4,000 B.C. when animal power was hitched to the plow. These changes brought about a need for organization. At first, authority within villages lay with the elders. It was the elders who maintained order by applying tribal tradition to the conduct of daily life. No longer constrained by the need to search for food, many village inhabitants could devote their energies to more progressive endeavors. The first literate societies emerged around 3,500 B.C. Then, in the few centuries just before 3,000 B.C., Mesopotamian cities arose. Each city and its surrounding fields was a virtual country in itself (Scarre, 1993, pp. 60 100).
The history of these cultures is rather complicated. It involved a number of different tribes, both large and small. The first period of Mesopotamian history, from about 3,000 to 2,400 B.C., is known as the Classical Sumerian Age. People of this time were highly religious. They believed in a god, or gods, who resided in a temple at their city's center. The next period, from 2,400 to 2,000 B.C. is usually called the Sumero Akkadian Age. This period involved increased trade with neighboring states. It wasn't until about 2025 B.C., that Mesopotamia was invaded from the east by the people of Elam, and from the west by the Amorites. The Amorites invaded Babylon and made it their capital. Its local god, Marduk, was identified with the cosmic deity, Enlil, Lord of Storm (Sigerist, 1955, p. 410). Marduk was worshipped over all lands controlled by the Babylonian government. Of the Amorite kings, the greatest was Hammurabi. He fought a thirty years' war with Elam, defeated Larsa, Eshunna, and Mari in the south and west, and Assur in the north. His rule gave rise to the "Golden Age of Babylonia." As scholars migrated from neighboring areas, the sciences and higher learning flourished. Classical literature, great epics, mythological tales, hymns and prayers, medical books, and divination texts were collec...