Download Directions: Go through this slide show and use the information to fill

Directions: Go through this slide
show and use the information to
fill in the boxes on your Chart.
Use each link. Some will be
helpful to your chart and some will
supplement that information.
Middle Eastern
Civilizations
Ancient Civilizations of
Mesopotamia and the
Fertile Crescent
Geography:
• Mesopotamia: The “Land Between Two
Rivers” in the Middle East between the
Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Geography
• Fertile Crescent – The half-circle shaped
area of fertile land in the Middle East that
includes Mesopotamia to the Nile River
Valley.
Ancient Civilizations that Occupied
the Middle East:
•
•
•
•
Sumerians
Babylonians
Phoenicians
Hebrews
Ancient Sumer
• Sumer is considered the “Cradle of
Civilization”
• Hunter-Gatherers settled into the First
civilizations
• First settled in the Fertile land in Lower
Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers.
Ancient Sumer
• Sumerians formed their civilization around
3500 B.C. and fell to foreign invaders 1500
years later (around 2000 BC)
• The Sumerian Civilization was a collection
of city-states that shared a common
culture, language and religion
• What is a city-state?
City-State – consists of the city
itself and the land surrounding it
• Many city-states in ancient Sumer:
The Ancient Sumerians built
huge temples called Ziggurats to
honor their gods and goddess.
Click Here to explore the Great
Ziggurat at Ur.
Ancient Sumer
• “Important” people:
1. Slaves – built the great Ziggurats and irrigation
projects
– Try to build your own Zuggurat by managing
your slaves
» Click Here to build a Ziggurat at Ur (a great
city)
More important people in Sumer:
• 2. Scribes – the people of ancient Sumer
that could write. They trained in schools
and wrote in Cuneiform, which uses
pictures to represent words.
• At this point you should have everything
filled in in your chart for the Sumerian
Civilization.
• If you do not, go back over the slide show
to find what you missed. (use your rightclick to move back)
Location of Babylon
• Began in Lower Mesopotamia:
Expanded to include most of the
Middle East in a great empire:
Ancient Babylonians
• Empire at its height from 1800-1600 BC
• Led by its most famous ruler
• Hammurabi:
Ancient Babylonians
• Large Empire that needed to be governed
fairly and consistently
• Existed from 1800-1600 B.C.
• Created the very specific, very strict
written code of laws.
– Hammurabi’s Code
Ancient Babylonians
• Hammurabi’s Code survives to this day:
At this point, you should have
everything you need to know about
the Babylonians. If not, go back
through and find the correct
answers.
The Phoenicians
Phoenicians: Location
• The Phoenicians lived on a piece of land
along the Western bank of the Mediterranean
Sea.
• They did not have good farmland, but they
did have access to the sea. They became
great traders, sailing around the
Mediterranean to trade for food and goods.
Phoenician Trade Routes
Phoenicia
Phoenicians: Accomplishments
• The Phoenicians did not govern a large
territory like the Babylonians, instead they
set up small city-states around the
Mediterranean as bases for their trade
routes.
• What is a city-state?
• The Phoenicians became great explorers,
spreading Babylonian and Sumerian
culture all around Europe and North Africa.
Phoenicians: Important People
• Each Phoenician city-state was its own
country and had its own king. As a result,
history does not focus on any one king or
leader from this loose union of cities.
• We do not need to know any important
people from the Phoenicians, but we do
need to know what they created.
Phoenicians: Contributions to the
world
• In order to keep records on all that they traded
around the Mediterranean Sea, the Phoenicians
developed the world’s first alphabet.
• In the Phoenician writing system, unlike the
Cuneiform of Sumer, symbols, or letters,
represented sounds instead of words.
• The alphabet we use is based on the Phoenician
alphabet!
Got everything about the
Phoenicians?
The Hebrews
A group of people founded by
Abraham
Location:
In the southern part of the Fertile
Crescent lies a land called Canaan,
where many groups lived. One group
was the Hebrews
Location
• Geographic problems (famine and
drought) forced the Hebrews to Egypt.
• They were enslaved by the Egyptians and
then led out from slavery by Moses in
what was called the Exodus.
Accomplishments:
• Religion: The Hebrews developed the first
religion that worshipped one god, or was
Monotheistic. It was called “Judaism”
• Law Code: The Ten Commandments
– According to the Bible, Moses received this
list of ten rules from their one God.
• King David eventually established a
kingdom in Canaan called Israel.