Download The Fertile Crescent

What makes “a way of life” a civilization?
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Writing system
Organized economy
Specialization of labor
Social classes
Legal code
Advanced art
Central government
Several cities with monumental architecture
***Religion – the central force in primary civilizations
• How did humans advance during the Paleolithic era?
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Why are the discoveries of Jarmo, Jericho and Catal Huyuk of interest to
historians?
Ancient Jericho, circa 9000 BCE
Jarmo, circa 7000
BCE
Çatal
Hüyük,
circa 6000 BCE
Mesopotamia: a highly unlikely location for civilization to begin...
>marsh & swamp land
> sandy soil
> summertime temps
of 110 degrees
> 8” annual rainfall
> No stone to quarry
> No metal ores to
mine
> Little timber for
building
> No natural
boundaries
Two great rivers were fed by the winter rains of Syria and the spring thaws of the
snows of the Taurus and Zagros mts : life-giving but unpredictable
Marshland
and swamps
How was Mesopotamia transformed around 3200 BC?
The ancient Sumerians were very smart people:
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writing
Law codes
Literature
Schools
Numbering system
Kiln-dried bricks & pottery
Lunar calendar
Potter’s wheel
The wheel
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The wheelbarrow
Sailboats
Bronze tools and weapons
The plow
Frying pans
Razors
Cosmetic sets
Shepherd’s pipes
harps
Religion was the central force:
• Explained the workings of
nature
• Eased the fear of death
• United people in a
common view
• Bolstered the authority of
rulers
• Justified rules and morality
• Promoted creativity in art,
literature and science
Each city was believed to be the property of an individual god
U.S. soldiers, 2010
The functions of the temple
priest class:
>Anticipated the god's
desires
> Interpreted their actions
> Soothed their wrath
with prayer and
sacrifice
> collected taxes
> coordinated all
economic activity
How did Mesopotamians define the purpose of man’s existence?
Why did a mood of pessimism, uncertainty and anxiety
pervade the Sumerian psyche?
• Frequent floods and droughts
• Windstorms
• The gods were unpredictable
Sumerian women: roles and rights
depended on the city-state, their
social status and changed over time.
> high born were literate
> commoners were occupied with
child-rearing and household duties
> little individualism-daughter or wife
> rulers of city-states- rare but possible
> could inherit and own property
> ran their own businesses
> freedom of movement in the
marketplace
> arranged marriages-dowry/bride
price
>extra-marital affairs not uncommon
> divorce was possible
> singers in temples and palaces were
highly regarded
• How did King Sargon
(2350 -2218 BCE) earn a
place in our history
books?
The Akkadian Empire 2350 – 2100 BCE
Third Dynasty of Ur…Ur-Nammu, 2113-2096 BC
The Code of Hammurabi
> 8 ft column of basalt inscribed
with an engraving of the king
receiving the laws from the god
Marduk; a prologue (advertisement
for Hammurabi's greatness!) and
282 decisions- the law code itself.
Why were King Hammurabi's law
codes obeyed?
What should be done to
the carpenter who
builds a house that
falls and kills the
owner?
229. If a builder builds a
house for a man and
does not make its
construction sound, and
the house which he has
built collapses and
causes the death of the
owner of the house, the
builder shall be put to
death.
What should happen to
a boy who slaps his
father?
195. If a son strikes his
father, they shall cut off
his hand.
196. If a seignior has destroyed the eye of a member of the
aristocracy, they shall destroy his eye.
199. If he has destroyed the eye of a seignior's slave, he shall pay half
his value.
200. If a seignior has knocked out the tooth of a seignior of his own
rank, they shall knock out his tooth.
201. If he has knocked out a commoner's tooth, he shall pay one-third
mina of silver.
245. If a seignior rented an ox and had caused its death through
carelessness or through beating, he shall make good an ox for ox to
the owner of the ox.
274. If anyone hires s skilled artisan, he shall pay as wages 5 gerahs;
wages for a potter or a tailor is five gerahs...of a ropemaker or mason 4
gerahs per day.
Shalamaneser I –
boasted of blinding
14,000 captives
The Hittites,
1600 bc- 1200 bc
examples of Hittite iron swords…
The Phoenicians: Merchant sailors
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The Phoenician Alphabet, circa 1400 bc
The
Hebrews
• Monotheism
• Removed the gods
from nature
• Assertion of human
dignity
• 10 Commandments
An animation : From nomad to
farmer 15 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WX5jaLzxik