MESOPOTAMIAN CIVILIZATION- THE CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION

About -

Known as the cradle of civilization as it was on the ancient fertile crescent

between the Tigris and Euphrates river.
Sumerians settled in Sumer and founded a group of city states are Ur, Uruk,
Kish and Lagesh.
At centre of each city was a ziggurat, a massive tiered, pyramidal shaped
structure.
The society was divided into three classes Priests and Kings, Craftsmen and
merchants and ordinary workers, peasants. Slaves were not free citizen.

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MESOPOTAMIAN CIVILIZATION- THE CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION

About -

Sargon of Akkadian (2350 BC) took control of the region and made worlds
first empire- Akkadian Empire.
In 1800 BC Babylonian king Hammurabi unified Mesopotamia.
In 1300 BC Asssyrians (inhabitants of north Mesopotamia) unified
Mesopotamia again. The Assyrian empire ruled over a huge territory ranging
from Persian gulf to the Mediterranean Sea.
In 625 BC Babylon got independence from Assyria. Neo-Babylonian empire
was formed. Under an alliance with the Persian empire they defeated and
destroyed the Assyrian Empire.
In 539 BC, Persians conquered the Neo-Babylonian Empire and then became a
province of the Persian empire marking the end of historical independence of
Mesopotamia.

MESOPOTAMIAN CIVILIZATION- THE CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION

City of Ur

Three basic parts of Third dynasty Ur; the old walled city, the temenos or religious
precinct, and the outer town. The walled city was an irregular oval shape, about
three quarters of a mile long by half a mile wide.
Stood on the mound formed by the ruins of preceding buildings with Euphrates
flowing along the western side and a wide navigable canal to the north and east.
Two harbours to the north and west provided protected anchorages.
The rampart constructed of unbaked bricks throughout had a thickness of 77 feet.

Pg-7;Early Days;Global
History of Urban Form

Pg-22;Early Days;Global
History of Urban Form

Pg-22;Early Days;Global
History of Urban Form

MESOPOTAMIAN CIVILIZATION- THE CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION

A typical Sumerian city consisted of three parts the walled area which contains
the temple or temples, the palace with the residences of royal officials and the
houses of the citizens, the residences of the royal officials and the houses of the
citizens, next came the suburb in which there are agglomeration of houses, farms,
cattle-folds, fields, gardens and the third was the harbour section which functioned
as the centre of commerce.
It has been assumed that the city or Ur had originated either as one or close group
of agricultural settlements.
Analysis of the form of the city starts with topographical considerations suggests
that the location of the temenos assumed originally to have been in the middle,
could have been resulted from need for the residential city to expand away from
the Euphrates.

MESOPOTAMIAN CIVILIZATION- THE CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION

As the desert climate is harsh, the streets are narrow and are properly orientated to
avoid the hot desert wind by making the streets winding, with closed vistas. In
addition to the climate-response, the process of land allocation and incremental
growth over a pre-urban mixture of irregular shaped gardens, palm groves and
small fields also contributes to control the micro climate in the city.
Access to the individual houses were from culs-de-sac leading from the
throughfares which had facilitated domestic domain security and on later ages
became an essential characteristic of Islamic Urban Morphology.

REFERENCE
Early Days; Global History of Urban Form; A E J Morris
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