Mesopotamia Unit
Settled community, w/ domesticated plants/animals
Could support large populations
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As population increase, so did complexity
One earliest village
Catal Huyuk
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Sumer 1 st civilization
5000 BCE develop city states S. Mesopotamia
Invented wheel, buildings, irrigation systems, plow, bronze weapons, writing (cuneiform)
Important:
Each city state independent
City states fought o/ irrigable land & trading rights
Future leaders would try unite lands/people into empire
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“Land b/t Rivers”
Tigris & Euphrates
Flood April-June
Modern day Iraq
Arid climate
Very hot & dry, little rainfall
Regional differences however
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Resources
Had water & fertile soil = “gifts”
Lacked stone, timber, copper, tin, iron, gold
Encouraged foreign trade
Geography/Climate caused people have pessimistic attitude
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Akkad
Sargon the Great
Babylonia
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Hammurabi
Assyria
Assurnasirpal
Sennacherib
Esarhaddon
Assurbanipal
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Babylonia II
Nabopolassar
Nebuchsdnezzar
Hammurabi Code Project
282 percepts/laws
Dealt w/ social, family issues
Healthcare
Criminal Justice System
Family Life
Jobs
Slaves
Military
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Was Hammurabi’s form of justice fair?
Were the laws appropriate for their time period?
Do you think these laws were actively followed and enforced?
Should laws promote punishment or reform?
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Polytheistic
Belief many gods
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Anthropomorphic
Human-like characteristics
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Had human emotions
Compassionate, cruel
Also envisioned darker powers
(demons/monsters)
Pazuzu
Lamashtu
Huwawa
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An/Anu
Father of Gods; God of
Sky
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Enlil
God of Air
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Utu/Shamash
Sun God; God of Truth and Justice
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Nanna/Sin
Moon God
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Inanna/Ishtar
Goddess of Love and War
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Ninhursag
Mother Earth
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Enki/Ea
God of Fresh Waters; God of Magic, Wisdom, Arts
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Marduk
National God of Babylon
Tiered temple made of mud-bricks
Dwellings places of the gods
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Each city-state had a patron god
Only priests permitted inside ziggurat
In earliest days, King chief priest
Later professional priesthoods
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Various duties:
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Ritual slaughter animals
Interpret omens
Singing songs
Provide regular offerings of food and refreshments to deity
Practice of women offering sex for pay on the sacred grounds of the Temple of Ishtar
Participated public festivals
Tried to predict “heaven’s will”
Exorcism
No notion of an afterlife where the good were rewarded
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Life after Death was dismal and bleak
“Land of No Return”
Buddhas of Bamiyan Pyramid Menkaure
Mosel Museum Temple Bel
4 Horses St. Marks The Amber Room