MESOPOTAMIAN

ARTIFACTS

What they are and their importance

 LAPIS LAZULI
The Lapis Lazuli is a precious stone, being
mined in the Afghanistan province,
Badakhshan for nearly 6500 years. In
Mesopotamian times, it was prized for its
extreme blue color. It was used for
jewelry, boxes, carving, mosaics,
ornaments, vases, cladding walls, and
columns of palaces. It was used by
Assyrians and Babylonians for their
cylinder seals.
It is very important to Mesopotamian
history because it was used in many
pieces of royal jewelry and carvings, not
to mention the cylinder seals. It was also
mentioned very often in the Epic of
Gilgamesh.
EPIC OF GILGAMESH
The Epic of Gilgamesh is a tale – the
tale – of a great king who ruled
over Uruk. It was written on 12
stone tablets, the 12th one
consisting of an epilogue. There
are 2 versions – the old Sumerian
version and the more modern,
standard version of the Akkadians.
The reason as to why it is so
important to Mesopotamian
culture is because it is the earliest
known works of fiction. However,
this Epic may not be fiction
because Gilgamesh may have
been a real king. It was also
written in cuneiform, an extinct
 CYLINDER SEALS
Cylinder seals were used to ‘sign’
names on important documents.
Others, however, engraved ‘picture
stories’ onto clay tablets. They were
made from stone, glass, ceramics,
obsidian rocks, amethysts, but most
popular of all, lapis lazuli. People were
buried in their graves with these.
Many of the Mesopotamian cultures,
such as the Akkadians, Assyrians,
Babylonians, Sumerians and Syrians
used these. The text that imprinted
were cuneiform.
The reason why these were so
important was because it was the first
form of imprints, and they presented
the ideal ideas of the society, whether
 SALT
The salt symbolized why Mesopotamia
fell – their irrigation systems were the
reason why.
Although their irrigation systems left
them with plenty of food, they
irrigated all the way out to the sea,
and the salty water caused the salt
and other minerals to rise from the
deeper parts of the soil, causing the
dirt to go from fertile to poisoned,
killing or poisoning the crops and
causing the people to leave.
While a small amount of salt may be
good for some types of crops, high
levels of salt are extremely toxic for
plants and humans alike.
 GLAZED BRICK
The glazed brick was a part of Ishtar
Gate, a beautiful, blue gate created
by glazed bricks. The Ishtar Gate
was part of Babylon, built
somewhere in 575 BC. It was the 8th
gate to the inner part of the city,
build by order of King
Nebuchadnezzar II. It was dedicated
to the Babylonian goddess, Ishtar.
The roof and doors were made of
cedar. It was a part of the Walls of
Babylon and used to be part of the
Seven Wonders of the world until
the Lighthouse of Alexandria
replaced it.
THE CODE OF HAMMURABI
The code of Hammurabi was the best-
preserved ancient set of laws, created
in 1760 BC in ancient Babylon by the
6th Babylonian king, Hammurabi. It was
written on a 7 ft. 4 inch tall stone slab,
called stele. Only one of the stele
survives today.
The Code of Hammurabi is very
important to the world, because of the
fact that it was the first ever written
code of law. It established basic laws
for the citizens to follow. Although
there were older codes, such as the
Code of Ur-Nammu, the code set by
Hammurabi was the best-preserved
 THE HANGING GARDENS OF
BABYLON
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon is one of the 7 Wonders of the
ancient world, the greatest of human kind to date. It held exotic
fruits and flowers, animals, aromatic palms, and a terrace. There
were streams, sloping hills, channels that provided water for the
garden. The floor was made of grass as well. There were 80ft
thick, 320ft high walls surrounding it. The garden, however, did
not hang literally – there were vines that hung over the walls.
The foundation was build inside, using clay bricks with bitumen
in it, as to keep the foundation from crumbling because of the
water.
It is important to Mesopotamia because it represents one of the
best innovations and technology of the era. There was striving
for unique and bold ideas – things considered insane and idiotic
at the time. There was clever irrigation systems, such as chain
pumps and the special bricks. It represented how man conquered
the environment, the reason why it is one of the 7 wonders.
However, there are non-believers because of the fact that there is
actual evidence as to that this garden existed, other than the
word of Roman writers who wrote about an amazing garden in
 REFERENCES
All images courtesy of Google (
http://www.google.ca)
All facts courtesy of Wikipedia (
http://www.wikipedia.org)
And Google
(http://www.google.ca)