Mesopotamia1

A Civilization Must Have…

•*Government•*Permanent buildings•*Food production (farming)•*A system of writing

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Ancient Civilization• 3500 B.C.- 500 B.C: Mesopotamia• 3100 B.C.- 350 A.D: Egypt• 2000 B.C- 146 B.C: Greece• 900 B.C.- 476 B.C: Rome• 2000 B.C.- 1911 A.D: China• 500A.D. -1500 A.D: Medieval• 1300A.D.-1618A.D: Renaissance

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Present Day Mesopotamia• Southern Turkey• Syria• Jordan• Lebanon• Israel• Iran• Iraq

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Mesopotamia Map Directions

Use pages 54-57 in your Social Studies book to help• Color all the water blue• Outline the Tigris and Euphrates blue• Color the land tan/brown• Color the Fertile Crescent dark green• Color Mesopotamia light green

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Mesopotamia• *Mesopotamia: a Greek word meaning two rivers• *Both river flow North to East• *Both flow into the Persian Gulf• *Plains: an area of flat land

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Geography of Mesopotamia• 300 miles long• 150 miles wide• *Located between two rivers

–Tigris River–Euphrates River

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The Fertile Crescent• *Good for farming• *Got its name from its shape and fertile

land.

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The Land Between Two Rivers• *Silt:

– *Loose soil after a flood– Good for farming– The reason they could farm– Foods were good

• *Drought: a long period of time without rain• *Famine: a time when food would not grow• *Erosion: the wearing away of soil• *Levee: a stone wall that keeps the river in its banks• *Irrigation: a way to bring water due to dry climates

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Climate• *Climate: average weather conditions in an area• Hot and dry• Dry mixed with flooding• Temperatures higher than 110°

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Transportation

• *Feet• *Boat• *Carts• *Animals

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Keeping Animals• Cattle• Goats• Sheep• Dogs• Oxen• Pigs• Donkeys

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Early Cities• *Euphrates

– Babylon– Kish– Ur– Erak– Akkad

• *Tigris– Nineueh– Assur 13

Successful Farmers• *Surplus:

–They grew more than they needed–Not everyone had to farm–They used the extra for trading

• *Barter: Trading without money• *They tamed the rivers by building levees

and canals 14

Common Foods• Barley bread• Grape juice• Pomegranates• Salt• Olive oil• Cumin spice• Onions• Pistachio nuts• Cucumbers• Lettuce

• Honey• Figs• Raisins• Grains• Fish• Dates• Wheat• Beans• Plumbs• Apples

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Events During Mesopotamia• 8000 B.C- first development of agriculture• 3500 B.C- Sumerians began to develop their civilization• 3200 B.C.- earliest records written in cuneiform• 2350 B.C.- Akkadian empire founded by Sargon• 1792-1750 B.C.- rule of Hammurabi, King of Babylon• 1750-1600 B.C.- Babylonian Empire• 1721-1688 B.C. Assyrian Empire at the height of its

power• 539 B.C.- Mesopotamia conquered by Persians

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Walled Cities• *The cities fought each other• *They fought over water• *Each city was ruled by a

palace• *They built their buildings out

of mud and clay• *The rivers were tamed by

building levees 17

The City of Sumer• *The world’s first civilization• 3500 B.C.• *The people were called Sumerians• *They invented writing called cuneiform• They studied math and science• *They built ziggurats (temples)• The most famous city is Sumer

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The City of Sumer• Each city had its own government (a city state)• *They built walls for protection• *Examples:

–Babylon–Urak–Ur

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Sumerian Hierarchy

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Nobles

Commoners/Craftsmen

Farmers/Slaves

● Priests, officials and royals● Very small group of the population

● Workers for the nobles and palaces● Held jobs involving farming, fishing and

crafting

● 90% of the population were farmers● Slaves mostly worked on palace building

projects and were owned by the palace

Sumerian Family Life•*Many people were artisans•In a poor family everyone had to work•*Women were allowed to own businesses•*Marriages were arranged•*They married within their social classes•*Only men could divorce•

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Leisure Life in Sumer•They played board games•They played musical instruments•Parades•Feasts•Dancing

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Sumerian Inventions• *They came up with the idea of the wheel• *Irrigation• *+, -,x,/• The plow• Had the first written language

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Sumerian School• *School was only for boys• *They learned to write cuneiform• *They had to make their own clay tablets• *They made pens out of reeds and called them

stylus• Studied math and science

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Life as a Scribe• *A scribe was a person that could write• *They kept records for the kings• *It was the hardest job in Sumer• *The people thought that scribes were magical

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Writing on Clay• *Sumerian writing was

called cuneiform• There are 500 letters in the

cuneiform alphabet• *Cuneiform wedge writing• *It was written on a clay

tablet• 5000-3500 B.C.

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Cuneiform

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Year it was created What tools/materials were needed to write?

Why is cuneiform important?

● 3000 B.C ● Clay tablets

● Sharpened reeds to use as a stylus

● Clay was baked in the sun so they would last longer

● The first known recorded language.

● It led to other forms of writing.

Cylinder Seals• *They were used by kings to sign contracts and

other written documents• *They were made from stone or clay

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Religion in Mesopotamia• *Polytheism: The belief in many Gods• *Monotheism: The belief in one God• Each city had its own god. • At the center of the city was a large temple or

ziggurat built to that god. • This was where the priests would live and make

sacrifices29

The Gods● Anu

○ The god of the heavens and king of the gods. ○ The city associated with Anu was Uruk.

● Enlil ○ The god of air, wind, and storms○ Held the Tablets of Destiny, gave him control over the fate of man and

made him very powerful.○ He was associated with the city of Nippur.

● Enki○ The shaper of the world as well as god of wisdom, intellect, and magic. ○ He invented the plough and was responsible for making plants grow. ○ He was god of the city of Eridu. 30

The Gods● Utu

○ The god of the sun as well as justice and the law○ Mythology says that Utu travels across the world each day in a

chariot.● Inanna

○ The goddess of love and war. ○ Her primary city was Uruk

● Nanna ○ Also called Sin. ○ He was god of the moon. ○ His home was the city of Ur.

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Ziggurats• *A temple to the Gods• *They were places of business and worship• *They were seven to eight stories high• *Ziggurats = Mountain top

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• Sumerians believed the gods were in charge of the cities.

• Sumerian worshipped them and devoted their wealth to ziggurat temples.

• The buildings were at the center of the city-states

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● stone● wood● mud● clay● reeds● rivers● soils● crops

What supplies did the Sumerians have?

● Economy was based on farming.

● Trade and industry became important later

What was the Sumerian economy like?

● Took many trials to perfect● Was used for irrigation,

milling, pottery making.● Now is used for almost all

forms of transportation and machinery

● One of the greatest inventions of man-kind

The Invention of the Wheel!

Sargon of Akkad• *He united all the city

states• *He created the first

empire of the world• *He sent messages to

communicate his laws• He ruled for 56 years• He built the city of Akkad35

Gilgamesh• *The most famous Mesopotamian• *He was the real king of Urak• *He thought he was 2/3 god and

1/3 man• *He was a ruthless king• He lived through a great flood• Twelve clay tablets were found

that told his story 36

The Fall of Sumer• *They had constant wars• *They did not have a good military• *Salty water caused a famine among the people

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Babylonia

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Babylonia• Babylonia was located in southern Mesopotamia• It was a massive walled city, with a network of

canals • Visitors could see the top of the 300-foot

high Ziggurat long before they reached the huge city gates.

• The Ishtar Gates were designed with dragons and bulls in honor of the god Marduk.

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Babylonia• The people had homes inside the walls of the city.• Homes were comfortable. • Even the very poor typically had three levels of

living space. • People threw their trash out their front door. • The city covered the streets with a new layer of

clay.

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Assyria• The Assyrians also lived in the land between two rivers. • Their home was in northern Mesopotamia towards the mountains. • They were famous traders. • Their donkeys and caravans were known throughout the

Mesopotamian area.• Their religion was similar to that of Sumer and Babylon. • They worshiped many of the same gods.• They had their own language and their own lifestyle. • The Assyrians were always at war with somebody. • Their warriors were fierce, and soon conquered many other people

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Assyria• Assyrian artists were very talented. • Artisans used art to tell stories of battles and war heroes with

scenes painted on ceramics. • Not everyone lived in war camps, the Assyrians also built towns.• In each town, they built huge buildings. • Each building was decorated with huge demons to protect the

building and the town from evil • Around 1200 BCE, the Assyrians finally conquered Babylon. • The Assyrians leveled it because they despised the Babylonians.

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Hammurabi• *The king of Babylon• *He created 282 laws• *They were the first laws ever written• *He believed that you were responsible

for what you do• *He made a code of laws to live by• *If you injured someone or something

you would be injured the same way• * The strong could not attack the weak• *Abraham was the leader of the Hebrew

people at this time

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The Birth of Judaism• *Hebrew• *Israelites• *Jews

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The Hebrews• *The only ancient culture that still exists today• *They believe in one god (Monotheism)• * They believed in Abraham’s God

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Abraham• *He lived in the city of Ur• *He died in 1850 B.C. at the age of 150• *God and Abraham made a covenant (promise)• *God promised Abraham the land (Canaan)

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The Covenant with God• *Covenant: a promise or agreement• *God told Abraham to go to the Promise Land• *The Promise Land was Canaan• *The Jewish people consider this covenant to be

the beginning of their history• *Abraham promised to worship just one God

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Migrating to Egypt• 1600 B.C. the Israelites moved to Egypt• *They went looking for food• *They were not treated well• *The new Pharaoh made them slaves• Slavery: to own someone

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Moses Leads the Israelites• *Moses is called the “law giver”

• * Moses leads the Hebrews out of Egypt

• *The Exodus: 1290 B.C. – 1020 B.C.

• *It took 40 years• *Moses was a Prophet• *Prophet: speaker of God• *Moses received the 10

Commandments 49

The Torah• *The Hebrew Bible• *The first 5 books of the

Holy Bible:– Genesis– Exodus– Leviticus– Numbers– Deuteronomy 50

The 10 Commandments• Rules to live by• The Hebrew law• God gave them to

Moses• Christians and Jews

obey them

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The 10 Commandments1. Do not have any other Gods, but God2. Don’t worship idols3. Do not swear with God’s name4. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy5. Obey your father and mother6. Do not kill7. Do not steal someone’s husband or wife8. Do not steal9. Do not lie

10. Do not want your neighbor’s things52