Journal: ½ in complete sentences
 What crime did you bring for homework?
Summarize your article.
 Does your article discuss the criminal’s
race or social class? What gender is the
criminal?
 Was the crime solved? If so, how was
the criminal punished?

Turn to page 44 in your textbook.
 Read Hammurabi’s code.
 Think-Pair-Share- What is Hammurabi’s
code like as a set of laws? Fair or unfair?
Why?

Write 3 sentences explaining how the crime
your article describes would be handled
under Hammurabi’s Code.
 Think about these questions:

› How would the criminal be punished under
American laws?
› How do you think the criminal would be
punished in Mesopotamia (based on the code
you read)?
› Is the criminal considered to be in a “lower”
social group? If so, how would this change their
punishment?
Think- Pair-Share
 Why did all of the river valley civilizations
form around rivers?

The fertile crescent was between the
Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
 The land was extremely good for
growing crops.
 The rivers would flood which would
enrich the soil.
 The flooding was random, and people
could never tell how big the floods
would be.


Irrigation- the people controlled the
floods with drainage ditches and used
them to water their crops.
Sumerians founded Mesopotamia.
 Assyria and Akkadians came after.


Mesopotamia had many cities.
› Eridu
› Ur
› Uruk
• These cities had economic and
political control over the surrounding
countryside.
Uruk was surrounded by a six mile wall
with 30 foot defense towers.
 Mud was used to make sun-dried bricks.
The bricks were used to make homes,
city buildings and ziggurats.
 Some of these buildings are still around
today!

Temples made with mud brick that had
large steps.
 People believed that gods and
goddesses owned the cities.

The government was a theocracy
(government ruled by divine authority)
 The ziggurats were the political, religious,
and economic capitals of the cities.

The kings’ power came from the gods.
 The kings had powerful armies and lived
in large palaces.

Mostly farming, but trade was important
too.
 Industry was important.

› Metalwork
› Wool clothes
› Pottery
• They invented the wheel which made
trade much easier.
Nobles- Priests and royals
 Commoners- 90% of population

› Farmers, merchants, artisans
• Slaves- Worked for royals and priests
• Society was patriarchal (dominated by
men)
Polytheistic
 Gods were not kind or reliable. This was
believed because of famine, hot climate
and random flooding.


Hammurabi was Babylonian
› Hammurabi’s code
 Strict justice system
 282 laws
Upper class criminals were punished less
than lower class criminals.
 Women had fewer rights than men.
 Most laws focused on marriage and
family.
 “an eye for an eye”

Sumerians invented cuneform writing.
 Used a stylus to carve writing on clay
tablets.
 Epic of Gilgamesh- first epic poem!

Empire- Large political unit or state,
usually under a single leader, that
controls many peoples or territories.
 Theocracy- Government by divine
authority.
 Patriarchal- A society dominated by
men.
 Polytheism- belief in many gods.


In the 3rd section of your spiral define the
following words for Unit 1:
›
›
›
›
›
›
›
›
›
›
Agriculture
Paleolithic
Civilization
Domestication
Nomadic
Monarchy
Oligarchy
Dynasty
Bureaucracy
Monotheism
Research Stonehenge.
 Write a 1 page paper about it.
 Provide 2 sources!

Egypt – page 45
 India -page 71-79
 China- 88-97
