Download 8 Features of a Civilization Major Early Civilizations Mesopotamia

Name ______________________________
Global History and Geography
Early Civilizations: Mesopotamia
Date _____________
Per. _______
Civilization: _________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
8 Features of a Civilization
Social Classes
Well-organized government
Arts and Architecture
Complex religions
Public Works
Major Early Civilizations
Mesopotamia
Nile River Valley
Indus River Valley
Yellow (Huang He) River Valley
Mesopotamia
o Between Tigris/Euphrates Rivers - “Fertile Crescent”
o ________________________ provide resources
o Lack of natural barriers (_____________________________)
Floods & Irrigation
o Floods destroyed mud-brick villages
o Developed ways to __________________________________
o Irrigation
o Dams
o Levees
o Drainage ditches
The First Cities
o Lack of resources (Stone, timber)
o Built with ________________________________
o Traded with others
o River travel
o Desert travel with carts
Sumerian Government
o _____________________________ - “states” that were the size of a city
o Rulers like gods on Earth - _________________________
o Laws
o Tax collectors
Sumerian Social Structure
o Hierarchy - __________________________________
o Top: Hereditary rulers/high priests
o Bottom: Mostly peasant farmers
o Women had legal rights, traded and owned property
Sumerian Religion
o _______________________ - belief in many gods
o _______________________ - temple to worship gods/goddesses
o Belief in afterlife
o Bad floods made people believe gods punish them
o Afterlife = not a happy place
Sumerian Education
o Created form of writing
o Cuneiform - ___________________________________________
o _____________________ learned to write
o Job specialization
o Developed early algebra
o Calendars (used for _____________________)
Achievements of Sumer
o ____________________________________
o ____________________________________
o Canals, dykes, levees, _________________, drainage systems
o ________________________
o ________________________
o Trade systems (______________________)
Fall of Sumer 
o Nomadic herds destroy city-state
o Some stayed to rule
Rise of Babylon
o __________________________, king of Babylon
o Unites Mesopotamia, creates empire
o Brings new ideas
Code of Hammurabi
o ______________ for people to follow
o Codify - __________________________________________________
o Criminal law - crimes like murder, robbery, assault
o Civil law - marriage, divorce, taxes
o Punishments based on _____________________________________
Babylonian Accomplishments
o _________________________________________
o Improved irrigation
o Well-trained armies
o New walls protect city
o Religious unity
The Assyrians
o Captured Babylon
o __________________________________
o Riches from trade and war paid for _________________________________________
o Laws regulating women - had to be veiled when they appeared in public
o First library
o Brought new ideas
The Phoenicians
o Small cities/colonies
o ____________________________________
o “Carriers of civilization”
o Spread Middle Eastern civilization around Mediterranean Sea.
o _____________________ from sand
o _____________________________ from tiny sea snails
o Invented _________________________ - letters that represent spoken sounds