Download Mesopotamia Study Guide Characteristics of a civilization: stable

Mesopotamia Study Guide
Characteristics of a civilization:
1. stable food supply
2. social structure
3. government
4. religion
5. culture (the arts)
6. advances in technology (innovations)
7. highly developed language/writing
2.1 Geography of Ancient Mesopotamia
 Fertile Crescent is the name for the area of land where the first cities came about. It is
named for its crescent moon shape and its fertile soil.
 Fertile Crescent is bordered by the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea and is
located where Iraq exists today.
 Mesopotamia is a Greek word meaning The Land Between Two Rivers: the Tigris and
Euphrates.
 When the rivers flooded, they left behind bits of rock and soil called silt. This created
good soil for farming.
 Thanks to the development of agriculture, people in Fertile Crescent could stay in one
place and create settlements.
 Because droughts were common, farmers developed a system of irrigation, or canals,
ditches and dams to get water from the rivers to the farmland. Irrigation also helped
solve the problem of flooding. Canals and ditches carried away water that would
otherwise destroy villages.
 Mesopotamians grew crops such as wheat, emmer, barley, cucumbers, figs, apples,
and onions. They kept goats, sheep and cattle for milk, meat and wool.
2.2 Civilization in Mesopotamia
 Sumerians created not only irrigation, but also the wheel (potters’ wheel, cart, chariot,
water wheel), the sail boat and a form of writing called cuneiform.
 Ziggurats were large mud-brick temples . At the top of each ziggurat was a shrine to the
city’s god. The ziggurat was the center of each city.
 The Sumerians believed the gods would give them a large harvest if they pleased them.
 With large numbers of people living together, laws were needed to keep order.
 Sumer was made up of independent city-states. A new form of government, called a
monarchy, was developed to provide stronger leadership. A monarchy is ruled by a king.
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Sumerians believed that their gods selected their rulers.
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Agriculture led to a surplus of food. This meant people had as much food as they
needed and they could do jobs other than farming. Some jobs were merchants,
craftworkers and scribes. This is called a division of labor.
Sumerians traded their crops and other things for wood, salt, stones, copper and tin.
Scribes were people who could read and write for other people.
The people of Sumer developed a highly developed system of writing called cuneiform.
It was made up of wedge shaped characters.
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Aside from writing and irrigation, the Sumerians invented systems for measurement, sail boats,
the plow.
Social Hierarchy
“The Pyramid of Power”
Upper Class
Kings,
leaders,
priests
Middle Class
Scribes
merchants
craftworkers
farmers
Lowest Class
slaves
2.3 Conquests and Empires
 City states often went to war over water and land rights.
 These wars led to new innovations in weapons, such as the war chariot.
 The first known conqueror in Mesopotamia was a warrior named Sargon. Sargon killed the king
of Kish and took control of the city-state. He then went on to conquer other lands to build an
empire. Sargon became the region’s first emperor.
 Hammurabi was the king of Babylon. He was an effective ruler and he built up the great
Babylonian Empire. Hammurabi developed a system of taxation. He also created 282 laws with
an “eye for an eye” philosophy. This became known as the Code of Hammurabi.
 The Assyrians eventually conquered and controlled much of the region.
2.4 The Ancient Israelites
 Abram (Abraham) believed in monotheism, or one god. Most Mesopotamians believed in
polytheism, or the belief in many gods.
 When famine hit their land, the Israelites left for Egypt. There they found food and jobs. Later,
Egyptian rulers enslaved the Israelites.
 Moses, the leader of the Israelites, led a revolt against the Egyptians. Enslaved Israelites
followed Moses from Egypt to Canaan. This large movement of people is called an exodus.
 Moses presented the Ten Commandments, a set of rules he says were told to him by God
during the exodus.
 Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people. The first five books of the Old Testament are
referred to as the Torah by Jewish people.
 The settling of Jews outside of Israel is known as diaspora. It comes from the Greek word for
“sowing.”
2.5 The Phoenicians and the Lydians
 Phonecia was located in the northwestern part of Fertile Crescent. The Phoenicians traveled
and traded all over the Mediterranean Sea and beyond. In their travels they saw how other
cultures were developing systems of writing. Borrowing those ideas, they created a simplified
alphabet using 22 letters. Now many people could learn to read and write, not just scribes. This
borrowing of cultural ideas is called cultural diffusion.
 The Lydians lived to the northwest of Phoenecia. At first, their economy was based on
bartering. Then, around 600 bc the Lydians became the first to used coined money put out by
their government.