Chapter 5
I. Fertile Crescent 7.1.1/7.3.7
A. Location
1. The Fertile Crescent forms a semi-circle from Persian
Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea.
2. It is a large arc of rich or fertile farmland .
3. The eastern part of the Fertile Crescent is
Mesopotamia.
B. The eastern part of the Fertile Crescent is
called Mesopotamia.
1. Mesopotamia - “land between the rivers”
2. The two main rivers are the Tigris & Euphrates.
3. Mesopotamia was the world’s first civilization.
.
C. The yearly flooding of the rivers brought silt.
1. Silt made the land ideal for farming.
2. Silt- a mixture of rich soil and tiny rocks
II.
Farming & Cities 7.1.1/7.3.7/7.3.11
A. Mesopotamians had to learn to control
flooding.
1. They used canals and irrigation ditches.
2. Canals are human-made waterways.
B. Farmers used irrigation
to supply water to
an area of land.
C. A better system of farming led to a surplus of
food.
1. Mesopotamian foods - fish, meat, wheat,
barley, and dates.
2. Surplus led to trade
. Development of Cities
1. Fewer people had to farm
2. People were free to do other jobs
3. Division of labor-people specializing in a
particular job.
4. People went from being huntergathers to living in villages (farmers)
to forming cities with laws and
government.
Section 2: Rise of Sumer
I. City –States
7.1.1/7.3.7/7.3.11
A. Most people in Sumer were farmers.
1. They lived in rural areas.
2. Rural means country.
B. Cities
1. Centers of Sumerian society
2. Urban means city areas.
II. Sumer
A. Sumerians developed the first
civilization in Sumer (around 3000 B.C.).
B. City-States consisted of a city and the
countryside around it.
C. City-States fought each other to gain
more farmland.
D. The people built strong armies and
walls around their cities.
III. Rise of Akkadian Empire and Sargon
7.1.3/7.3.7/7.3.11
A. Capital city north of Sumer was Akkad.
B. Spoke a different language
C. Leader was Sargon
IV. Sargon 7.1.3
A. First ruler with permanent
army.
1. Used bows and arrows.
B. Sargon established first
empire.
1. Empire- land with different
territories and peoples
under a single rule
Sargon’s Army
V. Religion 7.1.1/ 7.3.11
A. Played a role in daily life
B. Practiced polytheism -belief in many gods
1. Gods had powers
2. Priests had great status in Sumer
Sumarian Ziggurat
(Temple)
3. Largest building was ziggurat where people
worshipped (step-pyramid shaped)
VI. Society 7.1.1/ 7.3.11
A. In Sumerian society, people’s
social class or rank depended
on their wealth and their
occupation (Job).
Sumerian Social Hierarchy
King
Priests
Craft people, Merchants,
Traders
Farmers
Laborers
Slaves
(Could gain freedom
after 3 years)
VII. Role of Men and Women 7.1.1/ 7.3.11
A. Men
1. Men held political power and made
laws.
2. Men received education
B. Women
1. Women took care of home and kids.
2. Some upper class women were educated.
3. Some women were priestesses in Sumer’s
temples.
Section 3 7.1.3
I. Invention of writing
A. Sumerians developed cuneiform, the
world’s first system of writing.
1. Sumerians used sharp tools called styluses to
make wedge-shaped symbols on clay tablets.
2. Earlier communication used pictographs
(picture symbols).
3. Developed an alphabet
(alphabet we use today is
based on the Phoenician
alphabet)
a. It made writing easier
b. Each letter represented a
sound instead of a word
or phrase.
c. More people could learn
to read and write.
B. Scribes were writers hired to keep track
of records.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Most scribes were boys.
Studied reading and writing in school.
Epics- long poems that tell the stories of heroes
Epic of Gilgamesh-story of a legendary Sumerian king
II. Other inventions 7.1.3
A. First people to use the wheel
1. vehicles such as carts
2. horse drawn chariots
3. potter’s wheel
B. Plows pulled by oxen broke the hard
clay soil.
C. Built sewers under city streets
D. Developed math system based on 60
1. Divided circle into 360 degrees
2. Divided a year into 12 months
3. Calculated area of triangles and rectangles
E. Sumerian Art
1. Architecture-science of building
a. Kings- large palaces
b. Rich- two-story homes
c. Most people- One-story homes
d. Clay bricks-made of mud
e. Ziggurat- step pyramid-shaped temple
2. Art such as statues, pottery, and jewelry
3. Cylinder Seals with designs to sign
documents
Section 3
7.1.1/7.3.11
I. Rise of Babylon
A. 1792 B.C. Hammurabi became Babylon’s king;
he brought all of Mesopotamia under his control.
B. Hammurabi’s Code
1. Set of 282 laws that dealt with most
parts of daily life
---Written down for all to see
2. Carved laws on a stone column for
everyone to see
3. Believed punishment should reflect
the crime
II. Assyrians 7.1.1/7.3.11
A. iron working/use of
chariots
fierce fighters
B. Chaldeans:
Nebuchadnessar- famous Chaldean king
1. Rebuilt Babylon and built Hanging
Gardens of Babylon
2. Chaldeans charted position of stars,
created a calendar, and solved
geometry problems.
complex
Babylonian and Assyrian Empire
III. Phoenicians 7.1.1/7.3.11
A. Present day Lebanon
B. Purple dye made from shellfish (purple cloth used for
royalty and rich)
C. Had valuable CEDAR trees (great trade item)
D. Developed an alphabet (alphabet we use today is based
on the Phoenician alphabet)