Download Ch. 3 Mesopotamia

Ch. 3 Mesopotamia
Section 1: The Rise of Sumer
Mesopotamia- “The Cradle of
Civilization”
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Means “land between the rivers”
Located between Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
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Present day Iraq
Rivers join and empty into Persian Gulf
Sumerian Civilization
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Sumer- earliest known civilization
Used levees to control river flooding
Water from holes in levees were used to
irrigate their crops
Barley was their
number one crop
Sumerian Life
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Worked together to build irrigation canals
Led to creating expectations and government
Made houses out of mud and reeds
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Sun-dried bricks
Built the first city in this area- Ur
Sumerian City-States
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Each city had its own god and government
City -> Wall -> Farmland
Upper class- priests and merchants
Middle class- gov’t officials, shopkeepers,
artisans- skilled workers
Lower Class- farmers, fishermen
Would fight with other city-states to prove
their strength
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Common throughout ancient history
consisted of groups of interacting areas
whose populations shared a common
language and culture
Were formed for protection and usually
had a high king
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You may have heard of these city-states:
Jericho, Rome, Troy, Sparta, Athens
Religious Life
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Ziggurat- temple at the center of each
Sumerian city
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Means “mountain of god” or “hill of heaven”
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Believed in over 3,000 gods (rain, wind,
etc)
Put on earth to serve the gods
Only priests knew the will of the gods
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In charge of the land and schools
Priest-Kings
Gilgamesh- famous priest-king
 Ziasudra- equivalent to
“Noah and the Ark” Bible story
 Received advice from assembly
 During war a military leader was chosen
from the assembly, would replace the priest
 Kingship became hereditary
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Daily Life
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Schools were for sons of the rich
Poor boys worked in fields or learned a trade
Cuneiform- Sumerian Writing
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Writing developed to
keep track of business
First, pictures
represented ideas
Later, pictures
represented syllables
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Mesopotamian writing
Mesopotamia
Section 2: Later
Mesopotamian Empires
Sargon I
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From Akkad- northern Mesopotamia
Conquered Sumerian city-states
Created first empire- group of states
under one ruler
Akkadians worshipped Sumerian gods and
used their writing, cuneiform
Empire lasted from 2300 B.C.-2200 B.C.
Hammurabi of Babylon
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1800 BC-Amorites built
Babylon
Hammurabi conquers
Akkad and Sumer and
creates new empire
Babylonians adopted
culture of locals
Hammurabi’s
Golden Age of Babylon
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Reign lasted 40 years
Improved the irrigation system.
Reorganized tax system
Began government housing program
Raised the god of Babylon above all gods
CODE OF LAW
Code of Law
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Displayed on a block of stone
called a Stele, 8 feet high
Everyone could see them
Innocent until proven guilty
Punished if guilty
Punishments were fines to death
Section 3: Mesopotamian
Contributions
Sumerian Contributions
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earliest civilization
oldest written records
1st to write down laws
Cuneiform was model
for other writings
wheel
plow
sailboat
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12-month calendar
number system based
on 60
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60-minute hour
60-second minute
360-degree circle
Clock controlled by
drops of water