Ancient civilizations are really fun to learn about. Today, Mesopotamia will be the civilization we will learn about. We’re going to take a close look at the Babylonians. Some of the things we’re going to give some information about is the class system, laws, and families.

Ever got mad at the government giving benefits to some people more than others? Imagine how families felt in Mesopotamia and how it affected their living. The government, in that time, was very different from today. It made some people have more rights than others. People were divided into three groups. Awilu or the upper class, musheknu which are people who are free but of little means, and wardu (slaves.) If you look at the world today, we also have a similar class system but on our class system, we don’t have slaves. In Mesopotamia, people decided which class you were by the work you did, so even if you were a rich farmer you would be in the middle class. Now, you can change from class, you just have to work hard. Your class was very important because it told others how much money you had, and the kind of work you did. Now your class has little means because you can be poor and have a great work. All these Mesopotamian class groups were protected by law.

Mesopotamia, for the population in general, wasn’t easy at all. In the beginning of Mesopotamia, women had rights like owning a business and property. But, after the Assyrians, women became totally controlled by their husbands and fathers. If their husbands needed to pay debts and couldn’t, they could sell their wives and children into slavery! If men had a wife, and weren’t very contented, and didn’t have children, they could have a second wife. Now-a-days, women have all their rights, aren’t controlled by anything or anyone and are completely free. To make the story a little bit happier, let’s talk a little about the house. The father was the person that made the decisions and brought wealth to the family. The mother, took care of the house, took care of the children, and helped the husband a bit. The sons, learned about working or with the father or the mother or other known people such as relatives, while daughters learned with their mother, how to take care of the house. The house wasn’t easy to maintain because of poor health, or lack of eating properly, and proper medical care. Health was so hard, that the life expectancy was of about 40, unless you were a slave. Slaves normally had early deaths.

The Graded students are positive about life. Some times are difficult but it usually works in the end. We got some choices every now and then and we usually get to choose what we want to do. We feel like we want to be something great when we grow up but I still like being twelve. Babylonia was the site of the first civilization, Sumer. It took place in northern Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Hammurabi, a Babylonian king, used cuneiform to record the first true laws. It was called Hamurabi’s Code. They built ziggurats, that were temples that symbolized the city’s power and gods’ protection. Overall, the world view was quite positive, because they felt protected, up to date and met their government needs met.

by L.0, F.D., and T.M.