•
What was the
Neolithic
Revolution?
• Domestication
• What is the
difference
between
domestication of
plants and
simply planting
seeds?
•
The period in prehistory when people shifted from food
gathering to food producing
•
The process of changing plants or animals to make them
more useful to humans
•
Domestication involves changing the plants to make
them more useful.
THE FERTILE CRESCENT
Aswan Dam
Draining of the Marshes
The Area Today is Iraq and Syria
Mesopotamia
•
•
•
•
•
•
What does the
word
Mesopotamia
mean?
What is the
Fertile
Crescent?
What present
day country
makes up
Mesopotamia?
When and how
were the farming
settlements
established in
Mesopotamia
define silt
Land between two rivers Tigris and Euphrates
A large arc of rich, or fertile, farmland stretching
from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean
Sea. Crops grow well here because the land is
fertile and there is water nearby.
Iraq
Plentiful food led to population growth, and
villages formed. They grew crops and stored
food for times of need.
A mixture of rich soil and tiny rocks. The fertile
silt made the land ideal for farming.
5
•
•
define surplus
• Having more of a product than is needed
define division
of labor
• The type of arrangement in which each worker
specializes in a particular task or job is called a
division of labor.
• How did surplus
lead to division
of labor in early
civilizations?
•
Having people available to work on different jobs meant
that society could accomplish more.
6
During: Tuesday
Reading handout
An Advanced Society
In southern Mesopotamia, a people known as
the Sumerians (soo-MER-ee-unz) developed the
world’s first civilization. No one knows where they
came from or when they moved into the region.
However, by 3000 BC, several hundred thousand
Sumerians had settled in Mesopotamia, in a land
they called Sumer (SOO-muhr). There they created
an advanced society.
The City-States of Sumer
Most people in Sumer were farmers. They lived mainly in rural, or
countryside, areas. The centers of Sumerian society, however, were the
urban, or city, areas. The first cities in Sumer had about 10,000
residents. Over time, the cities grew. Historians think that by 2000 BC,
some of Sumer’s cities had more than 100,000 residents.
As a result, the basic political unit of Sumer combined the two
parts. This unit was called a city-state. A city-state consisted of a city
and all the countryside around it. The amount of countryside controlled
by each city-state depended on its military strength. Stronger citystates controlled larger areas.
City-states in Sumer fought each other to gain more farmland. As
a result of these conflicts, the city-states built up strong armies.
Sumerians also built strong, thick walls around their cities for
protection.
Individual city-states gained and lost power over time. By 3500
BC, a city-state known as Kish had become quite powerful. Over the
next 1,000 years, the city-states of Uruk and Ur fought for dominance.
Sumerian Social Order
Because of their status, priests occupied a high level
in Sumer’s social hierarchy, the division of society by rank
or class. In fact, priests were just below kings. The kings
of Sumer claimed that they had been chosen by the gods
to rule.
Below the priests were Sumer’s skilled craftspeople,
merchants, and traders. Trade had a great impact on
Sumerian society. Traders traveled to faraway places and
exchanged grain for gold, silver, copper, lumber, and
precious stones.
Below traders, farmers and laborers made up the
large working class. Slaves were at the bottom of the
social order.
Sumerian Religion
The Sumerians practiced polytheism, the worship of many
gods. Among the gods they worshipped were Enlil, the lord of the
air; Enki, god of wisdom; and Inanna, goddess of love and war. The
sun and moon were represented by the gods Utu and Nanna. Each
city-state considered one god to be its special protector.
The Sumerians believed that their gods had enormous powers.
Gods could bring a good harvest or a disastrous flood. They could
bring illness, or they could bring good health and wealth. The
Sumerians believed that success in every area of life depended on
pleasing the gods. Every Sumerian had a duty to serve and to
worship the gods.
Priests, people who performed religious ceremonies, had
great status in Sumer. People relied on them to help gain the gods’
favor. Priests interpreted the wishes of the gods and made offerings
to them. These offerings were made in temples, special buildings
where priests performed their religious ceremonies.
During : Wednesday
• Summary
• Directions: Circle two words from each line on
the Magnet Summary. On the back of the
Magnet Summary develop a 7 to 10 sentence
summary including the words you have
circled.
During: Tuesday
•
•
•
•
Magnet Summary- Rise of Sumer
Directions:
For each paragraph choose four words that you feel are most important
Write the words in the space provided
•
Paragraph 1- _________________ _________________ _________________ ________________
Paragraph 2- _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________
Paragraph 3- _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________
Paragraph 4-_________________ __________________ __________________ _________________
Paragraph 5-_________________ __________________ __________________ _________________
Paragraph 6- _________________ _________________ _________________ ________________
Paragraph 7- _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________
Paragraph 8- _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________
Paragraph 9-_________________ __________________ __________________ _________________
Paragraph 10-_________________ __________________ __________________ _________________
Paragraph 11- _________________ _________________ __________________ _________________
Vocabulary
• City-state
A city and all the countryside around it.
• Impact
Effect, result
• Rural
Countryside
• urban
city
13
Vocabulary• Social
hierarchy
• The division of society by rank
or class.
• Priest
• People who performed religious
ceremonies.
• Polytheism • The worship of many gods.
Vocabulary
• Cuneiform
• The world’s first system of writing
that used a stylus to make wedge
shaped symbols on clay tablets.
• Scribes
• Writer
• Pictographs • Picture symbols
• epics
• Long poems that tell the stories of
heros.
Vocabulary- Friday
• Trade
network
• A system of people in different lands who
trade goods back and forth.
• Commodities
• Trade goods
• Import
• Goods brought in from other regions.
• export
• Items sent to other regions for trade.
Mesopotamian Trade
• Atlas pages 11 &12
• Trade routes draw in RED.
• Cities along trade route circle in YELLOW
• 1) The Sumerians traded with places as far away as __________ and
___________.
• 2) What commodities did the people in the Fertile Crescent export?
• 3) What commodities did the people in the Fertile Crescent import?
• 4) Where were the two types of camels imported from?
Asia Minor
*Kanesh
Taurus Mountains
*Ebla
Cyprus
*Kyrene
Mediterranean *Enkomi
Sea
Sinai
Desert
Ashur*
Asia
*Mari
*Akshak
Syrian
Desert
*Ur
*Susa
*Timna
Akhetaton*
*Thebes
*Elephantine
Western
Desert
Buhen*
Kush/Nubia
Nubian
Desert
Punt
Arabian
Desert
Dilmur
Sinai Peninsula
Sumerian Civilization Information Rotation
Directions: Complete the graphic organizer using the information provided
Rotate information to the next group when time is up
Social Order
Religion
Architecture
Math/Science
Technical Advancements
Art
Writing
• One of the Sumerians’ most important
developments was the wheel. They were the
first people to build wheeled vehicles, including
carts and wagons. Using the wheel, Sumerians
invented a device that spins clay as a
craftsperson shapes it into bowls. This device is
called a potter’s wheel.
•
The plow was another important Sumerian
invention. Pulled by oxen, plows broke through
the hard clay soil of Sumer to prepare it for
planting. This technique greatly increased farm
production. The Sumerians also invented a clock
that used falling water to measure time.
•
Sumerian advances improved daily life in many
ways. Sumerians built sewers under city streets.
They learned to use bronze to make stronger
tools and weapons. They even produced makeup
and glass jewelry
• Another area in which Sumerians excelled was math. In
fact, they developed a math system based on the
number 60. Based on this system, they divided a circle
into 360 degrees. Dividing a year into 12 months—a
factor of 60—was another Sumerian idea. Sumerians
also calculated the areas of rectangles and triangles.
•
Sumerian scholars studied science, too. They wrote
long lists to record their study of the natural world.
These tablets included the names of thousands of
animals, plants, and minerals.
•
The Sumerians also made advances in medicine. They
used ingredients from animals, plants, and minerals to
produce healing drugs. Items used in these medicines
included milk, turtle shells, figs, and salt. The
Sumerians even catalogued their medical knowledge,
listing treatments according to symptoms and body
parts.
• The Sumerians’ skills in the fields of art, metalwork, and
architecture—the science of building—are well known to us.
The ruins of great buildings and fine works of art have
provided us wonderful examples of the Sumerians’ creativity.
• Most Sumerian rulers lived in large palaces. Other rich
Sumerians had two-story homes with as many as a dozen
rooms. Most people, however, lived in smaller, one-story
houses. These homes had six or seven rooms arranged around a
small courtyard. Large and small houses stood side by side
along the narrow, unpaved streets of the city. Bricks made of
mud were the houses’ main building blocks.
•
City centers were dominated by their temples, the largest
and most impressive buildings in Sumer. A ziggurat, a
pyramid-shaped temple tower, rose above each city. Outdoor
staircases led to a platform and a shrine at the top. Some
architects added columns to make the temples more
attractive.
• Sumerian sculptors produced many fine works. Among them are the
statues of gods created for temples. Sumerian artists also sculpted
small objects out of ivory and rare woods. Sumerian pottery is known
more for its quantity than quality. Potters turned out many items, but
few were works of beauty.
•
Jewelry was a popular item in Sumer. The jewelers of the region
made many beautiful works out of imported gold, silver, and gems.
Earrings and other items found in the region show that Sumerian
jewelers knew advanced methods for putting gold pieces together.
•
Cylinder seals are perhaps Sumer’s most famous works of art. These
small objects were stone cylinders engraved with designs. When rolled
over clay, the designs would leave behind their imprint. Each seal left its
own distinct imprint. As a result, a person could show ownership of a
container by rolling a cylinder over the container’s wet clay surface.
People could also use cylinder seals to “sign” documents or to decorate
other clay objects.
• Some seals showed battle scenes. Others displayed worship rituals.
Some were highly decorative, with hundreds of carefully cut gems. They
required great skill to make.
The Sumerians also enjoyed music. Kings and temples
hired musicians to play on special occasions. Sumerian
musicians played reed pipes, drums, tambourines, and
stringed instruments called lyres. Children learned songs in
school. People sang hymns to gods and kings. Music and
dance provided entertainment in marketplaces and homes.
Some seals showed battle scenes. Others displayed worship
rituals. Some were highly decorative, with hundreds of
carefully cut gems. They required great skill to make.
The Sumerians also enjoyed music. Kings and temples
hired musicians to play on special occasions. Sumerian
musicians played reed pipes, drums, tambourines, and
stringed instruments called lyres. Children learned songs in
school. People sang hymns to gods and kings. Music and
dance provided entertainment in marketplaces and homes.
GILGAMESH I
• Epic poem first written down
around 2000 BC
– Part of oral tradition for at
least 1000 years before it
was written down
• Hero is legendary king of the
city-state of Uruk
– Began career as good ruler
– But turned into a tyrant
– Gods decide to punish him
for his pride
Gilgamesh
Vocabulary
• Architecture
• The science of building.
• ziggurat
• A pyramid - shaped temple
tower.
Accomplishments-Achievements
Sumerian Achievement Commercial
• Directions:
•
• You and a partner will develop a 20-30 second commercial trying to sell
one achievement of the Sumerians
•
• Include:
•
1. Achievement Name
•
2. Picture- Hand Drawn
•
3. 20-30 second sales pitch- Why is it the best achievement on the
market.
•
4. Explain what it is used for
•
5. Explain why someone should buy it
What were
city-states,
and how did
they get along
with each
other?
• The basic political unit
consisting of a city and
the land around it.
• City-states were not
always peaceful and
fought each other for
enough farmland to
produce food .
• Failure to win the battle
resulted in slavery
The City Center of the city-state
included the ziggurat.
 Temples served civic
and religious purposes
 Daily sacrifices and
rituals
 Storage of surplus grain
and other foods
 Dwelling of priests and
priestesses

Locale where
craftsmen and artisans
could practice their
trades
Ziggurats: Temples to the Gods
Background
• As civilizations developed along rivers, their
societies and governments became more
advanced. Religion became a main
characteristic of these ancient cultures. Kings
claimed to rule with the approval of the gods,
and ordinary people wore charms and
performed rituals to avoid bad luck.
What is it and what was its
purpose?
THEOCRACY:
Kings: Servants of the Gods
The powerful gods communicated their desires to humanity
through the medium of a powerful priestly class or king who
serves as the intermediary between the gods and the citizens of
the city-state.
- Government of the gods/priest class
- Ruler may be divine himself, or chosen by the god/gods
- Each city had its own gods
This style of government is called a theocracy. A theocracy
gives political decisions a religious authority, such as a
priest.
Restate and illustrate…..
How was
King Sargon
able to
build the
first
empire?
He built a
permanent
army and
used it to
defeat all the
city-states of
Sumer.
Sargon was emperor, or ruler of his
empire, for more than 50 years. However,
the empire lasted only a century after his
death. Later rulers could not keep the
empire safe from invaders. Hostile tribes
from the east raided and captured Akkad. A
century of chaos followed
STILL MORE ON SARGON THE GREAT
• According to legend, he
was a poor orphan adopted
by a gardener, who found
him in a basket near the
Euphrates River. He was
not Sumerian. He was from
a region outside of
Mesopotamia called Akkad.
• Not a harsh ruler by
Mesopotamian standards,
because he respected and
adopted Sumerian culture
and civilization.
Change in the Fertile Crescent
• People from the neighboring region of Akkad
later conquered Sumer and the rest of the
area around the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
Once conquered, city-states were simply
cities. Their kings were removed from power
and the winner ruled all!
• After the Akkadian Empire fell, two groups
struggle for control of the Fertile Crescent.
Babylonians and Assyrians became the major
powers in the region.
Hammurabi and the Babylonian
Empire
Rise of Babylon
• Although Ur rose to glory after the death of Sargon, repeated
foreign attacks drained its strength. By 2000 BC, Ur lay in
ruins. With Ur’s power gone, several waves of invaders battled
to gain control of Mesopotamia
The Rise of Babylon
• Babylon was home to one such group. That city was located
on the Euphrates River near what is today Baghdad, Iraq.
Babylon had once been a Sumerian town. By 1800 BC,
however, it was home to a powerful government of its own. In
1792 BC, Hammurabi (ham-uh-RAHB-ee) became Babylon’s
king. He would become the city’s greatest monarch (MAHnark), a ruler of a kingdom or empire.
• Absolute power: King can do whatever he
wants!
• Divine right: gods have chosen who they
want the king to be
• So king really was THE BOSS.
• A government run by a single ruler and his
small group of religious advisors is called a
THEOCRACY
Rise of Hammurabi
• Hammurabi was a brilliant war leader. His armies
fought many battles to expand his power. Eventually,
he brought all of Mesopotamia into his empire,
called the Babylonian Empire, after his capital.
• Hammurabi’s skills were not limited to the
battlefield, though. He was also an able ruler who
could govern a huge empire. He oversaw many
building and irrigation projects and improved
Babylon’s tax collection system to help pay for them.
He also brought much prosperity through increased
trade. Hammurabi, however, is most famous for his
code of laws.
• Shekel: bronze coin in
Babylon
HAMMURABI
• Several Sumerian citystates seem to have some
sort of rudimentary law
code by 2300 BC
– But the man credited
with implementing the
first uniform law code
was the Babylonian king
Hammurabi
• Applied to almost all
of Mesopotamia
Who was King
Nebuchadnezzar?
Identify one of his
greatest
achievements.
• The most famous
Chaldean king.
• Rebuilt Babylon
Examine the photo. What do you think
this is?
• The carving on the top shows
Hammurabi standing before Shamask,
the god of justice, who is seated.
• Below is a list of the gods’ names and
saying they had given Hammurabi the
right to rule.
• At the bottom are the 282 laws. Yep,
282 of them. Not kidding.
Hammurabi’s Code
• Hammurabi’s Code was a set of 282 laws that
dealt with almost every part of daily life.
There were laws on everything including
trade, loans, theft, marriage, injury, and
murder. It contained some ideas that are still
found in laws today. Specific crimes brought
specific penalties. However, social class did
matter. For instance, injuring a rich man
brought a greater penalty than injuring a poor
man.
Accountability….?
• Hammurabi’s Code was important not only for
how thorough it was, but also because it was
written down for all to see.
• People all over the empire could read exactly
what was against the law.
• There were men whose job was to read the
laws to citizens who could not do so for
themselves. (the first lawyers? Maybe…)
After Hammurabi…
• Hammurabi ruled for 42 years. During his
reign, Babylon became the most important
city in Mesopotamia.
• However, after his death, Babylonian power
declined. The kings that followed faced
invasions from people Hammurabi had
conquered.
• Lack of a strong, organized leader= EPIC FAIL.
Before long, the Babylonian Empire came to
an end.
From Hammurabi’s Code:
“Hammurabi, the protecting king am I…That the
strong might not injure the weak, in order to
protect the windows and orphans….I set up
these my precious words, written upon my
memorial stone, before the image of me , as a
king of righteousness…”
• According to Hammurabi, what was his
purpose for having written these laws?
“By my command of Shamash, the great god and judge
of heaven and earth, let the righteousness go forth in
the land…..Let no destruction befall my
monument…let my name be ever repeated; let the
oppressed who has a case at law, come and stand
before this my image as king of righteousness; let
him read the inscription, and understand my
precious words…..”
• Who commanded Hammurabi to create this
monument?
“In future time, through all coming generations,
let the king who may be in the land, observe
the words of righteousness which I have
written on my monument; let him not alter
the law of the land which I have given you…..”
“If this ruler does not esteem my words, if he
destroys the law which I have given , ……may
the great god of heaven and earth…inflict a
curse …upon his family, his land, his warriors,
his subjects, and his troops.”
• What does Hammurabi say will happen to
future kings if they disobey these laws?
Examples from Hammurabi’s Code
LAW 129: If a son has struck his father, his hand shall be cut
off.
LAW 48: If a man has borrowed money to plant his field and
a storm has flooded his field or carried away the crop…in
that year he does not have to pay his creditor.
LAW 21: If a man has broken through the wall to rob a house,
they shall put him to death and shall hang him in the wall
which he has made.
LAW 196: If a man has knocked out the eye of a free man, his
eye shall be knocked out.
LAW 199: If a man knocked out the eye of a slave…he shall
pay half his value.
Primary Source Analysis Questions
1. What can we use from this to argue that
Hammurabi’s Code was just?
2. How can Hammurabi have two different
punishments for same crime?
3. Is justice absolute? Is a just punishment in
1800BCE just today?
Mesopotamia Review
Mesopotamia
fold
overlap
Fold your paper like this
Divide top (Yellow) section into 5 sections. Use a ruler!
Add the following headings.
Cut on arrow (colored lines) until you reach the fold. Don’t cut the bottom
section
GEOGRAPHY
SOCIAL and RELIGION
ACHIEVEMENTS
GOVERNMENT
ECONOMICS and TRADE
M
e
s
o
p
o
t
a
m
i
a
Add to the Geography Tab inside
•
•
•
•
•
Landforms-canals were man made
Climate-warm, little rain, dry
Rivers- Tigris and Euphrates
Farmlands fertile and water was near by
Canals built to control river’s flow
Add to the Social and Religion Tab
• Division of labor
• Social hierarchy
King
Priest and scribe
Merchant and skilled worker
Farmer and laborer
slave
• Belief in many gods
(polytheism)
• Priest role as go
between people and
god.
• Priest divides surplus
Add to Achievement Tab
• Writing (pictograph to cuneiform)
pics to symbols.
• Architecture (ziggurat)
• Cylinder seals signed names
• Jewelry
• Wheel
• Epic
• 60min, 60 sec.
• Math
• Calendar
• Babylonians made excellent
textiles(cloth)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Laws by Hammurabi
Chariots
Phoenician alphabet
Music
Dance
Weapons of iron (before bronze)
Kept records
Nebuchadnezzar’s hanging
garden
• Astronomy
• Plow like tractor
Add to Government Tab
• City-state
• Fought each other for enough
land to grow crops.
• City-state protected inhabitants
• Assyrians warlike –used chariots
and fire
• Phoenicians better at trading
than war
• Invasions by different group
changed culture
• Monarchy and democracy
• Sargon had first permanent army
• Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar
built up Babylon
Add to Economics and Trade
•
•
•
•
First farmers
Developed specialized jobs
Traded with other cities
Phoenicians traded all over the Mediterranean
Sea
• Phoenicians used cedar wood for boat
building.
What is it and what was its
purpose? (IT IS NOT CUNEIFORM)