Unit 2
Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent
By Mr. Zindman
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Section 1: Geography and the Fertile Crescent
Essential Question:
How did geography
influence the
development of
civilization in Southwest
Asia?
The Big Idea: The valleys of the Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers were the site of the world’s first
civilizations.
In several parts of the world, bands of huntersgatherers began to settle down in farming
settlements. They domesticated plants and
animals. Gradually their cultures became more
complex. Most early civilizations grew up along
rivers, where people learned to work together to
control floods. How can you control the
waters of the rivers to prevent flooding?
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Rivers Support the Growth Of Civilization
Early people settled where crops would grow. Crops usually grew
well near rivers, where water was available and regular floods made
the soil rich.
The Land Between the Rivers
The Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers are the of most
important physical features of
the region also known as
Mesopotamia.
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Mesopotamia lies between Asia Minor and
the Persian Gulf.
This region is part of a larger area called the
Fertile Crescent, a large arc of rich,
or fertile farmland.
This fertile crescent extends from the
Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea.
The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
flowed down from the hills into the
Fertile Crescent providing rich farm
soil.
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The Rise Of Civilization
Hunter-gatherer groups first settled in Mesopotamia more than 12,000 years
ago. Over time people learned how to plant crops and grow their own food.
Every year, floods on the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers brought
silt, a mixture of rich soil and tiny rocks, to the land. The
fertile silt made the land ideal for farming.
Farmers grew wheat, barley, and other types of grain. Livestock, birds, and
fishes were also good sources of food. Plentiful food led to population
growth, and villages formed. Eventually these villages developed into the
world’s first civilization.
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Farming and Cities
Although Mesopotamia had fertile soil,
farming was not easy there. The region
received little rain. This meant the water
levels of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
depended on how much rain fell in Eastern
Asia Minor where the rivers first began.
When the rivers got too much rain, heavy
flooding occurred. This flooding would
destroy the crops, kill livestock, and wash
away homes. Farmers knew they needed a
way to control the river’s flow.
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Controlling Water
Two solve their water problems, Mesopotamians
used irrigation.
Irrigation is a way of supplying
water to an area of land.
To irrigate their land, they dugout large
storage basins to hold water.
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They dug canals, or human–made the waterways,
that connected these basins to a network of ditches. These ditches brought
water to the fields.
To protect the fields from flooding, farmers build up the banks of the Tigris
and Euphrates Rivers. These built – up banks held back the floodwaters even
when river levels were high.
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Food Surpluses
Irrigation increased the amount of food farmers were able to
grow.
Farmers could produce a food surplus, or more than they
needed.
Farmers also used irrigation to water grazing areas for cattle and
sheep. As a result, Meza poked a means in a variety of foods. Fish,
meat, wheat, barley, and dates were plentiful.
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Because irrigation made farmers more productive, fewer people needed to farm. Some
people became free to do other jobs. As a result, new occupations developed. For the
first time, people became crafters, religious leaders, and government workers.
That type of arrangement in which each worker specializes in a particular
task or job is called a division of labor.
Having people available to work on different jobs meant that society could
accomplish more large projects,
such as constructing buildings and building irrigation systems. To complete these
projects, the Mesopotamia as needed structure and rules. Structure and rules could be
provided by laws and government.
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The Appearance of Cities
Over time, Mesopotamia settlements grew in size and complexity. They
gradually developed into cities between 4000 and 3000 BC. Even though
most people were farmers, many people traded goods in the cities. The
city’s provided leaders with powerful bases. They were the political,
religious, cultural, and economic centers of civilization.
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Essential Question:
How did religion play a
major role in the
development of early
societies?
Section 2: The Rise of Sumer
The Big Idea:
The Sumerians developed the first civilization in
Mesopotamia. The Sumerians developed the first advanced society.
You are a crafter living in the city of Sumer. Thick walls would surround you
and protect your city, so you feel safe from the armies of other city states.
But you and your neighbors are fearful of other beings- the many gods and
spirits that you believe are everywhere. They can bring illness, sandstorm, or
bad luck.
As civilizations developed along rivers, societies and governments became
more advanced. Religion became an important characteristic of ancient
cultures. Kings claimed to rule with the approval of the gods. Ordinary
people wore charms around their neck to avoid bad luck. They performed
rituals to please their gods. What is a ritual you do every day?
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An Advanced Society
In southern Mesopotamia, a people known as the Sumerians developed the
world’s first civilization.
Around 3000 BC, several hundreds of thousands of Sumerians settled in
Mesopotamia in a land they called Sumer. They created an advanced society.
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The City-States of Sumer
Most people in Sumer were farmers, they lived mainly in rural,
or countryside, areas.
The centers of Sumerian society were the urban, or city, areas.
Over time the cities grew. Historians believe that Sumer’s cities had more
than 100,000 residents
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The basic political unit of Sumer was
combined in two parts. This unit
was called a city-state.
A city-state consisted of a city
and all the countryside around
it.
City-states in Sumer fought each
other to gain more farmland. As a
result, city-states set up strong
armies.
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Individual city-states gained and lost power over
time. By 3500 BC, a city-state known as Kish had
become quite powerful. Over the next 1,000
years, the city-states of Uruk and Ur fought for
dominance.
One of Uruk’s kings, known as Gilamesh
became a legendary figure Sumerian
literature.
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The Rise of the Akkadian Empire
In time, another society develop along the Tigris and Euphrates. It was created by
the Akkadians. They lived north of Sumer. They were not Sumerians. They spoke a
different language than the Sumerians. The Sumerians lived in peace with the
Akkadians for many years until the peace was broken in 2300s BC.
The emperor, Sargon, sought to extend Akkadian territory. He
built a new capital, Akkad, on the authorities river, near what
is now the city of Baghdad.
Sargon at his soldiers defeated the city-states of
Sumer and Mesopotamia. Sargon establish the
first empire.
An empire is a land with different territories and
people under a single ruler.
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Religion Shapes Society
Religion was very important in Sumerian society. It played a role in nearly
every aspect of public and private life. In many ways religion was a basis
for all Sumerian society.
The Sumerians practiced polytheism
Polytheism is a religion that worships
many gods.
Among these gods were Enlil, lord of the air,
Enki, god of wisdom; and Inanna the goddess
of love and war. The sun and the moon were
represented by the gods Utu and Nanna.
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The Sumerians believed the gods had great powers. The
gods could bring a good harvest or a disastrous flood.
They could bring illness or good health. Sumerians felt in
order to be successful they must please the gods. Every
Sumerian had a duty to worship the gods.
Priests were people who performed
religious ceremonies.
People relied on a good relationship with the
priest in order to be in god’s favor. The priests
made offerings to please the gods in religious
ceremonies.
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Sumerian Social Order
Social hierarchy is the division of a society by rank or class.
The highest level of people in people in Sumerian social hierarchy were the
kings. The kings they were chosen to rule by the gods. Below the kings were
the priests. Below the priests were the skilled craftspeople, merchants, and
traders.
Trade had a great impact on Sumerian society. Traders
traveled from far away places and exchanged grain for
gold, silver, copper, lumber, and precious stones. Below
the traders were the working class people. These people
were the farmers and laborers. At the bottom of the
social hierarchy was the slaves.
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Men and Women in Sumer
Sumerian men and women had different roles. Men held political
power and made the laws, while women took care of the home and
children.
Education was reserved for men, but some upper class women were educated
as well. Some educated women were priestesses. They helped shape Sumerian
culture. One, Enheduanna, the daughter of Sagon, wrote hymns to the goddess
Inanna. She is the first known female writer in history.
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Section 3- Sumerian Achievements
Essential Question:
What inventions did the
Sumerians create that
changed civilizations
forever?
The Big Idea:
The Sumerians made many advances
that helped their society develop.
• They invented the first writing system.
• They invented many forms of art.
Building Background:
What if you were a student at a school for scribes
in Sumer? Learning and all the symbols for writing is very hard. You would
be assigned lessons to write on the clay tablet, you can’t help but making
mistakes. Then you have to smooth out the surface and try again. Still being a
scribe can lead to important jobs for the king. You could make your family
proud! You hope that you will get better very soon. The Sumerians were
responsible for many achievements, which were passed down to later
civilizations. Why was a scribe an important job in society in ancient times?
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The Invention of Writing
Sumerian’s made one of the greatest advances in history. They developed
cuneiform. Cuneiform is the world’s first system of writing.
Pencils and paper were not
invented yet so the
Sumerians used sharp tools
called styluses to make
wedged-shaped symbols in
clay tablets.
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Earlier written communication used pictographs.
Pictographs were picture symbols.
Each picture represented an object, such
as a tree or an animal. But cuneiform
could also represent syllables or basic
parts of words. Sumerians could
represent more complex ideas in writing.
Ideas such “”joy or “powerful.” These
ideas could be represented in cuneiform
writing.
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Sumerians used cuneiform first to keep business records.
A scribe, or writer, would be hired to keep track
of items people traded.
The government used scribes to keep records. Becoming a
scribe was a way to move up in social class. Sumerian
students went to school to learn to read and write. In time
Sumerians wrote works on history, law, grammar, and
math. They also created works of literature. They wrote
poems, proverbs, stories. Some were epics.
An epic is a long poem that tells a story of a hero.
Later, people used some of these poems to create The Epic of
Gilgamesh, the story of a legendary Sumerian king.
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The Arts of Sumer
The Sumerians were skilled in the field of art, metalwork, and
architecture.
Architecture is the science
of building.
The ruins of great buildings
have provided us with
examples of the Sumerian’s
creativity.
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Architecture
The Sumerian rulers lived in large
palaces. Rich Sumerians lived in
two story homes with as many as a
dozen rooms. Most people,
however, lived in smaller, onestory houses. These homes had six
or seven rooms arranged around
the small courtyard. Large and
small houses stood along, narrow,
unpaved streets of the city. Bricks
made of mud were the houses’
main building blocks.
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City centers were dominated
by their temples, the largest
most impressive buildings in
Sumer.
A ziggurat, a pyramidshaped
temple tower, rose above
the city.
Outdoor staircases led to a
platform and a shrine at the top.
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The Arts
Sumer sculptors produced many fine works. Among them were
statues of the gods
created for temples. Sumerian sculptors also sculpted small
objects out of wood and ivory. Very few sculptures were works
of beauty.
Jewelry was popular in Sumer.
Many jewelers made fine pieces
out of imported gold and silver.
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Stone cylinder seals were probably the Sumerians most famous
works of art.
Stone Cylinders rolled over clay to sign and seal
documents or decorate other clay objects.
Some showed
battle scenes or
rituals. Some had
hundredths of fine
cut gems.
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Sumerians enjoyed music. Kings and
temples hired people to play on special
occasions. Sumer musicians played reed
pipes, drums, and tambourines.
Sumerians played stringed
instruments called lyres.
Children learned songs in school. People
sang hymns to the kings and gods. Music
and dance provided entertainment in
marketplaces and homes.
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COMMON CORE STANDARD: READING INFORMATIONAL TEXTS R.I.8.2,KEY IDEAS AND DETAILS. DETERMINE A CENTRAL IDEA OF A TEXT AND ANALYZE ITS
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