Adapting to technological advances is a defining part of 21st-century life.
Their civilisation is credited with the invention of writing.
The Mesopotamians are credited with the invention of writing.
The city of Babylon, whose ruins are pictured here, was a centre of Mesopotamian culture.
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Were flooded with theories on how new advances inAImay change how we work, study and live.
Ancient Mesopotamiawas home to many of civilisations early developments.
Its people were world leaders in adapting to technological and cultural change.
Mesopotamians inventedthe wheeland agriculture, and pioneered advances in mathematics, urbanisation and transportation.
These breakthroughs are reflected in cuneiform literature, one of the oldest known forms of writing.
New uses covered everything from diplomatic correspondences to omen texts, to some of the worlds oldest literary masterpieces.
Mesopotamian epics feature numerous battles, some using technology such as advanced weaponry.
These advances allow him to engage in previously unknown activities, such as sailing and deep-sea diving.
Lugalbanda improves the technique of fire-starting by using flint to spark embers and bake bread.
The heroes use of new tools emphasises their exceptionalism.
Inventions and ambiguity
Mesopotamian epics dont present cultural and technological advances as unambiguously and uniformly beneficial.
In Gilgamesh, the benefits of civilisation and urbanisation are juxtaposed with their costs, like environmental destruction.
This clay tablet is inscribed with part of the epic of Gilgamesh.
Conversely, modern technology continues to broaden our understanding of history.
AI will likely continue to alter the way historians analyse the past.
And even the crafty Gilgamesh couldntescape his own mortality.
Humans have been grappling with how to invent, use and adapt to technology since our earliest civilisations.
In Mesopotamian epic literature, new technology helps heroic individuals travel beyond accepted limitations and develop new skills.
But the technology and resulting knowledge arenot always evenly distributed.
