MESOPOTAMIA
OUR EARLIEST CIVILIZATION
“Pay head to the word of
your mother as though it
were the word of a god.”
---------Sumerian proverb
The People





From C. Asia
Arrived about 3500 BC
Settled in lower part of
twin river valley
Dark haired, light
skinned people
Language close to one
by Caspian Sea
The Fertile Crescent
--geography--
Geography





Between Tigris & Euphrates Rivers
Today’s Iraq & Kuwait
“mesopotamia”= “between two rivers” (Greek)
Floods made soil rich
Rivers allowed for irrigation
The Twin Rivers




Did not supply balanced
amounts of water
too dry
or too wet
(flooding)
Villagers had to work
together to survive
Built dams & escape
channels, canals & ditches
Considered world’s first
cities!
Sumerian Civilization
(World’s 1st Cities!)





3500—2300BC
Very few natural
resources
Built bricks of mud and
water
Region prospered from
trade with others
Used rivers & 1st
wheeled vehicles
Government
Lived in City-states
 City-states= independent city and its
surrounding lands (20,000- 250,000 pop)
 Each had own culture, language, religion, &
government
CITIES
UR
ERECH KISH
LAGASH

Kings




1.
2.
3.
4.
As city-states had battles---courageous war
leaders evolved into kings
Military leader and high priests ruled together
Then evolved into a THEOCRACY
Kings duties:
supervise farming
Enforce laws
Set penalties
Led religious ceremonies
Social classes
Ruling Family (theocracy with King!)
(theocracry= religious government)
2. Officials & priests
3. Middle class (merchants & artisans)
4. Peasant farmers
5. Slaves
1.
Job specialization

1.
2.
3.
4.
Not everyone had to farm now
EXAMPLES
Mathematics– measuring, surveying, calculating
slopes and water flow patterns
Astronomy- observing movements of moon for
lunar calendar (28day months)
Temple workers– weavers, carpenters, singers
Traveling merchants—donkey caravans, sailboats
on Persian Gulf
Religion
Polytheistic
 Nature gods
 City-states each had own
main gods
 Kings were religious leaders
too
 Gods behaved like ordinary
people
INANNA= life-giving goddess
NANNA= moon god

Priesthood







Religion endured 3,000years
3,000 deities=every realm of nature/human endeavor
(even plows, picks and molds)
Gods not equal
Top gods= heaven, air, earth and water
Supreme god= An (ruler of heavens)
Had human emotions
Communicated through omens (shape of liver of
sacrificed sheep etc.)
Religion






Not hopeful
People molded of clay to serve gods as slaves
Failure to serve= catastrophe
People were fearful and anxious
Benefit to the priests and temples
The many offerings made temples grandest
places
Ziggurat


Pyramid-temples in each city
Only priests could enter– shrine on top
Writing




Oldest in world
Cunneiform
Evolved from wedge shaped pictograms to script
Wrote on clay tablets, had schools
Sumerian Inventions!











Wheeled vehicles
Arch
Potters wheel
Sundial for time
# system based on 60
Algebra/geometry
12 month calendar (moon
cycles)
Bronze from copper and tin
Metal plow
Writing
Beaurcracy in government
“Tell a lie;
then if you tell the truth,
it will be deemed a lie.”
--Sumerian proverb
The End of Sumer
Region is constantly invaded– revived – and
Re-invaded
Invaders and Empires
1.
Akkadians (Semites) 2300BC—1st empire
2.
Babylonians 1790BC (Hebrew people enslaved)
3.
Assyrians 1100BC
4.
Persians 539 BC