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Mesopotamia
(3500 BC – 1700 BC)
Early Civilizations
Mesopotamia (4000 BC)
- “Land between the rivers”
- “Cradle of Civilization”
- “Fertile Crescent”
o Btwn Tigris (East) & Euphrates (West) Rivers
- Troubles:
o Unpredictable flooding
o Difficult to protect
Sumeria (3500 BC)
Sumerians
- Ur: 1st City
- City-States:
o City & surrounding farmland
o Own god & government
o Used levees to control rivers
o Walled city
o Clay brick buildings
 Sun baked red mud w/ reed
- Religion
o Ziggurat
 Mountain of god
 Hill of heaven
 Great stairway
 Top
 Home of the city’s chief god
 Only priests can enter
o Gods
 Nature
 Wind
 Rain
 Flood
 Owned the land
 3000 + Sumerian gods
 Only male at first
o Humans
 On Earth to serve gods
o Priests
 Knew the will of the gods
 Controlled the land
- Schools “Tablet Houses”
o Only for the sons of the rich
o Run by priests (big brother)
o Students learn to write
o Graduates became scribes for:
 Temple
 Army
 Palace
 Government
 Merchants
 Public writer
- Writing
o Cuneiform
 Used sharp reeds (stylist) on clay tablets
 Pictures to sounds
o Developed to keep track of business deals
- Family
o All must obey gods & priests
o Rights of women
 Buy & sell property
 Run businesses
 Own & sell enslaved people
 Handle husbands affairs
o Men
 Divorce: “You are not my wife.”
 Need money: sell or rent wife & children
for up to 3 yrs
 Arrange marriages for children
o Children
 Expected to support & take care of older
parents
- Government
o Priests & Kings
 Priests were kings of city-states
 Received advice from assembly of freemen
 During war: assembly chose military
leader
 Kingship became hereditary (passed
down from father to son)
o War
 Fights over borders
 Prove who was stronger
Famous Kings
- Gilgamesh of Uruk
o Tale written in 1700 BC is world’s oldest
known story
- Sargon I
o King of Akkad
o Moved armies south conquering Sumeria
o 2300 BC - Became king of Sumeria & Akkad
o 1800 BC – Amorites enter Tigris-Euphrates
River Valley
- Hammurabi
o 1750 BC – Becomes king of Babylon
o Conquered Akkad & Sumeria
 Assimilated the cultures of conquered
peoples
 Worshipped Sumerian gods but gave
them Babylonian names
 Extends empire to Mediterranean Sea
o Rise of Babylon
 Trade center
 Exchange surplus (extra) products
for money or goods
 Traders from India
 40 yrs of Hammurabi’s reign
 Known as Golden Age of Babylon
o Contributions
 Irrigation canals
 Raised Babylonian gods above all others
(unites people)
 Reorganized tax system
 Established government housing program
 Established a code of law “Code of
Hammurabi”
 Took individual city-state codes &
unified
 282 known laws
 Appointed royal judges
 Judges who were not honest or
witnesses who lied were punished
 Innocent until proven guilty
 Punishments ranged from fines to
death
o Upper class punished more
severely
Mesopotamian Contributions
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Oldest written records
First to write down laws
Cuneiform became model for writing
Invented the wheel
o Helped transportation & trade
Developed irrigation system
o Levees hold back water
o Holes in levees fill canals to fields
Invented the plow
o Helped grow more food
Invented the sailboat
Developed 12 month calendar
o Based on cycles of the moon
o Marked times for planting, harvesting, &
religious festivals
Developed number system based on 60
o 60 minute hour
o 60 second minute
o 360 circle
Used a clock operated by controlled drops of water