Tour Ancient Mesopotamia!
Task:
1. Make sure you have printed your tour pamphlet and turned it in
2. Read trough the Green slides (slides 2-4) to get some background on the
time periods, technology and general pattern of expansion and conquest
that took place during Ancient Mesopotamia.
3. Read the powerpoint section on the Ancient Hebrews and fill in the travel
log handout for this culture.
4. Complete the travel log by examining your classmates tour pamphlets
1.
2.
Objectives:
Students will understand and communicate how conquest
brought new empires and ideas to the Middle East.
Students will understand the key characteristics of Ancient
Mesopotamian civilizations
Timeline
Egyptians
6000 BC --3200 -3100 - 2660 21802080164015701075 -----751 ----671----521
Hebrews
2000 BC –1650 –1300 1200 –1020*922 -----586 –538 --------------
Sumerians
4000 BC --------2000BC
Amorites (Old Babylon)
2000 BC -----------1550BC
*1792 – 1750 (
)
Hittites
1680BC -------1200BC
Phoenicians
1500 --------1100------800----------300BC
Assyrians
850 BC----612 BC
Chaldeans (New Babylon)
600 BC --539BC
Persians
550BC ---------350BC
*550 – 539 --530
Advancing Technology
Stone Age (end of the stone age)
6000 BC ---------2500 BC
Bronze Age
2800BC ---------------------------1200BC
1500BC ------------1200 BC (development of iron
by the Hittites)
Iron Age
1200BC -------------------------------------700BC
Ancient Mesopotamian Societies
Warfare
•
As city-states began to grow, their spheres of
influence overlapped, creating arguments
between other city-states, especially over land
and canals.
–
These arguments were recorded in tablets several
hundreds of years before any major war—the first
recording of a war occurred around 3200 BC but
they were not common until about 2500 BC.
•At this point, warfare was
incorporated into the Mesopotamian
political system, where a neutral city
may act as an arbitrator for the two
rival cities.
•This helped to form unions between
cities, leading to regional states.
•When empires were created, they
went to war with foreign countries.
•King Sargon, for example, conquered
all the cities of Sumer, some cities in
Mari, and then went to war with
northern Syria.
The Ancient Hebrews
• 4,000 years ago, the
ancient Israelites (the
Hebrews) developed
the religion of Judaism
on the eastern coast of
the Mediterranean.
Geography
Ancient Israel is outlined in Red on the
Map. This empire is modern day Israel
Located where the natural routes to
three continents meet, the coastal
region has always been a place of
intercultural contact and conflict.
-
Geographic features of the Region –
-
Fertile plans along the coast
Hills and mountains to the north/ west (Galile,
Samaria, and Judaea)
The Jordan River is the only major water supply
for the region .
Rocky Plateau of Transjordan begins on the
eastern bank of the river. From there the desert
stretches all the way to Mesopotamia.
The passes through Carmel and Lebanon in the
north give access to the Euphrates Valley, and
south across the Negev Desert and the Sinai
Peninsula lies Egypt.
How They Rose
The Hebrews ancestors may have been
wanderers in the Arabian desert during
the early part of the 2nd millennium/B.C.
At this time big migrations from the
desert into the Fertile Crescent were
taking place, which led in to the creation
of many nations.
According to the Jewish Religious Text:
• According to the Torah, Abraham
lived near Ur. Migrated to Canaan
(present-day Israel/Palestine).
• Israelites believed that their god had
made a covenant (an agreement) with
Abraham.
1.
2.
God would have a special relationship
with Abraham and his descendants =
“chosen people.”
Canaan would someday belong to the
Israelites = “the promised land.”
Moses
• Moses later renewed god’s
covenant with the Israelites.
– Famine brought
Israelites/Hebrews to Egypt =
enslaved.
– Moses promised them that god
would lead them out of
bondage in return for their
faith.
– According to the Torah, Moses
died just before they reached
Canaan.
Kingdom Established
• 1000 BCE, Israelites had set up the kingdom of
Israel.
• Twelve (12) separate tribes of Israel that
feuded up to that time, but David (the second
king of Israel) united them.
• Solomon—David’s son, turned Jerusalem into
an impressive capital, built a temple to god.
Accomplishments and Inventions
1. Hebrews made their own language for
speaking and writing.
2. Ancient Hebrews also used a technique in
house-building, which are called pillared houses.
• Pillared houses are houses that replaced walls with pillars.
Pillars hold the roof up just as well as walls do, but take up
much less room, and therefore use less resources. This
design to create more room in houses, without any major
structural differences was used throughout history.
3. Hebrews also had a sense of individual rights,
• Some of these rights were, “do not take advantage of a
hired man who is poor and needy”, “did he who made me
not make them”, “seek justice, rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan, plead for the widow.”
Israelites Religion, Government & Law
• Monotheistic People (believed in 1 God)
– This God was all-knowing and present everywhere
– Creation of the Torah (Hebrews’ most sacred text),
promotes the 10 Commandments (ties religion and
laws together), & the Talmud (interpretations of
laws)
– Today Most religions are Monotheistic
 Kings ruled Ancient Israel, These kings were also
sometimes considered prophets
 Abraham was considered the founder of the Hebrews
 Examples of Kings: Saul, David and Solomon
Religion was a huge part of their every day life and most of what
we know about them today is actually from the Bible/ Torah.
Occupations
• Promote “Patriarchy”-Male dominated
Society.
Men
-
-
Most men worked as
farmers
soldiers,
government officials
craftsmen
merchants
Women
Women handled the
household. Things like
- grinding grain,
- preparing cheese and
yogurt, cooking,
- making baskets, shaping
clay pots, spinning
thread, weaving fabric,
sewing clothing,
- hauling home water.
Trade
Hebrews is Babylonia were free to practice
many professions, but the vast majority of them
were merchant traders. They traveled thousands
of miles, establishing synagogues and small
Jewish communities along trade routes that
stretched from China to England, Scandinavia to
Egypt.
Jewish traders traded with many different
people and their trade lasted until the Middle
Ages, when the Catholic Church was the
dominant power in Europe.
Israel Defeated
• Kingdom split after Solomon died
in 922 BCE. (Israel = north, Judah
= south).
• 722 BCE, Assyrians conquered
Israel.
• 586 BCE, Babylonian armies
(under Nebuchadnezzar) captured
Judah, destroyed the great
temple. Exiled most Israelites to
Babylon; called the “Babylonian
Captivity.”
• 539 BCE, Persians defeated the
Babylonians and allowed Israelites
to go back to their homeland.
– Since most were from Judah, they
became known as Jews.
The Diaspora
Despite being sent into
exile following destruction
of the temple of Solomon
in Judah in 586 B.C.E. The
Hebrews Maintain their
cultural Identity in the
Diaspora.
• Wherever Jews were
forced, they often
maintained close-knit
groups that helped
them retain their
identity.
Diaspora =
being forced from their
homes/ forcefully spread
out.
Critical Thinking Questions
• What major technological advances enabled
civilization to grow and have influence in
Mesopotamia?
• In what ways did political leaders seek to unify
the people under their rule?
• What was the role of conquest in Ancient
Mesopotamia?
Name of
Civilization
Example:
Sumerians
Old Babylonians –
(Amorites)
Hittites
Assyrians
New Babylonians
(Chaldeans)
Phoenicians
Persians
Egyptians
Hebrews
Time Period
3300 B.C.
Location
Achievements
Southeastern
Mesopotamia
Between Tigris
& Euphrates
- invent writing (Cuneiform)
- developed mathematics
and Astronomy
- used irrigation to control
river flooding
Leadership
Culture
- wrote the Epic of
Gilgamesh
- Polytheistic Religion
-social hierarchy &
hereditary rule
News/ Noteworthy
- Important cities in Sumer =
Ur and Uruk
- inspired other civilizations
such as Assyrians &
Babylonians
Geography “Quiz”: Mesopotamia