Life in the Fertile
Crescent
The Fertile Crescent was a quarter moon shaped
area extending from the eastern banks of
Mediterranean Sea and curving north to the Persian
Gulf.
The rich land between the Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers supported many farming villages. In the
region called Mesopotamia “ the land between two
rivers” several villages grew into cities.
Mesopotamia’s earliest cities rose up in an
area called Sumer. People lived and worked
together and formed a complex society or
civilization.
A civilization is a culture with well
developed forms of government,
religion, and a written language.
The people of Sumer built dikes and dug
canals to hold back the flood waters from
the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
Life in the cities posed new problems for the
Sumerians, and they had to find creative
ways to solve them.
These people used technology. (the use of
tools and skills) to build their cities.
One technological advancement made
by the Sumerians was the invention of
the wheel.
Wheel technology made other inventions
possible, including the wheeled cart.
They used domesticated oxen and donkeys to
pull heavy loads using the wheeled carts.
Wheeled carts were important in moving
construction materials.
They were able to build seven-story temples
called ziggurats. This is where they
worshiped their gods.
The Sumerians believed that each city had
a god to watch over and protect them. They
also believed that the gods controlled the
winds and the rain, the sun and every part
of nature important to agricultural society.
The Sumerians believed that large harvests
were a sign that the gods were pleased with
them.
They also thought that floods and other
natural disasters were signs that the gods
were very angry with them.
When large numbers of people live and work
together, laws are needed to keep order. In
large societies this can be achieved through
a system of government.
A government is an organized system that
groups use to make laws and decisions.
Sumerian farms produced a surplus or extra
supply of food. This meant they had enough
to barter or trade for things they needed.
Not everyone in Sumer, including the kings
could read or write. Those who could write
were called scribes. Often they kept records,
wrote letters for other people. They also
copied down stories and songs.
The needs of a large complex society led to
new ways of doing things, or innovations.
Acre (unit of
measuring land)
Cargo ships with
sails for trading
Quart to measure
wheat and barely
Cuneiforms (writing
system of wedge
shaped symbols)
The people of Phoenicia sailed the waters of
the Mediterranean Sea in search of goods
they needed. As a result they developed
highly advanced sailing techniques.
The Phoenicians borrowed ideas from the
different cultures with whom they came into
contact.
The earliest alphabet was developed by the
Phoenicians based on writing systems of
other ancient civilizations.
The Phoenician alphabet made writing easier
because their written symbols stood for
single sounds.
Purple People
Because of the Phoenicians' unique purple potion,
one possible meaning for the word Phoenician is
"dealer in purple!" Others think it means "bloodred" because their purple dye had a reddish
undertone. So how did they make this dye, and
what was the big deal about purple? The
Phoenicians discovered that crushed shellfish
oozed a fabulous wine-colored goop. Cloth soaked
in this substance turned shades ranging from deep
pink to rich purple. Royalty soon chose purple as
their favorite hue, so every king and queen
needed purple dye!
Citizens from another early civilization, the
Lydian, were the first to use coined money.
Their first coins were the size of red beans.
They were made from a mixture of gold and
silver.
These new coins were used and accepted in
other civilizations.
……. And they were not so heavy that they’d
sink the trading ships!
Lydian Coins
Hammurabi was the ruler
who chiefly established
the greatness of
Babylon, the world's
first metropolis.
Hammurabi’s most
important innovation
was a collection of 282
laws called the Code of
Hammurabi.
Code of Hammurabi
Hammurabi improved each city-states of
Babylon under his rule by promoting trade
and by building and keeping up dikes and
canals.
To pay for these projects Hammurabi charged
taxes to his citizens.
+
=
People could pay taxes in crops or other
goods they produced.
Hammurabi appointed tax collectors to gather
taxes. If the tax collector could not get a
payment from a person, he was forced to
pay it HIMSELF.
Hammurabi wrote laws about marriage,
divorce, adoption, slaves, murder, stealing,
military service, land and business practices,
loans, prices and wages!
(Remember there were 282 of them)
The code of Hammurabi made people
responsible for their actions.
The code said that whoever cause an injury
should be punished by given the same injury.
The famous of those laws was ….
“an eye for an eye”
4
What do I need to remember about
the Fertile Crescent?

Mesopotamia

scribes

civilization

innovations

technology

Phoenicians

inventions

Lydians

ziggurats

Hammurabi

government

Code of Hammurabi

surplus