Hello. I'm John Green, you're seeing Intensive World History, and today we
to talk about Iraq. No, smartass globe. Let's talk about Mesopotamia.
I love Mesopotamia that helped create two of my favorite things: writing and taxes.
Why I love taxes? Because before there were taxes, the only certainty was death.
Mr. Green Mr. Green, did you know that just quote Mark Twain?
I'm not quoting Mark Twain, yo-the-past. I'm quoting Benjamin Franklin,
who was probably quoting unfortunately playwright named Christopher Bullock. Listen.
You can be ready, kid, but I was ready longer. By the way, today Illustration
It shows that the eye for an eye makes the whole world monocular.
So 5000 years on earth & quot; meso & quot ;, or & quot; & quot ;, between the Tigris and Euphrates & quot; Potamoi & quot ;, or rivers,
Many cities began to emerge in a similar way as our old friend came in the Indus River valley.
Those ancient Mesopotamian cities had a form of socialism, where farmers contributed
with their crops to government warehouses where workers such as blacksmiths and builders
or male models or any, were paid & quot; pay & quot; uniform grain. So basically,
Mr. Green, Mr Green! Was there really male models ?! Can you look & quot; & quot ;? blue steel
Oh younger version of myself, how I hate you. [Try to make a dramatic pose, laugh
of his own buffoonery]. Oh, the humiliation you do me pass ... That was my best & quot; blue steel & quot ;.
That's the best I have left.
In any case, if you lived in a city, you could be anything but a pastor, and thanks
this protosocialismo you could be reasonably sure would eat ...
Stan! Is there any way that we can have another balloon here? I feel that this decision is
improperly encompassed. Yes, much better.
You can tell the quality of a historian by the number of their balloons.
But even if you could give your flock, many people did not want.
One legacy of Mesopotamia is the enduring conflict between town and country.
This we see expressed much in some of our great works of art as
& Quot; The Beverly Hillbillies & quot ;, & quot; Dueling Banjos & quot; and the struggle between Enkidu and Gilgamesh
in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh is one of the oldest works of literature known and
I will not arruinártelo, the poem is a link in the video description,
but it suffices to say that in the struggle between the countryside and the city, the city wins.
So, how were these city-states? Let's have a look at one of these,
Gilgamesh's hometown, Uruk, in the thought bubble:
Uruk was a walled city with an extensive system of canals and several monumental temples,
called ziggurats.
The priests of these temples originally had all the power, because they were able to communicate
directly with the gods.
This was a useful talent, because the Mesopotamian gods were grumpy and frankly, were quite wicked.
Such as Gilgamesh, once got angry with us because we were making too much noise while
They are trying to sleep, so they decided to destroy mankind with a flood.
The Tigris and Euphrates were as noble as often rivers, but Mesopotamia was not the Indus Valley,
with flood irrigation cyclic and easy.
Many slave labor was needed to make the Tigris and Euphrates were useful for irrigation,
They were difficult to navigate and overflowed unpredictably and violently.
Violent, unpredictable and difficult to navigate. Oh, Tigris and Euphrates, you remember me
my college sweetheart.
I mean, considering that the region is like a yo-yo between horrible devastating floods and droughts,
it makes sense that the gods are a bit random and capricious, and
that any priest who could direct rituals that would mollify
Individuals useful.
But about 1,000 years after the first temples found in cities such as Uruk, a rival structure
begins to appear, the palace. This tells us that the kings (and they were all guys)
They are becoming as important as the priests in Mesopotamia.
Responsibility for the welfare and success of the social order was going
hands of the gods to the people, a power shift taking place through history
until humanity ... yummy, probably forever really.
But another event that will see you again, these kings, probably began as leaders
military or really wealthy landowners, took a quasi-religious role.
What? Often contracting & quot; & quot ;: sacred marriages specifically, by Chiki-Chiki
the high priestess of the temple town.
So the priests gave way to kings, priests who self-declared soon.
Thanks, thought bubble. So how do we know that these kings were doing with Chiki-Chiki
women priests? Because they made a video and hung on the internet! No, because
no written record. Mesopotamia gave us writing, specifically a form of writing
cuneiform, which was initially created to flatter no lovers or whatever but to
have a record of how many bullets exchanges as wheat traded for many goats.
No kidding, of course, a large part of the cuneiform writing is on wheat and goats.
I do not think you can overestimate the importance of writing but will
show only three points here:
1. Writing and reading are things that everyone can do. So they create a distinction between classes,
indeed one that survives today. The social order among gatherer tribes was relatively egalitarian,
but the Mesopotamians had slaves and metaphorically resonant played this sport
it was like polo except instead of riding, ride to others.
And writing played an important role in enlarging the gap between classes.
2. Once writing appeared on the scene, you have real story instead of just a bunch of assumptions
and archeology.
3. Without writing, would not work, so personally I thank Mesopotamia
for making it possible to work in my reclining chair vague.
So, why this writing appeared in Mesopotamia? Well, the Fertile Crescent, but is fertile,
lacks almost everything else. Tools for metal or stone
sculptures or for firewood, Mesopotamia had to trade. This trade eventually made
Mesopotamia developed the first territorial kingdom of the world, that would be very important
and finally culminate in some extremely inbred Habsburgs.
So the period of city-states in Mesopotamia ended on 2000. BC, probably by drought
and a change in the course of the rivers led pastoralists to come and conquer
environmentally weakened cities. Then nomads settled in their own cities
as do the nomads virtually forever unless (wait ...
... Be the Mongols.)
These new city states Mesopotamian were similar to their predecessors in the sense that
They had temples and writing their own stories autoglorificadoras but were also different
in some important ways.
First, the primary protosocialimo was replaced by something that looked very much like the
private companies, where people could produce as much as I want to give him
part, also known as taxes to the government. We complain a lot about taxes but
yet they are very important to create stable social order.
Things were also politically different because the guys who were tribal chiefs
they became kings in all aspects, and tried to extend his power beyond the cities
and also they tried to pass power to his children.
The most famous of these ancient monarchs is Hammurabi or the memory of my classes
History in high school, & quot; The Hammer (hammer) Abi & quot ;. Hammurabi reigned the new kingdom of Babylon
since 1792. C. to 1750. C.
Hammurabi's fame comes from his famous code of laws which provided everything from
in plan taxes oxen drivers to the fact that the punishment for taking an eye is
you take out an eye.
The law code of Hammurabi was terribly hard. In plan if a builder builds a building
Tinker and the owner's son dies in a landslide, the punishment for it is the
implementing the son of the builder. The child remains in plan, & quot; that's not fair! I'm just a child.
What have I done? You should kill my father & quot ;.
Which means that the law code of Hammurabi gives new meaning to the phrase
& Quot; tough on crime & quot ;, but she introduced the presumption of innocence.
In the legal code, he tried to portray Hammurabi two roles that may sound familiar:
pastor and father.
& Quot; [I am] the shepherd who brings peace. My benevolent shadow spread across the city,
I kept the people of Sumer and Akkad safe in my lap & quot ;.
So again we see the authority to protect the social order leaning men, not gods,
which it is important, but do not worry: you will return back.
Even if the territorial kingdoms as Babylon were more powerful than any city
above, and even though Babylon was probably the most populous city in the world
during the reign of Hammurabi, it was not really so powerful, and following the trend
It was soon conquered by the nomads above Casitas.
What happens is that the territorial kingdoms were supported by taxes of the poorest,
his work and his military service, all of which meant you did not like much your king
so if you saw coming a nomadic invaders can you thought & quot; Hey, nomadic invaders!
Come, you seem better than the last type & quot;
Well, that it used to be until they reached the Assyrians. The Assyrians have a deserved
reputation as brutal thugs Mesopotamia. The Assyrians gave us
an example of probably more important and lasting political organization
history, and also the Star Wars: The Empire.
We define the rule as the extension by conquest and control over people who do not
They belong to the same group as the conquerors. The biggest problem is that empires
by definition they are multiethnic and diversity, which makes them difficult to unify.
So starting at about 911. C., the new Assyrian Empire grew from their home in Asur,
Nineveh to include all of Mesopotamia, the east coast of the Mediterranean and,
even at 680. C., Egypt! They got through the most brutal army terrible
and efficient than the world has ever seen. More adjectives that describe my college sweetheart.
But what did the army is that it was a meritocracy. The generals were not chosen based on who
It was his father, they were chosen based on whether they were making good overall.
Stan, are you mentioned & quot; make general & quot ;? [Responds with two thumbs up] What is!
The army also used iron weapons and chariots and were massive. The New Kingdom
Assyrian could recruit 120,000 men.
Also, they were super villains. In plan they deported hundreds of thousands of people to
separate them from their history and their families and move to where skilled workers
they were most needed. Also he loved the Neo-Assyrian find rebels and future
cut off limbs. Particularly the nose for some reason. And there were the usual
violence, looting and torture, all it has done in the name of Ashur, the great god
the Neo-Assyrian ruler whose divine was king.
Ashur, through the King, kept order in the world, and while the conquest continued, the
world did not end. But if the conquest stopped, the world would end and would Rivers
blood and tears and bleeding gums. You know how are the apocalypse.
The Assyrians spread this propaganda idiosyncrasies as monumental architecture and
reading about how awesome was the king in public festivals, which were designed
to inspire wonder in the subjects of the empire.
Oh, that reminds me it's time the Open Letter.
An open letter to the word & quot; amazing & quot;
But first let's see what's now the secret compartment. Oh, Stan! It is
This yellowcake uranium? You will not find in Mesopotamia ...
Dear & quot; & quot ;, amazing
I love you. In fact, like most English speakers today, probably you
I love you too.
What about you, & quot; & quot ;, amazing is that is so mind-bogglingly amazing amazing as to be mind-boggling
we've been forgetting what really mean, & quot; & quot ;: amazing're not only & quot; cool & quot ;, you are
terrifying and wonderful. You are a formidable match against something radically different when you shake
knees and heart shrinks you. Something we know we could to crush us and bless us again. That
It is amazing, and I apologize for having diluted.
But seriously, you're amazing.
Best wishes, John Green.
So, what happened to the Assyrian? First they extended their empire beyond his ways
making administration impossible.
But perhaps even more important, when your world is based on the idea that
the apocalypse will come if you ever lose a battle, and then you lose a battle, all
your conception of the world explodes. This was what finally happened in the 612. C., the city
Nineveh was finally conquered, and the new Assyrian Empire came to an end.
But the idea of ​​& quot; rule & quot; only just started. Next week we'll talk about the mummies ...
Oh, I have to talk about other things as well? Hell, I just want to talk about mummies. Anyway,
let's talk about [click with the pen in the balloon speaker responds & quot; Sudan & quot;] No! Damn!
Actually let's talk about [click on the globe and responds & quot; Egypt & quot;] Thank you, smart globe.
I see you next week.
Intensive Course is produced and directed by Stan Muller. Our script supervisor is Danica
Johnson. The show is written by Raoul Meyer, my high school history teacher and myself
and our graphic design team is ThoughtBubble.
The phrase was last week & quot; best & quot ;. boyfriend If you want to guess
the phrase this week, can do it in the comments and can also suggest
new phrases of the week.
If you have any questions about this episode, leave them in the comments and our team
quasi-historians semi-professionals will take care of resolving them.
Thanks for watching and, as we say in my hometown, do not forget to be awesome.