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Why River Valleys?
• 1. Offered rich soils for
agriculture
• 2. Tended to be located in
places that could offer
protection from nomadic
invaders
The Fertile Crescent
• Area of land
between the
Persian Gulf and
the
Mediterranean
Sea in
Southwest Asia
One land…Two Rivers
• Mesopotamia means =
“land between the rivers”
– Tigris River and
Euphrates River
• Both rivers flooded once
a year and left thick bed
of silt.
– Silt: rich, new soil
farmers could plant
and harvest enormous
quantities of wheat
and barley
Political
Power of the Priests
• Sumer’s earliest governments
were controlled by temple
priests
– Farmers believed they
needed blessings for
success of their crops
– Priests were the middle man
for the gods
– Priests demanded portion of
farmer crops as tax
– Later followed kings as
rulers: when the power is
passed down to his son.
Hammurabi’s Code
• King of Babylonia
(today southwestern
Iraq)created a set of
282 laws that
governed the people
of Babylonia
• Brought order and
justice to society
• Covered everyday life
• Influenced later codes
of law, even that of
Greece and Rome
Some of his codes:
• Law 21: If any one break a hole into a house (break in to
steal), he shall be put to death before that hole and be
buried
• Law 127: If any one "point the finger" (slander) at the wife
of any one, and can not prove it, this man shall be taken
before the judges and his brow shall be marked (by cutting
the skin, or perhaps hair.)
• Law 132: If the "finger is pointed" at a man's wife about
another man, but she is not caught cheating with the other
man, she shall jump into the river for her husband.
• Law 196: If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye
shall be put out.
• Law 282: If a slave says to his master: "You are not my
master," if they convict him his master shall cut off his ear.
Economy
• Metal tools and weapons
(bronze, iron)
• Increasing agricultural
surplus (better tools, plows,
irrigation)
• Specialization of Labor:
people had different jobs to
help society
• Increasing trade along rivers
– traded with Egypt
• Development of the world’s
first cities
City-States
• Geography separated Sumerian cities from each
other--the desert made travel and
communication difficult
• City-states developed: A city-state was an
independent state made up of a city and the
surrounding land and villages
• Each had its own government and culture
• Built a mud-brick wall to protect it from invaders,
since it had no natural barriers for protection
Religion
• Polytheistic: Belief in Many
Gods (3,000!!!)
• Gods could be angered at
any moment and to keep
them happy Sumerians:
– Built impressive ziggurats-center of the city-state
– Believed that chief god lived
there--priests made offerings
– No guarantee to make gods
happy---lots of flooding
-Priests served as rulers--went
between humans and gods
MORE
ZIGGURATS!!!
Sumerian Society
Kings and Priests
Wealthy merchants
Ordinary Sumerian people
Slaves
Literature:Epic of Gilgamesh
• An epic is a long
poem that tells the
story of a hero
• Legend about a
Mesopotamian king
who is 2/3 god and
1/3 human in search
of eternal life
• One of the earliest
works of literature in
the world
Achievements
Science and
Technology
• Invented the wheel,
the sail, the plow
• Used bronze.
• Developed first
writing system called
cuneiform
• Built irrigation
systems– to water
their crops