Chapter 1 — Writing and City Life

Mesopotamia is derived from the Greek words mesos, meaning 'middle,' and potamos, meaning 'river.' It refers to the land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, now part of the Republic of Iraq.

The first Mesopotamian tablets were written around 3200 BCE. By 2600 BCE the letters had become fully cuneiform and the language was Sumerian.

The earliest tablets, written around 3200 BCE, contained picture-like signs and numbers. They were about 5,000 lists of goods — oxen, fish, bread loaves — brought into or distributed from the temples of Uruk. Writing thus began to keep records of transactions in city life.

Cuneiform (from Latin cuneus, 'wedge,' and forma, 'shape') was written by pressing the sharp end of a reed cut obliquely into a wet clay tablet, creating wedge-shaped signs. Each sign represented a syllable, not a single letter, so scribes had to learn hundreds of signs.

Urban transactions occurred at different times and involved many people and a variety of goods. Written records were needed to coordinate trade, storage, and distribution. Writing also gave legal validity to land transfers, narrated the deeds of kings, and later preserved a vast literary and scholarly tradition.

Enmerkar is described in a Sumerian epic poem as one of the earliest rulers of Uruk, associated with organising the first trade of Sumer. The poem narrates how, after his messenger grew weary of carrying repeated verbal messages, Enmerkar 'formed a clay tablet in his hand, and he wrote the words down' — one of the earliest legendary accounts of writing's origin.

Uruk was described in Mesopotamian tradition as 'the city par excellence.' Around 3000 BCE it grew to 250 hectares — twice as large as Mohenjo-daro would later become. By about 2800 BCE it had expanded to 400 hectares, and it was continuously occupied from about 4200 BCE to about 400 CE. The earliest known clay tablets (3200 BCE) and the famous Warka Head sculpture (before 3000 BCE) both come from Uruk.

Temples were residences of gods such as the Moon God of Ur and Inanna, Goddess of Love and War. The god was the theoretical owner of agricultural fields, fisheries, and herds. Over time, temples became centres of production — oil pressing, grain grinding, spinning, and weaving of woollen cloth — and kept written records of distributions and allotments. One temple reportedly took 1,500 men working 10 hours a day five years to build.

Tablets dating to around 1800 BCE include multiplication and division tables, square- and square-root tables, and tables of compound interest. Mesopotamians also gave the world the division of the year into 12 months, the month into four weeks, the day into 24 hours, and the hour into 60 minutes. They regularly recorded solar and lunar eclipses and observed the positions of stars and constellations.

Assurbanipal (668–627 BCE) was the last great Assyrian king. He collected a library at his capital Nineveh, sending scribes south to gather old tablets. The library held about 1,000 texts amounting to around 30,000 tablets, grouped according to subject — covering history, epics, omen literature, astrology, hymns, and poems.

Nomadic communities from the western desert repeatedly filtered into the prosperous agricultural heartland. Groups including the Akkadians, Amorites, Assyrians, and Aramaeans entered as herders, harvest labourers, or hired soldiers and occasionally gained political power. The kings of Mari were Amorites who respected Mesopotamian gods but also raised a temple for Dagan, god of the steppe.

Nabonidus was the last ruler of independent Babylon. He is described as an early archaeologist because he found a stele of a king dated to about 1150 BCE to learn how to dress his daughter as High Priestess for her consecration, and repaired a broken statue inscribed with the name of Sargon, king of Akkad (who ruled around 2370 BCE), out of reverence for ancient kingship.

Yes — the full NCERT PDF is free to read and download on CBSEPrepMaster with no sign-up or account required.