Discuss the basic features of Mesopotamian culture as reflected in its literature and art.

Mesopotamian culture was not entirely monolithic, as the
geographic region included multiple linguistic and cultural groups. One striking feature
of Mesopotamian cultures was the degree to which it was urbanized and centralized. The
two inter-related institutions of place and temple were socially, culturally,
religiously, and visually the centres of the early city states and later kingdoms. Their
strikingly massive monumental architecture, which celebrated the power of monarchs and
gods, reflected the centrality of these institutions within the society. Much of
Mesopotamian literature is concerned with the institution of kingship and the nature of
the gods. Unlike the squabbling nobles of Homer's Iliad, even the Mesopotamian elites
were clearly subordinated to central authority.

The early
Mesopotamian government was strikingly bureaucratic, with elaborate written law codes
and systems of taxation. The orderliness of the society is reflected in the geometrical
organization of the art, especially in the way figures in bas reliefs are symmetrically
organized into ranks.