Mesopotamia culture and art

2. MESOPOTAMIA: CULTURE AND ART CULTURE -

ASTRONOMY: - Mesopotamians observed the starts and invented a lunar calendar.

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MATHEMATICS: - They invented numbers and count (sexagesimal system) and weigh objects.

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WRITING: - Appered after 4000 BC. - Small pictures of objects and animals evolved into cuneiform writing.

- Initially, writing was used for public administration, later for poems and stories.

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LITERATURE: - They wrote: - long poems like the Epic of Gilgamesh - The Code of Hammurabi , it is the world’s first written law.

2. MESOPOTAMIA: CULTURE AND ART -

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SCULPTURE Statues showed kings, gods and priests.

Carved reliefs showed hunting scenes or military victories.

RELIGION Mesopotamians were polytheists, that is to say they believed in many gods: - Marduk, the god of creation - Isthar, the goddess of love and war.

- Each city also had its own gods.

The temple was where the gods were worshipped.

ARCHITECTURE Imporant innovations in architecture were the arch and the dome.

Many buildings were made from adobe bricks, and for that reason have disappeared.

But, some palaces and temples have survived.

PALACES: have impressive facades, courtyards, private rooms nd libraries.

TEMPLES: were groups of buildings. They included ziggurats, which were pyramidsahped towers with several levels.