What is a Civilization?

A look at the earliest civilizations in Mesopotamia

6 Elements of a Civilization

• Cities• Government• Religion• Art• Class Division• Writing

Farming Revolution

• Farming Revolution started about 10,000 years ago

• Domestication-tame plants and animals for human use

• Villages grew as nomadic life changed for farming

• Specialization-development of different types of job, not everyone needed for food collection

Mesopotamia-Cradle of Civilization

• “Land between 2 rivers”– Tigris and Euphrates Rivers– Floods once a year leaving behind rich soil good

for farming– Travel, trade,– Irrigation

The Fertile Crescent

Rise of the First Civilization

• Between 4000-3000 BC in Mesopotamia (Iraq today)

• Complex societies arose which had cities, government, art, religion, class division, and writing

Cities of Mesopotamia• Sumer– City-state with

own independent government and defenses (like a country)

– 3500-2800 BC

Government• Organized to provide

for basic needs of people– Food, buildings, laws,

army• Hammurabi– Ruler of Babylon in

Mesopotamia– Created a code of

laws which was a first step toward a fair system of justice

Religion

• Polytheistic-many gods– Had powers over natural forces and human

activities• Ziggurat– Temple – “mountain of god”

Art• Developed after basic needs are met

Class Division

• Your place in society based on your job or power.

king

priest, govt. officials

artisans, merchants, farmers, fishers

slaves

Writing• keep track of records, ideas

-Sumer=cuneiform-oldest story, Epic of Gilgamesh

Do we live in a civilization today? How do you know that?