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Chapter 4 – Mesopotamia
Lesson 1- The Sumerians
I.
II.
The First Civilizations in Mesopotamia
a. The Two Rivers
i. Mesopotamia: the earliest known civilization
ii. Means “the land between the rivers” in Greek
iii. Located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
iv. The Fertile Crescent: the curving strip of good farmland that extends from the
Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf.
b. Taming the Rivers
i. Early Mesopotamian farmers used water from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers to
water their fields.
ii. In the summers, little or no rain fell and rivers were often low and dry.
iii. In the Spring, rain and melting snow would cause the rivers to overflow & flood
iv. Flooded rivers left silt and silt was very good soil for farming
v. They learned to build dams and canals to help control the river and water crops,
known as irrigation.
vi. Small farming villages grew into cities and by 3000 B.C. several cities developed
in Sumer – a region in southern Mesopotamia
Sumer’s Civilization
a. City-States Arise
i. Sumer’s people were known as Sumerians
ii. Cities began to become independent and formed City-States
iii. City-States had their own government and the population ranged from about
5,000-20,000 people.
b. Gods, Priests, and Kings
i. The Sumerian people worshipped many gods, a type of belief known as
polytheism
ii. They believed that gods had power over nature and work such as plowing and
brick making.
iii. Sumerians honored all gods but each city-state claimed one as its own.
iv. To honor its god, a city-state would build a ziggurat.
v. Priests first ruled city-states
vi. Later city-states became monarchies, usually with a war-hero claiming he had
received his power to rule from their god.
c. Social Groups
i. People in Sumer were divided in social classes
ii. Upper Class: Kings, priests, warriors and government officials
iii. Middle Class: merchants, farmers, fishers, and artisans
iv. The middle class was Sumer’s largest social group
v. Lower Class: Slaves, criminals and people who could not pay their debts
vi. The Lower class worked for the upper class
vii. The basic unit of society was the family
III.
viii. Men were the head of the home and boys went to school
ix. Women ran the home, cared for the children and taught their daughters to do
the same.
Sumerian Contributions
a. Writing
i. “Cradle of Civilization”: Mesopotamia was the beginning of organized human
society
ii. Writing was the most important contribution made by Sumerians to the world
iii. They developed the earliest known writing system in the world.
iv. Writing was a way for Sumerians to keep records and their history as well as
share information.
v. Cuneiform: a system of writing developed by Sumerians that used wedgeshaped marks made in soft clay.
vi. Scribes: wrote documents that recorded much of everyday life, including court
records, marriage contracts, business dealings and important events.
vii. Epic of Gilgamesh: the world’s oldest known story from Sumer. Written more
than 4,000 years ago.
b. Technology and Mathematics
i. Sumerians were the first people to use the wheel
ii. They built the first carts, pulled by donkeys
iii. Chariots: vehicles built for military use
iv. Developed the sailboat for river travel
v. Developed a wooden plow for help in the fields
vi. Artisans made the potter’s wheel
vii. They used geometry
viii. They created a place value system of numbers based on 60
1. 60 minute hour
2. 60 second minute
3. 360 degree circle
4. These ideas we use today came from the Sumerians
ix. Developed a 12 month calendar based on the cycles of the moon
Lesson 2 – Mesopotamian Empires
I.
The First Empires
a. Who was Sargon?
i. Empire: a large territory or group of many territories governed by one ruler
ii. Sargon: ruled the people of Akkad, known as Akkadians
1. United the conquered territory with Akkad and became known as the
king of Sumer and Akkad
2. He formed the world’s first empire
3. His Mesopotamian empire lasted for more than 200 years before being
invaded.
b. Who was Hammurabi? And Hammurabi’s code
i. Hammurabi: a Babylonian king who ruled over a people called the Amorites
1.
2.
3.
4.
II.
III.
He created the Babylonian empire
Babylon was the grandest of his cities
Thought to be a just (fair) ruler
He is best known for creating a set of laws for his empire known as the
“Code of Hammurabi”
ii. “Code of Hammurabi” – stricter than old Sumerian law and become known as
“eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth” which meant the punishment should fit
the crime.
1. The code also protected the less powerful.
The Assyrian Empire
a. The Assyrian Army
i. Built a large and powerful army
ii. Fought with slingshots, bows and arrows, swords and spears
iii. They took tribute and forced people from their homes
iv. Used iron weapons (technology developed by the Hittites)
b. Kings and Government
i. Assyrian capital was located at Ninevah
ii. Kings ruled a large area and therefore had to break it up into provinces
iii. Provinces: political districts
iv. Kings chose officials to goven, collect taxes and carry out the laws in each
province
The Chaldean Empire
a. A New Empire
i. During Assyrian struggles for leadership, the Chaldeans under the rule of
Nabopolassar joined with the Medes to defeat the Assyrians and take control
ii. Nabopolassar and his son Nebuchadnezzar created the new empire
iii. They set up their capital in Babylon
iv. They are sometimes referred to as the new Babylonian Empire
b. The Greatness of Babylon
i. King Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt Babylon, making it the largest and richest city in
the world
ii. The palace had a giant staircase of greenery known as the Hanging Gardens
iii. Hanging Gardens: were considered one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world
1. It is believed he built the gardens to please his wife
iv. The people of Babylon also made many scientific advancements
1. Chaldean astronomers invented one of the first sundials to measure
time
2. The first to follow a 7 day week
3. Mapped the stars, planets and phases of the moon as it changed.
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