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Western Asia
Mesopotamia
The Impact of Geography
• The first civilizations
begin in
Mesopotamia
• Mesopotamia is part
of the Fertile
Crescent
• It is an arc of land
from the
Mediterranean Sea
to the Persian Gulf
• Meso. Means
“between the rivers”
• Between the Tigris
and Euphrates rivers
• Spring melt of snow in
higher elevations lead to
flooding streams and
rivers
• The water erodes the
land on its descent
• Carries the minerals and
vitamins in the water
• The rivers recede and
leaves silt behind
• Silt is fertilized soil, rich
with minerals for farming
• Farming in Mesopotamia required the controlling of
the water supply
• Mesopotamians developed drainage ditches,
canals and irrigation works
• Mesopotamia's three major civilizations
were Assyria, Akkad and Sumer
• The first civilization was developed by the
Sumerians
The City – States of Ancient
Mesopotamia
 By 3000 B.C. the
Sumerians formed city –
states such as Ur and Uruk
 A city – state is a
sovereign state that
consists of a city and its
surrounding areas
 Sovereign - under ones
own authority
 They built arches and large
buildings with mud bricks
• The temple was the most
important building in
each city
• It was the center of
religion and government
• Temples were built on
top of a large stepped
tower called a ziggurat
• The ziggurat was a
meeting place for the
citizens
Ruler of all Gods and men
Sun God
• Sumerians believed gods and goddesses ruled
the cities
• Their government was a theocracy –
government ruled through divine authority – the
gods give the power
• Divine authority – the right to rule is given by
the Gods
• The Sumerians were
mostly farmers
• Some worked in
metal work or woolen
textiles
• Trade became very
important with the
invention of the wheel
• The wheel allowed
Sumerians to trade
larger amounts
further away
Writing



The invention of writing
called cuneiform aided
trade, record keeping,
religion and government
Sumerians used a stylus
and clay tablets to make
pictograms that
represented words or
phrases
Eventually these
pictograms become wedge
shaped markings
representing sounds
Social Structure
Sumerians had three classes of
people:
Nobles, commoners and slaves
Nobles – royal family, royal
officials, priests and land
owners
Commoners – worked as
farmers, merchants, fishers
and artisans 90% of
population
Slaves worked on large building
projects, wove cloth and
worked on farms for nobles
Empires in Ancient Mesopotamia
The Akkadians lived
north of Sumer
 A Semitic people due to
their Semitic language
 Around 2340 B.C.
Akkad's emperor,
Sargon conquered the
Sumerian city – state
 The worlds’ first
empire
 A large political unit
that controls many
people and lands with

Hammurabi
• In 1792 B.C. Hammurabi of Babylon conquered
Akkad creating a new and larger empire
• He is best known for creating the worlds’ most
important systems of law
• The Code of Hammurabi called for harsh
punishment against criminals
• “Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth”
• Punishments were different based upon social
status
• Crimes committed against nobles brought harsher
punishments than the same crime committed
against a commoner
• The code also punished public officials that failed
to do their duty or were corrupt
• Many of the laws were about marriage and family
• Ex. – Parents arranged marriages, and the bride
and groom had to sign a contract
• The code was patriarchal, therefore laws were
centered around male dominance
• Women had few privileges and rights
• Children must be obedient - Ex. – a child’s hand
could be cut off if that child had struck his father
Mesopotamia and Religion
• Mesopotamians believed
that supernatural forces
controlled the world
• Humans were to serve
and obey the Gods that
created them
• Humans were created to
do the work that the
Gods did not want to do
• Polytheistic society due
to their belief in many
gods