HISTORY CLASS 11 — COURSE A

CHAPTER 1: EARLY SOCIETIES – MESOPOTAMIA

1. INTRODUCTION TO EARLY SOCIETIES

1.1 What Are Early Societies?

• Early societies refer to the first organised human communities formed after the development of agriculture.
• These societies emerged after the Neolithic Revolution (around 10,000 BCE), when humans shifted from nomadic hunting-gathering to settled farming.
• They laid the foundation for civilisation—urbanism, writing, administration, trade, and political systems.
• Among the earliest large civilisations were:
  • Mesopotamia
  • Egypt
  • Indus Valley
  • China
• Mesopotamia is one of the oldest and the most well-documented early civilisation due to the emergence of writing.

1.2 Why Study Early Societies?

• Helps understand the origins of political power, urban planning, economy, social structure, and technology.
• Shows how human beings adapted to environmental challenges.
• Reveals how early ideas of law, religion, trade, and culture shaped later civilisations.
• Provides archaeological evidence for early technological innovations like the wheel, bronze, plough, irrigation, and cuneiform writing.
• Offers insight into early class divisions, labour systems, and state organisation.

2. MESOPOTAMIA AND ITS GEOGRAPHY

2.1 Location

• Mesopotamia means “land between two rivers”:
  • Tigris River
  • Euphrates River
• Located in present-day Iraq, with parts extending to Syria, Turkey, and Iran.
• Historically called the Fertile Crescent because of its rich, crescent-shaped fertile land.

2.2 Major Geographical Zones

Mesopotamia had three major ecological zones:

1. Northern Mesopotamia (Assyria)
   • Hilly terrain; moderate rainfall.
   • Supported dry farming (barley, wheat).
   • Natural resources included stone, wood, and metal ores.
2. Central Mesopotamia (Akkad region)
   • Semi-arid region.
   • Dependent on controlled irrigation.
   • Important trading zone due to river routes.
3. Southern Mesopotamia (Sumer & Babylon)
   • Flat alluvial plain.
   • Very fertile due to river silt deposit.
   • Low rainfall → irrigation canals essential.

2.3 Environmental Challenges

• Irregular flooding of rivers.
• Frequent droughts in some seasons.
• Salinisation of farmlands due to heavy irrigation.
• Lack of natural resources in many parts:
  • No abundant stone, metal, or timber → forced to trade.

2.4 How Geography Shaped Civilization

• Fertile soil → surplus food → increased population → villages → cities.
• Irrigation required cooperation → beginnings of organised political authority.
• River routes → long-distance trade.
• Scarcity of raw materials led to innovation and trade networks.

3. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF URBANISATION

3.1 What is Urbanisation?

• Urbanisation refers to the growth of cities and organised towns where specialised labour, administration, religion, and trade develop.
• Mesopotamia had some of the earliest cities:
  • Uruk
  • Ur
  • Kish
  • Lagash
  • Nippur
  • Babylon

3.2 Features of Urbanisation in Mesopotamia

1. Population concentration
   • Large settlements with thousands of inhabitants.
   • Specialised occupations, residential zones, and public buildings.
2. Planned structures
   • Temples, ziggurats (step pyramids), storehouses, palaces, markets.
3. Administrative systems
   • Tax collection, redistribution of goods, law enforcement.
4. Economic diversification
   • Craftsmen, traders, scribes, priests, soldiers, farmers.
5. Cultural development
   • Writing, calendar, mathematics, religious rituals, literature.
6. Social stratification
   • Kings
   • Priests
   • Officials
   • Merchants & artisans
   • Farmers
   • Slaves

3.3 Why Urbanisation Was Significant

• Enabled large-scale irrigation projects.
• Supported large armies and political control.
• Fostered innovation and scientific advancement.
• Promoted cultural achievements like the Epic of Gilgamesh.
• Created the basis for taxation, governance, and legal systems.

4. GOVERNMENT OF GOODS AND CITIES

4.1 The Concept of Redistributive Economy

• Central institutions (temples & palaces) controlled:
  • Production
  • Storage
  • Distribution
• Farmers paid grain and goods as taxes or tribute.
• In return, workers received rations—barley, oil, wool.

4.2 Role of the Temple (Ziggurat)

• Temples functioned as:
  • Religious centres
  • Economic households
  • Storage facilities
  • Administrative offices
• Priests allocated fields, supervised irrigation, and managed workers.
• Temples owned slaves and land.

4.3 The Palace System

• Emerged around 3000 BCE with kingship.
• Palace authority included:
  • Military command
  • Large-scale construction
  • Taxation
  • Law enforcement
  • Conflict resolution

4.4 Labour Organisation

• Labourers were organised into:
  • Farmers
  • Canal workers
  • Shepherds
  • Craft makers
  • Soldiers
  • Scribes
• Many workers were dependent labourers—not slaves, but not free either.

4.5 Trade and Exchange

• Mesopotamia lacked wood, metal, and high-quality stone.
• Trade routes extended to:
  • Indus Valley
  • Anatolia (Turkey)
  • Iran
  • Gulf region
  • Levant (Syria-Palestine)
• Barter system used extensively.

4.6 Standardisation

• Weights and measures were standardised:
  • Shekel (weight)
  • Mina
  • Talent
• Allowed accurate trade & taxation.

5. THE DEVELOPMENT OF WRITING

5.1 Origin

• Around 3200 BCE, writing emerged in southern Mesopotamia (Uruk).
• Initially used for accounting and record-keeping.
• Writing evolved from pictographs to abstract symbols.

5.2 Stages of Writing Development

1. Pictographic writing
   • Drawings representing objects (e.g., grain, sheep).
2. Logographic writing
   • Symbols represent words.
3. Cuneiform writing
   • Wedge-shaped marks made on clay tablets.
   • Used by Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians.

5.3 Materials Used

• Clay tablets (sun dried or baked).
• Reed stylus for making wedge-shaped impressions.
• Later, writing also appeared on stone, metal, and pottery.

5.4 Subjects of Writing

• Administrative records
• Legal codes
• Trade transactions
• Literature (myths, epics)
• Mathematics & astronomy
• Medical texts
• Hymns & prayers

5.5 Famous Literary Works

• Epic of Gilgamesh
• Code of Hammurabi
• Creation myths
• Flood stories (similar to Biblical tales)

6. THE SYSTEM OF WRITING AND ITS USES

6.1 Economic Uses

• Recording taxes, tributes, rations.
• Managing storage of grain, oil, wool.
• Accounting for temple wealth.
• Keeping track of long-distance trade.

6.2 Political Uses

• Issuing royal decrees.
• Recording laws, treaties, and boundary agreements.
• Maintaining military records.

6.3 Cultural Uses

• Preserving epics, myths, hymns.
• Recording historical events.
• Maintaining genealogies of kings.

6.4 Educational Uses

• Training scribes in schools called “E-dubba” (tablet house).
• Students learned:
  • Thousands of signs
  • Mathematics
  • Grammar
  • Legal formulas
• Scribes formed a literate elite class.

6.5 Social Impact of Writing

• Strengthened administration.
• Created a division between literate elite and non-literate majority.
• Allowed standardisation across cities.

7. URBANISATION IN SOUTHERN MESOPOTAMIA

7.1 Why Southern Mesopotamia?

• Extremely fertile alluvial soil.
• Abundant silt deposits.
• Flat plain ideal for irrigation networks.
• Strategic locations near river mouths.

7.2 Key Southern Cities

• Uruk (first major city)
• Ur
• Eridu
• Lagash
• Larsa
• Nippur

7.3 Features of Southern Urban Growth

• Massive temples and ziggurats.
• Large-scale irrigation canals.
• Emergence of metallurgy (bronze age).
• Development of organised trade systems.
• Growth of full-time craftsmen.

7.4 Agricultural Advances

• Plough improvements.
• Seed drilling techniques.
• Canal digging machines.
• Crop diversification:
  • Barley
  • Dates
  • Lentils
  • Vegetables

7.5 Technological Innovations

• Pottery wheel
• Bronze tools & weapons
• Sailboats
• Counting tokens evolving into writing

8. LIFE IN THE CITIES

8.1 Social Classes

1. King & Royal Family
2. Priests
3. Nobles & Officials
4. Merchants & Craftsmen
5. Farmers (largest group)
6. Slaves & War captives

8.2 Family & Marriage

• Patriarchal society.
• Marriage contracts often written.
• Women could own property, engage in business.
• Divorce was allowed in specific conditions.

8.3 Housing

• Mud-brick houses.
• Courtyard-style homes.
• Rich lived in two-storey homes.
• Poor lived in small, single-room houses.

8.4 Occupations

• Traders
• Weavers
• Blacksmiths
• Potters
• Carpenters
• Scribes
• Priests
• Fishermen
• Shepherds

8.5 Food & Diet

• Barley bread
• Beer
• Dates
• Meat occasionally (sheep, goat)
• Fish
• Vegetables

8.6 Religion & Beliefs

• Polytheistic: many gods.
• Major gods:
  • Anu (sky)
  • Enlil (air)
  • Enki (wisdom)
  • Inanna/Ishtar (love & war)
• Believed gods controlled nature.
• Ziggurats were sacred stairways to heaven.

8.7 Education

• Students learned reading, writing, mathematics.
• Strict discipline in tablet schools.
• Education mainly for the upper class.

8.8 Law and Order

• Earliest law codes:
  • Code of Ur-Nammu
  • Code of Hammurabi (most famous)
• Principles included:
  • Justice
  • Protection of property
  • Penalties for theft, murder, adultery

9. CITIES AND MESOPOTAMIAN CULTURE & WRITING

9.1 Cultural Achievements

• Earliest known literary epics.
• Monumental architecture (ziggurats).
• Advanced mathematics (base-60 system).
• Lunar calendar.
• Medical texts describing diseases and remedies.

9.2 Scientific Knowledge

• Astronomy:
  • star charts
  • predictions of eclipses
• Mathematics:
  • geometry
  • multiplication and division tables
  • early algebra

9.3 Art & Craftsmanship

• Cylinder seals.
• Carved stone reliefs.
• Pottery with geometric patterns.
• Jewellery of gold, silver, lapis lazuli.

9.4 Trade & Cultural Exchange

• Traded with:
  • Indus Valley (Meluhha)
  • Oman (Magan)
  • Bahrain (Dilmun)
  • Anatolia
• Exchange of goods, ideas, technologies.

9.5 City as a Cultural Centre

• Cities were hubs where:
  • Scholars recorded knowledge
  • Priests performed rituals
  • Kings built monuments
  • Merchants met foreign traders
• This cultural richness made Mesopotamia the “cradle of civilisation”.

10. CONCLUSION

• Mesopotamia was the earliest cradle of urban civilization, marked by organised agriculture, large cities, advanced administration, and the world’s first writing system.
• Geography played a vital role—rivers provided fertile soil, while scarcity of resources pushed them towards innovation and trade.
• Urbanisation brought complex social structures, economic systems, monumental architecture, and centralised power.
• Writing transformed administration, culture, and collective memory.
• Mesopotamian achievements in mathematics, astronomy, literature, and law deeply influenced later civilisations.
• The study of Mesopotamia helps us understand the roots of modern society—cities, states, laws, writing, and organised economies.