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What is a Civilization?
A look at the earliest civilizations in Mesopotamia
6 Elements of a Civilization
• Cities• Government• Religion• Art• Class Division• Writing
Farming Revolution
• Farming Revolution started about 10,000 years ago
• Domestication-tame plants and animals for human use
• Villages grew as nomadic life changed for farming
• Specialization-development of different types of job, not everyone needed for food collection
Mesopotamia-Cradle of Civilization
• “Land between 2 rivers”– Tigris and Euphrates Rivers– Floods once a year leaving behind rich soil good
for farming– Travel, trade,– Irrigation
The Fertile Crescent
Rise of the First Civilization
• Between 4000-3000 BC in Mesopotamia (Iraq today)
• Complex societies arose which had cities, government, art, religion, class division, and writing
Cities of Mesopotamia• Sumer– City-state with
own independent government and defenses (like a country)
– 3500-2800 BC
Government• Organized to provide
for basic needs of people– Food, buildings, laws,
army• Hammurabi– Ruler of Babylon in
Mesopotamia– Created a code of
laws which was a first step toward a fair system of justice
Religion
• Polytheistic-many gods– Had powers over natural forces and human
activities• Ziggurat– Temple – “mountain of god”
Art• Developed after basic needs are met
Class Division
• Your place in society based on your job or power.
king
priest, govt. officials
artisans, merchants, farmers, fishers
slaves
Writing• keep track of records, ideas
-Sumer=cuneiform-oldest story, Epic of Gilgamesh
Do we live in a civilization today? How do you know that?