Mesopotamia: Crash Course World History #3

CrashCourse
9 Feb 201212:05
EducationalLearning
32 Likes 10 Comments

TLDRThe video discusses the history of ancient Mesopotamia, explaining how early cities developed social organization and writing. It covers topics like the conflict between rural and urban life, the shift from priestly to royal authority, the advent of laws and empires, and notable rulers like Hammurabi. The script touches on innovations in agriculture, military force, architecture, and propaganda. It analyzes how Mesopotamian political structures influenced later civilizations and compares features of early city-states. The overall narrative describes Mesopotamia's cultural progression while characterizing shifts in political and religious power.

Takeaways
  • 😊 John Green introduces the topic of Mesopotamia and its importance in developing writing and taxes
  • 💡 Mesopotamian cities had an early form of socialism and public granaries to distribute resources
  • 📜 One legacy of Mesopotamia is the enduring conflict between rural and urban spaces
  • 🌆 Mesopotamian city-states like Uruk had canals, temples, and rigid class divides
  • 🤴 Kings married priestesses to take on religious roles and shifted power from gods to rulers
  • 📝 Mesopotamia gave us cuneiform writing for trade records - this led to less equal societies
  • ⚖️ Hammurabi's famously harsh law code introduced eye-for-an-eye justice and presumption of innocence
  • 🗡️ The Assyrian empire was history's first and spread via brutal, effective armies led by meritocratic generals
  • 💪 Assyrian kings tied religion to conquest - if it stopped, the world would end in rivers of blood
  • 📜 The "Open Letter" asks us to remember that "awesome" once meant terrifying and awe-inspiring
Q & A

  • What two things did Mesopotamia help create that John Green loves?

    -Mesopotamia helped create writing and taxes, two of John Green's favorite things.

  • Why does John Green love taxes?

    -John says he loves taxes because before there were taxes, the only certainty was death.

  • What was the struggle between the country and the city expressed in?

    -The struggle between country and city is expressed in some great works of art like 'The Beverly Hillbillies' and 'Defending Your Life', and in the Epic of Gilgamesh's struggle between Enkidu and Gilgamesh.

  • How did Uruk and other early Mesopotamian cities function?

    -They had a form of socialism where farmers contributed crops to public storehouses. Workers like blacksmiths were paid wages from these storehouses so the city could function.

  • Why did writing likely emerge in Mesopotamia?

    -Mesopotamia needed to trade for resources like metal, stone, and wood. This trade eventually led Mesopotamia to develop the world's first territorial kingdom and require record-keeping like writing.

  • How was Hammurabi's Code very harsh?

    -It dictated severe punishments like executing a builder's child if the builder constructed a shoddy building that collapsed and killed the owner's child.

  • Why were empires historically so hard to unify?

    -By definition, empires are multi-ethnic and diverse from having expanded by conquest. This diversity makes them hard to unify under one identity or system of rule.

  • Why did the Assyrians cut off rebels' noses?

    -There's no clear reason stated, only that disfiguring facial mutilation and severing body parts was part of how the brutal Assyrians violently quelled rebels.

  • How did the Assyrian empire use propaganda?

    -They spread their ideology using monumental architecture and public readings celebrating the king to inspire awe in imperial subjects.

  • Why did the Assyrian empire eventually fall?

    -After expanding too far to control their empire, they lost a key battle which undermined their belief that losing battles would bring apocalypse.

Outlines
00:00
😀 Mesopotamia y el inicio de la civilización

Este párrafo presenta Mesopotamia, el lugar entre los ríos Tigris y Éufrates donde surgieron las primeras ciudades-estado hace 5000 años. Describe características clave como el protosocialismo, los templos llamados zigurats, los dioses malhumorados, y la invención de la escritura cuneiforme para registrar transacciones comerciales.

05:01
😊 El ascenso de los reyes y el código de Hammurabi

Explica cómo alrededor del año 1000 a.C. empezaron a ganar poder los reyes y palacios, que desplazaron a los sacerdotes. Destaca al rey Hammurabi de Babilonia, famoso por su duro código legal donde el castigo se ajustaba al crimen.

10:02
😡 El brutal Imperio Asirio y su propaganda

Describe el surgimiento del Imperio Asirio a partir del año 911 a.C., que conquistó violentamente Mesopotamia y regiones vecinas. Su poderosa propaganda y visión apocalíptica del fin del mundo si perdían una batalla mantuvo el imperio hasta que fueron derrotados en el 612 a.C.

Mindmap
Keywords
💡Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia refers to the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern day Iraq. It was home to some of the earliest human civilizations which developed things like writing and taxation. Mesopotamia is important because it shows an early transition from religious authority to kingly authority over social order.
💡cuneiform
Cuneiform is the early Mesopotamian writing system which was originally used to keep records of trades and transactions. The development of writing is hugely significant as it creates class divides between literate and illiterate, enables history rather than just archeology, and allows things like literature.
💡ziggurat
Ziggurats were large temple towers built by various Mesopotamian city-states. They were monuments where priests would communicate with and make offerings to appease the gods, initially holding power in early Mesopotamian society.
💡Gilgamesh
The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the earliest known works of literature from Mesopotamia. It illustrates the conflict between the wilderness and the city, with the city and civilizational order winning out in the end.
💡Hammurabi
Hammurabi (1792 BC - 1750 BC) was the sixth king of Babylon who is known for issuing a written law code that prescribed harsh punishments based on the principle of "eye for an eye." This shows a further establishment of kingly authority to maintain social order.
💡empire
An empire involves extending rule over people distinct from one's own group via military conquest and control. Mesopotamia illustrates some of the first territorial kingdoms and empires in history, culminating in the Assyrian Empire which ruled through brutality.
💡Ashur
Ashur was the chief god of the Assyrians, divine regulator of the world order. Conquest and expansion of the empire was thus done for religious reasons - to prevent the end of the world according to the will of Ashur.
💡deportation
The Assyrians would forcibly deport hundreds of thousands of conquered people, removing them from their land and history. This broke rebellions by destroying unified community identity.
💡meritocracy
The Assyrian army was very effective because it promoted officers on merit rather than noble birth. This departs from most ancient societies and contributes to Assyria's military success.
💡apocalypse
The Assyrian worldview held that if expansion and conquest ever stopped, the world would end in apocalyptic bloodshed. So military defeat was devastating. This happened in 612 BC marking the end of the Assyrian empire.
Highlights

Mesopotamia helped create two of my favorite things: writing and taxes.

Mesopotamian city-states had a form of socialism where farmers contributed crops to public storages.

Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the earliest known works of literature.

Writing and reading are not things everyone can do, creating class distinctions.

Once writing enters the scene, you have actual history.

Writing was created to keep records of trades like grain and goats.

Kings start becoming as important as priests in Mesopotamia.

Kings often took on a quasi-religious role by marrying the high priestess.

Hammurabi's code established laws but also introduced presumption of innocence.

Empire defined as extension of control over diverse peoples via conquest.

Assyrian army was a meritocracy - generals chosen for skill, not lineage.

Assyrians spread ideology via monumental architecture and public readings.

When your worldview is that defeat brings apocalypse, losing battles is devastating.

Empire idea begins in Mesopotamia but does not end.

Next we'll talk about Egypt and mummies.

Highlighting amazing has diluted its original terrifying yet wonderful meaning.

Transcripts

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