Download Mesopotamia

Tamdan Le
Caleb Stanfield
John Kirkland
Melanie Loor
 (Mes-uh-puh-tay-mee-uh)
 In Greek, Mesopotamia meant “between two
rivers”.
 Mesopotamia was between the two rivers Tigris
and Euphrates.
 The Tigris and Euphrates rivers are located in the
Fertile Crescent which was between
Mediterranean and Persian Gulf, where the richest
soil lay.
 Sumerians created the first civilization with a social
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class.
The top of the social classes were the kings and
priests.
Scribes, which were people who knew how to write,
kept records and accounts, were in the upper-class.
Landlords and merchants were also below the kings.
Artisans, farmers, and laborers were above the
slaves, whom were in the lowest social class.
 There were large cities that appeared in
Sumer. Each city had its own control which
formed city-states. City-states are political
units with is own government.
 They then became a dynasty, which is a
series of rulers from a family.
 Sumerians practiced ‘polytheism’.
 ‘Polytheism’ is the worship of many gods.
 They believed the gods were like humans.
 Sumerians believed they fell in love, ate, drank and did
so many other things like the way they did.
 They had ceremonies for them.
 Built ziggurats, which were pyramid shaped structures
to worship them, when they offered them food and
drinks.
 Sumerians developed the first writing system called
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cuneiform.
Scribes are people who knows how to write, using it to keep
records and bank accounts.
Sumerians began writing literature, such as the Epic of
Gilgamesh.
Sumer built arches, ramps and columns that can be seen in
their ziggurats.
Sumerians are most famous for their cylinder seals, which are
small, stone cylinders used to sign documents and show
ownership.
The Sumerians also developed the math system using the
number 60. This is why a circle has 360 degrees and time is
divided into 60 minutes.
 Sumerians invented the wheel and the plow,
which helped them harvest crops.
 The wheel is now used to do so many things,
such as being incorporated into cars,
machines and making pottery.
 Tools and weapons were made of bronze.
 Sumerians performed basic surgery using
medical knowledge that they collected.
 Sewers were built under the ground as well.
 Sumer did not have some of the resources
that are found today, such as wood and
metals.
 Trading developed from the lack of
resources, to get the necessary items
needed.
 The Sumerians traded woven textiles to get
the material needed to build their
structures, such as the ziggurats, and
homes.
 Babylon developed when a tribe called
the Amorites settled in Babylon.
 The king of the Amorites, King
Hammurabi, became the king of
Babylon.
 Babylon had a max population of
200,000 people.
 King Hammurabi – 1792 BC ruled Babylon using
his code of laws called Hammurabi’s Code.
 Under King Hammurabi’s rule, Babylon became
the greatest city in Mesopotamia.
 Hammurabi’s Code has 282 thorough laws written
for everyone to see, dealing with everything from
trade to murder. There is a punishment for each
law if it were to be broken.
 After King Hammurabi’s death, Babylon began to
weaken until the empire fell.
 King Hammurabi still honored the
Sumerian gods.
 He allowed priests to continue their
power and influence.
 Babylon had a large temple in the
center of the city called a ziggurat that
was 300ft tall.
 Hammurabi’s Code was a part of the
Babylonian culture.
 In schools, the Sumerian language and
cuneiform are being taught.
 Literature and artwork flourished in
Babylon.
 Nebuchadnezzar II built the famous gardens
in Babylon.
 To build structures, Hammurabi had
improved a tax-collection system to
collect money for the projects.
 The walls of Babylon were once
considered one of the seven wonders of
the world. They were 50 miles long, 23ft
wide and 35ft tall.
 King Hammurabi increased trade so that
Babylon could become more wealthy.
 Babylon had plenty of agricultural items,
but natural resources were scarce.
 The Babylonians traded the agricultural
items for natural resources with people as
far as Turkey.
 The Phoenicians were a well known trading society
and experts at sea.
 Farming was difficult and resources were scarce
which is why the Phoenicians had to turn to trade
and the sea for their livelihood.
 As their trade routes grew larger, the Phoenicians
began founding colonies by them.
 Trade brought much wealth to the Phoenicians
and created a big name for their country.
 The Phoenicians would elect a king out of
the royal houses only.
 The king’s power was however limited by the
powerful merchant families who had a large
influence on the public.
 Carthage had its own detached government
system led by two suffettes (judges).
 The Phoenician religion was inspired by the powers
and processes of nature.
 Many of the gods however were local and are only
known now by their local names.
 The Phoenicians worshipped in a temple which was
considered a dominating spot in the city. Here the
temple has political, administrative and economic
functions, as well as distinctive religious functions
such as sacrifices.
 The temple was staffed by priests, musicians, divines,
scribes and other specialists.
 The Phoenicians are well known for their alphabet, called the Proto-
Canaanite alphabet, which they used to record their activity.
 This writing system used by the Phoenician traders was proven to work
way more efficiently than symbols or pictographs.
 As the Phoenicians traveled from port to port, many people adopted
their alphabet since it made writing easier. The Greeks were among
those people and they expanded the alphabet to add vowels and
modified letters.
 The Phoenicians not only influenced the Greek alphabet, but our
current modern one as well. Our modern alphabet was remodeled after
the Greek alphabet which was remodeled after the Phoenician.
 The Phoenicians were well known for being at sea and they
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revolutionized boats that had a sail to do so.
The first attempts of the Phoenicians to navigate the sea
were rather clumsy and primitive, such as rafts or canoes.
The Phoenician vessel was made with a low bow, but had an
elevated stern with 15-20 oars. Basically a modified row boat.
Phoenician Pleasure vessels and merchant ships have no
oars except two paddles for steering. They carry sails
reinforced by four ropes and were proven to be one of the
better Phoenician ships.
According to the Greek, there were two kinds of Phoenician
vessels, one for war and another for merchants (known as
tubs).
 Due to trade, the Phoenicians were very wealthy people.
 The main Phoenician industry was textiles, for they were
famous for dyeing their textiles with materials from the sea.
 It is also believed that the Phoenicians invented glass
which was used on their ships and for trade.
 The Phoenicians also sold local resources, which are
limited, but very high in value, such as giant cedar trees
used for timber, shellfish used for their textile industry and
blown glass in exchange for trade items.
 The Phoenicians were also known for their handiwork,
soliciting silverwork, ivory carvings, fainted glass, etc.
 http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/kids/peop
le-places-kids/iraq-mesopotamia-kids
 "Ancient Mesopotamia: Science, Inventions, and
Technology."
Ducksters. Technological Solutions,
Inc. (TSI), Feb. 2014. Web. 6
Feb. 2014.
<http://www.ducksters.com/history/mesopotami
a/science_and_technology.php/babylonian_empire.php>.
 Khalaf, Salim. " ." Phoeniciaorg RSS. Http://phoenicia.org/. Web. 06
Feb. 2014.
<http://phoenicia.org/>.
 "Phoenician Economy and Trade." Phoenician Economy
and
Trade. Www.reocities.com. Web. 07 Feb. 2014.
http://www.reocities.com/CapitolHill/Parliament/25
87/trade.html
 Ramírez, Susan E., Peter N. Stearns, Samuel S. Wineburg, and Steven
A. Goldberg.Holt World History. Human Legacy. Austin, TX:
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2008. Print

Veith, Walter J. "Babylonian Religion." Amazingdiscoveries.org. 27 Aug. 2009. Web.
7 Feb. 2014. <http://amzingdiscoveries.org/S-deception_endtime_Babylon_salvation_grace>.