Abstract
An examination of the health and medical systems of Ancient Mesopotamia. The concept of sickness is defined for this time period and those who treated the sick, the medical practitioners, are discussed. The paper also looks at the monetary payment structure for medical services and the subsequent penalty structure if payment was not made.

From the Paper
"During the past century, the rise of modern medicine and biotechnology has been astronomical. Scientists have engineered artificial limbs and organs, developed vaccines for numerous diseases, discovered preventative medical strategies, and created procedures to deal with most known ailments. Specialists have arisen in many fields and a complex payment structure involving insurance and HMOs has been established in modern times. Given this, it is interesting to notice that several of these same features were present in the medical world of ancient Mesopotamia. Of course, the Mesopotamians did not have the levels of understanding that exist today, but it appears that their knowledge was much greater than one would initially assume."

Tags:ancient, care, code, hammurabi, health, history, medicine, mesopotamia

Abstract
This paper is on the "comparison the role of goddesses in ancient Mesopotamia and Greece". It explains the roles they had and if they had similar functions in the Mesopotamian and Greek sources? Considering Ninsun, Ishtar, Thetis, Athena, Hera and Aphrodite. It is primarily based on the "Epic of Gilgamesh", the "Odyssey", and books I, VI, and XII of the "Iliad".

Abstract
This essay describes how the art and culture of ancient Mesopotamia was defined by its climate and geographical locations. It also shows how the weather and geographical conditions affected wars and power in the region - and the reflection of this fact through art and artifacts found in the region.

From the Paper
"Many believed that the south was the cradle of civilization until settlements dating back to around 5,000 B.C. were found in Northern Mesopotamia. Jarmo was the earliest of these settlements and was superseded by a series of cultures, Tell Hassuna, Samarra, and Tell Halaf. Tell Halaf was the most advanced of the early cultures (Mesopotamia pg). It is famous for Halaf ware, which is regarded as the finest prehistoric pottery in Mesopotamia (Mesopotamia pg). Halaf ware can be found at sites such as Neneveh and Tepe Gawra. While the north was making great advances in culture, civilization was just beginning in the south, particularly at Eridu."

Tags:Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Jarmo, Tell, Halaf, Al, Ubaid, Akkadian, Hammurabi, Ishtar

Abstract
In this article, the writer discusses the cultural legacy of ancient Mesopotamia on successor civilizations.

From the Paper
"In the Nile and Tigris-Euphrates River Valley and the emergent civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia a complex and organized social system would emerge. The so-called Fertile Crescent permitted the diversification of agricultural production along with the development of multiple tool types which facilitated the production of many different types of goods and crafts. Knox and Marston state that despite the existence of a vast irrigation network and a whole social structure bound up with agricultural production and related activities the cities of the Mesopotamian ..."

Tags:Mesopotamia, culture, ancient civilization

Abstract
The paper explores the reasons behind ancient Mesopotamia's history of disparate city-states that often vied for wealth, power and control of natural resources while ancient Egypt remained a unified kingdom for several thousand years. The paper explains how the differences between the two regions can be traced to their history, politics, geography and culture that all played major roles in determining their success of unification.

From the Paper
"Egypt was more successful than Mesopotamia in developing a single unified state after the Bronze Age began in about 3000 BCE until the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great in the late fourth century BCE. Geography is a major reason for Egypt's greater success with political and cultural unification. Moreover, prior to the Bronze Age the city-states of Mesopotamia were already more well-developed, politically and economically powerful than were the villages of Egypt. By the time King Sargon unified Mesopotamia, the region's city-states already had political and economic institutions in place that undermined the supremacy of the central government. When compared with Mesopotamia, Egypt's Upper and Lower Kingdoms were less politically, economically, and culturally developed at the time of unification by King Menes. With one main river, the Nile, as the economic focal point of Egypt, the state also maintained social order easier than did Mesopotamia with its more complex and varied geographic terrain."

Tags:Nile, Euphrates, Tigris, geography, diversity, politics, religion

Abstract
This paper discusses and contrasts the main religions of three civilizations which shaped world history - the religions of ancient Mesopotamia, Greece and Egypt. The paper provides reflections on god/human relations and the way people gods were perceived in different societies.

From the Paper
"In the kingdom of Egypt, beliefs were different because of its isolated position. Situated in a river valley, surrounded by deserts, Egyptians hardly knew what invasion meant. The Nile, with its mild and indescribably fertile floods, gave the habitants of this region assuredness that the gods were with them. The climate was warm and humid, natural disasters were extremely rare. In other words, the gods loved people, and people loved them; in The Leiden Hymns for example, Amon Ra, was described as the ?all powerful one (yet kindly, / whose heart would lie open to men)? (Norton Anthology 45)."

Tags:hellas, mythology, olympus, Hellenic

Abstract
This paper explains how all ancient civilizations relied on flowing water to exist. The Egyptians relied on the Nile. To the east, the Euphrates and the Tigris created Mesopotamia. The Indus River nourished ancient Indian civilization, and the great Yellow River (Huang Ho) made the birth of Chinese civilization possible.

From the Paper
"Thus all ancient culture hearths could depend on a steady source of water, which also brought nutrients to the soil and fish as a source of food. Except for the violent Tigris and Yellow, the rivers also served as an easy means of communication. Easy communications facilitated the exchange of ideas and goods while breaking down the culturally retarding barriers of isolation. The size and fertility of the broad valleys made possible a vast increase in the land that could be cultivated, which in turn meant a vast increase in wealth and population; necessary ingredients to the development of large sophisticated social structures. Although great rivers were a common feature of these pioneering civilizations, soil and climate differed, and these differences left a significant imprint on human development. Different climates meant that the rivers nurtured different crops and required different methods of agriculture. Geography and the means by which people turned it to their uses influenced the ways in which societies evolved."

Tags:water, nile, egypt, euphrates, tigris, mesopotamia, indus, china, inidan, yello

Abstract
The paper looks at the emergence of the ancient cities, where they emerged, and how they evolved in different regions. The paper shows how urban centers have evolved over time in large measure due to man's efforts to exploit the natural world to his advantage. The paper discusses how ancient cities laid the foundation for the modern urban community of today.

From the Paper
"The history of the ancient cities of the Mediterranean - indeed, the history of cities everywhere - is an interesting one. To begin with, cities as we understand the term today began to emerge right around the time of the Neolithic revolution as agricultural surplus became sufficient to support heavily-concentrated populations (Brakman et al., 15). In the Mesopotamian world, it appears as though the first genuine city - Eridu - took root around 4900 B.C. This city, like all the others that the Mesopotamians would construct for themselves, had its own patron god and there is evidence that these urban centers had their own education systems (apparently centrally-planned) in addition to being locations that served as religious loci for the people of pre-Christian Mesopotamia."

Tags:Mesopotamia, Eridu, resources, surroundings, exploitation, urban, centers

Abstract
This paper is an examination of the ancient Mesopotamian creation and flood myth in the story of Atrahasis. Comparisons are briefly made to other Indo-European tales and myths, including Ulysses, Prometheus and Noah from the Judeo-Christian bible. The paper primarily looks at evidence of daily life in the myth of Atrahasis itself with only some comparison to outside tales.

From the Paper
"Archaeology has recovered numerous myths from ancient Mesopotamia in the form of stone steles, wall carvings, and especially clay tablets. Most of these stories were written in Akkadian, the general term for a few of the languages of the ancient Sumerians. The stories were originally passed down in an oral cultural history for many hundreds or even possibly thousands of years before they were written in cuneiform. From the Atrahasis and Creation myths of ancient Sumeria and Mesopotamia one can learn a great deal about the beliefs and daily lives of the people that told and wrote them down."

Tags:mesopotamia, atrahasis, myth

Abstract
This paper discusses how murder occurs in every society and what distinguishes one society from the other is its reaction. It examines the laws regarding murder found in the Hittite and Mesopotamian law codes and determines what they reveal about their respective societies. It compares these laws of the ancient Near East with the laws of contemporary American society to conclude that Near Eastern motifs of personal self worth determined by social class and reimbursement for that self worth are still present, while the theme of compensation in place of revenge has been lost.

From the Paper
"Mesopotamian laws, such as Hammurabi's Law Code, were a combination of earlier law codes and new. Here, case law (as seen in the Hittite law codes) was blended with prescriptive law. A prescriptive law did not necessarily need to be founded on precedence, and was used to give proposed boundaries as to what was expected and allowed in a given society. Unlike the Hittite law codes, conclusions drawn about Mesopotamian culture from these laws are less sound because they are not solely based on precedence, and sometimes only the ideal."

Tags:hittite, mesopotamia, hammurabi