City Structures
The cities in Mesopotamia built houses, palaces, walls, government buildings, and ziggurats. All of these structures were made out of reeds, branches, mud, sun-dried mud bricks and stone. Ziggurats were structures that were built on platforms and were used for the people of Mesopotamia. These buildings were made out of mud bricks and were located throughout Sumerian, Babylonian, and Assyrian cities. Houses were also constructed. They were mostly made out of reeds but as civilization evolved they were rebuilt with mud brick. The wall surrounding Mesopotamia was used for defining cities and protecting the people form floods and military aggression. Trading was also a key part in the city's development. Citizens traded food for wool/cotton, gauze pads and bandages. This form of trading inspired the concept of sharing. Trading also created lots of job opportunities for people. The king of Assyria built a palace at Nimrud which was made out of mud brick. The walls of the palace were lined with structures called wall reliefs. These buildings contributed to the way the city functioned.
Division of Labor
Every city has a way they divide the work load among it's citizens, known as the division of labor. The Mesopotamians had something called a social hierarchy which went Kings, Priests, Scribes, Merchants/Artisans, Commoners, and then Slaves. This is also known as the social order of preference. The kings were most high and the slaves were the lowest of the lows. Men and women were not treated with equal rights. This was the beginning of women discrimination. There was also child labor in Mesopotamia. Children were branded to show their ownership to freemen or nobles and they suffered fatal consequences if they were caught trying to escape. The children back then didn't have the rights we take for granted. Mesopotamia not only had child labor, but they started slave labor. Slaves did household work for the upper class (royalty, priests, and government officials). The idea of slaves and having ownership of another human being originated in Ancient Mesopotamia.
Achievements
The Mesopotamians used pictograms as the first form of written communication. They were used to convey basic information on taxes and crops. Slowly this evolved into a more effective, script-like form known as cuneiform. The role of being a scribe consisted of recording theories about math and science using the cuneiform. The Mesopotamians had their own ideas about math, science, and geography. They used these thoughts as a basis for the beginning of education. The people also spent some of their free time making art. Art was made from natural resources such as stone, shells, alabaster, and marble. They used their resources to communicate information, write down philosophies, and to create pieces of art.