POLITICAL SYSTEM OF MESOPOTAMIA
By Drew, Chloe, Kaden, and Adrianna
GOVERNMENT
In Mesopotamia, each city state had its own ruler. The ruler was often a high priest, a king/queen, or a governer. At the time, there was a very complex government and officials helped to organize city projects and keep the city running just like today. The citizens of the civilization had to know the laws and the punishments even though the laws were not written down. Also, in Mesopotamia the government was democratic.
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MILITARY
Mesopotamia had a standing army. In a standing army, they had soldiers whose only job was to fight. They were trained in siege warfare, battle tactics, and hand-to-hand combat. Tiglath Pileser, a Mesopotamian ruler, established the standing army and some of the first standing armies had weapons, forts, chariots, and armor. Back then, there were also many soldiers. There were actually more than a million fully trained soldiers in those standing armies.
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JOBS
In civilizations of Mesopotamia, there were many jobs available. You could be a priest, an elected official, a farmer, a governor, a soldier, an artisan, a hunter, a scribe, a slave, or a prophet, and all of these jobs helped the civilization run smoothly. If you had a good job, such as a priest, you would be very wealthy and would be treated with respect, but if you had a bad job like a slave, you would be very poor and you would be treated unfairly.
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STRATEGIES AND INVENTIONS
In Mesopotamia, there were many inventions. There were spears, swords, arrows, helmets, armor, transportation, chariots, roads, homes, and tools. Some of these inventions were small like the wheel, but many changed the world and are still in use today. There were also strategies that were invented by the Mesopotamians. Armies had battle strategies and people had survival strategies.
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RULERS
The rulers of Mesopotamia were either a high priest, a king/queen, or a governer. New rulers succeeded former rulers when the old ruler died or retired or when people threw out the old ruler and selected a new one. The rulers were usually very powerful and they had to be smart, persuasive, helpful, and a good leader in order to be successful. It was not easy to have those qualities. Some successful rulers were Sargon The Great, who founded the world's first empire, Hammurabi, who established a written code of laws, and Tiglath Pileser, who established the standing army.
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Quiz
True or false
1.) Each Mesopotamian city state had its own ruler.
2.) Tiglath Pileser established the standing army.
3.) Jobs don't help a civilization run.
4.) Mesopotamia was a simple government.
5.) The ruler of a civilization was often a high priest.
Quiz Answers
1.) True
2.) True
3.) False
4.) False
5.) True
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-EPqobSsD8