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Mesopotamia Video –NotesReview for TEST Thursday September 26Friday September 27

MESOPOTAMIA VIDEO: • Please review both videos!!

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Mesopotamia Study Guide

• Mesopotamians (Sumerians) all relied on floods for a good harvest

• Sumerians first written symbols were pictographs

• Cuneiform was developed by Sumerians• Phoenicians are given credit for our English

Alphabet• According to Sumerians, each city-state

was ruled by its own gods

• In the Babylonian culture, Hammurabi’s Code was used to govern society.

• Hammurabi’s Code of laws were important to Sumerian society because these laws included the corresponding punishment

• Hammurabi’s Code listed 282 laws that were important because they were displayed for the public

Mesopotamia Study Guide

• Review notes from Mesopotamia to prepare for the Unit Test- TH/F

• Review study guide packets• Bring Completed Study Guide foldable• Sleep early!• Eat a good breakfast!

Homework

• Rivers made agriculture possible

• Challenges included floods, drought, and lack of resources

• “The Land Between Two Rivers” Tigris and Euphrates

Geography

• Sumerians developed the first writing system

• Pictographs- “picture writing”• Cuneiform – wedge shaped

symbols

Achievements

• Irrigation helped provide a steady source of water for crops

• Sumerians invented the wheel and the plow

Achievements

• Sumerians worshipped many gods

• The temple was called a ziggurat

• Polytheistic – believed in many gods. Poly means “more than one.”

Religion

• City-states were the form of government throughout Sumer

• First, priests ruled in Sumer. Later, powerful men became kings

Politics

• Trade with other city-states• Food surpluses, new technology, and

advanced social organization led to a complex way of life called civilization

• Specialized workers means they can do a job that has special skills

• Cities are crowded- people must learn to live and work together

Economy

• Social classes in Mesopotamia was divided into several social groups

• Unequal classes• Class systems define who has power and

who does the less desirable jobs• Upper- kings and priests- had a link to the

gods• Middle- free people • Lower- slaves

Social Structure