Tea at Trianon: Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia

From The Collector:

Over 6,000 years ago, along the banks of the mighty Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, civilization took its first teetering steps towards glory. Mesopotamia, within the Fertile Crescent that stretched from these rivers to Egypt, has been called the Cradle of Civilization for good reason. It was here that the Sumerian culture flourished, followed by the Akkadians, the Babylonians, and the Assyrians, all intriguing societies in their own right. And all were nourished by the geography of the land and the rich soil it provided. This geography and the vicissitudes of the rivers shaped daily life, demanding co-operation on a massive scale, and fostering the birth of civilization. From kings and gods to the merchants, farmers, and laborers, all had their role to play.
The origin of the Sumerians is a debated topic, but by the Late Chalcolithic Era, they had established several city-states in Lower Mesopotamia, which continued to grow and evolve into the Bronze Age. No longer small settlements, these cities had centralized governments, organized religion, access to developed trade networks, and social hierarchies that reflected the move from Neolithic settlements to fully fledged civilizations.

These Sumerian cities followed similar themes in their culture and construction. At the center of each city was a ziggurat, a huge pyramidal temple dedicated to the city’s patron god or goddess. Surrounding each ziggurat was a large complex that housed the city’s priests and religious elite. Temples also served as banks and conducted trade, providing valuable services to the city’s residents, in addition to their religious endeavors. (Read more.)

From The Greek Reporter:

Sumerian civilization appears to have been established in southern Mesopotamia around 4000 BC, while some historians place it as far back as 5000 BC. Established in the Fertile Crescent between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in modern-day Iraq, Sumer was the first urban civilization in the region. From early on, they had developed skills in farming and raising cattle. They also wove textiles and were skilled carpenters and pottery makers. More importantly, Sumerians are credited with inventing the wheel around 2500 BC. Mesopotamians are noted for developing one of the first written scripts around 3000 BC in the form of wedge-shaped marks pressed into clay tablets. This cuneiform script was also adapted and used for roughly two thousand years by surrounding peoples. (Read more.)