Ancient Mesopotamia is located in a land that we know today as the Fertile Crescent. In Greek the word "Mesopotamia" means "land between the rivers." According to many scholars it is considered the first civilization. And as it is a rich agricultural area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers the name highly suits this magnificent and lush area. What was so special about the Mesopotamians and Sumerians?  What makes up a civilization? What allowed the Mesopotamians to prosper? What problems were there in Mesopotamia? What led to their downfall? What was Hammurabi's Code? The answers to these questions will be the subject of this paper.

A civilization is fundamentally an advanced and complicated form of a culture. "The Sumerians stand out in history as the first group of people to become civilized. They developed a new way of life that set them apart from neighboring peoples." There...