Women in Mesopotamia - A Brief Overview

The invention of writing happened in around 3000 BCE in Sumer, which is between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern day Iraq. The three major preserved collections of Mesopotamian law are the Codex Hammurabi, Middle Assyrian laws, and the Hittite laws. Female subordination within the family becomes institutionalized and codified in law. Prostitution becomes established and regulated. Women are excluded from certain occupations and professions. And then also female deities, which had been worshipped, are subordinated to chief male gods and origin myths legitimate male ascendancy.