Download 1 Mesopotamia PPTb

Copyright © Clara Kim 2007. All rights reserved.
Why River Valleys?
1. Offered rich soils for
agriculture
2. Provided water for crops.
The Fertile Crescent
• Arc of land
between the
Persian Gulf
and the
Mediterranean
Sea in
Southwest Asia
One land…Two Rivers
• Mesopotamia means =
“land between the
rivers”
– Tigris River and
Euphrates River
• Both rivers flooded once
a year and left thick bed
of silt.
– Silt: rich, new soil
farmers could plant
and harvest enormous
quantities of wheat
Environmental Challenges
• Floods are unpredictable. Between the
floods there was often little or no rain
• No natural barriers to protect villages
from invaders
• Limited natural resources
Formation of City States
• Sumerians stand out in history as one of the first
groups of people to form a civilization
• Later peoples built upon the innovations of the
Sumerian culture. The process in which a new
idea or a product spreads from one culture to
another is called cultural diffusion.
• City-State: A city, usually surrounded by
farmland, that developed their own governments
and rulers. (Functioned much like a
independent country does today.)
Political
Power of the Priests
• Sumer’s earliest
governments were
controlled by temple priests
– Farmers believed they
needed blessings for
success of their crops
– Priests were the middle
man for the Gods
– Priests demanded portion
of farmer crops as tax
Political
• Later followed
Hereditary rulers:
when the power is
passed down to
family members
• A series of rulers
from a single family
is called a dynasty.
Sargon
Economy
• Metal tools and weapons
(bronze, iron)
• Increasing agricultural
surplus (better tools, plows,
irrigation)
• Increasing trade along
rivers – traded with Egypt
• Development of the
world’s first cities
• Specialization of labor
Religion
• Polytheistic: Belief in
Many Gods (3,000!!!)
• Gods could be angered
at any moment and to
keep them happy
Sumerians:
– Built impressive
ziggurats or temples to
sacrifice food, wine and
animals
MORE
ZIGGURATS!!!
Sumerian Society
Kings and Priests
Wealthy merchants
Ordinary Sumerian people
Slaves
Women
• Could hold property
• Women could join the
priesthood
• Some women were
scribes
Intellectual
Epic of Gilgamesh
• Myths and
legends recorded
in this long poem
• One of the
earliest works of
literature in the
world
“Gilgamesh, whither
are you wandering?
Life, which you look
for, you will never
find.
For when the gods
created man, they
let
Death be his share,
and withheld life
In their own hands”
Achievements
Science and
Technology
• Invented the wheel,
the sail, the plow
• First to use bronze.
• Developed system of
writing
• Built irrigation
systems, buildings,
surveyed flooded
fields.
First Empire Builders
• Early city-states were almost constantly at
war with one another, weakening the citystates and making them vulnerable to
attacks from outsiders.
• About 2350 BCE Sargon defeated the city
states and formed an empire (An empire
brings together several peoples, nations or
independent states under the control of
one ruler.)
Babylonian Empire
• Nomadic warriors invaded Mesopotamia.
• Gradually the nomadic warrior
overwhelmed the Sumerians and
established their capital at Babylon.
• The Babylonian Empire reached its peak
during the reign of Hammurabi (about
1792 BCE – 1750 BCE)
Hammurabi’s Code
• Hammurabi recognized that a single,
uniform code of laws would help to unify
the diverse groups within his empire.
• He collected existing rules judgments, and
laws into the Code of Hammurabi.
• Hammurabi had the code engraved in
stone, and copies were placed all over his
empire.