Download PP Mesopotamia

The Cradle of Civilization
• Mesopotamia means “land between the
rivers.” The rivers are the Euphrates and the
Tigris (Present day Iraq)
• Mesopotamia’s history is long & very
complicated. Kingdoms and empires rose, fell,
and rose again
• Who were the First Mesopotamians?
The Beginning of Writing
• Mesopotamians are credited for creating the
earliest known system of writing
• Cuneiform is Latin for “wedge-shaped”
• Mesopotamians began to write to keep track
of their commerce
• Early Schools in Mesopotamia
• Most Mesopotamians couldn’t read or write
therefore scribes were needed
A Living from the Soil
• Wheat, barley, and millet were the main food
crops
• Vegetables included cucumbers, onions, and
lettuce
• Cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs provided meat,
leather, milk, and wool
• Mesopotamians placed great value on
commerce
• Material success was seen as a prime goal in
life and a sign of the gods’ favor
Layers of Society
• The kings and their families were at the top of
Mesopotamian society
• The powerful and wealthy group was made up
of the large landowners and top ranks of the
government, military, and priesthoods
• Merchants, scribes, and various craftspeople
followed
• At the lowest social rung were slaves
• Mesopotamian society was generally one in
which people knew their places and stayed
there
Architecture
• The basic Mesopotamian building material
was mud brick
• Towns often had elaborate drainage systems
• Homes were usually square & rectangular.
Wealthier homes had two stories & balconies
• Temples and palaces were grander with
decorated walls and stone relief carvings
• Ziggurat was the distinctive style of
Mesopotamian temples
Ziggurat at Ur, Iraq c. 2100-2000 B.C.
Akkadian word Ziggurat means “pinnacle” or “mountaintop”
Art to Please People & Gods
• From the beginning, art was a way people
expressed their understanding of life and their
pleasure in it
• Sumerians were known for their sculpture
• Babylonians & Assyrians were known for their
wall paintings and reliefs
• Pottery and metalwork's were important art
forms as well
Figurines carved out of limestone were
commissioned to portray their patrons. The
figurines were placed in temples and
maintain constant reverence to the gods.
The varying sizes of the figurines represent
the varying degree of hierarchical
importance of they portray within Sumerian
society.
An Akkadian ruler, c. 2200 B.C.
Possibly a portrait of King Sargon
Religion
• Mesopotamians saw their universe as peopled
by thousands of supernatural beings
• They believed in demons that were good and
bad
• Every person had his or her own divine
guardian
• Women and a fertility goddess were
important to its farming society
• The nomadic farming society was dominated
by men and male gods
Religion (Cont.)
• Burying the Dead
• The Creation Story
• Sky god = An (Anu), Sun god = Shamash, Moon
god = Nammu Sin
• Enlil = god of air, Ninhursag = Mother Earth,
Enki (Ea) = god of wisdom & water
• Dilmun = The Mesopotamian Garden of Eden
• The Flood
The Epic of Gilgamesh
• An elaborate poem that records the exploits
of a legendary king of Uruk
• Includes an account of Utnapishtim who built
a ship and survived a flood unleashed by the
gods to destroy humankind
• The story of Gilgamesh & Enkidu
• This tale makes clear that everlasting life, is
only for the gods
The Code of Hammurabi
• A collection of 282 laws
• For numerous criminal offenses were severe
punishments that were accordingly to the
social class of the victim
• Hammurabi’s code took the responsibilities of
public office very seriously
• A large number of laws in the Code of
Hammurabi focused on marriage and the
family
What do these points of
law from the Code of
Hammurabi reveal about
Mesopotamian society?
Stele of Hammurabi c. 1780 B.C.