Download City-States

• People lived for hundreds of thousands of years before the beginning of
Pre-History, but little changed from generation to generation;
• Humans moved from pre-historic times to the Old Stone Age, when
they began to make their own weapons from stone
• During this time, humans were Nomads people who move often from place to place
• Migration - moving from one place to another
• Nomads did not build permanent homes; they
took shelter where they could before moving on
• We have learned much about nomads and
people during the Old Stone Age due to the
work of Archaeologists – those who study
material remains (artifacts) of past human life
and activities
• But why did these nomads stop hunting
and gathering and start to stay in one place?
• People in Southwest Asia discovered that if you planted seeds they would come
back the next year. Women were likely the ones to discover farming because it was
their job to work with the seeds = The Birth of Agriculture!
• The advent of farming led to the New Stone Age
• Humans in this New Stone Age were now becoming very good at growing their own
food and Domestication – the taming and breeding of animals for human use
• Conditions needed for successful farming:
1. Soil that was fertile (contains
elements plants need to grow)
2. Warm and moist environments
3. Located near rivers!
• Rivers made it possible for
Irrigation systems; a network of
canals that supplied water to
areas that needed it
• All of these conditions led to Surplus – having more than you need
• Society then started to develop with Division of Labor –
workers specializing in a particular task or job
• This caused people to depend on one another and eventually led to
the formation of Civilizations – societies demonstrating cultural,
technological, and material advances
• The name Mesopotamia means “between the rivers”
• Mesopotamia lies within the
Fertile Crescent – an area of
rich, fertile farmland in
Southwest Asia where the first
civilizations began
• It is bordered to the north by
the Tigris River, and to the South
by the Euphrates River...it is in
present day Iraq
• These were the rivers of Life and Death
• Flood waters brought beneficial topsoil from the mountains in spring
• The same floods were unpredictable and swept away people and animals
• The floods on these two rivers left behind
Silt – finely ground fertile soil that is good
for growing crops
• This silt made the land of Mesopotamia
extremely valuable for growing crops
• When you have excellent conditions for growing
crops (warm climate, good soil, access to plenty
of water) what is possible.....?
SURPLUS!!!
• Surplus made it possible for the growth of Cities
• The Sumerians established the world’s first permanent civilization
right here in Mesopotamia
• Their first cities had about 10,000
people but as time passed some
grew as large as 100,000!
• These City-States acted as
individual countries even though
they were cities
• What kept city-states from
uniting under one government
or ruler ......
• The DESERT
• Unfortunately, not all of the Sumerian city-states were BFFs
• City-states would continually
fight over who had controlled the
farmland and the rights to trade
on the river
• By 3500 BC, Kish was the most
powerful of the city-states
• Uruk and Ur fought for
dominance as well
• Uruk’s king Gilgamesh became a legendary figure in
Sumerian Literature
NOTES AWAY!!!!
On your exit ticket, describe:
1. How were the Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers the rivers of life
and death
2. What made it possible for citystates to emerge and why did they
have conflicts with one another?
• In Sumeria, religion was a central part of life in the city-states
• Sumerians practiced Polytheism – the worship of many gods
• Ziggurats - structures that
were built by the Sumerians to act
as a ladder for the gods
• They were terraced with ramps
that lead to the top where a
temple was located
SUMERIAN ACHIEVEMENTS
• Writing – Cuneiform (using pictures/symbols)
• Math – Developed a math system which used a 60 as a base.
This led to the understanding of 12 months in a year, 60
seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour.
• Technology:
• Wheel - used in carts
for trade and
transportation
• Plow- pulled by ox to
break up the soil before
planting
• Sewers
• Bronze for tools
• Makeup and jewelry
• Constant fighting between City-States in Sumeria weakened them
• They manly fought over the rights to water, land, and even money
• Because they were weak, the Babylonians were able to conquer
them by the year 1759 BC.
• Empire - area of many territories and people controlled by one government
•The center of the Babylonian empire was the beautiful city of Babylon
• Its central location made it a center for trade for:
Caravans – groups of travelers
Bazaars – open markets for the exchange of goods
• Hammurabi became King and created the Babylonian
Empire by uniting the cities of Sumer and conquering
parts of Asia Minor
• As one of the most influential leaders in Mesopotamia, he
conquered territory and developed a set of laws to govern it =
HAMMURABI’s CODE
• There were 282 laws; its creation allowed men, women,
slaves, and all others to read and understand the laws that
governed their lives in Babylon
Examples:
• Code 21: If a man has broken into a house he shall be
killed before the breach and buried there
• Code 196: If a man has knocked out the eye of a patrician,
his eye shall be knocked out.
• The Babylonian Empire was eventually conquered by the Persians,
paving the way for the rise of....
The Assyrians
ADVANCES
• The Battering Ram, helmets, slingers, armor, archery
• Armed Chariots were their major advantage over foes
• The city of Nineveh became a city of great learning
and housed tablets from Sumeria and Babylon
DOWNFALL
• Very militaristic, so had few allies
• Many small rebellions from with-in weakened them
• Ultimately conquered by the Chaldeans by 612 BC
• Chaldeans reestablished Babylon (New Babylonian Empire)
• Nebuchadnezzar II rebuilt Babylon into a beautiful city and built
the Hanging Gardens for his wife
ADVANCES
• Accurate 7-day calendars
• Raised bees for honey
• Sundials
DOWNFALL
• Poor leaders weakened them,
and they eventually fell to Persia
• The land on the western fringe of the Fertile Crescent was home to
wealthy trading society known as the Phoenicians
• Phoenicia had few resources, but it did have cedar. Cedar trees were
prized for their timber, a valuable trade item
• Phoenicia’s overland trade routes were blocked by mountains and
hostile neighbors, so they had to look to the sea for a way to trade
• Motivated by a desire for trade, the people of Phoenicia became expert
sailors - They built one of the world’s finest harbors at the city of Tyre
• Fleets of fast Phoenician trading ships sailed to ports all around the
Mediterranean Sea. Traders traveled to Egypt, Greece, Italy, Sicily, and Spain
• The Phoenicians founded several
new colonies - Carthage was the
most famous of these, and later
became one of the most powerful
cities on the Mediterranean
• Phoenicia grew wealthy from
trading: cedar, silverwork, iron
carvings, glass items, slaves, and
items dyed purple (which were
popular with rich people)
• The Phoenicians’ most important achievement, however, wasn’t a trade
good. To record their activities, Phoenician traders developed one of the
world’s first Alphabet - a set of letters that can be combined to form words
• This development made writing much
easier and had a major impact on the ancient
and modern world
• Our alphabet is based on the Phoenicians!
ADVANCES
• Created valuable goods from glass, iron, and cedar
• World’s finest ship builders
• Founded the city of Carthage
• The Alphabet
DOWNFALL
• Attacks by King Nebuchadnezzar weakened the Phoenicians
• Eventually conquered when Alexander the Great swept
through the Fertile Crescent in 332 BC