How did the cultures of Bronze Age Mesopotamia define the characteristics that modern thinkers tend to associate with civilization?

To get you started on answering this question, we’ll look first at some basic characteristics of civilization and then see how Sumer, the Bronze Age Mesopotamian civilization, lines up with those accepted criteria.

Characteristics of Civilization

Civilizations are typically defined by the appearance of a set of criteria. Exactly what these characteristics are differs depending on who you ask, but a few general characteristics are essential in most definitions of civilization:

• Cities/government


• Division of labor/society


• Stable food source


• Writing


• Cultural achievements

Below, we’ll look at how Sumer meets each of these criteria.

Government and Cities

The Sumerians were a single culture in terms of language, values, and broad religious/cultural beliefs, but in terms of structure they were organized into self-reliant and independent city-states. Each city-state worshipped a specific god and was ruled by a priest-king who was said to be an intermediary between the god and its people.  Cities were built around temples to the city’s god. The king was advised by an elected assembly, and he enacted his control over his territory via a system of priests who collected taxes, oversaw building projects, and distributed crops.

Division of Labor/Society

Sumerian society was divided into four classes: nobles (priests, kings, warriors, wealthy landowners), commoners (merchants and craftsmen), clients (scribes and temple personnel), and slaves. A division of labor is important to a civilization because it helps individuals develop specialization with certain tasks and encourages trade; in Sumer’s case, it allowed for greater organization for tasks like building and maintaining the irrigation network.

Stable Food Source

Sumer was able to secure a stable food source through irrigation, the process of utilizing water sources to artificially water land. Canals, wells, and reservoirs were dug to route water from swampy areas to dry areas. Farmers would flood and drain their fields, then use oxen to plow the fields before planting seeds. The canal network allowed for consistent access to water, which in turn provided a consistent source of food to feed the large urban populations. In addition to oxen, the Sumerians also domesticated sheep and goats.

Writing

The Sumerians developed writing around 3200 BC, which was distinguished from previous pictograms by its ability to represent sounds and concepts rather than just images. For example, certain pictograms that stood for a specific object (for example “ti”, arrow) could now be used to also represent the sounds of the word they stood for (the sound “ti”), making the written language more versatile and drastically reducing the number of symbols needed. Sumerian writing was called cuneiform, derived from the Latin word for “wedge”, as it was cut into clay tablets by a reed into wedge-shaped symbols.

Cultural Achievements

Due to the stability provided by the structure of civilization, Sumerians were able to develop unique styles of art, literature, architecture, and cultural expression. Perhaps the most iconic symbol of Mesopotamian culture is the ziggurat, a type of step pyramid that acted as a religious and administrative center.  Sumerians made decorative objects and jewelry, and they played a variety of musical instruments for recreational and religious purposes.