Uso e gestione delle acque in Mesopotamia nel Secondo Millennio a.C.

Man has always modified the environment where he lived: hunting, fishing, using fire, and so on. But one of the most strong human impact on the nature was made by the agriculture: to deforest, to divert the course of a river, to create artificial basin are only some examples. In Mesopotamia the presence of the two big rivers, Tigris and Euphrates, with seasonal regimes, induced the men to dig canals very early, so the land was exploited to the utmost for centuries. Water-courses were used also as communication and commercial roads: ships and boats (especially flat-bottomed and cargo) sailed up and down rivers and canals. During the 2nd Millennium B.C. , with the political unification of the south by Hammurabi of Babylon, we can see the inferences of the excessive previous exploitation (some areas had an high degree of salinity, others became desert or marsh), but also a unitary strategy of interference by the kings to find a remedy. On the one hand more rational systems of embankments and canals, use of master cylinders, and on the other hand a legislation directed to support a good management and upkeep of the water-courses.