TOPIC #16 FERTILE CRESCENT GEO.
DATE – 10/1/13
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WAR: Skim ch. 3 and then draw a preview page
for the chapter. You should draw one picture for
each section, so you should have four pictures
altogether). Please divide the page and label
your pictures.
Chapter 3
MESOPOTAMIA AND THE FERTILE
CRESCENT
SECTION 1: GEOGRAPHY OF THE FERTILE
CRESCENT
People settled near water so crops could grow
 One region that was ideal for settlement sat
between 2 major rivers, the Tigris and
Euphrates
 This area of rich soil was called….
The
Fertile
Crescent!
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WHAT IS THE LAND BETWEEN THE RIVERS?
Mesopotamia is Greek for “between 2 rivers”
 Mesopotamia lies between the Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers
 It has 2 parts:
-the North is a plateau bordered by
mountains
- the South is a flat plain
 Mesopotamia is part of a larger area called the
Fertile Crescent, which has VERY rich soil
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HOW DID THE FIRST CIVILIZATION RISE?
H-G groups first settled in Mesopotamia
12,000 years ago
 The floods of the Tigris and Euphrates brought
silt, a mixture of rich soil and tiny rocks which
made the land great for farming
 1st farming settlements formed in 7000 BC
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Plentiful
Food
Population
Growth
Village
Formation
Rise of
Civilization
WHAT MAKES A CIVILIZATION?
To be a civilization, a society must have the following:
 Central government
 Cities
 Division of labor
 Social levels (hierarchy)
 Trade
 Advanced farms
 Use of metal tools
 Writing system
 Religious system
 Calendar
WHAT WAS MESOPOTAMIAN FARMING LIKE?
Received very little rain and flooding of the
rivers could be dangerous
 Farmers needed to control the rivers’ flow
 Used irrigation, a way of supplying water to an
area of land
 Dug basins and canals that brought water to
the fields and built up river banks to hold back
floods
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HOW DID IRRIGATION AFFECT THE
CIVILIZATION?
Irrigation increased the amount of food farmers
grew and provided water for domesticated
animals
 Produced a food surplus, or more than they
needed
 Fewer people needed to farm because there
was so much food
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HOW DID IRRIGATION AFFECT THE
CIVILIZATION?
People were more free to do other jobs
 Division of labor formed (arrangement in which
each worker specializes in a particular task or
job)
 Society could accomplish more tasks such as
building and construction
 Needed government to organize rules and have
structure for jobs.
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HOW DID CITIES FORM?
Settlements grew in size and complexity
 Cities began to appear between 4000 and
3000 BC
 Society in Mesopotamia is still mostly based on
farming, but cities became the political,
religious, cultural, and economic centers of
civilization
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WIO/HOMEWORK
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Review your notes about why H-G settled in
Mesopotamia. Draw a diagram with pictures
that demonstrates the causes of settlement in
the Fertile Crescent.
SECTION 2: THE RISE OF SUMER
Sumer was the world’s first official civilization
 Settled in Mesopotamia and created an
advanced society

WHAT WERE THE CITY-STATES OF SUMER LIKE?
Most people were farmers who lived in rural, or
countryside areas
 Sumer had urban, or city areas as well that
were the centers of their civilizations and had
over 100,000 people living there by 2000 BC

Rural
Urban
WHAT WERE THE CITY-STATES OF SUMER LIKE
(CONT)
Sumerian cities soon became city-states, which
consisted of the city and the countryside
around it
 City-states fought each other to get more
farmland
 They had strong armies and walls to protect
their land
 Kish, Uruk, Ur were examples of very strong
city-states
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HOW DID THE AKKADIAN EMPIRE RISE?
Lived north of the Sumerian city-states and
were peaceful in the beginning
 2300 BC- Sargon built a new capital called
Akkad and had a permanent army
 He defeated all the city-states of Sumer and
conquered northern Mesopotamia
 He established the world’s 1st empire, land with
different territories and people under single
rule
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HOW DID THE AKKADIAN EMPIRE FALL?
Sargon ruled for 50 more years
 After his death, the empire only lasted a
century more because it was invaded by
outsiders
 Chaos followed for 100 more years
 The Sumerian city-state of Ur eventually
became the more powerful and rebuilt stability
in the region
 Sumer’s #1 again! 
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HOW DID RELIGION SHAPE SUMERIAN SOCIETY?
Religion played a role almost all aspects of life
 The Sumerians practiced polytheism, the worship of
MANY gods
-Examples of gods: Enlil, Enki, Inanna, Utu, Nanna,
Shamash (sun god shown below!)
 Each city-state had a special god as their protector
 Believed their gods controlled natural events like
weather and illness
 Success in life depended on how you worshipped the
gods
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HOW DID RELIGION SHAPE SUMERIAN SOCIETY?
Priests, people who performed religious
ceremonies, had great power
 People relied on them to interpret the gods’
wishes
 Priests made offerings to gods in temples and
performed religious ceremonies

WHAT WAS THE SUMERIAN SOCIAL ORDER?
Kings
Priests
Craftspeople, merchants,
traders
Farmers and laborers
Slaves
Social Hierarchy: the division of society by rank or class
WHAT WERE MEN AND WOMEN LIKE IN SUMER?
Men held political power and made laws
 Women took care of the home and children
(ladies, get used to hearing this!)
 Education was usually only for men, but some
upper-class women received it as well
 Women could be priestesses if they were educated
-example: the priestess Enheduanna wrote
hymns. She is the first known female writer in
history!
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SECTION 3: SUMERIAN ACHIEVEMENTS
The Sumerians developed many different
inventions and ideas that have influenced us
today.
 When we discuss achievements, we usually
divide it by subjects very similar to what you
have in school (literature, science, math, art,
etc.)
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WHAT WERE THE SUMERIAN ACHIEVEMENTS IN
WRITING?
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They invented the FIRST writing system called cuneiform
Used styluses to make wedge-like shapes on clay tablets
Earlier written communication used pictographs, or picture
symbols
Cuneiform used symbols to represent syllables of words, and
would combine the symbols to form words
SUMERIAN WRITING (CONT)
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Cuneiform was first used to keep business records
Scribes, or writers, would keep track of business and had a
high place in society because they were the only ones who
knew cuneiform
Later used cuneiform to write history, law, grammar, and math
Also wrote stories, proverbs, songs, and epics, which are long
poems that tell heroic stories
example: The Epic of Gilgamesh
WHAT WERE SUMERIAN ACHIEVEMENTS IN
TECHNOLOGY?
The wheel
 The potter’s wheel for sculpting
 The plow
 The “falling water” clock
 Sails on boats
 Underground sewers
 Learned to use bronze for stronger tools and
weapons
 Makeup and glass jewelry

WHAT WERE SUMERIAN ADVANCES IN MATH?
Number system based on 60
 360 degree circle
 12 month calendar
 Areas of rectangles and triangles

WHAT WERE SUMERIAN ACHIEVEMENTS IN
SCIENCE?
Observing the natural world using lists and
recordings
 Medicine advancements such as healing drugs
and cataloging treatments for specific
problems
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WHAT WERE SUMERIAN ACHIEVEMENTS IN
ARCHITECTURE?
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Architecture is the science of building
Large palaces for Sumerian rulers
Large and small houses for others
Used mud bricks
Made ziggurats, pyramid-shaped Sumerian temples, were in
each city
Used outdoor staircases and columns
WHAT WERE SUMERIAN ACHIEVEMENTS IN
ART?
Statues of gods
 Used ivory and rare woods
 Sumerian pottery is not known for its beauty!
 Jewelry made of gold, silver, and gems
 Cylinder seals to imprint designs into clay
 Musical instruments include reed pipes, drums,
tambourines, and lyres
 Song and dance were popular forms of
entertainment
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SECTION 4: LATER PEOPLES OF THE FERTILE
CRESCENT
FYI: “Peoples” is not a typo! It is an actual
word!
 The city-state of Ur began to lose power by
2000 BC because of invasion.
 Other invaders began to move into
Mesopotamia
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HOW DID BABYLON RISE TO POWER?
Babylon is located on the Euphrates River near
present-day Baghdad, Iraq
 1800 BC- had a very powerful government
 1792 BC- Hammurabi becomes king of Babylon
 He is Babylon’s greatest monarch, ruler of a
kingdom or empire
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WHO IS HAMMURABI?
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Brilliant war leader
Brought all of Mesopotamia under his rule through the
use of his powerful army
His empire became known as the Babylonian Empire
He was a good ruler because he oversaw building and
irrigation projects, improved the tax system, and
increased wealth and trade
Ruled for 42 years and made Babylon the most
important city in Mesopotamia
He is best known for his law code!
WHAT IS HAMMURABI’S CODE?
It is a set of 282 laws that dealt with daily life
 Contained laws on trade, loans, theft, marriage,
injury, and murder
 Specific crimes had specific penalties
 Social class did matter
example: injuring a rich man had a
bigger penalty than injuring a poor man (not fair!)
 Was written down for all to see
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HAMMURABI’S LAW CODE EXAMPLES
“If a man put out the eye of another man, his
eye shall be put out.”
 “If he break another man’s bone, his bone shall
be broken.”
 “If a builder builds a house for someone, and
does not construct it properly, and the house
which he built fall in and kill its owner, then that
builder shall be put to death.”

WHAT WERE OTHER INVASIONS OF
MESOPOTAMIA?
After Hammurabi’s death, the Babylonian
Empire lost power and fell.
 Other civilizations began to move into the
Fertile Crescent and fight over land
examples: The Hittites, Kassites,
Assyrians, and Chaldeans

WHO WERE THE HITTITES AND KASSITES?
The Hittites built their kingdom in Asia Minor
(present-day Turkey)
 The first to use iron, which made stronger
weapons, and they used the chariot, a wheeled
horse-drawn cart used in battle.
 Captured Babylon in 1595 BC
 Kingdom fell when king was assassinated
 The Kassites overtook Babylon and ruled it for
almost 400 years
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WHO WERE THE ASSYRIANS?
1200s BC- the Assyrians from northern Meso.
take Babylon, but were soon invaded by others
 300 years later, the Assyrians recover strength
and begin to conquer all of the Fertile Crescent,
parts of Asia Minor, and Egypt.
 Capital city was called Nineveh

WHY WERE THE ASSYRIANS SO STRONG?
Used iron weapons and chariots
 Army was well-organized
 Were fierce in battle
 Harsh punishments for law-breakers
 Ruled their large empire by having local leaders
who collected taxes, enforced laws, and raised
troops for the army
 Built roads to connect the empire
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WHO WERE THE CHALDEANS?
652 BC- Assyrian Empire became weak
because of civil wars within the empire
 The Chaldeans attacked the empire and in 612
BC destroyed Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire
 The Chaldeans set up own empire with a rebuilt
Babylon as their capital
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WHO WAS NEBUCHADNEZZAR? (WHO?!)
Most famous Chaldean king
 Rebuilt Babylon as the richest city in the world
 Built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (One of
the 7 Ancient Wonders of the World) as a gift to
his depressed wife
 http://joseph_berrigan.tripod.com/ancientbaby
lon/id14.html
 http://www.unmuseum.org/hangg.htm
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WHAT WAS BABYLON LIKE UNDER THE
CHALDEANS?
Babylon was a major stop on a trade route b/w
the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean Sea
 Babylon was a center of trade, Sumerian
culture, and science (astronomy)
 They tracked stars and weather events, created
a calendar, and solved complex geometry
problems
 Trade helped the spread of ideas…how?!
 Chaldean Empire fell to the Persians in 539 BC
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WHAT WAS PHOENICIA LIKE?
Located at the western end of the Fertile
Crescent near present-day Lebanon
 Was a wealthy trading society
 Sits on the Mediterranean Sea
 Had few resources, but had cedar, a type of
timber and valuable in trade
 Overland trade routes were blocked by
mountains, so they used the sea for trade
transport
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HOW DID THE PHOENICIANS EXPAND THEIR
TRADE?
Became expert sailors
 Built harbors (ex: Tyre)
 Built fast ships that traveled to Egypt, Greece,
Sicily, and Spain
 Created colonies along trade routes (ex: Carthage
in N. Africa)
 Traded cedar, silverwork, ivory carvings, slaves,
glass-blown objects, purple dye
 Grew VERY wealthy
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WHAT WAS THE PHOENICIANS’ MOST
IMPORTANT ACHIEVEMENT?
The alphabet!!!
 An alphabet is a set of letters than can be
combined to form words
 Made writing much easier
 Our English alphabet is based on the
Phoenician one
 Other civilizations such as Greece and Rome
also used it and changed it
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