-

Mesopotamia
 The Fertile
Crescent

• Mesopotamia
means “between
the rivers”

• Specifically, the area between the Tigris River

and Euphrates River (mostly now in present-
day Iraq)
 Mesopotamia: Civilization
• Earliest of all known civilizations
• The first people to form permanent settlements
• Lasted for approximately 3000 years

• first to irrigate fields, devise a

system of writing, develop
mathematics, invent the wheel and
learn to work metal
 Mesopotamia:
Geography
• Little rainfall

• Hot and dry climate

• Windstorms leaving muddy river valleys in winter

• Catastrophic flooding of the rivers

in spring

• Arid soil containing few minerals

So… why settle
here? How could
• No stone or timber resources they survive?
 Ancient
coastlines

Geographic conditions were right for creating Natural Levees.

• A natural levee is an embankment made by a build up of

sediment over thousands of years of flooding
Natural Levees:
• Create a high and safe flood plain
• Make irrigation for farming and canal construction easy
• Provides protection
• Make surrounding swamps full of fish & waterfowl
• reeds provided food for sheep & goats
• reeds provided building resources Perfect conditions
for a Civilization!
 Food
 Water
 Building
resources
 Natural
protection

What more could

you want?
 Mesopotamia: History
Over the centuries, many different people lived
in this area creating a independent city-states

1. Sumer- (3500-2000 BCE)

2. Akkad- (2340 – 2180 BCE)
3. Babylonia- (1830-1500 BCE)
4. Assyria- Assyrian Empire
(1100 -612 BCE)
5. Babylonia- (650-500 BCE
unifiedagain)
 Mesopotamia: Government

3. Priests 4. Priests
2. Frequent
and Kings controlled
1. Had an wars led to
had power religious and
early form warriors
because they economic life.
become
of leaders and
“spoke” with Kings
democracy the chosen controlled
eventually
god of the political and
kings
City-State military life.
 The Rise of Sumer
Complete the fill-in-the-blank notes
using chapter 5 section 2) pg122

• In southern Mesopotamia a people known as the Sumerians developed the

worlds first civilization. By 3000BC, several hundred thousand residents
settled in Mesopotamia in a land they called Sumer.

City State of Sumer

• Most people in Sumer were Farmers they lived mainly in Rural areas. The
centers of Sumerian society were in the Urban areas. The basic political unit
of Sumer combined the two parts in a single unit called a City-State. A City-
State consisted of a Central City and all the countryside around it.

• City-states in Sumer fought each other to gain more farmland.

• Individual city-states Uruk and Ur power over time. The city state Kish had
become powerful. Over the next 1000 years Uruk and Ur fought. One of
Urak’s Kings, known as Gilgamesh became a legendary Sumerian figure.
 The Rise of Sumer
continued…

Rise of the Akkadian Empire

• Another Society was built by the Akkadians. They lived just north of Sumer.
• In spite of their differences, the Sumerians and Akkadians lived in peace for
many years. The peace was broken when Sargon sought to extend Akkadian
territory.
• Sargon was the first ruler to have a permanent army. Sargon’s soldiers
conquered all of the city states of Sumer and northern Mesopotamia bringing
the entire region under Sargon’s control.
• Sargon established the world’s first Empire. The empire only lasted only a
century after his death. Eventually the Sumerian city-state of UR conquered
the rest of Mesopotamia.
 Sumerian Religion

• The Sumerians practiced Polytheism, the worship of many gods.

Each city state considered one god to be its special protector.

• Priests had great status in society. They interpreted the wishes of

the gods and made offerings to them.

Mesopotamian gods
• Enlil & Utu - supreme god; god
of rain & sun
• Ishtar- goddess of fertility & life
• Inanna - goddess of love & war
• Enki- god of water & underworld
• Shamash- god of sun and giver
of law
Sumerian: Social hierarchy
Kings,

Priests and
wealthy
property owners

Skilled workers,
merchants and
farmers

Slaves (sold themselves into

slavery or were captured during
war)
 Men & Women in Sumer

• Men held political power and made laws.

• Women took care of the home and children.

• Education was usually reserved for Men but some upper class
Women were educated. Some of them became priestesses in
Sumer’s temples.
  Check Point
True or False

1. Natural Levees created the right conditions for a

civilization to thrive.
2. Mesopotamia was made up of a series of City-States.
3. Mesoptamia was primarily Monothestic.
4. There are 3 main social classes

5. What are the 2 rivers feed the Fertile Crescent?

Sumerian Achievements
Complete the fill-in-the-blank notes
using chapter 5 section 3) pg12

Invention of Writing
• Cuneiform: the world’s first system of writing
• Sumerians used sharp tools called a stylus to
make symbols on clay tablets
• Sumerians first used cuneiform to keep
business records. In time they put their writing
skills to new uses they wrote works on history,
law, grammar and math. They also created
works of literature.
• Later, people used some of these poems to
create the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Epic of Gilgamesh
• Gilgamesh is an ancient story or
epic poem written in
Mesopotamia more than 4000
thousand years ago.

• It is the first known work of

great literature.

• The epic of Gilgamesh is the:

• story of the creation of
humans and animals,
• description of cities and
their rulers
• Story of the great flood (like
Noah and the Ark from the
Holy Bible)
 Technical Advances
1. The Wheel 5. Sewers

2. Potter’s Wheel 6. Bronze Tools

3. The Plow 7. Makeup

4. Water Clock 8. Glass Jewelry

 Math and Science

· They developed a math system based on 60.

· The divided a circle by 360 degrees

· They divided the year by 12 months

· They wrote long lists to record the study of the Natural

World
· They also made advance in medicine.
 Architecture & Art
Architecture

 City centers were

dominated by their
temple called a
ziggurat, a pyramid
shaped temple.
Famous ziggurat-Tower of Babel

Art

1. Sculpture 3. Jewelry
2. Pottery 4. Cylinder seals
Later Peoples of the fertile Crescent
Take your own notes using chapter 5 section 4 (pg132-137)

Be sure to include information regarding the

following topics:

• Babylon
• Hammurabi
• Hittites & Kassites
• Assyrians
• Chaldeans
• Phoenecians
 The Code of Hammurabi
• To enforce his rule, Hammurabi collected all the
laws of Babylon in a code
• These laws would apply everywhere in the land

• Code of 282 laws inscribed on a stone pillar

placed in the public hall for all to see

• Some divinely-inspired, others were laws that

governed society.

• Punishments were designed to fit the crimes as

people must be responsible for own actions
• “An eye for an eye…” (If a son struck his
father, the son’s hand would be cut off)

• Consequences for crimes depended on rank in

society (ex: only fines for nobility)

The Hammurabi stone depicts Hammurabi

receiving his authority from god, Shamash
 The following slides are for review of
specific topics from Chapter 5 section 2-4
 Sumerians
• First inhabitants
• Created city-states
• Built high walls to protect from invaders
• Built irrigation canals for local use

•Developed cuneiform writing for lists,

records & business letters

•Developed a trade system with bartering:

mainly barley but also wool and cloth for
stone, metals, timber, pearls and ivory

•Individuals could only rent land from priests

(who controlled land on behalf of gods)

•Most of profits of trade went to temple

 Akkadians
• Leader: Sargon the Great
• Sargon unified lower Mesopotamia
(after conquering Sumerians in 2331 BCE)
• Established capital at Akkad
• Spread Mesopotamian culture

• The Akkadians were

conquered by invading
barbarians by 2200 BCE
(131 years after
unification)
 Babylonians
• Babylonians reunited Mesopotamia in 1830 BCE

• Central location dominated trade and secured control

•Leader: King Hammurabi

 Babylonians: Hammurabi’s reign
• Conquered Akkad and Assyria (north and south
Mesopotamia)

• He build new walls to protect the city and new canals and
dikes to improve crops

• Economy based on agriculture and wool

• Individuals could own land around cities

• Artisans and merchants could keep most profits and even

formed guilds (unions)

• Grain used as the medium of exchange & early currency

• shekel = 180 grains of barley
 Assyrians

• 10th century BCE- Assyria

became dominant after
Hammurabi’s death
• Rule by fear as kings built
armies of ~ 200,000 men
armed with bronze/iron
weapons
• City of Assur- became
important trading and
political center
• Made conquered lands pay
taxes of food, animals,
metal or timber
 Mesopotamia: Cultural Contributions
Sumer Babylon Assyria

• Closely tied to • Production of food • Kings conquered

environment through farming lands to create
• Irrigation • Private ownership empire of Assyria
techniques for of land vs • Cooler climate
farming ownership by the could produce
gods crops with little
• wheel irrigation
• Developed Deposits of ore
• Trade- bartering mathematics and
•
allowed for
• Writing- cuneiform calendar system development and
and system of units use of iron
• Religion tied to for currency
government as • Assyrian army
priests and kings • Hammurabi’s law became most
made decision for code effective
gods military
force
• Ziggurats