Museum of History: Siu Lai-kuen
"The Mesopotamian civilisation had such a big influence on the arts, urban life, astrology, the system of telling time and more," Museum of History chief curator Susanna Siu Lai-kuen said. "The innovations of Mesopotamia are very relevant to our lives today. We thought it was important to bring this to the public."
Dr. Gideon Sjoborg
"As far as is known, the world's first cities took shape . . . in the Fertile Crescent, the eastern segment of which includes Mesopotamia."
Kagan, 0
"In the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (Mesopotamia) and soon after in the valley of the Nile in Egypt, human beings moved from a life in agricultural villages, using tools of wood, bone, shell, and stone, into a much richer and more varied social organization that we call civilization"
Spielvogel, Jackson. phd
"The Mesopotamians viewed their city-states as earthly copies of a divine model and order. Each city-state was sacred because it was linked to a god or goddess. Hence, Nippur, the earliest center of Sumerian religion, was dedicated to Enlil, god of Wind. Moreover, located at the heart of each major city-state was a temple complex. Occupying several acres, this sacred area consisted of a ziggurat with a temple at the top dedicated to the god or goddess who owned the city. The temple complex was the true center of the community. The main god or goddess dwelt there symbolically in the form of a statue, and the ceremony of dedication included a ritual that linked the statue to the god or goddess and thus supposedly harnessed the power of the deity for the city's benefit....Although the gods literally owned the city, the temple complex used only part of the land and rented out the remainder"
Deborah solomon
“The ancient kingdom of Mesopotamia, which flourished in the region that became Iraq, is what textbooks like to call the birthplace of urban civilization. The Mesopotamians were the first to record their thoughts in writing, the first to divide the day into 24 hours, the first to eat off ceramic plates."