Download Early Civilization - Edgewater School District

EARLY CIVILIZATION
Mrs. Castaldo’s 6th Grade History Class
Timeline Review
Which of these years came
before the year 25 B.C.E.?
A 5 C.E.
B 10 B.C.E.
C 100 C.E.
D 50 B.C.E.
50 40
30
BCE
20
10
1
10
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
CE
Mesopotamia Video
Let’s watch a video!
http://www.watchknowlearn.org/Vi
deo.aspx?VideoID=1565&Categor
yID=5711
What will you learn?
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Identify the differing communities
that emerged at this time
Define “civilization” and describe
its characteristics
Describe Mesopotamia and the
Fertile Crescent area
Examine the early Mesopotamian
civilizations of the Sumerians and
the Babylonians
CIVILIZATIONS
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What is a civilization?
A group of people working together to
create an organized society
 Has 3 Features:
1) A food surplus
2) A division of labor
3) Cities
Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent
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Mesopotamia was part of a
larger region called the
Fertile Crescent. This area,
that stretched from the
eastern edge of the
Mediterranean Sea down to
the Persian Gulf, had fertile
soil and was where many
civilizations started. The
shape is somewhat similar
to a crescent (think of a
crescent roll, or a crescentshaped moon).
Mesopotamia was
located in the
Middle East.
Mesopotamia
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Mesopotamia was a place
where many cities began to
grow. As its name suggests,
Mesopotamia was located
between two rivers. The two
rivers were the Tigris River
and the Euphrates River.
Mesopotamia was located in
the Middle East, and
surrounded by desert.
People came to
Mesopotamia because the
soil between the two rivers
was very fertile.
Mesopotamia is located in
modern-day Iraq
People of Mesopotamia
1.
Sumerians (ancient Sumer’s city-states)
(3000 B.C.E. - 1800 B.C.E.)
2. Babylonians (Babylonian Empire)
( 1800 B.C.E. - 1200 B.C.E.)
3.
Assyrians (Assyrian Empire)
(1200 B.C.E. - 539 B.C.E.)
4. Persians (Persian Empire)
(539 B.C.E. - 330 B.C.E.)
Mesopotamia- Sumer
Geography of Sumer
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Unpredictable rivers (Tigris and Euphrates)- flooding!
Delta region extremely fertile- good soil!
Flat land open to attack/invasion – no natural barriers
Semi-arid climate (arid means not much moisture,
dry) required many irrigation projects
• Irrigation- a method of watering the land by using
canals and channels.
• Because of irrigation, the Sumerians did not have to
depend entirely on rain to water their crops.
A Growing Civilization
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Irrigation projects required a lot of cooperation on
and leadership
Farmers joined together in settlements to manage
the environment and for protection
These settlements became compact cities
surrounded by high mud-brick walls
These cities were independent from one another, so
we call them city-states
City States and Religion
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The city-states were often built around existing religious
buildings/structures – creating a close relationship
between government and religion
The ziggurat became the focal point of these city-states
Ziggurats
The pictures above show a ziggurat. Ziggurats
were the main temples used to worship the gods
of a city. Ziggurats were built in the center of
the city. They had steps and ramps, and it was
believed that the gods descended to the Earth
using the ziggurat as a ladder.
Religion
Sumerians worshipped
many gods, not just one.
This belief in many gods is
called polytheism. “Poly”
means “many” and “Theism”
means gods.
Sumerian myths, or stories, explained people’s
beliefs. Sumerians believed that a person must
keep the gods happy by going to the ziggurat
and praying to them. They believed that the
gods would reward them for good service.
They also believed that the gods would punish
the people who made them angry.
•These gods were seen as powerful, but
unpredictable
•All land belonged to the gods and kings
were their representatives
•Kings and priests had special places in
society
•Theocracy – rule by gods or priests
•By the end of Sumerian’s influence, kings
were becoming separate from the priest
class
Cuneiform
•Oldest writing system
•Original purpose was economic
•Used to record lists of goods, receipts, contracts, etc
•One of first uses was to record beer recipe
Cuneiform
Scribes used a sharp point called a stylus to etch words
into clay tablets. These tablets have been discovered by
archaeologists and looked at by historians.
Writing was reserved for the
wealthy classes
The Epic of Gilgamesh
Like many ancient civilizations, the Sumerians also had “a flood
story.”
That’s not surprising given their challenging environment sitting
between two unpredictable rivers…in their view, such a
cataclysmic event did, indeed, destroy their “entire world.”
The Epic of Gilgamesh is, perhaps, one of the oldest written story on
Earth.
It comes to us from ancient Sumer, and was originally written on
12 clay tablets in cuneiform script. It is about the adventures of the
cruel King Gilgamesh of Uruk.
In tablet XI we read about Utnapishtim, a man who built a boat
and was saved from a great flood brought about by angry gods.
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Check out:
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/westasi
a/literature/gilgamesh.htm
The End of the Sumerians
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Each of the Sumerian city-states had a ruler, and
these city-states began fighting each other. They
fought over land and the use of river water. Since
the Sumerians were constantly at war with each
other, they became weak. By 2000 BCE, Sumer
was a weakened area, and by 1759 BCE, Sumer
was conquered by another group of people - the
Babylonians, who were from the north.
The Two Empires of
Mesopotamia
After the Sumerians were defeated, Mesopotamia
had two main empires: Babylonia and Assyria. An
empire is an area of many territories and people
that are controlled by one government.
The Babylonian empire lasted from around 1800 BC
to 1600 BC.
The Assyrian empire lasted from around 665 BC to
612 BC.
Babylon - “Gate of God”
As we recall from earlier, the Sumerians were conquered
by the Babylonians. The king of Babylon was Hammurabi.
Hammurabi united the cities of Sumer and then expanded
his empire all the way to Asia Minor
Babylonian Religious Beliefs
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Polytheistic- believed in many Gods
The ancient Babylonians, who took over the land between
two rivers many years after the Sumerians had
disappeared, had a different language than the ancient
Sumerians, but they believed in most of the same gods.
If possible, the ancient Babylonian gods behaved in a
manner even more unpredictable/tempermental than
before.
To the Sumerians, Marduk was an important god. To the
Babylonians, Marduk was the most important (and most
gloomy) god of all.
Let’s watch a video!!!!
Hammurabi’s Code
Hammurabi was the king who
united most of Mesopotamia
and conquered the Sumerians.
He developed a “code” of
laws. The laws were
numbered from 1 to 282. Law
number 196 states: If a man
put out the eye of another man,
his eye shall be put out. Some
people summarize
Hammurabi’s code by saying
“an eye for an eye.”
Law number 195 states: If a
son strike his father, his hands
shall be hewn off. There are
many, many more laws like
this in Hammurabi’s Code.
A statue of
Hammurabi
On the left is a stela, which has all 282 of
Hammurabi’s laws engraved on it. This stela is
located in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.
The Hammurabi stela was discovered in 1909, in
Susa, Elam, which is now Khuzestan. Khuzestan is a
province of southern Iran.
Susa
Babylonia is Conquered
Hammurabi conquered many of
the neighboring cities, and he kept
expanding his empire.
Hammurabi would often go to
war against his allies as well.
When the city of Elam attacked
Larsa, Hammurabi helped Larsa
defend themselves. Once Elam
was conquered, Hammurabi
turned right around and
conquered Larsa! Each time that
Babylon would conquer another
city, Hammurabi would take the
city’s chariots, weapons, tools, and
all their riches. Trading helped
Babylon get rich, and so did
conquest.
Though Hammurabi formed a large and rich
empire, the people that ruled after him
could not keep it together. The empire kept
getting smaller and smaller until eventually it
was destroyed.
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