Download Ancient Mesopotamia and the Tigris

World History
Social Studies
Unit: 01 Lesson: 02
Ancient Mesopotamia and the Tigris-Euphrates
Suggested website for more information:
http://www.britishmuseum.org/search_results.aspx?searchText=ancient+me
sopotamia
Mesopotamia/Fertile Crescent (3500 BC – 1600 BC)
• Settlement on the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers around 4500 BC
• Sumerians arrive in 3500 BC and begin irrigation
• Sumerian city-states established around 3000 BC
• Polytheistic religion – ziggurat (temple) the center of each city-state
• Scientific achievements: wheel, sail, plow, bronze, cuneiform
• Hammurabi (1792 BC-1750 BC) establishes a written, uniform code of
laws (Hammurabi’s Code)
• Babylonian Empire ends around 1500 BC and other civilizations in this
area – Assyrians, Phoenicians, and Hebrews – adopt ideas first
developed by early Sumerians
• Monarchies – Military leaders who commanded soldiers displace priests
as rulers; power passed on to their sons, who in turn passed it on to
their sons; this leads to formation of early dynasties in river valley
civilizations, (e.g., Sumerian city-states)
• Hammurabi's Code: Political impact – By developing a single code of
laws from the customs of his day, Hammurabi made law something
objective and less personal and therefore more stable and predictable
• Judaism – (historical origins and the central ideas of), including:
o Abraham, Moses, David
o Ethical monotheism
©2012, TESCCC
05/07/12
Page 1 of 2
World History
Social Studies
Unit: 01 Lesson: 02
o 10 commandments
o Torah
o “Promised Land”
o Messiah
o Jewish Ten Commandments: Moses the Lawgiver; high standard of
moral conduct; covenant between God and the Hebrew people –
God’s protection in exchange for keeping God’s commandments
• Mesopotamia
o Plow
o Pottery
o Bronze
o Wheel
o Arch
o Sail
o Cuneiform writing
o Number system based on 60 and 360 degree circles
o Phoenicians - Alphabet
©2012, TESCCC
05/07/12
Page 2 of 2