Download 1. Introduction. 2. The history. 3. Economic, political and social

1. Introduction.
2. The history.
3. Economic, political and social
organization.
4. The writing.
5. The city.
6. The king Hammurabi.
7. The principals gods.
1. Introduction
The Mesopotamic empire was between the
rivers Tigris and Euphrates. They are born in
Armenian in the lake Van. These rivers are
navigable, near the Persian Gulf.
The Mesopotamic culture is a very ancient
culture of approximately 5000 years to A. C. All
this culture principally divided in four states:
Assyria, Mesopotamia, Caldea and The Elam.
! Assyria: in the most top part of the river
Tigris, in a mountainous place.
! Mesopotamia: between the rivers Tigris and
Euphrates, is the most fertile zone.
! Caldea: in the south of Mesopotamia, very
fertile region and his capital was Babylonia.
! The Elam: was in the east of the Tigris
river.
The peoples that were living this region were
the Sumerian to the north of the Euphrates, they
were a mixture of Caucasian and Negroid, their
race has not been determined. His attributes the
cuneiform writing to them. The most important
cities were: Ur, Lagash and Larsa.
The Sumerian were not of Semitic origin and
not of Indo-European origin. The downtown of
the Sumerian cities was the temple, called
"Ziggurat".
They were polytheistic, they practised the
agriculture.
They invented the vehicle with wheels, they were
living in cities and separated states. They were
governed by a king called "Patesi".
2. The History
In the Mesopotamic Empire there were two
towns: Asirians and Caldeans:
-Assyrians: warriors.
-The Caldean people: peaceful character, art and
culture.
Both were Semites.
In the town of the Caldeos there was a very
important personage called Hammurabi, king of
Babylonia.
Later there came the Assyrians with their kings
His capital was Nineveh.
Later the decadence comes and the second empire
will be Assyrian. The warriors Assyrians were
terrible with the peoples that were conquering,
Persian and Caldeans fought against the
Assyrians and they conquer them.
Later the second empire comes
king Nabucodonosor.
Caldeos, with the
3. Economic, political and
social organization.
1. Social and political organization:
! The King: he had military powers.
! The Governors: they governed the
territories of the kingdom. They were
generals and judges at the same time.
! The aristocracy: they were priests and
traders.
! The peasants: the people who work the
land.
2. Economical organization:
The Assyrians and the Caldeans practised the
agriculture taking advantage of the waters
currents of the rivers, they had cattle and many
horses. They knew the art, were imposing taxes
on the conquered villages..
4.The writing
The writing in Mesopotamia is the oldest in
the world. They writing in splints of clay, this
writing is call cuneiform. At the beginning was
a ideographic writing later started to represent
the sound.
The Mesopotamic alphabet.
A Babylonian text.
5.The City
Cities in this area had three parts, the
down town of city with temples , suburbs with
farm animals, and the commercial area.
The temples were very important in this early
culture. Much of the social, economic and
political activities of the cities would downtown
around the temple area. Temples in the cities
were called ziggurats, which comes from a word
meaning summit or mountain top. The temples
were built on the top of step pyramids.
The ziggurat of Ur.
The downtown of Babylon.
The temple of Babylon.
The palace of Korsabad.
6.The king Hammurabi
Hammurabi was the king of the city-state
of Babylon, he made Babylon one of the great
cities of the ancient world. In 1792 b.C.
Hammurabi proclaimed king of Babylon. He
recorded a system of laws called
the Code of Hammurabi. This code
had 282 laws were writing in
stone and placed in a public
location. Some of Hammurabi's
laws were based on the principle
"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a
tooth." This means that anyone
who commits a crime should be
punished in the same manner as
that crime. If someone put out
another person's eye, their eye
would be put out in return.
Hammurabi's Code may seem cruel today.
7.The principals Gods
! Anu: he was the god of the sky, he change
the seasons.
! Enlil: he was the god of the wind and the
agriculture.
! Ninhursag: she was the goddess of the wild life
and the birth rate.
! Enki: was the goddess of the water, god of
knowledge and magic.
! Marduk: he prevented the Flood, like Noe in
the Bible.
! Ereshkigal and Nergal: they live in the
underground
! Ishtar: The goddess of the war.
Statue of Ishtar the goddess of the war.
Bibliography
The mesoptamic writing history.
http://redescolar.ilce.edu.mx/redescolar/proyectos/histor
ia_escritura/ses2mesopo.htm
Universal history of Mesopotamia.
http://icarito.tercera.cl/icarito/2001/822/pag7.htm
The history of Mesopotamia and the King
Hammurabi
http://www.artehistoria.com/frames.htm?http://www.art
ehistoria.com/historia/contextos/205.htm
The cities.
http://www.historylink101.com/lessons/farmcity/mes1.htm