Sec 1: City-States of Ancient Sumer
 Geography Influences Fertile Crescent Civilization
 A number of early civilizations arose in the Fertile
Crescent, a region of the Middle East named for its rich
soils and golden wheat fields.
 The main problem with this area is that it has very few
natural barriers, keeping out anything from flood, to
invaders.
 As a result, the region became a crossroads where people
and ideas met and mingled.
Sec 1: City-States of Ancient Sumer
 What does “Mesopotamia” mean?
 Named by the Greeks, it means “between the rivers,” the
Euphrates and the Tigris Rivers
Sec 1: City-States of Ancient Sumer
 Around 3300 B.C., the world’s first civilization
developed in southeastern Mesopotamia, in a region
called Sumer.
 What was a major problem associated with building a
civilization between two major rivers?
 Flooding – Controlling the two rivers was key to
developments in Mesopotamia.
 The Mesopotamian narrative poem The Epic of
Gilgamesh describes a great flood that destroys the
world.
Sec 1: City-States of Ancient Sumer
 In order to survive and protect their farmland, villagers
had to work together to stop floods and provide
irrigation.
 They built dikes to hold back flood water and irrigation
ditches to carry water to the fields.
 The Sumerians did not have very many natural
resources – No timber or stone, but plenty of clay and
water.
 What did they build their houses out of?

Clay bricks – They were the building blocks of some of the
world’s first great cities – Ur and Uruk
Sec 1: City-States of Ancient Sumer
 What brought riches to Sumerian
cities?
 Trade – from the rivers or the treacherous
deserts – Cultural diffusion
 Goods from as far away as India and Egypt
have been found in Sumerian cities.
Study Question
 What geographic characteristic made the Fertile
Crescent a good place for civilization to develop?
 Rich Soil
 Wheat fields
 The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
 Clay – for building houses
Sec 1: City-States of Ancient Sumer
 Sumerian Civilization Takes Shape
 Within a few hundred years of its beginning, Sumer
included at least 12 separate city-states.
 Rival city-states battled over control of land and
water, so the people began to turn to war leaders for
protection.
 This created the practice of rule by war leaders
which evolved into hereditary rule.
 Each city-state had their own ruler who was
responsible for maintaining the city walls and
irrigation systems, as well as leading them in war
and enforcing laws.
Sec 1: City-States of Ancient Sumer
 The Sumerians were the first to invent writing.
 Created in 3200 B.C. – it was later called Cuneiform
 Cuneiform comes from the Latin word cuneus for
“wedge,” because scribes wrote by making wedge-shaped
marks on clay tablets.
 It was used to record goods brought to temple
storehouses.
 Sumerian scribes had to go through years of difficult
schooling to acquire their skills.

Punishment for talking or copying in class consisted of caning
the students.
Sec 1: City-States of Ancient Sumer
 Each city-state created a distinct social hierarchy,
or social class.
 Highest Class – consisted or ruling family, leading
officials, and high priests
 Middle Class – consisted of lesser priests, scribes,
merchants, and artisans
 Lower Class – consisted of peasant farmers (majority of
society)
 They also owned slaves; most were captured in war, but
others sold themselves into slavery to pay off a debt.
Sec 1: City-States of Ancient Sumer
 Religion –
 They were polytheistic – Believed in multiple gods
 Believed gods to be like everyday people – they ate,
drank, and married
 Gods favored truth and justice – they were also
responsible to destruction (including floods)
 They made the Ziggurat – a temple built to house the
city’s chief gods and goddesses
 They believed in an afterlife – it was a grim underworld
from which there was no release
Study Question
How was Sumerian society
structured?
They had a distinct social
hierarchy.
Sec 1: City-States of Ancient Sumer
 Lasting Legacy of Sumer
 Sumerian oral narratives were written down

The Epic of Gilgamesh started out as an oral story, but the
Akkadians and Babylonians wrote it down.
 Babylonians used Sumerian learning


They created calendars, developed basic Algebra and
Geometry form the Sumerians
They invented the 60 minute hour, 360 degree circle
 Newcomers adapt Cuneiform

The Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians adopted
cuneiform writing and used it with their own languages.
Sec 2: Invaders, Traders, and Empire Builders
 First Empires Arise in Mesopotamia
 Throughout history, many invaders had looted and
burned civilizations in Mesopotamia, but some stayed
and ruled.
 Powerful leaders created large, well-organized empires,
bringing peace and prosperity to the region.
 Who built the first empire known to history?


Sargon – he was an Akkadian – in about 2300 B.C. he invaded
and conquered the neighboring city-states of Sumer.
He appointed local rulers to help run his empire.
 This first empire did not last long. After Sargon’s death,
other invaders swept in and began crumbling his
empire.
Sec 2: Invaders, Traders, and Empire Builders
 Who would be the next ruler to unite Mesopotamia?
 Hammurabi – in 1790 B.C. he was the king of Babylon
when he brought Mesopotamia under his control
 He created Hammurabi’s Code – Why was it
important?
 Hammurabi was the first to codify, or arrange and set
down in writing, all the laws that would govern a state.
(it was the first written law)
Sec 2: Invaders, Traders, and Empire Builders
 Hammurabi’s Code –
 Criminal Law:

“Eye for an eye and a life for a life” – Take law into their own
hands – If a house collapses and kills the husband, the house
builder could be killed.
 Civil Law:
 Set up to protect the weak – Gave a husband both legal
authority over his wife and a legal duty to support her.
 A woman could leave her husband if she wasn’t at fault, but if
she was, they were instructed to THROW her in the RIVER!
 This punishment seems cruel by today’s standard, with
specific punishments for specified crimes, but this legal
code imposed more social order than existed when
individuals sought their own justice.
Study Question
 How do Criminal and Civil Law differ?
 Civil Law deals with private matters,
such as contracts or marriages.
 Criminal Law deals with offenses
committed against other people, such
as murder or other crimes.
Sec 2: Invaders, Traders, and Empire Builders
 Conquests Bring New Empires and Ideas
 Later empires brought new technology and ideas about
law and culture. One of the world’s first libraries was
built.
 The Hittites were pushed out of Asia Minor and into
Mesopotamia in about 1400 B.C. – They brought with
them the knowledge of how to extract iron ore.
 Iron ore was stronger that bronze and would hold a
sharp edge better making a large advancement in
weaponry.

They tried to keep iron working a secret but the knowledge
expanded as their empire crumbled around 1200 B.C.
Sec 2: Invaders, Traders, and Empire Builders
 The Assyrians, who lived on the upper Tigris, also
learned to forge iron weapons. Over a course of about
500 years (around 1100 B.C.), they earned a reputation
for being among the most feared warriors in history.
 Despite their brutality, the Assyrian rulers maintained
a well ordered society. They were the first to create
laws regulating the royal household.
 Assyrian King Assurbanipal founded the world’s first
library – They kept cuneiform tablets that he ordered
scribes to collect from all over the Fertile Crescent.
Sec 2: Invaders, Traders, and Empire Builders
 In 612 B.C., after King Assurbanipal’s death,
neighboring peoples gathered to topple the Assyrian
armies, creating the Babylonian empire.
 The Babylon’s first strong leader (second overall in the
empire) was King Nebuchadnezzar.
 King Nebuchadnezzar refurbished Babylon – he built
the Hanging Gardens of Babylon – one of the 7
Wonders of the World!
Study Question
 Name a significant contribution made by the
Hittites, Assyrians, and Babylonians after
each group’s conquest in the Middle East.
 Hittites – Ironworking.
 Assyrians – Law regulating royal
household; library.
 Babylonians – built one of the largest and
most respected cities of Ancient
Mesopotamia
Sec 2: Invaders, Traders, and Empire Builders
 The Persians Establish a Huge Empire
 The Babylonians built thick walls to keep out invaders,
but they were unsuccessful at keeping out the Persians.
 In 539 B.C., Babylon fell to the Persian armies of Cyrus.
Cyrus and his successors went on to build the largest
empire yet seen.
 In order to build such a large empire, Persian kings
pursued a policy of tolerance, or acceptance, of the
people the conquered – They respected the customs of
the diverse groups in the empire.
Sec 2: Invaders, Traders, and Empire Builders
 The real unification of the Persian empire was




accomplished by Darius I (552 B.C. to 486 B.C.) – He
was a skilled organizer.
He set up a single code of law for the empire.
In order to encourage unity, Darius I had roads built to
all the cities and had old roads repaired.
Why build roads?
Roads made it easier to communicate with different
parts of the empire.
Sec 2: Invaders, Traders, and Empire Builders
 Darius I also established an improved economy.
 He established a money economy (or coin economy) to
compliment the already established barter economy.
 Barter Economy –
 You could trade one chicken for two bushels of wheat.
 Coin/Money Economy –
 Paying for items/services through some token of an
agreed value, such as coin or a bill.
Sec 2: Invaders, Traders, and Empire Builders
 The Persian thinker Zoroaster brought about religious
beliefs that helped unite the empire.
 Zoroaster believed in monotheism (believing in one
god), as opposed to the long believe in polytheism.
 Zoroaster (approx 600 B.C) rejected the old Persian
gods and taught a single wise god, Ahura Mazda, ruled
the world. Ahura Mazda was in constant battle with
Ahriman, the prince of lies and evil.
 Each individual would have to choose a side to support.
 He taught that Ahura Mazda would win and on the final
judgment day, all individuals would be judged for their
actions.
Sec 2: Invaders, Traders, and Empire Builders
Study Question
 What are two steps that Darius took to
unite the Persian Empire?
 Roads built to make communication
with empire easier.
 Established a common set of weight
and measures and encouraged the use
of coins
Sec 2: Invaders, Traders, and Empire Builders
 Contributions of Phoenician Sea Traders
 Many civilizations proved themselves by conquering
others, but smaller civilizations still contributed to
larger ones.
 The Phoenicians gained fame as both sailors and
traders – located along the eastern Mediterranean
coast, in the area that today is Lebanon and Syria.
Sec 2: Invaders, Traders, and Empire Builders
 Key trade items (Manufactured goods):
 Glass from coastal sand
 Used snails to make purple dye (very rare early color)
 In order to promote trade, the Phoenicians set up colonies
from North Africa to Sicily and Spain.
 Some even traveled as far as Britain, trading goods for tin.
 They were called “carriers of civilization” because they
spread Middle Eastern civilization around the
Mediterranean.
 What was their most significant contribution to history?
 The Alphabet – its symbols represented whole words or
syllables. It is the base of our alphabet today.
Study Question
 How has the Phoenician development
of an alphabet been a lasting
contribution to civilization?
 It is the foundation of the Greek
alphabet, which is the basis of the
alphabet we use today
Sec 3:Kingdom on the Nile
 Geography Helps Shape Egypt
 Without the Nile, Egypt would be just the barren
desert that surrounds the river.
 The desert protected Egypt from invasion, but it also
limited where people could settle.
 Yearly flooding created fertile soil and encouraged
cooperation.
 If the river did not flood, there would be no way to
sustain life. It also forced its people to work together to
prevent flooding and harness the powers that lie within
the river itself.
Sec 3:Kingdom on the Nile
 The Nile rises in the highlands of Ethiopia and the
lakes of central Africa.
 Yearly rains in the interior region send water racing
down streams that feed the Nile River.
 In ancient times, people awaited this annual flood so it
would soak the land with life-giving water and deposit a
layer of rich soil.
 People had to cooperate to control the floods – early
governments encouraged cooperation by building
dikes, reservoirs, and irrigation ditches to channel the
rising river and store water for the dry season.
Sec 3:Kingdom on the Nile
 The flooding of the Nile helped to unify Upper and
Lower Egypt
 Lower Egypt (north) covered the Delta region where the
Nile empties into the Mediterranean Sea.
 Upper Egypt (south) stretched from the Nile’s first
cataract to within 100 miles of the Mediterranean Sea.
 In 3100 B.C. Menes, the king of Upper Egypt united
the two regions, making the capital in Memphis. He
used the Nile as a highway linking north and south.
 It was used as a trade route and a way to communicate
between the north and south.
 The Nile made Egypt one of the first unified states.
Study Question
 How did the yearly floods of the Nile
influence life in ancient Egypt?
 Egyptians relied on the floods for water
and silt. They also Had to cooperate in
order to channel and store water.
Sec 3:Kingdom on the Nile
 The Old Kingdom Forms
 Scholars divide Egypt into three main periods:
 The Old Kingdom (about 2575 B.C.-2130 B.C.)
 The Middle Kingdom (about 1938 B.C.-1630 B.C.)
 The New Kingdom (about 1539 B.C.-1075 B.C.)
 During the Old Kingdom, Egyptian kings, later called
pharaohs, organized a strong, centralized state.
 They played key roles in government and religion, and
people viewed them as a god.
Sec 3:Kingdom on the Nile
 Pharaohs of the Old Kingdom took pride in preserving
justice and order.
 To do this, they depended on a bureaucracy – What is it?
 A system of government that includes different job
functions and levels of authority.
 A pharaoh depended on a vizier – or chief minister;
supervised the business of government for the pharaoh
 A vizier controlled all different levels of the bureaucracy.
 Viziers were trained to be humble and honest, obedient
to one’s father and superiors, and fair in dealing with
other officials of all ranks.
Sec 3:Kingdom on the Nile
 During the Old Kingdom, what was an important
piece of history that was built that is still around
today?
 The Great Pyramids at Giza.
 They were built because the Egyptians believed in an
afterlife and that they wanted to preserve their dead
rulers and honor them in death.
Sec 3:Kingdom on the Nile
 The Turbulent Middle Kingdom
 The Middle Kingdom was a period of corruption and
rebellion.
 One of the reasons for this is because the Nile did not
rise as it regularly had during the past.
 Power struggles, crop failures, and the cost of building
pyramids all contributed to the end of the Old Kingdom.
 What was the natural barrier that separated Egypt from
invaders?

Deserts
Sec 3:Kingdom on the Nile
 The natural barriers could not stop the Hyksos form
invading.
 They used horse-drawn chariots to awe the Egyptians
and to invade them.
 In return, the Hyksos were so impressed by Egyptian
civilizations that they adopted their culture.
 The Hyksos and the Egyptians did not have many
quarrels with one another and the Hyksos ruled for
nearly 100 years and they established the New Kingdom.
Sec 3:Kingdom on the Nile
 New Kingdom Egypt Grows Strong
 Powerful rulers encouraged trade and expanded the
borders.
 Powerful Kings –
 Hatshepsut – Female ruler – encouraged trade with
eastern Mediterranean lands along the Red Sea coast.
 Thutmose III – Stepson of Hatshepsut– great military
leader – extended the borders
 Ramses II – Ruled for 66 years – pushed the kingdom
northward and controlled Syria.
Sec 3:Kingdom on the Nile
 Egypt began to battle its neighbor, Nubia and the
Hittites.
 After years of fighting with the Hittites, the two
countries came to a draw; they signed the first known
peace treaty in history.
 For centuries, the Egyptians and Nubians had a unique
relationship. They would fight and make peace, trading
a lot of goods with one another.
 Nubian culture left its mark on the Egyptians, trading
goods such as ivory, cattle, and slaves.
Sec 3:Kingdom on the Nile
 Around 1100 B.C., Egyptian power began to decline.
 Invaders such as the Assyrians and the Persians,
conquered the Nile region.
 In 332 B.C., the last Egyptian dynasty ended as the
Greeks took control.
 In 30 B.C., Roman armies displaced the Greeks, with
each new conqueror being eager to add the fertile Nile
Valley to their growing empires.
Sec 4: Egyptian Civilization
 Religion Shapes Life in Ancient Egypt
 The Egyptians had no word used to explain
religion, but they were a very religious
people.
 During the Old Kingdom, Egyptians
worshipped a sun god named Re.
 During the Middle Kingdom, they
associated Re with another god, Amon,
calling this great lord of the gods Amon-Re
 The pharaohs, seen by the people as god-like,
were given their right to rule from Amon-Re.
Sec 4: Egyptian Civilization
 Most Egyptians related more to the god Osiris and
goddess Isis.
 In mythology, Osiris ruled Egypt until his jealous
brother, Set, killed him. Set then cut Osiris into pieces,
and tossed the pieces all over Egypt. Osiris’ wife, Isis,
saved him. She reassembled his body and brought him
back to life.
 Since Osiris could no longer rule over the living, he
became god of the dead and judge of souls seeking
admission to the afterlife.

Osiris was also god of the Nile, controlling the annual flood.
Sec 4: Egyptian Civilization
 How Egyptians Viewed the Afterlife
 The belief in an afterlife affects all Egyptians, form the
highest noble to the lowest peasant.
 Each soul had to pass a test to win eternal life.
 First, the dead would be ferried across a lake of fire to the hall
of Osiris.
 Second, The dead person’s heart would be weighed against a
feather of truth.
 If you were judged to be a sinner, you would be fed to a
crocodile-shaped Eater of the Dead.
 If you passed the test, your soul would enter the Happy Field
of Food, where you would live forever in bliss.

They relied on the Book of the Dead, which contains spells, charms,
and formulas for the dead to use in afterlife.
Sec 4: Egyptian Civilization
 The Egyptians believed that the afterlife would be
much like life on earth, so they buried their dead with
all of their belongings.
 To give a soul use of its body in afterlife, they perfected
the process of mummification, originally reserved for
rulers and nobles, but later ordinary Egyptians could
be mummified (including pets).
 The tomb of King Tutankhamen was discovered,
showing a wealth of evidence about Egyptian
civilization.
Sec 4: Egyptian Civilization
 Egyptians Organize Their Society
 One key to all ancient civilizations was the use of a
class system.
 Who was at the top of the Egyptian civilization?
 The Pharaoh – along with the royal family
 Just below them is the royal officials and priests
 Officials are followed by merchants, scribes, and
artisans.
 Below all are the everyday peasants.
Sec 4: Egyptian Civilization
 As the Egyptian civilization progressed, their social
system progressed as well.
 During the New Kingdom, social classes became more
fluid and warfare increased.
 As the empire grew and they had more contact with
outside people, increased trade offered new
opportunities to the growing merchant class.
 Trade brought more prominence to artisans and
merchants, because they were needed to create or
acquire the goods the pharaohs and priests wanted or
needed.
Sec 4: Egyptian Civilization
 Egyptian women enjoyed a higher status and more
independence than other women in the ancient world.
 Women could:
 Inherit property
 Enter business deals
 Buy and sell goods
 Go to court
 Obtain a divorce
 Most women were not taught to read or write, nor
could they hold government positions.
Sec 4: Egyptian Civilization
 Egyptians Make Advances in Learning
 Learned scribes played an important role in Egyptian
society:
 Some kept records of ceremonies, taxes, and gifts.
Others served government officials or the pharaoh.
 They kept their records in hieroglyphics, hieratic, and
demotic script.
 How did we learn what their writings meant?
 We discovered the Rosetta Stone – a flat, black stone
that presents the same passage carved in hieroglyphics,
demotic script, and Greek.
Sec 4: Egyptian Civilization
 Doctors in ancient Egypt believed highly in magic, but they
also know a lot about the human body.
 Doctors could perform complex surgeries and diagnose
illnesses, and even find cures.
 Egyptian priest-astronomers studied the heavens, mapping
constellations and charting the movements of the planets.
 In doing so, they were able to create the first calendar with 12
months of 30 days each as well as 5 days at the end of the year.
 They also learned mathematics, partially from the flooding
of the Nile and having to redraw boundaries of their fields
each year.
 They also used geometry to calculate each block of stone to be
used in the pyramids.
Sec 4: Egyptian Civilization
 Egyptians Develop Arts and Literature
 The Egyptians left behind a rich legacy of art and literature.
From statues and paintings, to poems and tales, they gave
us a wealth of information about ancient Egyptian
viewpoints and values.
 Egyptian literature includes hymns and prayers to gods,
proverbs, and love poems. Others tell of royal victories in
battle, or practical advice.
 The Tale of Sinuhe was a folk tale about the wanderings of
Sinuhe, an Egyptian official forced to flee into what is now
Syria.
 This tale helps us see how Egyptians viewed both
themselves and the people of the surrounding desert.