Writing System And Job Specialization

Writing System

Probably the thing Mesopotamia was most well-known for was its writing system, called cuneiform. It was the Sumerians who invented it, and at its beginnings it was used to administrate taxes and to keep track of government information. It was also used by priests to write down religious stories. The first one was the 'Epic of Gilgamesh'. It was about the king of Uruk, who was partly God. He wanted to achieve complete immortality but died while attempting. Although it is very normal now, it is incredible how a civilization could  come up with a way to write things without anyone doing so before.

Cuneiform, the writing system used in Mesopotamia

In every ancient civilization the writing system was reserved specifically for a few people. In Mesopotamia the only people who knew how to write were the priests, the government officials, and a few skilled merchants for finances. This is an example of job specialization. Some citizens write, others trade, others are artisans and so on.

A port with fishermen, traders, boatmakers and sailors.

Job Specialization

One of the reasons Sumerians and Babylonians were so successful is that their job specialization was effective. They had farmers, traders, scribes, artisans, priests and more. They did not have too many of each job. They did not only farm, and not everyone was a soldier and not everyone worked on building houses. Each person had its own duty, so the civilization progressed. There was a currency in ancient Mesopotamia, making trading much more effective. Another important factor to trading was that Mesopotamia was in between rivers, that served as geographic roadways.