Download POLITICAL

Mesopotamia PERSIAN Chart Key
POLITICAL
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Leaders/groups
Forms of government
Empires
State building/expansion
Political structures
Courts/laws
Nationalism/nations
Revolts/revolutions
ECONOMIC
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Agricultural, pastoral
Economic systems
Labor systems/
organizations
Industrialization
Technology/industry
Capital/money
Business organizations
RELIGIOUS
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Belief systems/
teachings
Philosophy
Holy books
Conversion
Key figures
Deities
SOCIAL
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Family/ kinship
Gender roles/relations
Social and economic
classes
Racial/ ethnic factors
Entertainment
Lifestyles
“Haves” & “have nots”
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Sumerians organized city-states – a form of political organization
typical of Mesopotamia civilizations; consisted of agricultural
hinterlands ruled by an urban-based king
King claimed divine authority and the government regulated religion
Provided a court system in the interests of justice
Kings served as military leaders during times of war
Hammurabi’s Code – Babylonian king that introduced the code of laws
which helped unify the empire. Established rules of procedure for courts
of law and regulated property rights and the duties of family members,
setting harsh punishment for crimes.
Sargon of Akkad – unified city-states south of modern-day Baghdad
into the first empire
Pottery industry
Silver – means of exchange for buying and selling goods (early form of
money)
Learned about fertilizers
Priests conducted complex rituals within ziggurats
Ziggurats – Massive towers or pyramids usually associated with temple
complexes; first monumental architecture of the civilization
Polytheistic; saw gods in many aspects of nature
Ideas about gods’ creation of the earth and punishment of humans
influenced writers of the Old Testament
Belief in a gloomy afterlife of punishment (their version of hell)
King, noble class, priesthood all controlled land
Independent business class for trade
Slaves worked the land, could eventually earn money to buy their
freedom
INTERACTIONS
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War/conflict
Diplomacy/treaties
Alliances
Exchanges between
individuals, groups, &
empires/nations
Trade/commerce
Globalization
ARTS
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Art
Music
Writing/literature
Philosophy
Math
Science
Education
Architecture
Technology
Innovations
Transportation
ENVIRONMENTAL
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Location
Physical
Human/environment
Migration/movement
Region
Demography
Neighborhood
Urbanization
Settlement patterns
Disease
Cities (2 major ones)
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One of the few cases of a civilization developing from scratch (with no
example to copy from)
Farming, because of irrigations, required considerable coordination
among communities
Trained army; warfare vital to ensure supplies of slaves taken as
prisoners
Region hard to defend – Sumerians fell to the Akkadians, who later fell
to the Babylonians (who extended the empire).
Invasions of Semitic people from the south introduced language and
began to dominate the region, they adopted the culture so key features of
civilization persisted, but large political units declined in favor of small
city-states or regional kingdoms.
Eventually invasions by Assyrians and Persians created large empires.
Invented wheel for transportation
Cuneiform – writing developed by the Sumerians using wedge-shaped
stylus (like a ballpoint pen) and clay tablets.
Statues and painted frescoes decorated temples of the gods
Astronomy – helped with development of the calendar
Mathematics – system on numbers based on units of 10, 60, 360 that we
still use to calculate circles and hours
Founded in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers called
Mesopotamia (the land between the rivers); irregular flooding
Sumerians – people who migrated into Mesopotamia about 4000 B.C.E.;
created first civilization within region; organized area into city-states
More vulnerable to invasions due to a lack of natural barriers
Located in modern-day Iraq
Territory found in the fertile crescent, an area between the Persian Gulf
and the Mediterranean Sea in southwest Asia
Sumer, Babylon