An Essay about the Economy of Mesopotamia

When you have to write a history essay, it means that a lot of historical information and details should be included paying attention to the required number pages or words. Besides the need to provide all the necessary information, it should be also presented in an intelligent and cohesive way. Read the suggested article on how to write a history essay that shows your profound understanding of the material and writing skills.

Writing History Essay:

  1. The essay question should be evaluated. Your essay may be well-argued and well-written, but if it doesn't answer the question that has been asked, under no circumstances should you expect to get a top mark. That's why the first important thing to do is to evaluate properly the question you are being asked. Look up and define any uncertain terms and consider all specific keywords.
  2. What exactly the question is asking you about. It's essential to get the assignment clear right in the early stages in order to prepare the essay well. You should consider whether you are being asked to interpret, explain, argue, or evaluate.
  3. A strong key argument. You need to summarize your key argument in one or two sentences before you start to plan and draft an essay.
  4. An essay plan. After the question goes an essay plan which is the best way to develop the structure for your essay and to organize your notes. If you draw the plan, you are able to evaluate the depth and quality of the gathered pieces of evidence and see whether your thesis statement is strongly supported.

Part2. Research

  1. Primary and secondary sources. The strong argument which is based on solid evidence is required for writing a history essay. It's important to distinguish between primary and secondary sources, though, writing the essay you might include both of these. Frankly speaking, it depends on your essay.
  2. Your sources should be found. It may be difficult to find relevant material as there might be a great number of texts which makes you feel lost without knowing where to start.
  3. Your secondary sources should be evaluated critically. Scholarly material which is of a demonstrable quality should be used for the academic essay, using academic texts by historians is essential when writing a strong academic essay.
  4. Read critically. While reading, you should think of how well the argument is supported by the evidence. In reality, it means that you need to read between the lines and to look for what exactly the author is trying to say but not the stylistic devices and words choice. Make sure you ask questions about what you are reading, don't let your mind drift. You have to read critically.
  5. Take careful notes. Take care of taking complete notes in order to then not look back through a book, it's much better to have more then you might need anyway.

Writing the essay about the Mesopotamian economy:

Mesopotamia definition

Mesopotamia is an ancient region of south-western Asia in present-day Iraq which lies between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

Where is Mesopotamia located?

The first question that should come to mind is "Where is Mesopotamia according to the current world map?" It is located in the modern-day Middle East, on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates River. Due to the constant flooding from the two rivers rendered the soil suitable for agriculture; Mesopotamia was an encouragement for human settlement. Such empires as the Assyrian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Sumer, during the Bronze Age, called Mesopotamia their home. The Achaemenid Empire conquered these empires, and then it was conquered by Alexander the Great in 332 BC. The Greek Seleucid and Parthian Empires, Romans, Sassanid Empire ruled over the region and the Muslim Caliphate in the 7th century.

Location of Mesopotamia according to the current world map

Second, after asking the question about where is Mesopotamia, concentrate on its cultural value. Mesopotamia is considered to be the cradle of civilization for numerous developments. Mesopotamia's earliest language was Sumerian, but the Mesopotamian people also spoke Subartuan, Akkadian, and old Aramaic. Because of extensive libraries in temples and towns, the population was able to write and learn. A decent number of Babylonian literary works tend to be translated to date. In the Mesopotamian timeline, the scholars have made great strides in the different fields such as astronomy, mathematics, medicine, religion, art, technology, and philosophy.

Mesopotamian economy

Bartering, in other words, trading services and goods for other services and goods was the base of the Mesopotamian economy. With the help of bartering which was the essential thing for people in Mesopotamia, they were able to get the sources they felt lack of. Thus, ancient Mesopotamian people would trade with people from other areas, and consequently, the trade took place. In order to help facilitate Mesopotamian trade people also used currency. Nonetheless, their currency system used barley, unlike modern systems of currency, that use coins or money. The Mesopotamians had to borrow from a banker to purchase this barley. They also used metals such as copper, lead, bronze, silver, and gold, for currency. Then bartering was facilitated by the writing system in Mesopotamian which developed (first in the form of pictograms and then as cuneiform), thus scribes could keep records and contracts of Mesopotamian trades.