Download Mesopotamia - Lake Oswego High School

Introduction
to
Mesopotamia
Uruk: a substantial ceremonial hub by 3500 B.C.E.
Uruk
The State and Urban Revolution:
In the city-state (or state), kin and tribal
loyalties are, by definition, subordinated and
replaced by political ties.
The State and Urban Revolution:
What makes a city-state different from an
agricultural town is the synergy created by
its people interacting with each other on
the basis of political relationships rather
than traditional blood ties.
City-States of Ancient Sumer
• How did geographic features
influence the civilizations of
the Fertile Crescent?
• What were the main features
of Sumerian civilization?
• What advances in learning did
the Sumerians make?
The Fertile Crescent
‘Fertile Crescent’ is the fertile
land between the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers.
The first civilization in the
Fertile Crescent was
discovered in Mesopotamia,
which means land between the
rivers
The first Sumerian cities
emerged in southern
Mesopotamia around 3200
B.C.E.
Sumerian Civilization
GOVERNMENT
City-states with
hereditary rulers.
Ruler led army in
war and enforced
laws.
Complex
government with
scribes to collect
taxes and keep
records.
SOCIAL
STRUCTURE
Each state had
distinct social
hierarchy, or
system of ranks.
Most people were
peasant farmers.
Women had legal
rights; some engaged
in trade and owned
property.
RELIGION
Worshiped many gods.
Believed gods
controlled every aspect
of life.
Saw afterlife as a grim
place. Everybody would
go into darkness and
eat dust.
To keep the gods happy,
each city built a
ziggurat, or pyramid
temple.
Highlight List
360 degree circle
60 minute hour
Potter’s wheel
Wheeled transportation:
oPotter’s wheel turned on its side
Advanced water allocation:
oCooperation needed to build and repair
Bronze plow pulled by oxen
Water wheel
oLike the Egyptians
The Arch
oLater used and accredited to the Romans
Military innovations:
oSoldiers on horseback, war chariot, composite bow, body armor
Highlight List
Astronomy:
ostar catalogues and accurate observations of planetary
motion, predictions of astronomical events, lunar and solar
System of writing:
oCuneiform; wedge-shaped forms which later developed into
arithmetic and language.
Great achievements in mathematics:
odeveloped algebra, and foundation for the Greek
expansion of geometry.
Law:
oSystem of rules to keep order and the authority to
protect people
Records:
oLaws, trade and financial accounts
Beginning of history…as a written story.
Advances and Inventions
•The Sumerians were the first to build wheeled
vehicles like carts and wagons.
•Invented the ox-drawn plow and greatly
improved farm production.
More Inventions
Built sewers under city streets.
Learned to use bronze to make strong tools and
weapons.
Named thousands of animals, plants, and minerals, and
used them to produce healing drugs.
Sumerian methods of measuring time would influence
the development of much of the clock and calendar we
use today.
Music
Music played important role in Sumerian society.
Musicians played stringed instruments, reed
pipes, drums and tambourines for entertainment
and for special occasions.
Music
This stringed musical instrument
is called a lyre.
It features a cow’s head and is
made of silver decorated with
shell and stone.
Sculpture and Jewelry
Sumerian art is renowned for sculpture & jewelry.
Sculptors created statues of gods for the temples, and
made small objects of ivory or rare woods.
Jewelers worked with imported gold, silver & fine stones.
Earrings & other items found in the region show that
Sumerian jewelers knew advanced methods for putting
gold pieces together.
Architecture
Sumerian remains reveal great skill in architecture.
A pyramid-shaped ziggurat dominated each city.
Most people lived in one-story houses with rooms
arranged around a small courtyard.
Sumerian Achievements
The Sumerians were the first people in
Mesopotamia to build large temples called
ziggurats.
Ziggurats
Ziggurats
Ziggurats
Sumerian Achievements
The Sumerian’s artistic achievements included
beautiful works of gold, wood and stone.
Sumerian Achievements
The bull’s head is made of gold and silver.
Sumerian Achievements
This gold dagger was found in a royal tomb.
Sumerian Achievements
Stone Sculpture/Carvings
Sumerian Achievements
Wood Carving
Sumerian Achievements
Archaeologists think this statue from the 700s BCE
represents Gilgamesh.
Scribes
•Becoming a writer, or scribe, was a way to
move up in social class.
•Scribes began to combine symbols to express
complex ideas.
In time, scribes wrote works on law, grammar,
and mathematics.
•Sumerians also wrote stories, proverbs, songs,
poems to celebrate military victories and long
poems called epics.
Writing
Sumerians first used cuneiform to keep records
for business, government, and temples.
As the use of cuneiform grew, simple pictographs
(3300 B.C.E.) evolved into more complex symbols
that represented basic parts of words.
This type of script was called cuneiform (from
the Latin word cuneus which means wedge).
Writing was taught in schools.
Pictographs
Sumerian writing developed from early symbols called
pictographs.
Writers used clay tablets to record business deals, like this
tablet that describes a number of sheep & goats.
Pictographs
Evolution
Invention of Writing
The Sumerians made one of the greatest cultural
advances in history.
They developed cuneiform, the world’s first system of
writing.
But Sumerians did not have pencils, pens, or paper.
Instead, they used sharp reeds to make wedge-shaped
symbols on clay tablets.
THE ORIGINS OF WRITING:
Tokens: small geometric clay objects
ocylinders, cones, spheres, etc.
ofound Near East from ~8000 B.C.E.
Earliest tokens simple shapes
ounadorned
osymbolized basic agricultural commodities
oe.g. grain and sheep.
THE ORIGINS OF WRITING: TOKENS cont…
Specific shape represented a specific quantity of a
particular item.
o e.g. "the cone ... stood for a small measure of grain, the
sphere represented a large measure of grain, the ovoid stood
for a jar of oil." (Before Writing 161).
Two jars of oil would be represented by two ovoids,
three jars by three ovoids, and so on.
Tokens presented an
abstraction of the things being
counted, but also a system of
great specificity and precision.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF CUNEIFORM:
Early Sumerian writing system in constant flux.
Original direction of writing was from top to bottom,
obut for reasons unknown, it changed to left-to-right very
early on (perhaps around 3000 B.C.E.).
Affected orientation of signs by rotating all of them 90°
counterclockwise.
Another change in this early system involved the
"style" of the signs.
oThe early signs were more "linear" in that the strokes making
up the signs were lines and curves.
Starting after 3000 B.C.E., strokes started to evolve
into wedges, thus changing the visual style of the signs
from linear to "cuneiform".
Cuneiform
Cuneiform
Cuneiform
Writing
Cylinder Seal
The Sumerians also developed a special art form called
the cylinder seal, carved into round stones.
The cylinder seal was engraved with designs and could be
rolled over wet clay to decorate containers or to “sign”
documents.
Cylinder Seal
Cylinder Seal
Invaders, Traders, and Empire Builders
Series of strong rulers united lands of Fertile Crescent into
well organized empires.
Again and again, nomadic warriors invaded the rich cities
of the Fertile Crescent.
oSome looted and burned the cities
oOthers stayed to rule them
2300 B.C.E.
oSargon, ruler of Akkad, conquered Sumer
oBuilt first known empire
1790 B.C.E.
oHammurabi
King of Babylon
United Babylonian empire
Tiglath-Pileser I
King of Assyria (1114 – 1076 BCE). Cultivated fear
oAscended throne at time when people known as Mushki or
Mushku (Meshech of the Old Testament), probably Phrygians, were
thrusting into Asia Minor (now Turkey).
Invasion a serious threat to Middle Eastern civilization
oBecause Asia Minor was the principal source of iron, which
was then coming into general use.
Defeated 20,000 Mushki in the Assyrian province of
Kummukh.
Defeated Nairi, (west of Lake Van),
Extended Assyrian control farther into Asia Minor than
any predecessor.
Tiglath-Pileser I
1st campaign:
ooccupied Assyrian districts-Upper Euphrates
2nd campaign:
oAssyrian forces penetrated into the mountains south
of Lake Van and then turned westward.
5th year:
oAttacked Comanan Cappadoci
-- placed record of victories engraved on copper
plates in fortress built to secure his conquests.
Next: Aramaeans of northern Syria.
Made way as far as the sources of the Tigris.
Tiglath-Pileser I
Control of high road to Mediterranean secured.
Proceeded to Gubal (Byblos), Sidon & finally to
Arvad
oWhere he embarked onto a ship to sail the
Mediterranean,
oOn which he killed a nahiru or "sea-horse" (which
translates as a narwhal) in the sea.
Passion for the “chase.”
Great builder:
oInitiated restoration of temple of gods Ashur &
Hadad @ Assyrian capital of Assur.
Tiglath-Pileser I
Subdued various semi-nomadic Aramaean tribes living
along routes to Mediterranean
Reached Syrian coast, where Phoenician trading cities
paid tribute
Egypt made overtures of friendship.
1100 Tiglath-pileser conquered northern Babylonia
Latter part of reign a period of retrenchment, as
Aramaean tribesmen put pressure on his realm
Died in 1076 BCE Succeeded by son Asharid-apal-Ekur
Warfare and the Spread of Ideas
Conquerors brought ideas & technologies to
conquered regions.
o For example,
 When Hittites conquered Mesopotamia, they brought
skill of ironworking to region
When the conquerors were in turn conquered,
they moved elsewhere, spreading their ideas
and technologies.
o For example,
 when Hittite empire conquered, Hittite ironworkers
migrated to other regions and spread secret of iron
making across Asia, Africa & Europe
ThePERSIANS
Persian Empire
Cyrus the Great (and successors) conquered
largest empire yet seen
o From Asia Minor to India
Emperor Darius unified the Persian empire
Drew up single code of laws for empire
Hundreds of miles of roads built or repaired to aid
communication & encourage unity
Introduced uniform system of coinage
Encouraged a money economy
o Prior to that point, it was Barter economy
 exchanging one set of goods/services for another
Civilization & Mesopotamia Exam
SCANTRON: Multiple Choice ~ Matching ~ True/False
NOTE: Attributes of Civilization will be in list form.
Patterns of Living
Attributes of Civilization
Mesopotamia
Code of Hammurabi
Gilgamesh
‘Why Civilizations Fail’
Text readings
Unit 2 ppt.
Unit 2 ppt.
Ancient Mesopotamia ppt.
Hammurabi ppt.
Online Reading
Online Reading
Textbook pp. 4-13
Total Points ~75
Only Slideshow (ppts.) content will be included in review.