What was the social order
There seemed to be 3 main classes in the Ancient Mesopotamian social hierarchy. At the top there was the king (and/or queen). Then there were the priests, the scribes, and the merchants and artisans, all part of the upper class, and just above the commoners. The commoners made up the middle class, and were generally uneducated, with the majority of their jobs (85%!) related to farming and herding, as well as fishing and pottery. Then, the lower class, were simply slaves, forced to do crude laborious tasks for their 'masters'.
It is interesting that the farmers and fishers were treated at a lower standard than the scribes and merchants, even though they control the food supply for the cities, which is obviously more important than literature and trade. However, this is possibly because of the laborious tasks which they perform, or because of their lack of education, and so most scribes and merchants possibly come from wealthy families, unlike the commoners who cannot afford to live without their farms. The King lives at the top of the hierarchy for obvious reasons, and the priests do as well, probably because of how important religion was in ancient times, and they were considered to be their links to their god(s). It is also possible that they were believed to be holy, and so anyone who mistreated them may be punished in the afterlife.
The social order gave significance to other, less important jobs such as the artisan (Craft Worker). By having the division of labour - because of the food surplus from farming - a social order developed, which allowed people to focus on the arts and literature, and the social hierarchy allowed such jobs to be considered significant.
There seemed to be 3 main classes in the Ancient Mesopotamian social hierarchy. At the top there was the king (and/or queen). Then there were the priests, the scribes, and the merchants and artisans, all part of the upper class, and just above the commoners. The commoners made up the middle class, and were generally uneducated, with the majority of their jobs (85%!) related to farming and herding, as well as fishing and pottery. Then, the lower class, were simply slaves, forced to do crude laborious tasks for their 'masters'.
It is interesting that the farmers and fishers were treated at a lower standard than the scribes and merchants, even though they control the food supply for the cities, which is obviously more important than literature and trade. However, this is possibly because of the laborious tasks which they perform, or because of their lack of education, and so most scribes and merchants possibly come from wealthy families, unlike the commoners who cannot afford to live without their farms. The King lives at the top of the hierarchy for obvious reasons, and the priests do as well, probably because of how important religion was in ancient times, and they were considered to be their links to their god(s). It is also possible that they were believed to be holy, and so anyone who mistreated them may be punished in the afterlife.
The social order gave significance to other, less important jobs such as the artisan (Craft Worker). By having the division of labour - because of the food surplus from farming - a social order developed, which allowed people to focus on the arts and literature, and the social hierarchy allowed such jobs to be considered significant.