Download Chapter 1 Section 2 Notes Civilizations are complex societies that

Chapter 1 Section 2 Notes
1. Civilizations are complex societies that have the following characteristics:
- cities
- an organized government
- art
- religion
- social class division
- a writing system
2. First civilizations developed in river valleys
- good conditions for farming and feeding many people
- provided fish and freshwater
- allowed travel and trade
3. Mesopotamia “the land between the Rivers”
- lies between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
4. Mesopotamians used dams to control flooding and walls, waterways, and ditches for irrigation.
5. Sumer had city-states which were cities and the land around it with their own governments.
6. Sumerians believed in many gods
- city-states built a ziggurat to its chief god
7. Sumerians divided into three social classes
8. Sumerians greatest invention was writing called cuneiform
9. “Epic of Gilgamesh” is world’s oldest story from Sumer
10. Sumerians invented the wagon wheel, plow, sailboat, 60 minute second, 60 minute hour, 360
degree circle, 12 month calendar
11. Sargon, king of Akkadians, set up world’s first empire
12. Hammurabi created Babylonian Empire and a code of law that forced everyone to follow same
laws.