1.
Define Civilizations.
2.
What effect did irrigation have on the
people of Mesopotamia?
3.
Why did Sumerians study the skies?
4.
What were some of the benefits in living in
Hammurabi’s empire? What were some of
the drawbacks?
Achievements
of
Mesopotamian
Civilization
How did the 1st Empire
form in Mesopotamia?
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Why are these steps
important?
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Over thousands of years, some of the early farming villages
developed into civilizations.
Civilizations are complex societies with cities, governments, art,
religion, class division, and a writing system.
The first civilizations arose in river valleys because good farming
conditions made it easy to feed large numbers of people.
Rivers also made travel and trade easier. Trade provided a way for
goods and ideas to move from place to place.
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As cities took shape, so did the need for organization.
Governments were formed because someone had to make plans and
decisions for the common good.
Leaders took charge of food and building projects.
The made laws to keep order and assembled armies to fend off
enemies.
With fewer worries people spent more time developing religions and
art. They invented ways of writing and a calendar to tell time.
They also had a class structure where people held different places in
society based on the work they did, and how much wealth they had.
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The earliest-known civilization arose in what is now southern
Iraq, on a flat plain bounded by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
This area was called Mesopotamia.
Mesopotamia is Greek for “the land between the rivers.”
The climate was hot and dry however in the Spring the rivers
often flooded, leaving behind rich soil for farming.
The floods were frequent and unpredictable. Farmers learned to
control the rivers with dams and channels. They also used the
rivers to irrigate, or water, their crops.
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By 3,000 B.C. many cities had formed in a southern region of
Mesopotamia known as Sumer.
Sumerian cities were city-states, with their own governments.
Sumerian cities often fought each other. To protest themselves,
the city-states built walls around themselves.
Why would the fight each other? To gain glory and control over
more territory.
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Sumerians believed in many gods.
Each city-state had a ziggurat, or grand temple, to honor the gods.
Each god was thought to have power over a natural force or a
human activity.
The ziggurat had tiers like a giant square wedding cake. It
dominated the city. At the top was a special place of worship that
only priest and priestesses to go.
Priest and priestesses were very powerful and controlled much of
the land. Later kings ruled the land.
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Most Sumerians were farmers, but some were artisans, or skilled
workers. Others were merchants and traders.
Sumerian city-states had three classes.
Upper Class: consisted of kings, priests, and government officials.
Middle Class: consisted of artisans, merchants, fishers, and farmers.
Lower Class: consisted of slaves
Roles: Men headed the household. Only males could go to school.
Women could buy and sell property, and run businesses.
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DISCUSSION QUESTION: In your groups turn and talk to
answer the following question.
What effect did irrigation have on the people of Mesopotamia?
Irrigation allowed farmers to grow plenty of food. More food
meant more people could be fed so the population grew.
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Mesopotamia has been called the cradle of civilization because of the
influence of Sumerian ideas on other areas.
Their greatest invention was probably writing.
Writing helps people keep records and pass on ideas. Sumerians
developed a writing system called cuneiform. Only a few people, called
scribes, learned to write. Scribes held honored positions in society
often going on to become judges and political leaders.
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The Sumerians also produced the oldest knows story, the Epic of
Gilgamesh.
An epic is a long poem that tells the story of a hero.
Gilgamesh was a king who traveled around the world with a
friend performing great deeds. When his friend dies he searches
for a way to live forever only to figure out that it is only possible
for gods to live forever.
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Mesopotamians’ creativity also extended to technology.
They created/invented things such as the wagon wheel, the sailboat, and the
plow.
They developed many mathematical ideas. They used geometry to measure
fields and put up buildings.
They created a number system based on 60. We can thank them for our 60
minute hour, 60 second minute, and 360 degree circle.
They also recorded the movement of the planets and stars and developed a 12
month calendar based off the cycles of the moon.
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DISCUSSION QUESTION: In your groups turn and talk to
answer the following question.
Why did Sumerians study the skies?
The locations of the planets and stars guided the Sumerians’
farming and festivals.
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Sargon, the king of the Akkadians, conquered all of Mesopotamia and
set up the world’s first empire. An empire is a group of many different
lands under one ruler.
Sargon’s empire lasted more than 200 years before falling to invaders.
After Sargon, another group of people became powerful. They built
the city of Babylon on the Euphrates River.
This occurred in the 1800’s B.C.
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The Babylonian king, Hammurabi, conquered lands north and south
of Babylon to create the Babylonian Empire.
Hammurabi is bet known for hi law code or collection of laws.
The Code of Hammurabi covered crimes, farming, business activities,
and marriage and family. Many punishments in the code were cruel,
but the code was an important step in the development of a justice
system.
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DISCUSSION QUESTION: In your groups turn and talk to answer the
following question.
What were some of the benefits in living in Hammurabi’s empire? What were
some of the drawbacks?
Benefits: Living in a large, powerful empire helps keep enemies from taking
over the land; Hammurabi’s code helped keep people from committing crimes
against one another.
Drawbacks: Hammurabi’s code had cruel punishments; people were governed
by one person’ Hammurabi, instead of living in a representative government.