Download Eubanks World History August 26 MESOPOTAMIA EGYPT

Mesopotamia
“Land Between Two
Rivers”
Where was Mesopotamia?
Civilization emerged because
the soils around the rivers
provided a surplus of food.
City-states developed
independently of each other.
Hammurabi comes
to power
Independent cites developed; Ur, Urak,
Eridu
Akkadian
3000 BCE
2340 BCE
2100 BCE
1792 BCE
Sumer
Cuneiform invented
1500 BCE
Babylon
Akkadian Empire
falls
Sargon establishes the 1st
empire
Sumer: the First Civilization
3000 BCE formed city-states
around Ur, Urak, and Sumer
Basic political unit of Sumer
Ziggurat was center of city
government and religion
Theocracy gave increased power to
the rulers
Polytheistic religion creates
thousands of gods
SSWH1b
The Nanna Ziggurat at Ur
What was the purpose of a ziggurat?
SSWH1b
Sumer was the site of several
“firsts” in human history
SSWH1a
The plow The wheel
The sailboat
System
of
writing:
cuneiform
Which of Sumer’s inventions do
you think is most important?
Why?
Writing is the
most important
because it
allows us to
know what
happened in
the past.
Sumer was displaced by the Akkadian Empire
approximately 2340 BCE
Sargon conquered
Sumerian citystates creating the
world’s first empire
An empire is a
large political unit
that controls
many peoples and
territories
Role of Women
•
•
•
•
•
•
Bearing / raising children
Own property
Control dowry
Trade
No political role
Textiles, breweries, prostitutes, bakers,
fortunetellers
• Steadily declines
– Men take 2nd wife (if no kids)
– Marriage alliances
Babylon came to power about 2100 BCE
Hammurabi was
first king of the
empire
Expanded control
of Mesopotamia by
Babylon
Best known for
the development
of legal code
Hammurabi’s Code was one of the first,
and most famous, written codes of law
“to promote the welfare of the people, I,
Hammurabi, the devout, god-fearing prince,
cause justice to prevail in the land by
destroying the wicked and the evil, that the
strong might not oppress the weak.”
282 entries cover all kinds of
civic interactions
Some very general, some very
specific
Favored wealthy and
What about other
places and people?
Egypt:
Gift
of the
Nile
The regular
flooding of the
Nile allowed for
life in Egypt.
agriculture
fish &
waterfowl
mud for
building
eased
transportation
The Nile was
bordered by
deserts which
provided:
defense
from invasion
precious
metals and
stones
stones for
building
The pharaoh
had absolute
power SSWH1b
owned and
controlled all the
land
descended
from Re
embodied
Horus as a god-onearth
set apart
from the rest of
humanity
The pharaoh SSWH1b
had absolute
power
owned and
controlled all the
land
descended
from Re
embodied
Horus as a god-onearth
set apart
from the rest of
humanity