Download Ancient Mesopotamia Study Sheet

Ancient Mesopotamia Study Sheet
California State Standards:
6.2 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early
civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Kush.
1.
Locate and describe the major river systems and discuss the physical settings that supported
permanent settlement and early civilizations.
2.
Trace the development of agricultural techniques that permitted the production of economic surplus
and the emergence of cities as centers of culture and power.
3.
Understand the relationship between religion and the social and political order in Mesopotamia and
Egypt.
4.
Know the significance of Hammurabi's Code.
5.
Trace the evolution of language and its written forms.
Geography:
1. Mesopotamia means “land between two rivers.” The two rivers are the Tigris
and Euphrates.
2. Mesopotamia was a large region often called the Fertile Crescent. It stretched
from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea.
3. Ancient Sumer was a smaller chunk of land closer to the Persian Gulf. It was
great farming land. Major cities included: Ur, Nippur, Babylon.
4. Two major challenges faced Sumerian farmers. 1. The spring floods that brought
rich soil brought dangerous floods. 2. During the summer, it had hot, dry
weather with no rain for months.
5. To solve the problem of flooding, Sumerians invented levees. Levees are walls of
earth built to prevent a river from flooding its banks.
6. To solve the problem of having no water during the summer months, the
Sumerians invented irrigation systems. They dug canals and ditches to bring
water from the rivers to the fields.
Government:
1. City-state: made up of a city and the surrounding land & villages that it controls.
City-states were independent of neighbors; had its own gov’t, laws & gods
2. Sumerian city-states would fight over control of the water supply
3. Sumerians built walls around their cities to protect against attacks
4. Believed their kings were chosen by the gods (made kings very powerful)
5. Kings: enforced laws, collected taxes, had temples built, led army, oversaw levees
& irrigation projects
6. Army: made of professional soldiers & citizen-soldier, had chariots (wheeled
vehicles pulled by horses)
7. Tribute- a tax paid by a conquered country to another
8. Barter- trading system where people exchange goods directly without use of
money
9. Empire: large territory where several groups of people ruled by single ruler/gov’t
10. 4 Mesopotamian Empires
1. Akkadian Empire: (world’s first empire)
a. Sargon- first ruler, great military leader, controlled all of Mesopotamia
2. Babylonian Empire
a. Hammurabi: made Babylon the capital
b. Hammurabi’s Code- 1st set of written laws
3. Assyrian Empire
a. North of Mesopotamia & conquered land to increase its borders
b. Known for military & developed many new war weapons/strategies
(siege= military blockade & attack on city to force it to surrender),
battering rams (long poles on wheels to punch holes in walls), moveable
towers to scale walls & invade
4. Neo-Babylonian Empire
a. Nebuchadnezzar- military leader/king, drove Egyptians from Syria,
conquered Canaan & took Hebrew slaves, built inner & outer wall around
Babylon & had moat made
b. Hanging Gardens Of Babylon- lush gardens atop rooftops w/ watering
system (ancient wonder of world)
Social Structure:
1. Upper class: priests, land owners, gov’t officials
a. Large homes near center of city, 2-story houses & whitewashed mud walls
2. Middle class (Common class): merchants & craftspeople
a. Metal workers (gold, silver, tin, lead, copper, bronze) –swords, arrowheads for
army, tools (plows, hoes) for farmers, luxury items (mirrors, jewelry) for
upper class
b. Farmers & fishermen- lived in small mud-brick houses at edge of city, worked
to repair irrigation systems & sometimes forced to serve in army
3. Slaves
Religion:
1. Sumerians practiced polytheism. Polytheism is the belief in many gods.
2. Some gods represented elements in nature. Other gods represented objects like
the plow.
3. Each city had its own god. (Ex. Nippur’s god was Enlil- god of wind.)
4. Priests were responsible for informing the people what the gods wanted. They
were very powerful in society.
5. A ziggurat was a large Mesopotamian temple tower. These would be found in
the center of large cities. The temples owned farmland and stored surplus grain
and other goods too.
6. Sumerians believed happy gods brought them good fortune and angry gods would
bring disaster. They often made statues of themselves to set in front of the idols,
to show continual worship and respect.
The Arts:
1. Bas-reliefs- 2-dimensional sculptures (often depicted king hunting, in battle,
enjoying family life, etc.)
2. Use of ivory to decorate
3. Metalworkers- made weapons, cups, mirrors, jewelry
4. Architects- designed temples, ziggurats
5. Music- musicians played instruments & sang during temple ceremonies, love
songs, entertained during feasts
6. Musical instruments: drums, pipes, lyre (wooden instrument made of sound box
& strings)
Technology:
1. Many of the Mesopotamian inventions centered on helping to keep a stable food
supply. (Ex: They developed calendars based on moon & stars to determine
seasons, levees, irrigation)
2. Wheel (designed after 1st making potter’s wheel)
3. Plow
4. Sail
5. Aqueducts- system of canals/pipes to bring water from distant places
6. Sundial (telling time w/ sun)
7. Make glass out of sand
8. 1st to make bronze (mix of copper & tin)
Writing:
1. Sumerians created the first form of written language called cuneiform.
2. Cuneiform used wedge-shaped symbols; this was done by using a stylus (a reed)
and imprinting on a clay tablet.
3. Writing was developed to keep track of goods that they had and traded.
4. Scribe- someone trained to read and write; worked for the gov’t to record laws,
taxes, accomplishments, trade
5. Gilgamesh- myth about man who fought brave battles & searched for immortality
Bold words indicate key terms.
Texts:
Hart, Diane. Ancient Civilizations. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006.
History Alive: The Ancient World. Palo Alto: Teachers’ Curriculum Institute, 2004.
Submitted by: D. Holt 2009