Download The Fertile Crescent

The Fertile Crescent
The Fertile Crescent
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Around 5000 B.C.
groups of herders
and nomads moved
into the area of the
fertile soil that
stretched from the
Mediterranean Sea
to the Persian Gulf.
The Fertile Crescent
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People moved north
from the Arabian
Peninsula and south from
Asia-Minor (modern day
Turkey).
They settled in an area
that would become
known as Mesopotamia,
meaning the “land
between two rivers”.
The two rivers were the
Tigris and Euphrates
which began in the hills
of modern day Turkey
and ran parallel through
modern day Iraq.
The Twin Rivers
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The Tigris and Euphrates were
used in watering crops but did
not provide a regular supply of
water.
The summer months would
bring little or no rain and the
river levels would drop, while
the harvest season the rivers
would overflow their banks
often sweeping whole villages
away.
Early villages would cooperate
and build dams and escape
channels along with canals and
ditches to allow for irrigation.
By 4000 B.C. Mesopotamian
farmers were growing crops in
abundance.
The Tigris River
The Sumerian Civilization
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People from Central
Asia or Asia Minor
moved into the
lower part of the
Tigris-Euphrates river
valley around 3500
B.C.
This area, known as
Sumer, would
become the
birthplace of the
world’s first cities.
The Sumerian City-States
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The Sumerians had
established 12 city-states
by 3000 B.C.
Four of the most
prominent of these city
states were Ur, Uruk,
Lagash, and Eridu.
Each city-state would
consist of the city itself
and the land and villages
surrounding it.
The population of each
city would be around
20,000 to 25,000 people.
The Sumerian City-States
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The Sumerian people
shared a common culture,
as they spoke the same
language and worshipped
the same gods and
goddesses.
Sumerian cities also
featured common physical
features such as the
Ziggurat.
A Ziggurat was a terraced
temple made of sun dried
brick, and decorated with
colored tiles.
The Sumerian City-States
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Each Sumerian CityState governed itself
independently of the
others.
In earlier periods some
cities like, Uruk were
governed by a council
of Nobles, but by 2700
B.C. most cities were
ruled by hereditary
monarchies.
Artist rendition of Uruk.
The Walls of Uruk still stand today.
The Sumerian City-States
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Sumerian kings were not
just military leader but
also as high priests
representing the god or
goddess of the city state.
In a Sumerian theocracy
the kind supervised
farming, enforced laws
and set laws for
lawbreaking.
Most punishments
consisted of fines and did
not involve bodily injury
or loss of life.
Carving of Gilgamesh King of Uruk
Around 2700 B.C.
The Sumerian City-States: The Roles
of Men and Women
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Sumerian law outlined the roles
of men and women in society.
Men were the head of the
household and could:
 Sell their wife and children into
slavery to pay debt.
 Divorce his wife for the slightest
reason.
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Women had limited rights such
as:
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Divorce was possible but difficult.
Buy and sell property
Own and operate a business
Own and sell slaves
The Sumerian City-States: Writing
on clay Tablets
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Business and trade were an
important part of Sumerian
society so they quickly developed
a system of writing.
Some historians believe that
Sumerian cuneiform, believed to
be developed around 3100 B.C., is
the oldest in the world.
Cuneiform is a system of using a
sharpened reed to make wedge
shaped markings on a clay tablet
before it was dried in the sun.
Eventually cuneiform would
become a script that would
become a model for alphabetic
systems.
The Sumerian City-States: Writing on
clay Tablets
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Sumerians wishing to learn
how to write studied at
special school called
eddubas.
As educated professionals,
scribes would rise to high
positions in Sumerian
society, producing business
records, recording historical
dates, and literary works.
The Epic of Gilgamesh,
written around 1800 B.C. in
cuneiform, historians believe
is the oldest story in the
world
The Epic of Gilgamesh
is believed to be the oldest
story in the world.
The Sumerian City-States: The
Many Deities of Sumer
The Sumerian society was polytheistic
believing in many gods and goddesses.
 These deities presided over a specific
natural force such as rain, moon, air or
could also be over a physical human
activity such as plowing or brick making.
 Two of the most important gods were
An- god of the seasons and chief of the
gods and Enlil- god of winds and
agriculture.
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The Sumerian City-States: The Many
Deities of Sumer
The Sumerians pictured their gods and
goddesses as unpredictable, selfish beings
who had little regard for human life.
 If the gods were to become angry it
would lead to famine, drought, and floods.
 The afterlife according to Sumerian belief
was a grim underworld, empty of light,
and air where the dead were pale
shadows.
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The Sumerian City-States:
Sumerian Inventions
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The Sumerians are
credited with numerous
inventions such as:
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The wagon wheel
The Arch
The potters wheel
The Sundial
Number system based on
60
◦ 12 month calendar based
on the cycles of the
moon
◦ First to make bronze and
develop a metal plow
First Mesopotamian Empires: Sargon
Leads the Akkadians
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Sargon I became leader
of a group of people
known as the
Akkadians around 2300
B.C.
He conquered the
cities of Sumer and
brought all of
Mesopotamia under his
control.
His empire predated
the first empire of
Egypt by 800 years.
First Mesopotamian Empires: The
Kingdom of Ebla
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Ebla was a kingdom in the
western part of
Mesopotamia in what is
now northern Syria.
Overland trade that
travelled between Egypt and
Mesopotamia made Ebla a
wealthy city-state.
The kings of Ebla were
elected for seven year
terms and could be
removed by a council of
elders.
Ebla was eventually
destroyed by the Amorites.
Ebla is in the most north-western
part of the Fertile Crescent. It was
eventually destroyed by the
Amorites around 2300 B.C.
Ebla (Brown)
First Mesopotamian Empires:
Hammurabi’s Babylonian Empire
The Amorites conquered
Mesopotamia including the citystates of Sumer.
 The sixth king of the Amorite
dynasty of Babylon was
Hammurabi.
 He would unite the entire
region under his control by
subduing other kings including,
Amorites.
 He would organize his empire
by reorganizing the tax system,
repaired irrigation canals and
promoted trade with places as
far away as India and China.
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Hammurabi was born around
1792 B.C
and was the sixth king
of the First Babylonian
Dynasty.
First Mesopotamian Empires:
Hammurabi’s Babylonian Empire
One of Hammurabi’s greatest
legacy’s is his creation of a
detailed legal code.
 The Code of Hammurabi
consisted of 282 sections and
listed violations and the
punishments of each.
 The legal code covered things
from the property of married
women, adoption and
inheritance, interest rates on
loans and damages done to
fields by cattle.
 Hammurabi’s dynasty ended
when the Amorites were
invaded by the Hittites from
Asia-Minor around 1600 B.C.
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A portion of Hammurabi’s Code
on a clay tablet.