WOMEN IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA CIRCA 4000 B.C.E.-500 B.C.E.People in the ancient Mesopotamian region are given credit for the foundations of our Western law codes, religious rituals, astronomy, mathematics, literature, and writing. Even the calendar and wheel are technologies that these people are given recognition for introducing. Whether all these ideas originated with the civilization that grew up in the lowlands between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, (Mesopotamia is Greek for the land between the rivers) scholars are continually debating. On-going archaeological work in this region and other areas of the world is uncovering fascinating facts regarding our ancient ancestors. As more evidence is being uncovered, it appears that the advent of civilization, whereby people settled into specific structures of government, agriculture, and religious festivals and beliefs, keeps getting older. Many other parts of the world are now vying for the honor of being the oldest site for the beginning of civilization. Until there are more consensuses on another place, ancient Mesopotamiawill retain its honored number one place.What did the land and society look like around 4000-3500 b.c.e. when the number of people increased significantly enough to become an urban society and civilization? The people who came into the region came as farmers, because of the rich alluvial soil created by the floodingof the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, did not find it an easy place to civilize like ancient Egypt because the flooding was unpredictable. This region received no rainfall for eight months of the year, and then came torrential spring showers that produced flooding of such magnitude that irrigation with canals was essential. Especially conducive to farming, the soil was neither rocky nor tree-laden. Cooperation and leadership were needed to harness the rivers and build canals, which then allowed the people to produce enough excess crops to sell. This allowed some of the farmers to venture into the production of goods that could be exchanged for food, and so the artisan crafts developed. This area is now in southern Iraq, and many of the marsh inhabitants of this region still live in almost identical housing and fish from almost identical boats. They tendtheir crops and flocks just like in ancient times. Over time this area developed into the modern countries of Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, and Iran. The sources available to us for reconstructing the lives of women in these ancient times are few in number, but lengthy in size. There are two famous works from these early centuries. One, The Epic of Gilgamesh, can give us some descriptive details on women, and the other, The Code of Hammurabi, can give us quite a lot of prescriptive passages regarding women’s legal standing. More law codes from later periods of history also give us additional information, including the Middle Assyrian Laws, from the fifteenth to the eleventh centuries b.c.e. More than twenty thousand clay tablets with writings on them have been uncovered, mainly from the city-state of Mari, but only recently have historians been analyzing them for women’s history. Includedin these extant tablets are business dealings, poetry, songs, and laments.Scholars refer to this oldest civilized area as Sumer, which was inhabited beginning around4000 b.c.e. Over time, a city-state form of government was developed into twelve independent kingdoms covering an area the size of the state of Massachusetts. Uruk, Lagash, and Ur were some of their important cities ruled by a theocracy. Their priest/king led the army, administered the economy, served as judge, and was the intermediary between the people and their deities. Because there were no natural barriers as in ancient Egypt, quarrels over water rights and land ledto the desire for conquest, making war endemic. The world’s first woman ruler came from the city-state of Kish. She was Kubaba, circa 2450 b.c.e. Apparently she started out as a tavern keeper. Many royal women helped legitimize the king’s succession to the throne, a practice found all over the world throughout history. Not only rulers, but their spouses were included in the records. Some queens had their own independent courts complete with ministers. This is attested to by their own seals and documents dated with their particular ruling years.The Sumerians are given credit for the invention of the first written language in a cuneiform alphabet pattern. While the Sumerian language is neither Semitic nor Indo-European, 2their alphabet was used by those cultures following them into the region. Women’s Legal Status in the Hammurabi Law Code There are nearly three hundred laws to regulate society in Hammurabi’s Code, circa 1750 b.c.e. There were earlier law codes, but Hammurabi, the Akkadian ruler of a large Mesopotamian region, put together this uniform law code for the entire empire. This system of law codes was notbeing equaled until the Romans developed theirs nearly fifteen hundred years later. Hammurabi was praised by his subjects at the promulgation of this code: “he established justice in the land.” The two most famous principles underlying the code are “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” and “Let the buyer beware.” The code has definite class guidelines for nobles, commoners, and slaves; great emphasis was placed on the protection and maintenance of the family. Over one-fourth of the law codes have direct or indirect influence on women. Some of the areas of interest to women are adultery, divorce, rape, and business transactions. Interspersed in this chapter are incidents and conditions relating to the Hammurabi Code’s treatment of women. These law codes,however, cannot ferret out specific events, but we can use them as indicators for circumstances involving women. At the end of this chapter are those specific codes pertaining to women.Women’s Role in the FamilyMarriages were arranged by the prospective groom and father of the future bride, a practice that continued for thousands of years in most all cultures throughout the globe. Both a bridal gift and a dowry were part of the marriage. The groom-to-be offered the father a bridal gift,usually money. If the man and his bridal gift were acceptable then the father provided his daughterwith a dowry, which belonged to her after the wedding ceremony although the husband usually administered it. Then a contract was made and engraved on a tablet,