Urbanisation in Mesopotamia

Urbanisation is the process by which small villages grow into larger ones, then to towns, then to cities and eventually large urban city centres. Urbanisation began in ancient Mesopotamia in the Uruk Period (4300-3100 BCE) for reasons scholars have not yet agreed on, though there are many assumptions. Of course, at a very basic level, urbanisation does imply the concentration of a large population, but an urban centre is not just an over-grown village. Urbanisation in it's true form means the concentration in a particular settlement, of a fairly large population, pursuing diverse economic activities and having a high degree of interdependence. one of the main features of urbanisation is extensive specialisation and division of labour provided with lack of self sufficiency. Cities have a complex and social economic system. There are structures of authority for managing disputes. Moreover, cities have specific buildings for a specific function for maintaining order.

According to Gordon Childe, there were several reasons for urbanisation at this time.

1. Centralised accumulation of capital resulting from the imposition of tribute or taxation.
2. The invention of writing
3. Advancement towards sciences
4. Emergence of class stratified society
5. Long distance trade
6. The freeing of a part of the population from subsistence tasks for full time craft specialisation.

were some of the reasons which resulted in urbanisation. Thus, "Urban Revolution" was the name given to it by Gordon Childe.

Production of metal possess the presence of some specialists. Society should be able to support these specialists by food and shelter so that they can do their work rather than depending on subsistence only. The use of metal can only become widespread when a group of specialists permanently withdraw from agriculture or food production. No doubt that all this happened in Mesopotamia.  

Another problem with southern Mesopotamia is that they do not possess any deposits of copper. The metal had to be imported from Iran and Anatolia. This trade had to be carried out by exchanging the surplus produce of Sumeria for raw materials that the region lacked. So it was very important to have a regular mechanism to regulate the production and redistribution of the surplus. This indeed increased the demand for the surplus which was obviously not met by the farmers initially. This increased the need for a compulsion to be imposed on the farmers to produce surplus on a permanent basis.

Therefore, Systematic extraction of the surplus created conditions for its redistribution in an inequitable manner. Some groups in the society were able to take control over a disproportionately large share of the surplus ( Chieftains, priests, warriors ). On the other hand there were groups which were denied their legitimate share of the surplus ( Peasants, artisans, slaves ). This marked the division of the society into classes: a class of people who actually produced and a class of people which took over the bulk of surplus and possessed political and economic power.

State formation

In ancient Mesopotamia, the state was primarily an instrument to perpetuate the domination of class which appropriated a disproportionately large share of the surplus. The state performed other functions as well, such as keeping conflicts in check, providing protection, promoting trade and organising irrigation. The pattern of state formation in Sumeria which we found, where the temples occupied a prominent place, should not be regarded as a universal pattern of state formation.

State formation was not an isolated event but was closely related to metallurgy, surplus production, specialisation and class differentiation all of these which when added together with writing gives birth to urbanisation. Urbanisation; surplus production; complex social systems; division of labour; existence of a state; organised religion; use of metal; development of writing are some of the traits of civilisation.

By this time the exogamous clan had become the principal social unit of neolithic societies. the clans had forged links with other clans establishing exchange relationships. Marriage partners and goods were exchanged which resulted in cooperation amongst people. Clans in a given area normally exchanged partners within a well-defined group. This group was often in the form of a tribe. Tribes shared common languages and common beliefs. It most be noted here that tribes were endogamous while clans were exogamous. The totem was the symbol-some natural object like an animal or plant- by which the tribe identified themselves. Totem was regarded as progenitor of the entire tribe. This culture helped to unify the various subunits which constitute the tribe both internally and externally.

It most be noted that agricultural surplus provided the conditions for sedentism for a tribe, when the tribes had settled at a place for a long time, they started associating them with the territory. During most of the neolithic cultures, the territory of the clan or tribe was the common property of the entire group. Land was owned collectively. Everything was managed and controlled by all the people together. Defending the territory was the responsibility of the group as a whole, when neighbourhood territories were raided the bounty was distributed equally amongst everyone.

With regular surplus production and it's inequitable redistribution, it was no longer possible to maintain egalitarian relationships within the community. The clan/tribe got differentiated into classes. Hierarchies appeared, thereby ownership of property came into existence. The period of transition from neolithic to bronze age was therefore also a period of transition from clan or tribe organisation to a society with class stratification.

Emergence of polity

As we have read above in the Uruk culture, the temples controlled production of surplus in the village. Parts of surplus were now being used for various purposes, be it offerings in the name of god, or be it food for the warrior class. Temples were now the granaries to store surplus. The Eridu Temple grew up into a large structure in al-Ubaid period. The temple at Uruk was a massive structure. It was rebuilt at the same spot several times. At the end of Uruk phase, the temple was 245 feet by 100 feet and rose to the height of 35 feet. Nother temple at Uqair was built thrice. These huge temples, built in the shape of step pyramids with long flight of steps leading to the top are referred to as ziggurats.

Example of how temples looked like, Zigurat
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The main ziggurat at Uruk was the E-anna complex. this was devoted to the goddess Ianna. This place also contained warehouses, workshops, and living quarters for artisans. The manner in which the religious, social and economic life of the community revolved around the temple has led Gordon Childe to describe these communities as 'Temple households' .

Then came the Jamdet nasr culture, which is described above in the ''Six neolithic cultures of Mesopotamia'' in the same blog, kindly reffer to it.

In the periodisation of Mesopotamian bronze age civilisation, c. 3000 to 2350 BC is labelled as the Early Dynastic period. Chiefs or king and provided leadership in war and successful campaigns enhanced their prestige. The emergence of class soldiers speeded up the process of state formation. The tribe as a whole did not participated on the war. Specialist warriors were the mainstay of the army. This guaranteed that the majority of the people would not possess military training. Shortly after 2600 BC the city-state of Ur, under it's first dynasty became very powerful, the paramount of power. Around 2350 BC a significant historical event occurred. A king from relatively more backward region of Akkad brought almost the whole of southern Mesopotamia under his rule. He was Sargon. His conquests unified southern Mesopotamia politically for the first time. He established his kingdom's capital in Agade. Under him, the king's position got a semi-divine status. This lead to the shifting of political power from temples to the palace. The Dynasty founded by Sargon nearly ruled about two centuries, but his successors could not hold on to all the territories Sargon had conquered. Then came the third dynasty of Ur, (2150-2000 BC). This was a glorious period for Ur, as the excavations suggest from the burial sites, huge amount of gold, silver and bronze has been found.

Following the collapse of the third dynasty, there came the Babylonian dynasty founded by Summu-abum in 1894 BC. The sixth ruler of this dynasty was the famous Hammurabi who ruled for forty-three years from 1792 to 1749 BC. Under Hammurabi, Babylon became a reat city, so much so that henceforth southern Mesopotamia was referred to as Babylonia.

Hammurabi
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