Download Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia
Innovations
Tuesday and Wednesday
September 27 and 28, 2016
Homework: Review Materials – Test Day – A 10/4 and B 10/5
Warm-Up:
1. Copy homework into agenda
2. Complete a review on school net on EQ#2 – use your materials to help you.
• Social Studies 6 Unit 2 Mesopotamia EQ 2 Review 2016-2017 Passcode:
VE4DA3BE2
• Social Studies 6 Unit 2 Mesopotamia EQ2 Vocabulary Review 2016-2017
Passcode: MA5KE5MA5
EQ#3
•How did technology
and culture influence
future civilizations?
Vocabulary
•Epic – long poems that tell stories of heroes
•Architecture – the science of building
•Hammurabi’s Code – a set of 282 laws that dealt
with almost every part of daily life; the earliest
known written collection of laws
•Alphabet – a set of letters that can be combined to
form words.
Innovations
Early Mesopotamians developed a number of innovations which
greatly improved the lives of the people, particularly in the area
of agriculture.
1. Calendar, which helped them predict floods.
2. Cuneiform Alphabet, one of the first written languages,
made it easier to communicate and keep detailed records.
3. The Epic of Gilgamesh was the first recorded story. It deals
with many of the universal themes and ideas still found in
literature today.
4. Wheel and the plow made farming easier.
Hammurabi’s Code of Laws
Hammurabi was a Babylonian king who consolidated and
annotated the laws into a single code. The code laid out specific
rules of conduct and the punishments for breaking them.
1. The code called for punishment by humans, not gods.
2. The code established the principle of equivalent punishment,
known today as "an eye for an eye."
3. Tradesmen and lawmakers were held to the same standard as
ordinary citizens, to prevent arbitrary and unfair rulings.
4. The code explicitly called for protection of the weak and
unfortunate: orphans, widows, and the downtrodden.