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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