Download Chapter 4 -Ancient Mesopotamia notes L.1 Geography of

Chapter 4 -Ancient Mesopotamia notes
L.1 Geography of Mesopotamia
Main Idea: The geography of Mesopotamia helped create the conditions for
civilization
-Land Between Rivers
● The River Valley in the Fertile Crescent between the T
​ igris​ and
Euphrates​ Rivers is known as Mesopotamia.
● Mesopotamia​- Land between the rivers.
● The river flooding is unpredictable, too much, too little, or late can be
devastating to the crops.
● On the plus side, the floods deposited silt which made the otherwise
dry land, fertile
● Silt​- an especially fine and fertile soil
-Farming in Mesopotamia
● Mesopotamia was a tricky place for farming because of the
unpredictable flooding, hot summers, and unreliable rainfall
● Solution: irrigation! Farmers dug irrigation canals as a way to get river
water to their fields; they also stored rainwater for later use, and built
floodwalls using mounds of earth.
● Irrigation​: watering fields using a human made system
● People used new technology, such as the ox-driven plow to turn the
hot baked soil to get large fields ready for farming.
● Because of the abundant food supply, people were able to devote
time and energy on art, architecture, and technology. This allowed a
great civilization to develop.
L2: City-states develop
Main Idea: The city state of Sumer formed Southwest Asia’s first civilization
● Around 3500 BC Sumer developed in the southern region of
Mesopotamia.
● Sumer was made up of a dozen self-governing city-states which
developed when villages united to make connected irrigation
systems.
● City-state​: Includes the city and its surrounding land and settlements
● Most of Sumer’s city-states were built on the Tigris or Euphrates river,
or on the coast of the Persian Gulf, where fishing and trade
developed.
● Wars were fought to protect fertile land, limited natural resources, and
profitable trade routes.
-Centers of Civilization
● Sumer had abundant fertile land, however it lacked important natural
resources such as, tin and copper; these had to be acquired through
trade.
● When combined, tin and copper made bronze, a very strong metal
used to make tools and weapons. Because of its importance, the time
around 3000 BC is known as the Bronze Age.
● A growth in population meant the need to establish government
systems to manage the many people.
● Kings arose for strong leadership, and administrators, paid by
Sumerians, collected taxes and kept order.
● Social Class​: an order based on power and wealth
● Artisans​: people who are skilled at making things by hand
L3: Religion in Sumer
● Sumerians believed in many gods, who they thought had super
powers that controlled the unpredictable rivers, droughts, and
disease.
● Polytheism- the belief in many gods
● Sumerians would try to keep the gods happy by performing different
rituals.
● Priests would study the moon, sun, and stars in order to predict the
gods’ plans; this lead to early calendars, astronomy, and
mathematics.
● Ritual:​ formal series of acts always performed in the same way
● The ziggurat, or temple, was the most important building in a
city-state.
● Sumerians invented the earliest form of writing, pictographs, which
evolved into symbols called cuneiform; This change marked the
beginning of written history and a huge step in the development of
civilization.
● Scribes used reeds, or sharpened blades of grass, to carve the
wedge-shaped cuneiform- 600 symbols in all- into wet clay tablets
that were then dried.
● Epic of Gilgamesh
-The world's oldest recorded story.
-Author: unknown
-About a king who encounters and defeats a monster
Sargon
● Sargon the Great conquered Sumer and other lands in Mesopotamia
to create the world's first empire, called the Akkadian Empire.
● empire- a group of different lands and people governed by one ruler
● There were many wars and disputes between the city-states of
Sumer; this allowed Sargon to come through and easily take control.
● Sargon had control from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea
● Sargon had tolorance- having sympathy for the beliefs and customs
of others, but they had to pay a protection tax, called a tribute.
● He introduced standard weights and measures throughout his
empire.
● One common spoken language throughout the land
● Under Sargon, famine-widespread hunger- was avoided for 100
years.
● The empire became too big to manage, by 2200 BC the empire
ended.
Hammurabi
● After Sargon's empire, a group came and established a new empire
centered around the city-state Babylon.
● Hammurabi, was the 6th king of Babylonia; he was the most
influential ruler
● He worked on domestic improvements: streets, strong city walls,
temples, and efficient irrigation canals
● He also had a network of alliances, or partnerships. (this allowed him
to take over Sumer and Akkad in just 8 years.)
● Best remembered for his Code of Laws.
● Hammurabi took the best existing laws, added to them and posted
them across the empire so everyone was aware of them.
● The code also applied based on social class: landowners had harsher
punishments over slaves.
● Innocent until proven guilty
● Influenced legal systems in ancient Greece and Rome
● These also serve as insight into the daily life of these ancient people
Phoenicians
● through their extensive trade network, the Phoenicians spread
different cultures throughout the Mediterranean and beyond
● The established colonies, or outposts of people from one land who
live in another
● The imported raw materials, or substances from which other things
are made.
● 22 letter alphabet to record trade, each symbol stood for a certain
sound
Legacy​- cultural and technological developments left to us from the past.
Sumerians
● The first writing system
● The plow
● The sailboat
● The first lunar calendar
● First recorded story
Babylonians
● First Code of Laws
● Hanging Gardens (one of the 7 wonders of the world
● Sargon was the first king to unify the city-states (literature, art, and
architecture flourished)
● Hammurabi- (known as the first empire) temples, roads, extensive
canal systems, and a code of laws.
Assyrians
-military prowess,
-advances in weaponry and
-meticulously recorded conquests.
Phoenicians
-The first alphabet
-Great traders (esp. in Mediterranean Sea)
-Purple dye from jellyfish to color wool
-Designed warships to trade in