1Mesopotamian Civilization (1)

8/13/2019 1Mesopotamian Civilization (1)

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Dr. Nidhi L Sharda, Associate Professor, NIFT, Bangalore

History of Fashion :

Mesopotamian civilization


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Mesopotamian civilization

Mesopotamia lies between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; the name

Mesopotamia means "between the waters" in Greek.

Here farmers learned to build irrigation systems that turned the dry valleyinto a prosperous center of agriculture supporting many people. This isan early example of how humans can change the natural environment.

......As settlements in southern Mesopotamia grew into busy cities, thisarea called Sumerbecame the world's first civilization.

The Sumerians built walled cities and developed the earliest-knownwriting called cuneiform, in which scribes (record-keepers) carvedsymbols onto wet clay tablets that were later dried.


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Early

civilizations ofMesopotamia,

included

Commonly known as the "cradle of civilization", Bronze AgeMesopotamia included Sumer, Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrianempires.

In the Iron Age, it was ruled by theNeo-Assyrian Empire and Neo-Babylonian Empire, and later conquered by the Achaemenid Empire.

It mostly remained under Persian rule until the 7th century Islamicconquest of the Sassanid Empire. Under the Caliphate, the regioncame to be known as Iraq.


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Mesopotamia housed some of the world's most ancient states withhighly developed social complexity.

The region was famous as one of the four river civilizations wherewriting was first invented, along with the Nile valley in Egypt, theIndus Valley in the Indian subcontinent and Yellow River valley inChina

The origins of philosophy can be traced back to early Mesopotamianwisdom, which embodied certainphilosophies of life, particularly

ethics, in the forms of dialectic dialogs, epic poetry, folklore, hymns,lyrics, prose, and proverbs.

Babylonian reasoning and rationality developed beyond empiricalobservation


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In the Near East, many

varieties of the wild cereal

grasses, wheat and barley,

shown below were exploited asmajor food sources.


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Religion Mesopotamian religion was the first to be recorded. Mesopotamians

believed that the world was a flat disc, surrounded by a huge, holedspace, and above that, heaven. They also believed that water waseverywhere, the top, bottom and sides, and that the universe was bornfrom this enormous sea.

Early religions usually worshiped several gods, a practice calledpolytheism.

Religion was extremely important in Sumer where priests wereoriginally the most powerful person in society. Later, warrior kingswould take control. Priests supervised the worship of seven great gods:earth, sky, sun, moon, salt water, fresh water, and storm.

Sumerians believed their gods lived in statues housed in templesincluding large pyramid-like structures called ziggurats. Priestsclothed the god statutes and fed them daily.


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Culture

Hunting was popular among Assyrian kings.

Boxing and wrestling feature frequently in art, andsome form of polo was probably popular, with men

sitting on the shoulders of other men rather than on

horses


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Culture..

Songs were passed onthrough many generationsuntil someone wrote themdown.

These songs provided ameans of passing onthrough the centurieshighly important

information abouthistorical events that wereeventually passed on tomodern historians.


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Urhad been a leadingcentre of Sumerian

civilisation, and it was in

royal tombs of that period

that Sir Leonard Woolleydiscovered the famous art

treasures with which his

name is associated

Wealth flowed into the

capital by way of the

Persian Gulf


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Great quantities of carved

ivory have been found atNimrud, the site of the

ancient capital Calah

On some of the plastered walls

there were still to be seen the

original mural paintings


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THE ORIGINS OF WRITING: Tokens are small geometric clay

objects (cylinders, cones, spheres, etc.) found all over the Near

East from about 8000 B.C. until the development of writing. Theearliest tokens were simple shapes and were comparatively

unadorned; they stood for basic agricultural commodities such as

grain and sheep. A specific shape of token always represented a

specific quantity of a particular item. For example, "the cone ...

stood for a small measure of grain, the sphere represented a large

measure of grain, the ovoid stood for a jar of oil." Thus, the tokens

presented an abstraction of the things being counted, but also asystem of great specificity and precision.


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With the development of cities came a more complex

economy and more complex social structures. This

cultural evolution is reflected in the tokens, whichbegin to appear in a much greater diversity of shapes

and are given more complicated designs of incisions

and holes.


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THE DEVELOPMENT OFCUNEIFORM: TheSumerian writing systemduring the early periods

was constantly in flux. Theoriginal direction of writingwas from top to bottom,but for reasons unknown,it changed to left-to-right

very early on (perhapsaround 3000 BCE).


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Aryan migrants of the second

millennium who introducedthe horse-drawn chariot as an

instrument of war

Several bas-reliefs show scribes

noting down the claims of

Assyrian warriors as to their

prowess in battle and the number

of their victims


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Mesopotamia Civilization

:: Glazed Coffins fromWarka

Bowl of pre

sumarian

period


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Architecture

In Mesopotamia, each town and city was believed to be protected byits own, unique deity or god. The temple, as the center of worship, wasalso the center of every city.

Around the year 2000 B.C., temple towers began to be built to linkheaven and earth. The towers, called ziggurats, were very large,

pyramid-shaped structures on top of which the temple was built. Theziggurats were built of mud bricks with 3 to 7 terraced levels.


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Ziggurat of Ur Nammu


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The Hanging Gardens of Babylon


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The Peasantry

The Aristocracy

The Governors

The King

Social and political organization:

The King

: he had militarypowers.

The Governors: theygoverned the territories of

the kingdom. They weregenerals and judges at thesame time.

The aristocracy: they

were priests and traders. The peasants: the people

who work the land.


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Mesopotamia across its history became more and more apatriarchal society, in which the men were far morepowerful than the women.

As for schooling, only royal offspring and sons of the richand professionals such as scribes, physicians, templeadministrators, and so on, went to school. Most boys weretaught their father's trade or were apprenticed out to learn a

trade.

Girls had to stay at home with their mothers to learnhousekeeping and to look after the younger children.

Unusual for that time in history, women in Mesopotamiahad rights. They could own property and, if they had goodreason, get a divorce.


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The Babylonian marriage market, from the paintingby Edwin Long, in the Royal Holloway College


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Although the earliest civilizations used animal skins to protectthemselves from the environment, people soon learned how to poundwool and goat hair into felt or weave it into cloth.

Wool was the most common fabric used to make clothing inMesopotamia and was used for practically every type of garment fromcloaks to shoes.

Looms for weaving fabric were in use as early as 3000 B.C.E. Theskill of early weavers is extraordinary.

Some fragments of linen discovered in royal tombs are almost as finelywoven as modern-day linen fabric.

Linen was a more luxurious fabric and was woven for the clothing ofthe wealthy, priests, and to adorn statues of gods. Other finely wovenfabrics also became available for the wealthiest in Mesopotamia.

Soft cotton was introduced in Assyria around 700 B.C.E., and silk

became available later.

Clothing


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Clothing..

The evidence of these civilizations'clothing remains on sculptures, pottery,and in writings left on tablets and royaltombs.

It indicates that a thriving textile or fabric

industry existed in the Textiles were usedfor trade purposes and were also given asgifts to kings and queens.

In early times both sexes wore sheepskinskirts with the skin turned inside and thewool combed into decorative tufts.


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Early Sumerian men typically worewaist strings or small loincloths that

provided barely any coverage.

However, later the wraparound skirt was

introduced, which hung to the knee orlower and was held up by a thick,rounded belt that tied in the back.

All classes of men seem to have wornthese skirts.

For the men and women living inMesopotamia , a fringed shawl was atypical garment.

Fringe adorned the two most basicgarments worn in Mesopotamia: the skirt

and the shawl. The upper part of the torso was bare or

clothed by another sheepskin cloakingthe shoulders.


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The Sumerians made theirclothing by using thenatural resources that were

available to them. Clothing was made from

wool or flax whichSumerians could raise andharvest.

How thick or how coarsethe clothing was meant theseason in which the clotheswould be worn.


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The dress worn in Mesopotamia by the Babylonians (21051240 bce)

and the Assyrians (1200540 bce) evolved into a more sophisticated

version of Sumerian and Akkadian styles. Ample evidence of this more

elaborate draped costume can be seen in the large relief sculptures of the

age.

king of Assyria, with an elaborately

dressed beard, wearing full-lengthtunic decorated with embroidery and

tassels.(Alabaster relief from the palace of Ashurnasirpal II at

Nimrd, Iraq. In the British Museum.)


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The Assyrian king

The Assyrian king

Ashurnasirpal II is shownwearing a long, decoratedtunic was probably made of

brightly coloured wool orlinen and tied at the waist

with a wide belt.

The headdress worn by theAssyrian king is called a polos'.The polos' consists of a conicalcap with a turban wrapped

around had long pieces ofembroidered cloth hanging fromthe back.

quiver containedthe king's arrows,

were probably

made of metal and

hide

Assyrian

wickerwork

shield


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The Assyrian working woman of

about 700 B.C. wears a long tunic

with a long fringed shawl.

Assyrian costume consists of a simple to the

knee tunic with sleeves. The outfit is made

complete with 2 decorative shawls wrapped

into position over the tunic.


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Babylonian king


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Babylonians and the Assyrians Men were barechested and wore skirt-like garments that tied at the

waist.


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Assyrian High Priest, Assyrian King,

Commoner,

Men of high status, such

as kings and military

officers, also wore woolen

cloaks dyed blue, red,

purple, or white.


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Assyrian Soldier with Standing Shield, Soldier with Small

Shield, Archer, Assyrian Court Official, Assyrian Noblemen


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COSTUMES OF MESOPOTAMIA &PERSIA


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Early Sumerian women seemto have worn only a shawl

wrapped around their bodies.These shawls were oftendecorated with simple borderpatterns or allover patterns.

Later Sumerian womentypically wore sewn outfitscovered with tiers of fringe.These included skirts much

like those worn by men andshawls or tops that were alsofringed.

Women


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Women

Later on womenusually wore gowns

that covered themfrom their shouldersto their ankles.

Women wore their

hair long, but theyusually braided it andwrapped it aroundtheir heads.

When entertainingguests, women wouldplace headdresses intheir hair.


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Jewelry While slaves and the poorest people wore simple,

functional clothes, the wealthiest could afford beautifullymade jewelry. Men, women, and children all wore jewelry.

A royal tomb from Sumeria dating from around 2500B.C.E. included an abundance of beaded necklaces, rings,bracelets for the wrist and ankles, stickpins, and other

jewelry. Made of gold and silver, the jewelry was set withdecorative gemstones such as deep blue lapis lazuli, redcarnelian, white alabaster, and sparkling crystals.

Mesopotamian jewelry was large and elaborate. A pair ofgold hoop earrings discovered in a queen's tomb, forexample, are so large that they must have been wornhooked over the ears because they would have been tooheavy to hang from the earlobes.


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The available evidence indicates that the people who lived inMesopotamia, even though had developed needles for sewinggarments, looms for weaving, and the skills to make beautiful gold

jewelry, they worked, entertained, worshiped, and went to war withunadornedbare feet.

Statues of kings and queens in elaborately fringed outfits and carefullystyled hair show these people without shoes.

Although no samples of Assyrian footwear have been discovered,sculptures, statues, and bas-reliefs, or wall carvings, on the ruins of

palace walls show men wearing sandals for some occasions, women inslippers with toe coverings, and warriors wearing boots with laces tied

below the knee.

Not until 550 to 330 B.C.E., when the Persians ruled, was footwearcommon. Regrettably, almost nothing is known about the details ofhow these shoes were made.

Footwear

C iff


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Coiffure

Care of the coiffure was very important formen and women among both the Assyriansand the Babylonians.

The hair was grown long and carefullycurled and ringleted, with false hair addedif needed. Perfumes, oils, and black dyewere used on the hair.

Men grew long, carefully tended curledbeards. A band of metal or fabric encircledthe brow, or a woolen, felt, or leather capshaped like a fez was worn.

The royal headdress resembled a pleatedcrown or a mitre and had dependentlappets at the rear. Jeweled ornamentationto the costume was rich and heavy and ofhigh quality.


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Summary..


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www.tamut.edu mesopotamia.mrdonn.org Roaf, Michael. Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the

Ancient Near East. New York: Facts on File, 1990.The Visual Dictionary of Ancient Civilizations. NewYork: Dorling Kindersley, 1994.

MULTIMEDIA

Cradles of Civilization, CD-ROM Society for VisualEducation, 1996.Time Machine Trivia, CD-ROM Instructional Fair,1997.

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1Mesopotamian Civilization (1)