Download Civilizations of Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent

Civilizations of Mesopotamia and
the Fertile Crescent
Fertile Crescent
• Region in the Middle East that has very rich
soil
• “crossroad of early civilization”
• Mesopotamia – “between the rivers”
– Tigris and Euphrates
Civilizations - Sumer
• Flood Plain
– Use of dikes and irrigation ditches
– No timber or stone – uh oh!!!!!!
• The Epic of Gilgamesh
Features
• Cities
– Ur and Uruk
• Trade makes them rich
• Have good from India and Egypt
• May have invented the wheel
Civilization
• 12+ city-states
– Fight for land and water
• Warrior lead
– Hereditary ruler
Government
• Each city-state ruler was responsible for walls
and irrigation
• Ruler enforced laws and hired scribes for taxes
and records
• Ruler carried out religious ceremonies
– Why?
Social Structure
• Ruling Family  Leading Officials  High
Priest  Lesser Priests  scribes 
merchants artisans (lived and worked in
same area) peasant farmers (MAJORITY)
• Slaves – captured or sold themselves to pay
debts
Religious Practice
• Polytheistic
• Highest duty is to keep Gods and Goddesses
happy
• Built ziggurat
• Holy days, ceremonies, processions
• Afterlife
– After death, all people live in a grim underworld
from which there is no release
– Eat mud and live in dust and darkness
Sumerian Cuneiform (3200 B.C.E.)
• Wedge-shaped marks and symbols
• Used to record everything eventually
• Scribe school
– Very strict
– Punished by CANING!!!!
Sumerian Legacy
• Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians used
cuniform
• Developed astronomy, math, number system
based on 6
• Circle = 360 degrees
• Hour = 60 minutes
• Babylonians use Sumerian math to create
Algebra, Geometry, and calendars