“THE LAND BETWEEN TWO
RIVERS”
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIADEFINITIONS
CITY STATES- self-governing unit
made up of a city and its surrounding
villages and farmland.
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIAGEOGRAPHY
LOCATED BETWEEN THE TIGRISEUPHRATES RIVERS
BOTH RIVERS FLOW INTO THE
PERSIAN GULF
LOCATED IN PRESENT DAY IRAQ
Fertile Crescent
Mesopotamia
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIAGEOGRAPHY
POSITIVE
abundant amount
of clay
easy till-able soil
water supply from
Tigris-Euphrates
Rivers
NEGATIVE
few natural
resources
minimal protection
from deserts and
mountains
City-States
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIASUMERIAN CIVILIZATION
BELIEVED TO BE SETTLED CA. 3000
B.C.
DIVIDED INTO CITY-STATES
HELPED TO DEVELOP THE FIRST
FORM OF ORGANIZED RELIGION
CREATED ONE OF THE EARLIEST
FORM OF WRITING
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIASUMERIAN CITY-STATES
ALWAYS IN CONSTANT
CONFLICT OVER WATER
RIGHTS AND LAND
CREATED WALLS FOR
PROTECTION, WITH
MOATS ALONG THE
OUTSIDE
FARMS WERE LOCATED
ALONG THE OUTSIDE
OF THE CITY
Sumerians invented:
Wheel
Time – 60 minutes in an hour, 60 seconds in
a minute
12 month lunar calendar
arch
ramp
Religion
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIASUMERIAN RELIGION
Ziggurats: pyramid site
of the temple of the
main gods.
– Each city-state had their
own gods and goddesses
– Sun god – most
important.
Life after death was an
extension of life.
Ziggurat – Holy Mountain
Ziggurat
Large pyramid shaped structures
Connected to heaven and earth
Ziggurat: “center for learning and
religion”
How to Build a Ziggurat
How to Build a Ziggurat
Sumerian Religion
Monotheism:
worshiping one god.
– “Mono” – means one
Polytheism: worshiping
many gods.
– “Poly” – means many
Writing:
Cuneiform
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIASUMERIAN WRITING
CALLED CUNEIFORM
(LATIN FOR WEDGE)
WRITTEN ON CLAY
TABLETS
NEEDED FOR RELIGION,
GOVERNMENT, AND
TRADE
LEARNED IN SCHOOL,
BY MALES THAT LASTED
FROM SUNRISE TO
SUNSET
Sumerian Writing: cuneiform
Cuneiform is created by pressing a
pointed stylus into a clay tablet.
Cuneiform
Economy
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIASUMERIAN ECONOMY
Make, sell or barter goods.
Trade helped expansion.
Development of money
– Will evolve over time.
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIASUMERIAN ECONOMY
RICH
government
officials
religious leaders
traders
POOR
Farmers
craftsman
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIASUMERIAN PASTIMES
Entertainment
– No longer had to hunt and
gather.
– More time for fun times.
Rich had more time than
poor.
Activities:
– BOARD GAMES
– INSTRUMENTS
– BARE FISTED BOXING
Activities geared toward
young and used for
socializing.
The invention of Agriculture
changed the way people lived.
Agriculture (Farming)
Growth of Cities
Division of Labor
(Specialization)
Trade
Writing and Mathematics
Persians
Akkadians
Babylonians
Sumeria
Hittites
Mesopotamian
Civilization
Chaldeans
Lydians
Phoenicians
Assyrians
Iron Weapons
Add to your map
the location:
– Hittites
– Assyrians
– Akkadians
Hittites
Assyrians
Chief god Assur
Chariots used
First Cavalry
Akkadians
Spoke a Semitic Language related to modern
Hebrew and Arabic
When heaven above was not yet named, nor earth
below pronounced by name, Apsu, the first one,
their begetter and maker Tiamat, who bore them all,
had mixed their waters together, but had not formed
pastures, nor discovered reed-beds. When yet no
gods were manifest, nor names pronounced, nor
destinies decreed, then gods were born within them.
Babylonians
Chief god: Marduk
– Prayed for good
harvest and success
in business.
King Hammurabi
Hammurabi’s Code
– Earliest code of law
– Based on equal
retaliation.
Hammurabi’s Code
282 laws.
Harsh punishment for crimes.
Based on equal retaliation.
– “ If a man bring an accusation against a man
and charge him with a capital crime, but
cannot prove it, the accuser, shall be put to
death”
– “If the slave of a freed man strike the body of
a freed man, his ear shall be cut off”
Laws were varied for the wealthy and
powerful.
What do you think?
– “ If a man bring an accusation against a man
and charge him with a capital crime, but
cannot prove it, the accuser, shall be put to
death”
– “If the slave of a freed man strike the body of
a freed man, his ear shall be cut off”
– If a man strike a free-born woman so that she
lose her unborn child, he shall pay ten shekels
for her loss.
“If the woman die, his daughter shall be put to death.
Chaldeans
Skilled
astronomers
Hanging Gardens
of Babylon
King
Nebuchadnezzar
built them for his
wife
– One of the
Ancient Wonders
of the World
http://www.crystalinks.com/seven.html
Persians
Present day Iran
Spoke an Indo-European Language
Zoroastrianism
– Belief in final judgment and training for
it
Phoenicians
Major natural
resource:
lumber from
cedar forests.
Invented the art
of glassblowing.
Alphabet
– Then adopted by
Greeks.
– Then adopted by
Romans
Please label
Phoenicia on
your map.
Lydians
First to use a money economy.
– An economic system based in the use of
money as a measure of value and a unit
of account.