Warm Up
• Explain how the Agricultural Revolution changed life for mankind.
CPS Quiz
Mesopotamia
Key Terms
• Fertile Crescent• Mesopotamia• Barter• City-state• Dynasty• Cultural diffusion• Polytheism• Empire
• Hammurabi’s Code
Mesopotamia Preview
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Geography of Fertile Crescent
• Between the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean Sea
• Southwest Asia• Desert climate• Curved shape and fertile
land gave it it’s name
Mesopotamia
• Part of the Fertile Crescent
• “land between the rivers”
• Between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
• Annual floods left rich soil for farming
Sumer
• Bronze Age began here• Early civilization in city
of Ur• Agricultural Economy
with irrigation system• Roads of windowless
houses and shops for craftsmen
• System of bartering
Environmental Disadvantages• Land almost a desert
because of unpredictable floods and little to no rain
• No natural barriers for protection
• Natural resources were limited, specifically building materials
Problems Solved• Irrigation ditches to carry
water from rivers to fields
• Built city walls with mud bricks
• Traded goods with people of mountains and desert for raw materials (stone, wood, and metal)
Sumer Civilization• Set apart from other early
societies due to use of five characteristics of civilization
• Built cities surrounded by fields, that shared same culture
• Each city formed its own government, making a city-state
Sumer Government• Early gov’t controlled by
temple priests• Believed success of crops
depending on blessings of gods
• Priests were believed to be able to talk to gods
• Priests took portion of every farmer’s crops as taxes
Sumer Government
• Men chose a tough fighter to lead city in war
• Power ended at end of war
• Some military leaders became rulers and would pass power on to their son, forming a dynasty
Cultural Diffusion• New cities started in other
locations in Fertile Crescent
• Sumerians shared products and ideas with these new cultures
• Spread of ideas or products from one culture to another is cultural diffusion
Sumerian Religion
• Polytheism, belief in more than one god
• Different gods controlled forces of nature
• Most powerful god was Enlil, god of storm and air
• Gods were like people
• Gods immortal• Humans were
servants• Believed dead souls
went to underworld
Sumerian Society
• Social classes• Kings, landholders, and
some priests were highest level
• Wealthy merchants were upper class
• Most Sumerians worked in fields or workshops and were middle class
• Slaves were lowest level
• Slaves were prisoners of war or Sumerians sold as children to pay of debts of their poor parents
Sumerian Science and Technology
• Invented wheel, sail, and plow
• Developed number system in base 60, which is used for modern time and measuring a circle
• Architecture• System of writing called
cuneiform
First Empires• City-states fighting one
another• Sargon, leader of Akkad
defeated Sumer• Controlled all of
Mesopotamia, creating first empire
• Empire brings peoples, nations, or states under control of one ruler
Babylonian Empire• 2000 B.C. nomadic
warriors known as Amorites invade the region
• Take control of Sumer• Create capital on the
Euphrates River, called Babylon
• Empire at strongest with Hammurabi as leader
Hammurabi’s Code
• Code of laws used to unify diverse groups in empire
• Code engraved in stone that were placed all over empire
• Dealt with all issues• Protected women and
children
• Punishment depended on social class and gender
• Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth mentality
Activity
• Hammurabi’s Code Interpretation and Illustration
Assyrian Empire
• Assyria 850BC advanced military strength
• Rise of warrior people• Northern Mesopotamia• Warlike behavior• Rule the Tigris to Egypt• Sennacherib destroyed,
82 cities, 820 villages, and burned Babylon
Military Organization and Conquest
• Used iron– Armor– Spears– swords
• Siege of cities– Pontoons for bridges– Undermine walls– Marched shoulder to
shoulder
Military Organization and Conquest
• Archers• Battering rams• Killed captives • Enslaved people• Forced exile
Assyrian Culture
• Nineveh- largest city of its day
• Sculptures of lion hunts and military campaigns
• King Ashurbanipal collected 20,000 clay tablets
• Library had modern features– Cataloging
The Empire Crumbles• 612 BC• Chaldeans and Medes level
Nineveh• Rebirth of Babylon• Nebuchadnezzar restored
Babylon• Hanging Gardens• Seven tiered Ziggurat• Sun, moon, earth and five
planets in our solar system
Activity
• Civilization Chart