MESOPOTAMIA
THE FERTILE CRESCENT Fertile Crescent = moon-shaped strip of land from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf that is excellent farmland Located in modern-day Middle East
THE FERTILE CRESCENT Mesopotamia = located within the Fertile Crescent, between the Tigris & Euphrates Rivers Rivers were NOT a reliable source of water (unlike the Nile) Ran dry in summer; flooded in spring Villages joined together to build dams, canals, and ditches
Ancient Mesopotamia Ancient Mesopotamia covered three general areas: Assyria Akkad Sumer Several different ethnicities lived in these areas.
THE EMPIRE The Akkadians lived north of the Sumerian city-states. Around 2340 B.C.E. the leader of the Akkadians, Sargon, conquered the Sumerian city-states and set up the world s first empire.
Sumerians By 3,000 B.C.E. the Sumerians had formed a number of city-states centered around cities such as Ur and Uruk City-states were the basic political unit of the Sumerian Civilization.
City-States City-states governed themselves Each city and the surrounding land it controlled formed a city-state. A city-state functioned much as an independent country does today. Laws regulated the roles of women & men men had far more rights
Ziggurats The center of all Sumerian cities was the walled temple with a ziggurat in the middle. There the priests and rulers appealed to the gods for the well-being of the city-state. The temple (most important building) was built on top of a massive stepped tower called a ziggurat. Sumerians believed gods and goddesses owned and ruled the cities.
Mesopotamian (Sumerian Society)
Religion Polytheistic - meaning they believed in many gods who controlled different forces of nature believed gods to do what humans do Worship in ziggurats wealth devoted to building temples believed success of crops depended on the gods believed priest and eventually kings to be representative to the gods
Social Structure Three classes Highest class were nobles. This included the royal family, royal officials, priests and their families.
Social Structure Three classes The middle class were commoners. They worked for large estates as farmers or they worked as merchants, fishermen, and craftspeople.
Social Structure Three classes The lowest class were slaves who worked on large building projects, wove cloth, and worked the farms of the nobles for next to nothing.
Economy based on agriculture large-scale system of water control, crops could be grown on a regular basis traded for stone, wood, and metal from other societies to build empires
Writing System Cuneiform = Sumerian system of writing The symbols represented complex ideas The Sumerians created a system of writing called cuneiform (wedge-shaped). They used a reed stylus to make wedge-shaped markings on clay tablets. Writing was for record keeping, teaching, and law.
Sumerian Inventions 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Wagon Wheel Arch Potter s Wheel Sundial 12-month Calendar Metal Plow
The Epic of Gilgamesh This is the most important piece of Mesopotamian literature, teaches the lesson that only gods are immortal. Gilgamesh is wise and strong, a being who is part human and part god. Gilgamesh befriends a hairy beast named Enkidu. When Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh feels the pain of his friend s death, and he searches for the secret of immortality. He fails.
Hammurabi and the Second Empire: Babylonia In 1792 B.C.E. Hammurabi of Babylon, a city-state south of Akkad, established a new empire over much of both Akkad and Sumer. ruled for 43 years a skilled warrior a clever administrator and a diplomat
Hammurabi s Law Code The Code of Hammurabi is one of the world s most important early systems of law. It calls for harsh punishments against criminals.
Hammurabi s Law Code The principle of retaliation; an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, is fundamental in Hammurabi s code.282 laws - conditional sentence - if you do this, you will receive this punishment inscribed on an 8-foot-high stone slab
Purpose for the Code to promote the welfare of the people, make justice visible in the land, destroy the wicked person and the evil, in order that the strong might not injure the weak. placed all groups in the empire under one law
Purpose for the Code deals with many aspects of daily life: property rights, trade(business), family issues, professional services, and crime contained consumer protection laws to encourage the proper performance of work largest group of laws dealt with marriage and the family
Marriage & Family Laws Parents arranged marriages, and the two parties signed a marriage contract protected women and children Women still had fewer privileges and rights than men expressed the patriarchal nature of Mesopotamian society enforced the obedience of children to parents
Main Idea of the Code... Main Idea = government's job to look after its people (even though penalties were severe and it punished the rich and poor differently)