Babylon was a minor city-state in central Mesopotamia for a century. Mesopotamia is a region located in southwest Asia, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The word "Mesopotamia" is formed from the words meso, meaning between or in the middle, and potamos, meaning river, forming 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 ships, maps and writing. The rulers of the region often changed from different regions and cities over a period of a thousand years. 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, Turkey and Syria. The history, government system and culture of Mesopotamia have truly shaped the world as it is today. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay After its establishment in 1894 BCE. Things changed with the reign of Hammurabi from 1792 to 1750 BCE. Hammurabi was an exceptional ruler who established a fiscal bureaucracy. He liberated Babylon from foreign rule and then ruled the southernmost part of Mesopotamia, thereby stabilizing Babylonia and integrating it into the region. The Babylonian Empire lasted 260 years until its invasion in 1531 BCE. Between 626 and 539 BCE, Babylon dominated again with the Neo-Babylonian Empire. This empire was later overthrown in 539 BCE by the Persians who ruled the region until the time of Alexander the Great in 335 BCE. Mesopotamian government revolved around the Code of Hammurabi. Around 1754, a set of 282 laws were created by Hammurabi, the sixth king of Babylon. It is considered the most important document of the First Dynasty of Babylon and is a revision of the earlier laws of Sumer, Akkad and Assyria. It is comparable to the code of the Sumerian king Ur-Nammu of Ur, written between 2100 and 2050 BCE. The Code of Hammurabi is one of the oldest and significantly long deciphered writings in the world. The document highlighted sanctions based on social status. For example, if a person of higher rank broke a slave's arm, he had to pay a fine. Some view the Code as a form of constitutional government. The laws were arranged in groups so that citizens could easily read the code. One of the most famous laws was Law Number 196: "If a man destroys another man's eye, he shall destroy his eye also." If anyone breaks a man's bone, they will break his bone. If someone destroys a free man's eye or breaks his bones, he will have to pay a gold mine. If anyone destroys a slave's eye or breaks a bone, he will pay half of his price. The discovery of the Code of Hammurabi occurred 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 code in cuneiform script inscribed in the Akkadian language is currently on display at the Louvre, Paris, France. Replicas of the code can be found in various other museums around the world. Religion played an important role in Mesopotamian culture, they believed that God affected every aspect of human life. People prayed at home and participated in many religious observances in the streets during sacred festivals. THEMesopotamians were polytheists and worshiped a multitude of minor gods and thousands of minor gods. Each Mesopotamian city had its own protective god or goddess. Each Mesopotamian era or culture interpreted each God differently. For example, Marduk, the God of Babylon, was known as Enki or Ea in Sumer. Some Mesopotamian myths are reflected in the Bible, such as the Garden of Eden, the Flood, Creation and the Tower of Babel. Since it is the world's oldest religion, Mesopotamian ideologies have heavily influenced today's monotheistic religions, such as Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. In early Mesopotamia, priests were the highest authority from God. Priests were then 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 partly given God-like authority. Kings, priests and priestesses were the most honored in Mesopotamian society. As civilization developed, culture also developed. Many traditions, holidays and ceremonies, as well as many other things. The majority of rituals and traditions were based on rites of passage, such as marriage and birth. These occasions were celebrated with a banquet including music, dancing and food. The food provided generally depended on the social status of the family. For music, even if instruments had been found, we did not know what kind of music they played. In the daily lives of the Mesopotamians, men went out and worked, usually in a specialized trade such as a builder or musician. Women stayed at home, tended to the children's needs and did household chores. The average number of children in a Mesopotamian household was around 3 or 4, which would be the number of children if they survived to a certain age. There was a high infant mortality rate as well as a high rate of miscarriages. In order 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 wish to harm the unborn child, as well as perform rituals after the child's birth so that evil beings would not steal their child. The Mesopotamian gods looked a lot like humans. They fought, ate, drank, married and had children, just like people would. Even though they were immortal, they experienced 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 important God powerful. These four gods were the ancestors of the rest of the pantheon. There were three other gods who were of great importance in Mesopotamian religion: Nanna, another name for the Moon God, another name for the Moon God, Sin, the Sun God, Utu, the God of the Moon. 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 was brought to mind with the invention of writing in the middle of the fourth millennium BCE. The kings then realized that they needed educational scribes. At first, writing initially consisted of pictograms, but becamegradually developed into wedge-shaped cuneiform marks inscribed in the clay. Modern scholars have derived 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, such as 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 various other languages. Likewise, the cuneiform characters invented by the Sumerians to write their language were later adopted by the Babylonians and Assyrians to communicate their own language, Akkadian. Mesopotamian education placed great emphasis on literacy; in the 3rd millennium, cuneiform became more complex. It took 12 years to learn cuneiform signs and general scribe knowledge. Temples also educated boys to become scribes and priests. At first, scribal schools were associated with temples, however, and secular schools slowly took over. Scribes opened schools and had expensive tuition. High tuition fees ensured that only boys from wealthy families could access any level of Mesopotamian education. The sons of noble officials, priests, and wealthy merchants attended school every day from dusk until dawn. Because the difficulty of cuneiform was high, the Sumerians were illiterate, but they could still recognize some words. In Mesopotamia, boys probably started school at the age of seven or eight. Girls, on the other hand, were not taught 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 terms of discipline and the students were often punished by whipping. Students were punished when they spoke out of turn, spoke without permission, dressed inappropriately, or left class without permission. Teachers expected students to be obedient. Students learned various subjects such as reading, writing, history and mathematics. Depending on the job each student would pursue, they were required not only to learn literacy and numeracy, but also to learn geography, zoology, botany, astronomy, engineering, medicine, and architecture. While schools were reserved for wealthier students, there was much to learn to become a scribe. Learning cuneiform was essential to Mesopotamian education. Teachers wrote sentences for students to write repeatedly until no errors were made. A “big brother” or teaching assistant was there to help the little ones with their homework. Constant repetitive practice, recitation, reading texts, and copying slowly taught students what they needed to know. Archaeologists have found many clay tablets with attempts made by students, many of them corrected by the teacher. After graduating, a scribe could become a priest with further training, or become a scribe for the military, a palace, a temple, or a business. Mesopotamian cuisine was staple at the time. They mainly ate produce grown along the Fertile Crescent. They also consumed livestock which provided meat. Around 9,000 BCE, people began to cultivate useful plants and..