History Summarized: Mesopotamia - The Bronze Age
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- čas přidán 20. 06. 2024
- Let's spin the clock way back to the beginning of urbanized civilization, and learn about the long history of Mesopotamia from the dawn of the city to the collapse of the last Sumerian empire.
This video is part of The Bronze Age collaboration.
Find 10 other great videos with this playlist: goo.gl/4JLV8s
Previous video - Cynical Historian: • The Bronze Age Changes...
Next video - Epimetheus: • How did Chinese Civili...
Further reading: "Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization" By Paul Kriwaczek: goo.gl/nyQAdS
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Beard fashion peaked in ancient Mesopotamia. Everything after was a mistake.
I don't know, Stonewall Jackson had a pretty damn impressive beard.
@@Cloudstrife112233 He was clearly a time travelling Babylonian
Damn
@@CogitoEdu dude! You just blew my mind...... I'm now thinking about how to turn that into a movie, lol.
yes but soviet mustaches
Did the ancient Mesopotamians do 11 part clay tablet collabs about even more ancient Mesopotamia? We can only wonder.
If viewed through a rolled scroll....
Basically what the epic of Gilgamesh is.
Didn't we have tens of thousands of years of History before this we just have no record of it? I wonder how rich of a society before the genetic bottleneck occurred...
Yes, there would have been thousands of years of unrecorded history. Though it would have been less eventful than during the time of the first literate the high cultures.
@@obiwahndagobah9543 I don't want to be *that guy*, but unrecorded history is no history. And there is no way to tell wether it was uneventful or not. To be honest, there are a lot of interesting archaeological sites in the Near East alone predating Mesopotamian history, Göbleki Tepe and Chatal Höyuk being the two best examples.
Mesopotamians did write, in later periods than described in the video, large series of multiple tablets on history, called chronicles. There are quite a lot of those, with an impressive time-span: if you count the Sumerian King List, it goes back, reliably, to Sargon, at the very least. Most of them were about first and second millennium kings though. You also had the Astronomical Diaries, a series of celestial observations paired with stuff like market prices and interesting happenings. Those last from about 700-100BC. When Alexander of Macedon entered Babylon they actually recorded it.
(Sorry, I'm really passionate about this stuff.)
*slaps soil in mesopotamia*
This bad boy can fit so much empires in it!
many*
@@user-jq5gu5xb1n
*meme
HAHAHAHAHAHA
Iraq : ah yes the glory days
I want a whole mess of potamia
Booooooooooo -B
@@OverlySarcasticProductions at the very least you can't deny that floods made a mess of potamia
@@OverlySarcasticProductions Ba-dum TSHHH!!!
P.S. Hypocrite. 6:15
@@alienz8641 that one hurt.
@@cobraglatiator Well you've got to point these kind of things out.
Mesopotamia: **River start to change**
**land start to drought**
Citzen: Here we go again...
tangmo mopet A river in the desert.
This is where the fun ends
(softly) *don't...*
It's the immigrants fault!
"Might as well off ourselves now."
In a university course I took on this topic, my professor said the environmental factors you refer to included rivers spontaneously diverting. The two rivers are quite different. The Euphrates in the south is slow and meandering. It's shallow and sits on top of the flood plains. When it flooded, a very wide area would be inundated, and when the flood waters receded, the river may have changed course by many kilometers. A city that was once built on the river's edge may now be a day's walk from the river's new location. Understandably, this made it very difficult to keep the city going, and some would be abandoned. The Tigris river is different, but comes with its own problems. The Tirgis runs straight and quickly. It cuts a deep channel into the plains, which means it doesn't change course or flood as much. The floods are what make lands fertile, so you have use the water differently. Springy wood was used to make water-lifting cranes, since the actual water level was much lower than the surrounding farm land. Water would be poured into channels to flood fields in order to water them.
All throughout mesopotamia, huge channels and canals were dug to funnel water onto farmland. Building and maintaining these canals was back breaking work, as they silted up very quickly. Some mesopotamian religious myths even focus around desilting these canals, and how humans were created by the gods in order to do it for them.
Anyway, the land in Mesopotamia held a terrible secret though: deep underground, it was quite salty. Every time they flooded their crops, the water would percolate down through the soil. The salt would be brought a bit higher each time. Over the course of years, this makes the earth saltier and saltier. Some crops handle salt better than others. The first crop to succumb is wheat, which couldn't handle salt very well. So they switched to growing barley in fields which wouldn't grow wheat. But eventually, barley would struggle to survive, and they would switch to date palms, which handle the salt better than barley (though you can't make bread out of dates). Eventually, the soil would be too salty for the dates as well. At that point, the land wasn't suitable for any crops. She showed us photos she'd taken on site at her digs of all the salt that can be found. It almost looked like snow.
The water lifting cranes are still used today: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadoof
I like this wall of text. It was good reading.
...may or may not be off topic, but Abraham leaving Ur(uk) when he did...actually has logic to it now.
@Dunkleosteus
thx for that read. Interesting.
"Funny" thing, that farmland getting saltier isn't a new thing.
It happens today as well, though for different reasons.
The consequences though are the same: The land becomes unusable and those who live there have to move or starve.
@@anonymousfellow8879 not sure what you mean by Ur(uk). Ur and Uruk are two different cities though, if you were implying they might be the same. I don't know the specific story of Abraham and Ur/Uruk.
Dunkleosteus
Abram leaves Ur and wanders around before finally becoming a nomad in Canaan
9:44 "History doesn't explicitly repeat, but it sure does like to rhyme."
Can we all just appreciate that quote for a moment?
It's not original.
"History does not repeat, but sometimes it rhymes." - _Mark Twain_
My favorite story about ancient Sumeria is the room full of tablets from a sumerian merchant conman who, for some reason, kept all of his reciepts and complaints in a single room of what was believed to be his home. Most of what we know about Sumeria at that time period is thanks to this one merchant's hoarding lol
Ea-Nasir, yo.
Ea-Nasir is a legend
FUCKING EA-NASIR
The man, the myth, the legend, the single most popular Mesopotamian in the modern day.
I've always wondered...why is the bookshelf to the left of the fire in the background a foot out from the wall? Does something lurk there?
That's where the time machine hides. They say books are a portal to a different world, and I take that very literally. -B
It's where Red lurks waiting to jump in and say something
Thought that was where the ninjas hid.
@@festethephule7553 Did you see their parade?
czcams.com/video/WtR2m20C2YM/video.html
@@OverlySarcasticProductions I can relate, I've always loved books/stories.
In the first place I wanted to speak about Mesopotamia but the Subject was taken by you, and it seems I couldn't have present it better! Nice job man ! :)
Just so you know, Dude with poorly named channel, I unsubscribed from your channel and stopped watching any of your videos when I found out you were a Trump-humper.
Bronze, water, Writing & Sweet sweet lapis lazuli. What's not to love :D Awesome video!
They also had bread, Templea, barley and Gods that are badass, a lot to aspire to. The Sumerians were the Workers pf the Gods.
Also dank poetry, beer and probably wine :D
Yes
Loved your video on Bronze Age China, Epimetheus
An eleven part collaboration of historical CZcams channels??
_That’s an even more ambitious crossover than Jump Force_
Even more ambitious than Henry Ford and the Wehrmacht
better than that shit game too :^)
Alexander the Greater No, that would be the brain hemorrhage.
But unlike Jump Force this is actually worth watching
Do you know something for ambitious? France winning for once
Egyptians: I’m bored. *builds pyramids*
Mesopotamians: well... another flood *invents kayaking*
it was more like this
Egyptians: I'm bored. Builds pyramids
Mesopotamians: I'm bored. Builds ziggurats.
Bill Wurtz: Society! Coming soon to a dank river valley near you.
China broke again, and they're whole again
The sun is a deadly laser.
SPICES
Now the Phoenicians can get down to business
8:28 That's a really fascinating composition for ancient art. I've never seen something that makes such use of the vertical dimension until well after the middle ages.
Gilgamesh: You mongrels just grow soft over the years.
I can hear Fate Gil's "Zasshu!"
*insert fate joke here*
ZASSHU
I was looking for this
Whelp, guess its time to use the grail...
Oh hey! Mesopotamia! Home of Ishtar. You know what that reminds me of? Of needing a T-shirt or Mug that says:
"I'm Magic, Ishtar loves me, and even the Queen of Hell thinks I'm hot."
Ha! Red’s Underworld myths video! Classic.
i want that so badly
I need that so bad. Or maybe a T-shirt of Ishtar through Venus saying "Four names, Four cultures, One Badass Goddess."
Iconic. Hey red now iconic. But i wont look down on blues alcibiades jokes.
We also need a shirt saying Ishtar not Easter
When I deployed to Iraq, I was stationed at COB Adder. It is a mile away from the Ziggurat of Ur. We got to go on a tour of the site lead by the grandson of the archaeologist who first dug at the site.
"If only there was an easier way to carry stuff around! Darn it!" _kicks over turntable on its side_ "...Oh my Marduk, THAT'S IT!"
_guys stands amongst crowd of people wearing sunglasses and headphones with turntables_ "ARE Y'ALL READY TO GET CRUNK?!"
"The last time we did that, the gods tried to kill us with all their water! Also, records haven't been invented yet! Ya schmuck."
"...Oh. Oh yeah. Fiiiiiiine. I guess we could use these as wheels, then."
And that's how the wheel was invented!
edit: Wow! I didn't know I'd get so many likes.
Uruk, not Babel Ü
+7 points to hufflepuff
Great visual m'dude
Just Some Guy with a Mustache
You sir, have developed a weaponized strain of sarcasm. This is going to change everything.
Gilgamesh: What are you mongrels doing! Tiamat won’t be please with this.
“The David and Goliath dealio should show that the sling was no laughing matter.” Absolutely, that shit was powerful enough to apparently render a giant unconscious, allowing David to finish the job with Goliath’s own sword.
(Empire starts do decline)
Barbarians: It's free real estate
Much funny meme very haha.
Seriously tho, "Barbarian" is a pretty stupid term the Romans and Greeks used to describe everyone who isn't Roman or Greek, because all the other languages basically sounded like "bar bar bar" Barbarians are not an actual thing, it's just an over simplified and a of a bit racist term to describe nomadic groups of people who had rich oral traditions but no permanent place to call home.
Usually, after a big empire collapses because of the usual mix of corruption, power lusting and inefficient beurocrasy, the huge and now unguarded swaths of land of the former empire would get populated by those "barbaric" nomadic societies who would then form their own empires and kingdoms after some while.
Long before the collapse of the Roman empire you would've been able to see those called "Barbarians" serving at the highest ranking military and political positions.
SirGoodName nooo barbarian is a outdated racist term, lord weaselton haha barbarian word go bar bar.
"The God Enlil said unto the people: I freaking swear, you guys..."
🤣🤣🤣
Building cities in layers on top of themselves is just the natural way to do it. Until relatively recently, you didn't need to dig far into the ground to make a foundation. You just tore down a building, maybe fill the remains in with a few more rocks and then some dirt, and you've got a foundation - sure, it won't meet modern building codes, or support a skyscraper, but moving out all those rocks out of town just to move in some new rocks would seem silly.
Also, cities tend to fill up with detritus. Instead of clearing it all out, you could just resurface the roads, which would necessitate building new buildings on top of the old ones instead of at the same level.
“Gee, what ever could he be hinting at” I say as my state undergoes catastrophic power failure due to weather
History Sumerized
this was a horrible pun
I did NAT ZEE that coming!
@@takshashila2995 Both your jokes are Elam
-Mentions Sargon of Akkad
- *GETS DEMONETIZED*
*Applebee's smugness intensifies*
Pretty sure you're thinking of a different Sargon.
Virgin Carl Benjamin v.s Chad Saragon of Akkad.
*smuggly laughs forcefully then goes to sleep*
The sad thing is that that's probably what happened.
The bronze age is honestly one of the most fascinating periods in history.
I got to visit a European Museum over the Fall break and I got to see one of the first Mesopotamian law obelisks. It was very fascinating, and quite interesting how complex they were.
That’s awesome! If you get a chance you should visit some of Britain’s natural history museums. They have incredibly intricate head busts from the Mesopotamian era.
8:40 Throwing all the shade at Imperial measurement users I see.
I approve. Metric all the way.
I hate to tell you. But Imperial is objectivly more useful for every day use than Metric.
@@huntersmith8586 I love to tell you. But the only reason you think that is because placebo.
@@huntersmith8586 how are unstandardized illogical values objectively more useful than Metric?
I find 0°C as freezing point and 100°C as boiling point easier to understand and remember than 32°F & 212°F.
And always requiring a factor 10 of a unit to go up to a higher unit (for length & mass) also is more logically sound and easier to use (some measurement units are barely used or only used by jobs requiring high precision). It's also easier if you need a half or fourth. And conviently 1 litre of water = 1kg.
Example: 1km = 1000m = 100.000cm
(every unit is simply multiplied by a factor of ten every time. This keeps things consistent and easy to understand.)
But if you grow up with Imperial then I guess it might be easier for you to use that since you're used to it. But it's easier to convert from Imperial to Metric than Metric to Imperial.
And my final point. Only 3 countries use the Imperial system, it's easier to have a tool you can used anywhere than one you only used in those specific instances. (Which is why I'd rather used English instead of my native language, you can use English in about half the world)
Sorry for this behemoth of a comment just saying what needs to be said.
@@huntersmith8586 How is it objectively more useful?
@@sennemichiels6748 As a human I like that 0F = hella cold and 100F = hella hot
Also, adding a factor of ten, then prefixing the term that means it's a factor of ten higher isn't a "new unit." You could just as validly have a kilopound or kilomile.
Also also, how is it easier to have a half or quarter? A foot divides by 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6, and we use halfs, quarters, eights, etc of inches for precision.
Do you ever wonder how the people from the past would feel, if they came to the present? Like imagine if the founder of the very first city ever to exist were to see our sprawling and huge cities today? Would they be struck with wonder, awe, and curiosity? Would they condemn us as witches? Would they even understand, on a basic level, what it is they were seeing?
Ah, to be able to interact with those who lived in the past.
theyd see mysterious colors, unlike any seen on earth. aka another possibility is going insane at being unable to comprehend what theyre seeing, eldritch lovecraft vibes
Remember, the first and only "paperless" office was in ancient Sumeria.
They used clay tablets.
Lots of them.
Oh shit I was wondering why you and tigerstar posted a vid about the Bronze Age at the same time
7:12
In Hebrew (a related Semitic language) you could say "שר הגון" (Sar hagun, Just king) which sounds really similar to "Sargon"
This kind of thing is why I'm studying Babylonian Akkadian rn.
I assume sar hagun came after Sargon
Sargon is an Anglicized version of his Akkadian name so it is ok
I thought sar means officer?
@@phinhager6509 it also means minister (i.e. minister of education = שר החינוך = sar hahinuh)
also, sar hagun didn't come after sargon, it's probably a coincidence, since both words are used mostly seperately
@Sarah Asaad interesting
Ancient architecture has 10/10 style points. We need to go back.
I’m early let me think of a joke
Athens’ empire
Ouch.
North Korean Democracy😂
Oh my, it still gets me.
Polish security
American humility, perhaps?
A Greek Istanbul
Oh cool, a historical video referencing the historical Sargon of Akkad, I'm sure the fandom can be mature about it and not immediately descend into insults and a flame war!
*Two hours later*
Humanity was a mistake...
That ending. Omg. Also the shade in this one is priceless. Loved the video.
I remember loving learning about mesapotamia in like, 6th grade. Upset we didn't really learn more about it over the years
I just went over to the compilation, really good job guys. I'm Blown Away by so many different people collaborating and covering so many topics so quickly. Much appreciated considering I love the Bronze Age. It's like a late birthday present.
I'm so glad you covered Mesopotamia, it's amazing and I love hearing about its history. (Also I love that the background was literal writing I screeched)
Epic! Upon seeing the playlist, I declare today a holiday.
*Happy sick day for all.*
-Jake
Nice intro. Ancient history is always 👌
Glad I stayed up late.
That last bit about something small collapsing a fragile system got very... Timely.
Sargon: I freaking love trade routes, dude.
Me: DUDE INDEED
Thanks for putting Abzu(and journey) on my game radar!
Also loved learning more about Mesopotamia adding knowledge to what I knew.
Sargon of Akkad is also the one who invented the famous time mesurement unit known as "A Sargon", you have to give credit were credit is due ! No wait...
I have been waiting for almost 2 years for this video. Thank you this is so beautiful
I love how Blue teases that he will cover Babylon in a video soon, and then, just.... doesn’t
Yes! Bronze Age Mesopotamia is the coolest!
He he the wheel deal
Why am I laughing at that pun
I'm glad to see another collaboration series between multiple great CZcams history channels!
Glad these collaborations are going on and that y'all are a part of it
Virgin Iron age
Chad bronze Age
_wakes up_
*What is this? My favourite channel uploads a video?*
This video helped me to do my history work in my live sessions of online classes
This is a brilliant collaboration. everyone involved should be proud of themselves.
the game abzu started my interest in ancient cultures around the world !
When all your favorite channels upload at the same time, and you don't know which to watch first
Man... History is so interesting. I love it.
Thanks for the 10/10 content as always, Blue.
As always amazing videos and narration!!!
3:06 but it's also important to have reverence for the past, it's why your channel exists and why the Hagia Sophia, pyramids, Parthenon ect.
That’s a nice river valley you got there...
Be a real shame if somebody were to...
*CIVILIZED IT*
Absolutely amazing video. Thank you for the great history lesson.
You guys doing all these big collabs! You're big leagues now! I'm so proud of you.
Old Testament: “By Myself, they keep breeding like rabbits! *flood everything*
Sumerian gods: “We need sleep, damn it!” *flood everything*
Ah, a perfect start for my Overly Sarcastic Marathon. :)
I knew that this collab was happening, but I didn't know that you were a part of it. Now that I do, I love this collab SO much more
I appreciate that the captions are accurate, it makes it easier to go back and reread everything.
-History of the entire world i guess intensifies...
SOCIETY!
-Mesamotopia- Mesalovania
Still better than Megalovania.
Mesapun
The Sanze Age
kremit the frog
OH FUCK!!
Alexander the Greater how disappointed are you? Hitler’s failing Germany, or Stalin’s Communism?
Wow this is an awesome quality video, well done mate!
I love this "dawn of history" stuff. It shows how far we've come and how we've stayed the same.
7:12 and here I thought he was a CZcamsr, shows what I know
Mesopotamia was my latter middle school English subject lol
He's also a time-traveller.
Historical conqueror legit king Sargon > modern internet manbaby Sargon
Fwendly Mushwoom you are free to express your wrong opinion
The modern Sargon would deny that the climate has changed and instead blame economical reformist (everyone but himself) while his kingdom falls to pieces around him.
Funny that I am in the middle of FGO's "Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia", and watching this.
I see your a master of culture as well.
Good luck buddy.
@@KhanhNguyen-mh5ec Thanks. I'm dreading when it comes to Tiamat and further beyond the last Singularity. I just pray I could finish everything before Shinjuku releases.
Red Faldas Prepare to cry.
Red Faldas Tiamat is actually one of the most fun battles. Berserkers take Neutral Damage. So just have fun.
These playlists are excellent
I love watching these videos for fun but also as a review!
Now that I think about it, I did not know anything about the 'Bronze Age' before this video
Seeing Sargon's visage without an ornate British man is a strange feeling.
A Strange sight but a welcomed one
Certainly not unwelcome to see Sargon of Akkad's name getting dignity after that alt-right bundle of issues taking it.
Well done video. Good stuff and on point.
7:57 yeah it easy. Just punch a tree, then punch some rocks, and then you kinda just lay some twigs and pebbles next to each other then presto! Stone tool!
Let me think of a joke,
Athens’s army.
Sparta's navy
Ignacio Gonzalez
Oof.
Theban Hegemony
A long living Macedonian empire.
Pericles' health
Now go listen to the They Might Be Giants song "The Mesopotamians"
_Sargon, Hammurabi, Ashurbanipal and Gilgamesh_
Thank you!!! I just found several new channels to subscribe to thanks to this playlist!!! :D
I like that you guys are collaborating
Off topic I know but can we get some more Latin America and episodes on Mansa Musa or Shaka Zulu? Not that these aren't amazing bc obviously all of this channel's output is amazing!
I'm actually glad you mentioned this sling because when I was in seminary we discussed the fact that David choice in a sling versus Goliath spear and sword was actually very wise. David allowed Goliath to throw the spear first which negated Goliath's Long Reach capability and before Goliath to get close enough to strike on the sword David Nailed him the face with a rock to knock him silly it didn't kill him. He went and took Goliath's big ass sword and cut his head off. Also little known fact David was actually pretty tall infact he and Saul were Head and Shoulders taller than the rest of the Israelites they were the two tallest people in the entire nation and David would have been around 17 to 19 years old when he did it.
What a lovely video. I appreciate the hard work you put into your content. It shows well.
Great job, as usual, guys!
Sure, Mesopotamia's messy maze of randomly flooding rivers may have watered down the prospects of living there, but at least they had palm trees along said Mesopotamian rivers and you would have to be coconuts if you don't get instantly joyful around palm trees.
I wanna let the fact Sargon of Akaad was known as a unifier sink in. Ya hear that, Carl! UN-I-FI-ER!
God I hate that Sargon is associated with Carl 😖
@@dillonblair6491 He probably spins in his grave screaming " You know nothing of me or my work!!!"
In this very comment section he _says_ he loves history. No, he only loves cherrypicked parts of it that support his beliefs.
Dear Blue & Red,
Just discovered your channel thanks to Potential History.
Have fallen in love with your voices!
Thanks for a great channel!
First stop on the playlist. Great job! 👍🏻
When is babylon we have been waiting for 3 years 😭😭😭😭
Somehow I feel like he's talking about modern societies when he mentions these environmental changes destroying societies.
I wonder why that is?
All of our food production depends on the climate being predictable. Once that goes out of whack, mass die offs are certain.
I've been waiting for this.
Good stuff as always
Me thinking last week: Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, Babylonians... what exactly is the difference? They're in basically the same place at basically the same time (i.e. long ago)...
Blue: Hold my beer
"You could say that Sumerian tech was the... wheel deal."
Full on marge simpson groan
Its really cool to come back to this video while currently going through my college history class and seeing how much I reconize from class.
6:18 top right corner: nope, nuh uh, nooooooooo
If Blue and Cyan ever decide to have human children, he already has the dad joke bit down pat