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“Necessity is the mother of invention.” --Plato
Mesopotamia Notes
How did the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers support agriculture?
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Geography
Fertile soil
(all the stuff that is blue is from http://www.kidskonnect.com
/subject-index/16-history/257-ancient-mesopotamia.ht l)taken
from Semiarid climate. The land of Ancient Mesopotamia experienced
many floods, but today the area is mostly desert.
The flooding was a challenge to the farmers. They had to learn to
control and work with it. The invention
of irrigation was extremely important, because it allowed the people
to plant during the hot, dry season.
The fertile land produced crops such as many fruits, vegetables, flax,
barley, wheat, and sesame. Sheep, cattle, goats,
and pigs were being raised by the farmers. The seeder plow,
invented by the Mesopotamians, was a major
achievement. It allowed farmers to plow their land and seed it at the
same time. This picture is
fromhttp://www.thinkquest.org/pls/html/think.page?p=722554401
&m=VIEW
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Hammurabi
He invented the first 282 laws because his codes are fair and
brought prosperities to Babylon. The Golden Age of Babylon
was named because of Hammurabi and his great leadership.
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Rivers
o Fresh water
o Means of travel
o
For Bathing
How did climate affect farmers?
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Unpredictable floods
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Unpredictable droughts
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Irrigation
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Slight rain
How did Mesopotamians cope with a lack of resources?
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Mud houses and walls
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Trade
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Surplus of grain
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wood was in short supply The Ancient Mesopotamians developed the arch and column. They
were masters
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of construction using bricks made of mud.
Brick-making was a major Mesopotamian industry,
especially in the south, where wood was in short supply and there was no stone. Over the
centuries,
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rains and shifting sands destroyed much of southern Mesopotamia's mud-brick architecture.
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Only crumbled mounds remain as evidence of the great cities that once stood in the deserts of
southern Iraq
Basic Traits of Civilization
Advanced cities
Examples from Sumer
It is believed an ancient site called Eridu,
was the first city that was ever created.
Specialized workers
They built permanent homes of sun-dried bricks made of mud
and straw, and started a new life in the southern region of
ancient Mesopotamia.(
http://mesopotamia.mrdonn.org/sumer.html)
Complex institutions
The (http://mesopotamia.mrdonn.org/homes.html) rich lived in
large homes, and the poor lived in smaller homes, but nobody
lived in huts.
Some of the larger homes were wide as well as high, but nearly
all the homes were three stories high.
Rich and poor, most homes were clustered around the Ziggurat
and each other.
Most houses shared walls, like townhouses do today.
There was little wood and stone available for building materials.
People built their homes of sun-dried brick.
Doors led into a small family courtyard
Record keeping
They use pictures for keeping the record, then switched to
cuneiform, cuneiform is basically like the Chinese symbol. They
also used something called rebus, it is like this.(
means growing economy. It was important to have these languages so
people can understand you.
My name in Babylonian is like
this.
Advanced technology
(http://www.ask.com/questions-about/What-Is-the-Complex-
Institutions-of-Mesopotamia)
Sumerians first to make city states, discovered the wheel, made
metal work, weapon and tool, built with block made with mud,
high walls to protect the city from enemies, enough food from
farming that allowed them to do another thing for ex.... they
also made the numbers to use in math but not counting zero.
Today we use most of the Sumerians first inventions but more
advanced.
What type of community developed in Sumer?
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City states
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Ziggurats
Sumerian religion
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Polytheism
Anu was the father of the gods and the god of the sky
* Enlil was the god of the air
* Utu was the sun god and the lord of truth and justice
* Nanna was the moon god
* Inanna was the goddess of love and war
* Ninhursag was the goddess of earth
* Enki was the god of fresh water as well as the lord of wisdom and magicziggurat
Sumerian society
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Social classes
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Slaves
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Roles of women The Mesopotamian woman's role was strictly defined. Most girls were trained
from childhood
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For the traditional roles of wife, mother, and housekeeper. They learned how to grind grain,
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How to cook and make beverages, especially beer, and how to spin and weave cloth for
clothing.
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Around twelve years of age, a young girl was considered ready for marriage.
Sumerian science and technology
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Early invention
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During the earliest years of recorded history, the Ancient Mesopotamians were experimenting
With ways to count, measure, and solve mathematical problems. They were the first to give
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A number a place value and to recognize the concept of zero.
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They invited the brick to make stronger and more reliable.
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They were the ones who invented the plow and the seeder.
Creation of Written language
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Picture writing
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Cuneiform
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Literature- Epic of Gilgamesh6. The Sumerians of Ancient Mesopotamia are credited with
inventing the earliest form of writing.
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The writings on tablets were of simple pictures, or pictograms, which represented an object or
an idea.
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Clay is a difficult material to draw on so the Mesopotamians eventually reduced pictograms
into a series of wedge-shaped signs that they pressed into clay with a stylus.
This wedge-shaped writing is called cuneiform. This invention of writing was a huge
advancement,
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because it allowed information to be carried from place to place accurately Akkadian Empire
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Sargon
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Created world’s first empire (group of many different lands under one ruler)
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One ruler, one government
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Encouraged writing
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Lasted 200 years
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2300
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Great king
Babylonians
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Hammurabi
o
Code of Laws
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Justice
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Rights to people
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Legacy
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King Nebuchadnezzar
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King Nebuchadnezzar II
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Great king who brought them together has an empire.
Accounts indicate that the garden was built by King Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled the city for
(4http://www.cleveleys.co.uk/wonders/gardensofbabylon.htm)3 years starting in 605 BC (There is a less-reliable,
alternative story that the gardens were built by the Assyrian Queen Semiramis during her five year reign starting in
810 BC). This was the height of the city's power and influence and King Nebuchadnezzar constructed an astonishing
array of temples, streets, palaces and walls.
According to accounts, the gardens were built to cheer up Nebuchadnezzar's homesick wife, Amyitis. Amyitis,
daughter of the king of the Medes, was married to Nebuchadnezzar to create an alliance between the nations. The
land she came from, though, was green, rugged and mountainous, and she found the flat, sun-baked terrain of
Mesopotamia depressing. The king decided to recreate her homeland by building an artificial mountain with rooftop
gardens.
Assyrians
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Ferocious army
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Set fire to buildings
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Chariots, battering rams, ladders, tunnels
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Iron tipped weaponry from Hittites
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Cavalry
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Punishment, taxes, moved people to foreign territories once captured (exiled)
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First libraries by Ashurbanipal in Nineveh 20,000 tablets: dictionaries, myths, stories, science, geography, medicine,
religion
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Made many enemies, two enemies (Medes & Chaldeans) joined forces to defeat them
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The Assyrians were the first one to make a aqueduct to bring water from miles away.
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The Assyrians had a powerful army. By 1100 B. C., they had defeated their neighboring enemies. By 800 B. C., they had taken over
cities, trading routes and fortresses all over Mesopotamia. Their capital, Nineveh, was then the center of Mesopotamian civilization.
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The Assyrian army well organized. It was divided into groups of foot soldiers armed with shields, helmets, spears, and
daggers. It also had chariots, cavalry, and archers.
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In the beginning, the Assyrians fought only in the summer when they did not have to be concerned about planting or harvesting
crops. Later, soldiering became a year round job.
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[ http://library.thinkquest.org/J002807/Time%20and%20Time%20Again/Time%20and%20Time%20Again/mesoassyr.html
Assyrian power was partly due to their weapons, which were made of iron. Iron was harder and stronger than copper or tin. Iron had
been used in the Middle East for many centuries, but until 1400 B. C., it was too soft to be made into weapons. Then, the Hittites
developed the process of smelting. The Assyrians borrowed this skill from them.
Chaldean
Nebuchadnezzar II- rebuilt Babylon and made Ishtar Gate
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Ziggurat- Tower of Babel
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(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChaldeaHanging) G The Chaldean's homeland was in the relatively poor country in the far
south of Mesopotamia, at the head of the Persian Gulf. The Chaldeans first came to prominence in the late 8th Century
BC. Marduk-apla-iddina II (the Biblical Merodach-Baladan) of Bit-Yâkin, allied himself with the powerful Elamite kingdom
and seized control of Babylon in 721 BC after the death of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser V who had ruled Babylon
directly from Nineveh. The new king of Assyria Sargon II attacked and deposed Marduk-apla-iddina II in 710 BC. After
defeat by the Assyrians he fled to his protectors in Elam. In 703 he briefly regained the throne from a native Babylonian
ruler Marduk-zakir-shumi II who had ascended the throne after a revolt in Babylon against the Assyrian king,
Sennacherib. He was once more defeated at Kish, and again fled to Elam where he died in exile after one final attempt to
raise a revolt against Assyria in his homeland, Bit-Yâkin in 700BC.
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Babylon was then ruled by a native Babylonian puppet of the Assyrians Bel-ibni, he was replaced by Ashur-nadin-shumi
an Assyrian prince who was murdered by the Elamites and replaced with a native Babylonian Elamite puppet Nergalushezib. The Chaldeans briefly regained control of Babylon in 693 BC when the populace deposed Nergal-ushezib, and
chose Mushezib-Marduk, a Chaldean prince to replace him. However, this was short lived, and Sennacherib sacked
Babylon, destroying the city in 689 BC routing the Babylonians, the Chaldeans of Bit-Yâkin and their Elamite backers in
the process. Sennacheribs successor as king of Assyria, Esarhaddon rebuilt Babylon, but for the next 73 years Babylon
remained under Assyrian control.
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It was only in 620 BC under Nabopolassar that the Chaldeans finally gained control over Babylon, founding the Chaldean
Dynasty. After the death of Ashurbanipal, the last great Assyrian king in 627 BC, Assyria descended into a period of bitter
civil war. A rebellious Assyrian general Sin-shumu-lishir briefly set himself up as king in Babylon, but was ousted by
Ashur-etil-ilani the legitimate king of Assyria. Further civil war erupted with Sin-shar-ishkun seizing the throne of Assyria
from his brother Ashur-etil-ilani . Nabopolassar took advantage of all this to seize a rebellious Babylon. Bitter fighting
continued in the region from 627 to 620 BC, the final straw was another massive rebellion in Assyria while its king Sinshar-ishkun was marching on Babylon in an attempt to regain control. Nabopolassar seized Nippur and thus Babylonia as
a whole. Nabopolassar's position, and the fate of Assyria was sealed when he entered into an alliance with another of
Assyria's former vassals, the Medes, the now dominant people of what was to become Persia. The Medes, and Chaldean
ruled Babylonians, together with the Scythians and Cimmerians attacked Assyria in 616 BC, and by 612 BC the alliance
had sacked Nineveh, killing Sinsharishkun in the process. Nabopolassar and his allies were now in possession of the huge
Neo Assyrian Empire. An Assyrian king Ashuruballit II held out at Harran, resisting until 605 BC, when the remnants of
the Assyrian Army and an Egyptian force were defeated at Karchemish.ardens of Babylon
The Legend of Gilgamesh
the First Superhero!
The part I liked about the story about King
Gilgamesh mainly because of many reasons. One he can go to the deepest spot
in the ocean I one breathes. Then I liked the part when the story said that really got his camel. My favorite part was when the
gods sent Enkidu a bigger challenge so Gilgamesh can be a god. But alas, instead of fighting they became best friends and went
for an adventure
Hammurabi
Hammurabi is a little strict because most of them involved death but for a very good reason like for rule number
22 if
anyone is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death. If I was very important of Hammurabi codes because he was a great
leader for thinking this because the city of Babylon was called The Golden Age of Babylon because
The Assyrians
After watching this video, what did the Assyrians have as an advantage that helped them conquer the Babylonians?
Well the Babylonians didn’t had is a great military and the horse because the Assyrians were a more farming people and the
Assyrians designed carrot and shield to conquer empires.
The Assyrians were the first one to make an aqueduct to bring water from miles away.
Ziggurat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat Ziggurats were built by the Sumerians, Babylonians, Elamites, Akkadians, and Assyrians for local religions.
Each ziggurat was part of a temple complex which included other buildings. The precursors of the ziggurat were raised platforms that date from
the Ubaid period[1] during the fourth millennium BC. The earliest ziggurats began near the end of the Early Dynastic Period.[2] The latest
Mesopotamian ziggurats date from the 6th century BC. Built in receding tiers upon a rectangular, oval, or square platform, the ziggurat was a
pyramidal structure with a flat top. Sun-baked bricks made up the core of the ziggurat with facings of fired bricks on the outside. The facings
were often glazed in different colors and may have had astrological significance. Kings sometimes had their names engraved on these glazed
bricks. The number of tiers ranged from two to seven. It is assumed that they had shrines at the top, but there is no archaeological evidence for
this and the only textual evidence is from Herodotus.[3] Access to the shrine would have been by a series of ramps on one side of the ziggurat or
by a spiral ramp from base to summit. The Mesopotamian ziggurats were not places for public worship or ceremonies. They were believed to be
dwelling places for the gods and each city had its own patron god. Only priests were permitted on the ziggurat or in the rooms at its base, and it
was their responsibility to care for the gods and attend to their needs. The priests were very powerful members of Sumerian society.
CAD rendering of Sialk's largest ziggurat based on archeological evidence.
One of the best-preserved ziggurats is Cho'ad Zanbil in western Iran. The Sialk ziggurat, in Kashan, Iran, is the oldest known ziggurat, dating to
the early 3rd millennium BC. Ziggurat designs ranged from simple bases upon which a temple sat, to marvels of mathematics and construction
which spanned several terraced stories and were topped with a temple.
An example of a simple ziggurat is the White Temple of Uruk, in ancient Sumer. The ziggurat itself is the base on which the White Temple is set.
Its purpose is to get the temple closer to the heavens,[citation needed] and provide access from the ground to it via steps. The Mesopotamians
believed that these pyramid temples connected heaven and earth. In fact, the ziggurat at Babylon was known as Etemenankia or "House of the
Platform between Heaven and Earth".
An example of an extensive and massive ziggurat is the Marduk ziggurat, or Etemenanki, of ancient Babylon. Unfortunately, not much of even
the base is left of this massive structure, yet archeological findings and historical accounts put this tower at seven multicolored tiers, topped with
a temple of exquisite proportions. The temple is thought to have been painted and maintained an indigo color, matching the tops of the tiers. It is
known that there were three staircases leading to the temple, two of which (side flanked) were thought to have only ascended half the ziggurat's
height.
Etemenanki, the name for the structure, is Sumerian and means "The Foundation of Heaven and Earth". The date of its original construction is
unknown, with suggested dates.
Its use for a ziggurat is basically for a temple but only on the ziggurat or in its room at base. A ziggurat is not for public ceremonies or public
worship If I were to build a miniature ziggurat I would use legos because they can be built if you have thousands of them so I can make a giant
house.