The Cradle of Civilization, Middle East

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    The Cradle of Civilization is the term given to the land in the Middle East, ancient Mesopotamia, meaning “the land between the rivers.” Located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the land became known as the Fertile Crescent because the land was moist and rich due to the proximity of the two rivers and the Mediterranean Sea. Because the land was rich, it was the first place that people settled down and created a community, this was the first place where complex urban centers grew and flourished. The importance of the location not only provided suitable land for agriculture, the location was also key for hunting, fishing, irrigation, and protection. The nomadic lifestyle soon became irrelevant because the people didn’t need to continue traveling; everything they needed was there, so they began establishing permanent villages and cities. It is said that Mesopotamia was the place of the legendary Garden of Eden. On the spot where the Tigris meets the Euphrates Rivers, the holy tree of Adam emerged symbolizing the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden. Mesopotamia does not refer to any particular civilization. Over the course of thousands of years, many civilizations developed, collapsed, and were replaced in this region including the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians.

     Around 10,200 BC, the first fully developed Neolithic cultures appeared. From the Fertile Crescent, people spread eastwards and westwards. One of the first settlements, thought to be settled around 8500 BC, was Jericho in the Levant region.  It was during the Ubaid period (6500 BC to 3800 BC) that the movement towards urbanization began. Agriculture and animal breeding were widely practiced in communities in Northern Mesopotamia, and irrigated hydraulic agriculture began to be practiced in the south. Eridu and Ur date to around 5300 BC and are the oldest Sumerian settlements around this period. In the south, the Ubaid period had a very long duration from around 6500 to 3800 BCE, when it was replaced by the Uruk Period, named after the Sumerian city of Uruk. This period saw the early stages of urban life in Mesopotamia.  During this period pottery painting declined as copper started to become popular, Uruk trade networks started to expand to other parts of Mesopotamia and strong signs of governmental organization and social classes began.  The earliest ziggurats date to the end of this time period.   

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Built in the flat terrains, the ziggurats were temples built to perhaps mimic a mountain. They were created mostly of brick as it was freely available and a local material. Most remarkable is the ziggurat located in Ur (c 2125BC). This is the best preserved of the staged towers that arose in most Sumerian cities. Ur was a walled city with two enclosed harbors for shipping from the Euphrates, their public buildings, temples and palaces had additional, inner fortification. 

Cities often had large gateways which were used to enter and exit the fortification walls. The most famous of these was the Ishtar Gate from Babylon. It was decorated with carvings of animals and patterns. Today, some of it is reconstructed and is in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

Image: archeoloogy-travel.com

The most notable architectural remains from early Mesopotamia are the temple complexes at uruk from the 4th millennium BC, temples and palaces from theEarly Dynistic period sites in the River valley

Sources: 
1-  Watkin, David. A History of Western Architecture: Sixth ed. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1986. Print.
2- KhanAcademy.com
3- Encyclopædia Britannica, September, 2014