Download Ancient Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent

Ancient Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent
Chap 8 Sec 2
Notes
The Mesopotamian City-State
The Fertile Crescent
Hammurabi—ancient Mesopotamian emperor, ruled 1792–1750 B.C.
Mesopotamia—Greek for “land between the rivers”
Covers area of Iraq, parts of Syria, Turkey
Region called Fertile Crescent due to shape, fertile soil
City-States
Sumerians—first inhabitants form city-states around 3000 B.C.
City-state—city and areas it controls
Three challenges influence development of city-states:
- high walls protect from hostile invaders
- irrigation canals provide water to area with little rainfall
- allow safe trading of grain, dates, cloth in exchange for stones,
metals,timber
Government by Priests and Kings
Each city-state builds temple to specific guardian god
- temple is built on ziggurat—pyramid-shaped tower
City-states are first ruled by temple priests, then elected leaders
- leaders later become kings
Kings control politics, military; priests control religion, economy
From Kings to Emperors
Sometimes kings conquer other city-states
- let conquered city-states keep gods, local control
Some kings build empires from conquered lands
- empire—group of countries under one ruler’s control
- force conquered people to worship emperor as god
The Class System
The Three Classes
Mesopotamia has class system—society divided into social groups
- each group, or class, has certain rights, protections
Top class: kings, priests, rich property owners
Middle class: skilled workers, merchants, farmers
Bottom class: slave workers
- some captured in wars, others sold into slavery to pay debts
A Culture Based on Writing
Cuneiform
Cuneiform—one of first systems of writing, developed by Sumerians
- used to write lists, records, histories, religious beliefs, science
Most Sumerians cannot write; scribes trained to keep records
Educating Scribes
Most scribes are children of rich officials, priests, merchants
Boys, some girls attend “tablet houses”—scribe schools
Memorize 600 wedge-shaped characters
Scribes Played Many Roles
Scribes also write own literary, scientific works
- some women write lullabies, love songs
Traveling scribes share writings from other countries
Scribes read works out loud to audiences
Stories include tales from The Epic of Gilgamesh