 What one thing is necessary for a city to arise?

 Fertile Crescent
 City-state
 Dynasty
 Cultural diffusion
 Polytheism
 Cuneiform

 All early river civilizations are located in River Valleys
 “Mesopotamia” means land between rivers

 Located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
 Rivers flooded
Mesopotamia at least once a year creating fertile soil called Silt
 Area was known as “The
Fertile Crescent”
 Existed from about
3000BC-1550

 Land almost a desert because of unpredictable floods and little to no rain
 No natural barriers for protection
 Natural resources were limited, specifically building materials

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
Irrigation ditches to carry water from rivers to fields
Built city walls with mud bricks
 Traded goods with people of mountains and desserts for raw materials (stone, wood, metal)
 Cultural diffusion-Spread of ideas or products from one culture to another

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
Early Mesopotamia developed as city-states
 Each city shared the same culture but had its own government and rulers
 City States often fought one another
 Ur was most significant
Sargon of Akkad united all of the city states and created the first empire
 Empire brings peoples, nations or states under the control of one ruler

 2000 B.C. nomadic warriors known as
Amorites invade the region
 Take control of Sumer
 Create capital on the
Euphrates River, called
Babylon
 Empire at strongest with
Hammurabi as leader



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
Food Surpluses provided the opportunity for specialization
 People became artisans, potters, weavers, jewelers, scribes, gov’t officials & priests
Merchants would trade goods for food
 Created Cultural Diffusion
Slaves
Soldiers

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
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
Bronze Age began here
Irrigation system
Invented the wheel, sail and plow
Developed number system
& first form of writingcuneiform
Advanced in medicine, astronomy and chemistry
Architecture- Ziggurat
Weapons made of iron

 Religion was polytheistic
 Believed humans were gods servants
 After life was harsh-
Underworld
 Ziggurat served as the City
Hall or center of City Life
 Priests performed rituals
 Housed offerings to Gods
 Bridge between heaven and earth

 Early Govt’s were a
Theocracy
 Gov’t run by Religious
Leaders
 Monarchies eventually develop leading to
Dynasties
 Assyrian Empire introduced large, strong military



Sumerian Cities each had their own laws
King Hammurabi of the
Babylonian Empire unified all of the Cities under one
Code of Law –
Hammurabi’s Code


Code engraved in stone that were placed all over empire
Protected women and children
 Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth mentality

 Cuneiform
 gov’t officials document taxes, laws and grain storage
 Priests created a calendar
 Merchants kept track of payments & debts
 King Ashurbanipal collected
20,000 clay tablets
 Library had modern features; cataloging

1.
2.
3.
Explain how Mesopotamia was able to develop into a civilization while living in a desert climate.
What difficulties were faced by the people in
Mesopotamia?
Explain the significance of King Hammurabi.