MESOPOTAMIA REVIEW
6th Grade
Developed in?
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Fertile Crescent
Means?
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Land between two rivers
FIRSTS about Mesopotamia:
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Writing
 Cuneiform
 Epic
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Wheel
 Potter’s
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wheel
Farming
 Irrigation
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Laws
Geography of Northern Mesopotamia
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Rocky plateau
Mountains
Geography of Southern Mesopotamia
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Dry
Fertile soil from overflowing rivers
Farming
Rivers
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Tigris and Euphrates
Problems
Flooded land at wrong time of year
 Near harvest time
 Destructive
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Effects
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Used them to water crops
Irrigation
Helps crops to grow in dry areas
 Built canals, gates, and man-made lakes to hold water from
rivers for watering crops

Development of writing

Cuneiform
 First
writing
 Wedged-shaped symbols made with reed
 marked beginning of history as opposed to prehistory…
 Used clay tablets and reeds to mark the clay…
 first used writing to record amount of crops given to
temple (surpluses)
Development of farming
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Mesopotamians started using seeds to plant and
grow as opposed to eating them for food…
used rivers to help irrigate and grow crops…
allowed people to stay in one place…
did not need to wander around to hunt for food…
surplus food allowed for extra time to learn new
skills and crafts
Development of towns

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more food  better health  more babies 
larger population  development of towns 
city-states
people that lived in the towns were: priests, farmers,
families, merchants, slaves
Scribes

Young boy went to Edubba to learn to write
 Cuneiform
 Highly
valued job
Code of Hammurabi
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Written by King Hammurabi, leader of Babylon
(means “Gate of the Gods”)…
“An eye for an eye”…
wise and efficient ruler…first set of laws…
zero toleration for crimes…
result was many times death…
Effects of extra food


more food  better health  more crops to trade
 time to invent
more food  better health  more babies 
larger population  development of towns
Farming/Taming animals
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Hunter-gatherers ended about 12,000 years ago…
people began to tame sheep and goats…
used for wool and milk…
City-States

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City surrounded by tall brick wall for protection…
farmland outside but all around whole city…
farmland valuable because if the people did not
defend their land, there would be no crops (food)…
acted as independent countries
Gilgamesh/Religion

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First great epic is about Gilgamesh…
he was a “King-God”…
People thought the land belonged to the
gods/goddesses…
very important to respect the gods/goddesses….
Ziggurats

Middle of each town…most important
building…priests lived in them…god/goddesses
lived in them…animal bones used as first item that
were worshipped…were very tall because new
temples were built on rubble of old temples…
Phoenicians
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Named for the purple dye they invented..
gave us our modern alphabet
Traits of Civilization
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Geography…
social groups…
language…
history…
arts/technology…
daily life…
religion…
economy…g
overnment
Kings

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Lugals (warlords) were elected and were leaders of
the fighting…
war was almost always happening and the job
developed into that of kings
All good things must end…
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Too many mineral salts from the rivers left on land
for thousands of years…
crops cannot grow in salty soil…
no crops  no food  no civilization…