Download Mesopotamia (Sumerians) Notes

Mesopotamia (Sumerians)
3500-1600 B.C.
Fertile Crescent – The region’s curved shape and the richness of the land due
to river flooding led to its name.
Geography
Desert climate
Between Persian Gulf and Mediterranean Sea
Two rivers irrigate landscape
Unpredictable flooding and lack of rain made
Tigris
farming difficult and rewarding simultaneously.
Euphrates
Very few trees for building materials and limited natural resources
Traded with people in the mountains and desert
Flat land left village susceptible to attacks from neighbors
Built walls with mud bricks
Creation of City-States
Functioned liked independent countries today
Formed by the city and the surrounding land it controlled
Priests and Rulers shared controls
Farmers believed crops depended on blessings of the gods
During times of war, fighters controlled city’s soldiers
Military leaders passed power onto sons to create dynasties
Sumerian Culture
Religion – Polytheistic
Believed in many different gods that controlled nature
Their gods did many of the same things humans did
Offered sacrifices of food, animals and wine
Hoped for protection in this life, not afterlife
Social Classes
Kings, landholders, and priests made up highest level
Merchants were in the middle
Farmhands and common workers after that
Slaves were the lowest class
Prisoners of war
Poor people to satisfy debt
Women had more rights than later societies
Could hold property
Work farmers, merchants, and priests
Technology and Science
Invented wheel, sail, and plow
First to use bronze
Developed a number system
Used geometry to build walls and irrigation systems
Designed ramps, columns and pyramid shaped designs
System of writing of cuneiform
First Empire Builders
Sargon of Akkad
Around 2350 B.C., Sargon from Akkad defeats Sumer
Creates first empire—under control of one leader
His dynasty lasts about 200 years
Babylonian Empire
Amorites, nomadic warriors, take control around 2000 B.C.
Make Babylon, on Euphrates River, the capital
Babylonian Empire at peak during Hammurabi’s rule
1792–1750 B.C.
Hammurabi’s Code
Hammurabi creates a code of laws for the Babylonian Empire
282 laws on all aspects of life;
Engraved in stone and made public
Set different punishments depending on social class, gender
Goal is for government to take responsibility for order, justice