing, the Sumerians recorded everything, business documents, inventories, poems, stories, etc. One of the beauties of cuneiform is that it could be adapted to almost any language, the alphabet of the English language is also used in French, German and variousother languages. Likewise, the cuneiform characters invented by the Sumerians to write their language were later adopted by the Babylonians and Assyrians to communicate their language, Akkadian. Mesopotamian education greatly emphasized literacy, in the 3rd millennium cuneiform became more complex. It took 12 years to learn the cuneiform signs and general knowledge of the scribes. Temples also trained boys to become scribes and priests. In the beginning there were scribal schools associated with temples, however, secular schools slowly took over. Scribes opened schools and paid expensive tuition. High school fees ensured that only boys from wealthy families could obtain any level of Mesopotamian education. The children of government officials, nobility, priests, and wealthy merchants went to school every day from dusk to dawn. Because the difficulty of cuneiform was high, the Sumerians were illiterate, yet they could recognize some words. Mesopotamian boys most likely began school at the age of seven or eight. Girls, however, did not learn to read or write unless they were daughters of kings or training to become priestesses. The teachers, who were former scribes or priests, were very strict in their discipline, the students were often punished with flogging. Students were punished when they spoke out of turn, without permission, dressed inappropriately, or left the classroom without permission. Teachers expected students to be obedient. Students were taught various subjects such as reading, writing, history and mathematics. Depending on the work each student would do, they not only had to learn literacy and numeracy, but they had to learn geography, zoology, botany, astronomy, engineering, medicine, and architecture. While the schools were only for the wealthiest students, there was a lot to learn to become a scribe. Learning cuneiform was essential to Mesopotamian education. Teachers wrote sentences for students to write repeatedly until no mistakes were made. A "big brother" or teacher's aide was there to help the younger children with their homework. Constant, repetitive practice, recitation, reading, and copying slowly taught students what they needed to know. Archaeologists found many clay tablets with attempts made by students, many of which had corrections made by the teacher. After graduation, a scribe could become a priest with more extensive training, or he could become a scribe for the army, palace, temple, or company. Mesopotamian cuisine was paramount at the time. They mainly ate produce grown along the Fertile Crescent. They also consumed livestock which provided meat. Around 9000 BC, people began to cultivate useful and edible plants. By cultivating carefully, they had large quantities of food that negated the need to move at a very fast pace, and so they decided to stay in the same place forever. Many civilizations rose and fell throughout Mesopotamian history, such as the Babylonians, Sumerians, Assyrians, and Akkadians, however, their diets were still very similar and they still raised the same type of crops and domesticated animals. The main crop of the area was barley, which grew very easily and in large quantities in the region. Barley was used to make bread and beer, important elements in their diet. There were also various other things that the Mesopotamians grew and ate, such as wheat, chickpeas, beans, onions, garlic, grapes, and eggplants. For the most part, Mesopotamians drank a lot..