MESOPOTAMIA

THE FERTILE CRESCENT◊ Fertile Crescent =

moon-shaped strip of land from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf that is excellent farmland

• Located in modern-day Middle East

THE FERTILE CRESCENT

• Mesopotamia = located within the Fertile Crescent, between the Tigris & Euphrates Rivers

• Rivers were NOT a reliable source of water (unlike the Nile)

• Ran dry in summer; flooded in springVillages joined together to build dams, canals, and ditches

Ancient Mesopotamia• Ancient Mesopotamia covered three

general areas:– Assyria– Akkad– Sumer

• Several different ethnicities lived in these areas.

• The Sumerians developed the first Mesopotamian civilization.

THE EMPIRE• The Akkadians

lived north of the Sumerian city-states.

• Around 2340 B.C.E. the leader of the Akkadians, Sargon, conquered the Sumerian city-states and set up the world’s first empire.

Sumerians

• By 3,000 B.C.E. the Sumerians had formed a number of city-states centered around cities such as Ur and Uruk

• City-states were the basic political unit of the Sumerian Civilization.

City-States

● City-states governed themselves● Each city and the surrounding land it

controlled formed a city-state. A city-state functioned much as an independent country does today.

Laws regulated the roles of women & men → men had far more rights

Ziggurats● The center of all Sumerian cities

was the walled temple with a ziggurat in the middle. There the priests and rulers appealed to the gods for the well-being of the city-state.

● The temple (most important building) was built on top of a massive stepped tower called a ziggurat.

Sumerians believed gods and goddesses owned and ruled the cities.

Mesopotamian (Sumerian Society)

Religion● Polytheistic - meaning they believed in many gods who controlled different forces of nature

● believed gods to do what humans do

● Worship in ziggurats

● wealth devoted to building temples

● believed success of crops depended on the gods

● believed priest and eventually kings to be representative to the gods

Social Structure

• Three classes– Highest class were

nobles. This included the royal family, royal officials, priests and their families.

Social Structure

• Three classes– The middle class were

commoners. They worked for large estates as farmers or they worked as merchants, fishermen, and craftspeople.

Social Structure

• Three classes– The lowest class were

slaves who worked on large building projects, wove cloth, and worked the farms of the nobles for next to nothing.

Economy● based on agriculture

● large-scale system of water control, crops could be grown on a regular basis

● traded for stone, wood, and metal from other societies to build empires

Writing System◊ Cuneiform = Sumerian system of

writing• The symbols represented

complex ideas

• The Sumerians created a system of writing called cuneiform (wedge-shaped). They used a reed stylus to make wedge-shaped markings on clay tablets. Writing was for record keeping, teaching, and law.

Sumerian Inventions1. Wagon Wheel2. Arch3. Potter’s Wheel4. Sundial5. 12-month Calendar6. Metal Plow

The Epic of GilgameshThis is the most important piece of Mesopotamian literature, teaches the lesson that only gods are immortal. Gilgamesh is wise and strong, a being who is part human and part god.

Gilgamesh befriends a hairy beast named Enkidu. When Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh feels the pain of his friend’s death, and he searches for the secret of immortality. He fails.

Hammurabi and the Second Empire: Babylonia

• In 1792 B.C.E. Hammurabi of Babylon, a city-state south of Akkad, established a new empire over much of both Akkad and Sumer.

• ruled for 43 years

• a skilled warrior

• a clever administrator and a diplomat

Hammurabi’s Law Code

● The Code of Hammurabi is one of the world’s most important early systems of law.

● It calls for harsh punishments against criminals.

Hammurabi’s Law Code● The principle of retaliation; “an eye

for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” is fundamental in Hammurabi’s code.282 laws

- conditional sentence- if you do this, you will receive this

punishment

● inscribed on an 8-foot-high stone slab

Purpose for the Code● “to promote the welfare of the people, make justice visible in the land, destroy the wicked person and the evil, in order that the strong might not injure the weak.”

● placed all groups in the empire under one law

Purpose for the Code● deals with many aspects of daily life: property rights, trade(business), family issues, professional services, and crime

● contained consumer protection laws to encourage the proper performance of work

● largest group of laws dealt with marriage and the family

Marriage & Family Laws

● Parents arranged marriages, and the two parties signed a marriage contract

● protected women and children

● Women still had fewer privileges and rights than men

● expressed the patriarchal nature of Mesopotamian society

● enforced the obedience of children to parents

Main Idea of the Code...

Main Idea = government's job to look after its people (even though penalties were severe and it punished the rich and poor differently)