Download File - Hartman Happenings

Mesopotamia
Geography
 “fertile crescent”
 today: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus, Jordan, Palestine, Kuwait, the
Sinai Peninsula = fertile crescent
 ancient Mesopotamia located in Southern Iraq
 Mesopotamia means “land between the rivers” in Greek
 two rivers = Tigris and Euphrates
 in the North = fertile land, seasonal rain, rivers and streams fed from
hills and mountains
 in the South = flat and barren, high temperatures, little rainfall,
storms come from Persian Gulf, slight seasons
 natural vegetation and wildlife fed early settlers, water for drinking
and bathing
 www.mesopotamia.co.uk – geography, explore maps
Agriculture
 sturdy baskets made from weeds along riverbank
 pottery from wet clay made into bowls, plates, storage jars, small
statues
 not much rain so irrigated land using river water
o regulators used to raise or lower water levels in canals and
ditches to be used by farmers
o each farmer allowed only certain amount of water
o when it was his turn to water the fields, the regulator was
adjusted so water ran from the canal into irrigation ditch along
the farmer’s fields
o http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/geography/challenge/cha_set.html
 planted wheat, barley, dates, vegetables like cucumbers, peas, lettuce,
turnips, chickpeas, onions, leeks, lentils, spices, fruits like apples,
figs, pomegranates, grapes for wine, olives for cooking oil, medicine,
perfume base, and lamp fuel
 raised cattle, sheep, goats, pigs for meat, milk, butter, leather, and
wool
 enjoyed fish, cheese, eggs, roast duck, pork, and deer
 http://mesopotamia.mrdonn.org/agriculture.html
Social Structure
 class system
 Kings and their families - each major city (Sumer, Babylon, Assyria) had
a king
 Large land owners and high-ranking government officials, military
leaders, and priests
o priests were doctors in charge of making sure everyone acted in a
way to please the gods
o priests shaved their heads
 Merchants, scribes, and craftspeople
o men and women wore jewelry, especially rings
o men wore skirts, had long hair, curly mustaches, and long beards
o women wore long dresses off one shoulder, had long hair worn
braided or up in fancy arrangements
o everyone wore cloaks of sheep wool to keep warm in winter
 farmers, hunters, and herders
o had a comfortable lifestyle, though not luxurious
o wore jewelry, though not made of gold, and kept up with fashion as
much as possible
o paid for their work
o had homes
 slaves – military captives or citizens who had fallen into debt
o worked for the king, the temple, and the wealthy
o man could sell his wife and children into slavery to pay off a
debt
o harsh punishments – cut ear off – but they could also hold
property, participate in business, marry a free man or woman, and
purchase their freedom
 Education
o schools attached to temples, only boys attended
o students had to do a perfect job or were punished by whipping
o taught to read and write cuneiform
 writing began as pictograms but became too cumbersome
 turned pictures into wedge-shaped symbols for objects and
ideas
 kept lists of everything, household items, sales, kings
 http://mesopotamia.mrdonn.org/classes.html
 http://mesopotamia.mrdonn.org/women.html
 http://mesopotamia.mrdonn.org/cuneiform.html
 http://mesopotamia.lib.uchicago.edu/mesopotamialife/article.php?theme=Da
ily%20Life
 http://mesopotamia.lib.uchicago.edu/mesopotamialife/index.php
 http://mesopotamia.lib.uchicago.edu/lessons_PDF/architecture_a.pdf
Technology and Inventions
 irrigation canals and ditches
 regulators to raise and lower water levels (much like today’s locks)
 plough – breaks up soil in the fields
 harrow – smooths and levels fields for planting
 seeder-plough – drops seeds into ground for planting
 http://mesopotamia.lib.uchicago.edu/mesopotamialife/article.php?theme=Sc
ience and Inventions
 potter’s wheel – wheel on which spinning clay formed into symmetrical
forms
 http://carlos.emory.edu/ODYSSEY/NEAREAST/daily.html
 invented chariot, checkers, wheels
 http://mesopotamia.mrdonn.org/inventions.html
 loom weights – used to weigh down vertical threads of cloth on a
weaver’s loom
 http://carlos.emory.edu/ODYSSEY/NEAREAST/tools.html
 cylinder seals – usually made of stone and used to mark ownership or
seal items in jars, boxes, or baskets; didn’t have to know how to read
and write to sign a contract using cylinder seals
 http://carlos.emory.edu/ODYSSEY/NEAREAST/cylsls.html
 cuneiform – first written language
o taught to a select group of boys from wealthy families in schools
called edubbas
 Gilgamesh – first super hero and one of oldest recorded stories in the
world
o was part god and part hero
o name appears on list of real Kings of Uruk so may have been real
man
o http://mesopotamia.mrdonn.org/gilgamesh.html
o http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/geography/story/sto_set.html
 invented the concept of zero, glass, the arch, column, and dome
 first to harness power of wind using the sail
Enduring Influences
 cuneiform writing
 inventions (see technology)
 ziggurat
o temples where religious ceremonies were held at the top
o housed each city-state’s patron god or goddess
o powerful gods lived in the sky so ziggurats were built high
o placed in center of town around which thousands of people lived
and worked
o people placed carved statuettes of themselves in perpetual prayer
in the temples
o http://mesopotamia.lib.uchicago.edu/mesopotamialife/article.php?th
eme=Religion
 Hanging Gardens of Babylon
o one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World
o created by King Nebuchadnezzar for his homesick wife, Amyitis,
around 600 BCE along the banks of the Euphrates River
o http://www.cleveleys.co.uk/wonders/sevenwondersoftheworld.htm