NCERT Solutions for Class 11 History Chapter 2: Writing and City Life

While natural fertility and high food production were necessary for cities to develop, they were not the direct causes of early urbanisation. Cities are more than just places with a lot of people; they are hubs of complex economic activities and social organisation.

Here's why other factors were more crucial:

1. Division of Labour: Urban economies depend on various professions beyond farming, such as craftspeople, traders, priests, and administrators. A surplus of food allowed some people to specialize in these non-food-producing roles.
2. Need for Trade and Organisation: Mesopotamia lacked crucial resources like stone, wood, and metal. To get these, they needed to trade their agricultural surplus and textiles. This required a social organisation to manage production, storage, and trade.
3. Institutions and Governance: Managing trade and a large population required new institutions like temples and kingships. These institutions coordinated activities, distributed resources, and organised labour for large-scale projects like building canals or temples.
4. Development of Writing: Record-keeping was essential for managing complex transactions, trade inventories, and administrative tasks. The development of writing was a direct response to the needs of an urban economy.

Therefore, urbanisation was caused by the interplay of a complex division of labour, social organisation, and trade, which was made possible by, but not directly caused by, agricultural surplus alone.

• Necessary Conditions for Urbanisation:
  • (a) Highly productive agriculture: This provided the food surplus needed to support non-farming populations in cities.
  • (b) Water transport: It was the cheapest and most efficient way to transport grain and other goods, facilitating trade and connecting cities.
• Causes of Urbanisation:
  • (c) The lack of metal and stone: This scarcity drove the need for long-distance trade, which required organisation and led to the growth of cities as trade hubs.
  • (d) The division of labour: This is the very definition of an urban economy. Specialisation in different crafts and services created the complex economic life of a city.
• Outcomes of Urbanisation:
  • (e) The use of seals: Seals were developed as a consequence of urban life to manage complex trade and ownership. They were a tool to regulate the new urban economy.
  • (f) The military power of kings that made labour compulsory: As cities grew and competed for resources, strong leadership emerged. Kings used their military power to control labour and resources, a feature that developed with the expansion of city-states.

Mobile animal herders (pastoralists) and settled agricultural towns often had a mutually beneficial relationship rather than a purely hostile one. They were not necessarily a threat for the following reasons:

1. Economic Exchange: Herders needed things they couldn't produce, like grain, metal tools, and pottery. In exchange, they offered animal products such as meat, milk, cheese, leather, and wool to the townspeople.
2. Labour Source: Pastoralists often worked as harvest labourers or hired soldiers for the settled communities, providing a flexible workforce.
3. Manure for Fields: Their herds provided valuable manure for the farmers' fields, helping to maintain soil fertility.

However, conflicts could arise when herders, driven by drought or other hardships, raided agricultural villages for food. But for the most part, a symbiotic relationship existed between the two groups.

The earliest temples in Mesopotamia were small shrines made of unbaked bricks and were often physically similar to residential houses. This is because:

1. Home for the God: Temples were considered the literal homes of the gods (like the Moon God of Ur or the Goddess of Love and War, Inanna). Just as a person lives in a house, a god was believed to reside in the temple.
2. Simple Beginnings: In the early stages of settlement, temples were built and rebuilt over centuries on the same spot. Initially, they were simple structures, reflecting the architectural style of ordinary houses.
3. Central Courtyard Design: Like residential homes, early temples had an open courtyard with rooms on the sides. The god's altar was placed at one end. This design was familiar and practical.

Over time, as the importance of temples grew and they became centres of economic and political power, their size and complexity increased dramatically, evolving into massive Ziggurats. But their fundamental concept as a 'god's house' remained.

Once city life began, several new institutions emerged. While temples were initially managed by priests, the rise of kingship brought many institutions under royal initiative. These include:

1. The Army and Military Organisation: Kings were primarily military leaders. Organising a standing army for defence and conquest was a key royal responsibility.
2. Organised Labour: Kings organised and commanded large labour forces for massive public works projects like building city walls, irrigation canals, palaces, and large temples (Ziggurats).
3. Bureaucracy and Administration: To manage the kingdom's resources, collect taxes, and oversee trade, kings established a structured administration with scribes, officials, and governors.
4. Legal System and Law Codes: Kings were responsible for dispensing justice. Famous law codes, like that of Hammurabi of Babylon, were issued under the king's authority to standardise laws across the kingdom.
5. Official Workshops and Trade Missions: Kings often established and controlled royal workshops for producing fine goods and organised official trade expeditions to procure exotic materials like lapis lazuli.

Ancient stories, particularly the Epic of Gilgamesh, provide valuable insights into Mesopotamian civilisation and what they valued.

1. Value of City Life: The epic shows a deep pride in cities. When Gilgamesh's friend Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh finds comfort by admiring the magnificent city of Uruk—its walls, foundations, and orderly layout. This tells us that Mesopotamians saw city life as a major achievement of their civilisation.
2. Fear of Mortality and Search for Immortality: Gilgamesh is devastated by the death of his friend and embarks on a long, difficult journey to find the secret of immortality. His ultimate failure teaches that death is inevitable for humans, a core aspect of their worldview.
3. Relationship with Gods: The stories show a world where gods and goddesses are deeply involved in human affairs. They can be helpful, but also vengeful and unpredictable, reflecting the Mesopotamians' understanding of the forces of nature.
4. The Great Flood: The epic contains a story about a massive flood, similar to the biblical story of Noah's Ark. This suggests that floods were a common and terrifying feature of life in the land between the rivers, leaving a deep mark on their collective memory.

These stories reveal a complex society that celebrated its urban achievements, grappled with fundamental questions of life and death, and lived in a world shaped by powerful natural and divine forces.

The 'division of labour' means that different people specialised in different jobs instead of everyone being a farmer. This was a key feature of urban life.

• Examples:
  1. Craftsmen: Some people were skilled artisans who made pottery, carved stones, or wove textiles.
  2. Scribes: A specialized class of people who knew how to read and write, keeping records for temples and kings.

Seals were vital in Mesopotamian cities. A cylindrical seal, when rolled over wet clay, left a unique impression.

• Functions:
  • Mark of Ownership: It was used to stamp goods to show who owned them.
  • Signature: It served as a signature on legal documents or letters, verifying the sender's identity.
  • Security: Sealing a container with a clay impression ensured that its contents were not tampered with.

The development of writing (cuneiform) was a landmark achievement because it allowed for:

• Record Keeping: Keeping track of transactions, taxes, and temple donations.
• Communication: Sending messages over long distances.
• Preservation of Knowledge: Recording literature, history, laws, and scientific knowledge (like astronomy and mathematics) for future generations.

Ur was one of the earliest and most important cities in southern Mesopotamia (Sumer). Archaeological excavations in the 1930s revealed that it was a well-planned city. It had narrow, winding streets, indicating it was not planned for cart traffic. It also had a complex drainage system and a cemetery where royalty and commoners were buried. The city's main deity was the Moon God.

The Mesopotamian legacy in time-reckoning is still with us today. They were the ones who divided:

• The year into 12 months.
• The month into 4 weeks.
• The day into 24 hours.
• The hour into 60 minutes.
• The minute into 60 seconds.

This system, based on multiples of 60 (sexagesimal), was a major intellectual achievement.

Mesopotamian urban society was highly stratified, with a clear social hierarchy.

• The Ruling Class (Top): At the top was the king and the royal family. They held supreme political, military, and religious authority. High-ranking priests, who managed the temples and their vast wealth, were also part of this elite group.
• The Middle Class: This group consisted of wealthy merchants, scribes, and skilled artisans. Merchants facilitated the long-distance trade that was vital for the city. Scribes were crucial for administration and were respected for their literacy.
• The Lower Class (Majority): The majority of the population consisted of farmers (who lived in surrounding villages but were tied to the city), labourers, and small-scale artisans. They had fewer rights and less wealth.
• Slaves (Bottom): At the very bottom of the social ladder were slaves. These were typically prisoners of war or people who had fallen into debt. They had no rights and were considered the property of their owners.

This social structure was maintained through the power of the king, the influence of the temple, and the control of economic resources.

The statement is entirely justified. The contributions of Mesopotamia formed the foundation for many later civilisations.

1. Legacy in Writing: The invention of the cuneiform script was revolutionary. It was the world's first writing system, which enabled complex administration, literature, and the recording of history. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a testament to their literary skills. This idea of recording information influenced cultures across the ancient world.
2. Legacy in Mathematics: Mesopotamians developed a sophisticated number system (sexagesimal or base 60). They created multiplication and division tables, square and square-root tables, and tables of compound interest. Their mathematical knowledge was practical, used for land measurement, construction, and astronomical calculations.
3. Legacy in Astronomy: Mesopotamian priests meticulously observed the stars and planets. They could predict solar and lunar eclipses. They created a calendar, dividing the year into 12 months, the day into 24 hours, and the hour into 60 minutes. This system of time-reckoning is a direct inheritance that we use every single day.

Therefore, from the way we tell time to the very concept of written law and literature, the intellectual legacy of Mesopotamia is deeply embedded in our modern world.

The city of Mari, located on the upstream Euphrates, was a flourishing trade hub in the early second millennium BCE. It had several unique features:

• Strategic Location: Its position on the river made it a crucial stop for trade boats moving between southern Mesopotamia and the mineral-rich lands of Turkey, Syria, and Lebanon.
• A Hub of Trade: The palace at Mari levied taxes on goods passing through. For example, a tablet refers to a 10% tax on copper from 'Alashiya' (the island of Cyprus). This trade made the city incredibly wealthy.
• A Blend of Cultures: Mari's population was a mix of settled agriculturalists and nomadic herders from the western desert. Kings of Mari were often of Amorite (pastoralist) origin. This created a unique cultural blend.
• Vigilant Administration: The kings of Mari were extremely vigilant. Tablets from the royal archives show letters from officials reporting on the movements of herders and requesting instructions. This highlights the constant need to manage the relationship between different groups.
• The Great Palace: The palace of King Zimrilim was the envy of the ancient world, with over 260 rooms, courtyards, and beautifully painted murals. It served as the administrative centre, the royal residence, and a hub for craft production.

Mari was unique because it was not just an agricultural or religious centre but a powerful and cosmopolitan trading city that skilfully managed a diverse population.

1. When and where did the earliest form of Mesopotamian writing appear?
   The earliest form of writing appeared around 3200 BCE in the city of Uruk in southern Mesopotamia.
2. What did the earliest written tablets record? What does this suggest about why writing began?
   The earliest tablets recorded lists of goods like oxen, fish, and bread. This strongly suggests that writing began as a practical tool to manage the economy, specifically to keep records of transactions and the distribution of goods by temples.
3. What was the primary material used for writing in Mesopotamia?
   The primary material used for writing was tablets made of clay.

Study the map of Mesopotamia and answer the following questions:

1. Identify the two major rivers that defined the region of Mesopotamia.
   The two major rivers are the Tigris and the Euphrates.
2. Based on the map, explain why the city of Mari was well-positioned for trade.
   Mari is located on the middle stretch of the Euphrates river. This strategic position allowed it to control and tax the river traffic and trade routes connecting southern Mesopotamia with the resource-rich regions of the north and west, like Syria and Turkey.
3. Name one major city located in the southern part of Mesopotamia (Sumer).
   One major city in the south (Sumer) was Ur (or Uruk).