Download Chapter 2 Section 1 Notes

Chapter 2 Section 1 Notes
I. Geography of the Fertile Crescent
A. The Fertile Crescent is an upside down crescent running from the Persian Gulf
north along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers to the Coast of Israel
B. The valley between two rivers becomes known as Mesopotamia “ Land
Between the Rivers”
1. Each year the rivers would flood and leave a rich layer of soil called
silt
C. People began to live there around 4500 B.C. but the Sumerians would settle
there around 3500 B.C.
D. Environmental problems
1. Unpredictable floods
2. Sumer was a cluster of small villages on a plain with no protection
3. Limited natural resources
E. Solutions for problems
1. Irrigation canals
2. For defense they built city walls of mud brick
3. Traded grain for other natural resources
II. Sumerians Create City States
A. One of the first groups to form a civilization ( 5 Characteristics )
B. Each of the Citiy-states was independent, had their own ruler , and
surrounding farm lands
C. Power of Priests
1. Theocracy is a government in which the religious leader is also the ruler
2. Priests controlled early government
3. Communicated with the gods
4. Collected taxes
D. How monarchs came into leadership
1. In times of war commanders took control
2. Gradually commanders took control of standing armies
3. Eventually commanders became the full time rulers
4. Dynasty is a series of rulers from the same family
E. Spread of cities
1. Contact from other peoples help create more Sumerian Cities
2. Cultural Diffusion is the process of a new idea or product from one
culture to another
III. Sumerian Culture
A. A religion of many gods
B. Polytheism the believe in many gods
1. Nature gods
2. 3000 gods
3. gods had human characteristics
4. “Land of No Return”
a. Dismal, gloomy place between earth’s crust and the ancient sea
C. Epic of Gilgamesh
1. Earliest works of literature, Gilgamesh’s unsuccessful quest for
immortality
D. Life in Sumerian Society
1. Social classes developed
a. Priest and Kings
b. Merchants
c. Fieldworkers majority of people
d. Slaves
E. Sumerian Science and Technology
1. Wheel
2. Sail
3. Plow
4. First to use bronze
5. First system of writing
6. Astronomy, chemical substances, symptoms of disease
7. Numbering system based on 6
a. 60 minutes , 60 seconds
b. 360 degrees
8. Architectural
a. Arches, columns, ramps
IV. The First Empire Builders
A. Sargon of Akkad ( Semitic- Arabic and Hebrew cross )
1. Around 2350 B.C. Sargon from Akkad from north and conquered the
Sumerians
2. His city state Akkad had long adopted Sumerian ideas
3. He conquers both territory in the north and all of summer thus
creating the worlds first empire
a. An Empire is when a ruler conquers one or more city-states
or territory
B. Babylonian Empire
1. Another Semitic group, the Amorites overwhelm the Sumerians and
start the Babylonian Empire
2. Hammurabi from 1792-1750 B.C. Rules the Babylonians at its height
a. Hammurabi’s Code of Laws
1. Reorganized all of the laws of the Sumerians
2. 282 specific laws
3. Different punishments for rich and poor