Social Roles
In Mesopotamia the lowest social roles (duty) was unskilled workers. Unskilled workers are workers who are not skilled but still 'employed'.The second lowest was farmers and herders. Farmers were the people who would do all the farming. They would grow the crops. The herders are the people that herd the sheep and cows. They walk them around and keep them in packs and make sure they get feed and that the are safe. The people in the middle of the social roles(duties) are the traders, artisans, and shopkeepers. The traders are the people who would do all the trading for Mesopotamia. The artisans are the people who hand crafted all the art and sculptures that the traders traded. The second highest 'job' was priests and nobles. Priests were the people that had the rights to perform rites and rituals in Mesopotamia. The highest/Ruler was the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh is the one who was the ruler. He made the laws and he ruled Mesopotamia.
Mesopotamia influenced the world today by starting taxes, and making people serve in the army. By starting taxes; create an idea that all people can make as much money as they want but the have to give a chunk of that to the Government for their services. The tax system is still used today but some people may not like the way it is being run.The Mesopotamia's invented a form of writing. With the invention of writing came the first recorded laws called Hammurabi's Code as well as the first major piece of literature called the Epic Tale of Gilgamesh.. Writing is something we still use, for instance writing content for a project (like this), writing an essay and texting. Another thing we use in today's century that Mesopotamian's invented is math. They divided time up by 60s including a 60 second minute and a 60 minute hour, which we still use today. They also divided up the circle into 360 degrees. They had a wide knowledge of math including addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, quadratic and cubic equations, and fractions. This was important in keeping track of records as well as in some of their large building projects.
THE PURPOSE OF RULES & LAWS
The first code of laws that we have any records of are those of a Sumerian king. Something the Sumerian King said was" I did not deliver the orphan to the rich. I did not deliver the widow to the mighty. I did not deliver the man with but one shekel to the man with one mina. I did not deliver the man with but one sheep to the man with one ox." In other words, the purpose of the laws was to protect the weak from the powerful. Mesopotamian laws have effected laws today. Just like Mesopotamia here if a husband and wife divorce and them wife gets to keep the kids the husband has to give her money to raise the family. But, in Mesopotamia the man has to give the woman 30 shekels no matter what. That has influenced us but the law has been tinkered with.z Here are some of the laws in his code:
1. If a man commits a homicide, they shall kill that man.
2. If a man acts lawlessly, they shall kill him.
3, If a man detains another, that man shall be imprisoned and he shall weigh and deliver 15 shekels of silver.
8. If a man acts in violation of the rights of another, and deflowers the virgin slave woman of a man, he shall weigh and deliver 5 shekels of silver.
9. If a man divorces his first-ranking wife, he shall weight and deliver 60 shekels of silver.
10. If he divorces a widow, he shall weigh and deliver 30 shekels of silver. There is also a group of laws that impose fines for the following
crimes of violence:
cutting off the foot: 60 shekels
shatters a bone: 60 shekels
cuts off the nose: 40 shekels
knocks out a tooth: 2 shekels
Image fro: taxfreegold.co.uk
![Picture](/uploads/6/3/7/8/63789317/4916707.jpg?250)
This is an example of a shekel.
HUMAN NEEDS
Grain, oils and textiles were taken from Babylonia to foreign cities and exchanged for timber, wine, precious metals and stones. They needed food, water, grain, and rice. They also need to trade because Mesopotamia was a region which did not have many natural resources. Therefore, the people who lived there needed to trade with neighbouring countries in order to get the resources they needed to live.
What They Traded and How They Traded
The people of Mesopotamia lived in a place where there was not many natural resources so to get the resource they needed their only option was to trade. In Mesopotamia they traded Grain, oil, and, textiles. Which were taken to foreign cities in exchange for timber, wine, precious metals, and stones.
Trading by Land
Traders used many different ways to trade by land, when you needed to bring a small amount of trade items to somewhere nearby you would walk by foot, and strap goods to your back. When you needed to travel to a different place such as Assyria, Babylonia or Sumeria then you would need to travel by cart or donkey. The carts were made out of wood and had wheels (that were durable) attached on the bottom, and donkeys just carried the goods as you walked along with it or sit on top of it. When they traded by land they traded items like wine, grain and valuable stones, they didn't bring a lot when trading by land.
Trading By Water
Trading by water was very common in Mesopotamia since it was surrounded by two rivers. They had more material for traveling by water because they would travel more by water then by land. Some of the transportation's Mesopotamians used would be a a guffa, a guffa is a round boat that can only go down stream and not up. They also made rafts out of wood and animal skins, they were used to only travel downstream instead of up. Mesopotamians also used a river boat and gulf boats, gulf boats are stronger then river boats and were meant to ship from Mesopotamia to the gulf.
Trade Routes
Trading is a very dangerous job, no matter what type of transportation you use, your still at risk. When you were to travel by donkey or by cart you would need to worry about the supply of food that you have for the journey. When you travel by boat you would not only need to worry about the supply of food, but pirates attack your boat and steal your trading goods.
Trading by Land
Traders used many different ways to trade by land, when you needed to bring a small amount of trade items to somewhere nearby you would walk by foot, and strap goods to your back. When you needed to travel to a different place such as Assyria, Babylonia or Sumeria then you would need to travel by cart or donkey. The carts were made out of wood and had wheels (that were durable) attached on the bottom, and donkeys just carried the goods as you walked along with it or sit on top of it. When they traded by land they traded items like wine, grain and valuable stones, they didn't bring a lot when trading by land.
Trading By Water
Trading by water was very common in Mesopotamia since it was surrounded by two rivers. They had more material for traveling by water because they would travel more by water then by land. Some of the transportation's Mesopotamians used would be a a guffa, a guffa is a round boat that can only go down stream and not up. They also made rafts out of wood and animal skins, they were used to only travel downstream instead of up. Mesopotamians also used a river boat and gulf boats, gulf boats are stronger then river boats and were meant to ship from Mesopotamia to the gulf.
Trade Routes
Trading is a very dangerous job, no matter what type of transportation you use, your still at risk. When you were to travel by donkey or by cart you would need to worry about the supply of food that you have for the journey. When you travel by boat you would not only need to worry about the supply of food, but pirates attack your boat and steal your trading goods.
Inventions that could help them
Mesopotamia was the civilization to come up with the wheel, which probably satisfied their need because it would help to put the wheels on the cart to make it move easily. The wheel could come in handy to trade because when the other civilization need to go trading using the cart the wheel could help them so they would want to trade other goods to get the wheel. And, those goods can help Mesopotamia. It helped to develop their culture because trading is apart of it and the wheel helps in Trading by water.
![Picture](/uploads/6/3/7/8/63789317/8590179.png?250)
Here is a picture of the "Fertile Cresent" Which shows the cradle of civilization