Mesopotamia (Greek: μ ε σ ο π οτ α μ? α) is the ancient Greek name of the two river basins, which means "the place between the two rivers". These two rivers refer to the Euphrates River and the Tigris River. The ancient civilization produced and developed on the Mesopotamian plain between the two rivers is called the two rivers civilization or the Mesopotamian civilization. Located in present-day Iraq, it existed from 4000 BC to the 2nd century BC and was the earliest civilization of mankind.
Because these two rivers have floods every year, the downstream soil is fertile and rich in organic matter and minerals. Water and soil provide the necessities for growing food and become the basis for breeding civilization. But at the same time, the climate in this area is dry and short of water, so the local people began to use irrigation technology in 4000 BC, which brought large-scale human cooperation and high agricultural yield to the local area. After thousands of years of evolution, Mesopotamia formed a mature script, and many cities and surrounding agricultural societies appeared around 2900 BC.
Extended data
Civilization development in the two river basins.
The two river basins are the regions with the earliest cultural development in the world. It invented the first script for the world-cuneiform, built the first city in the world, compiled the first law, invented the first pottery wheel for making pottery, formulated the first seven-day cycle, and expounded the myth of creating the world and the great flood for the first time. Up to now, a large number of ancient written records (clay tablets) have been left for the world.
Historians call Sumerian civilization from 4000 BC to 3000 BC "early high civilization". The culture of this period includes Uruk culture and Jedtenar culture. On the one hand, all Sumerian city-states and Sumerian characters existed in this period, but the history of this period is still unclear, and there may be many reasons.
For example, archaeological discoveries are not sufficient, or there is no systematic record in history when civilization is just starting. The cuneiform documents found in this period are mainly economic or administrative documents, which cannot outline the complete history at that time.
The earliest Sumerian period consisted of several independent city-states, which were separated by canals and boundary markers. The center of every city country is the temple of the patron saint or goddess of the city. Each city-state is ruled by a priest or king who presides over the religious ceremonies in the city.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Civilization in Two River Basins