Download Big Ideas - Methacton School District

Objective
 Examine the impact of location and
geography on the people and culture
of the Middle East
Big Ideas
Early Civilizations of the Middle East
First Civilizations
Developments & Achievements
 Fertile Crescent: Mesopotamia – Crash Course
 Successful farming settlements had grown into
powerful city-states:
 large town that has its own gov’t and controls the
surrounding country side – priest-kings
 Sumer: 3500BC – Greek for southern
 Government – laws, army
 Religion – special gods - Built Ziggurats - scribes
 System of writing – cuneiform – pass on information
 Used a wheel
 Sailing ships = trade
 Developed plow and accurate calendar
 Built dams to control floods
 System of measurement – based on 60
 All Influenced later people – Rap –
 Akkadians after Sumer
The Fertile Crescent
Gilgamesh is one of the oldest
recorded stories in the world. It's
about an ancient King of Uruk
who may have actually existed
and whose name - Gilgamesh - is
on the Sumerian King List
Hero's Journey
Sumer Website
Sumerian Irrigation Canal and Plow
An artist's rendition of one type of Sumerian sailboat. The rope
indicates where the sails would have hung on the wooden
mast. The body of the boat is made of bundled reeds covered
with leather
Lack of natural barriers
around the Fertile Crescent
 King Hammurabi conquered much of the
Fertile Crescent - Babylonians
 Drew up a code of law – single system of
justice - laws
 Mastery of iron: iron weapons - Hittites
 Phoenicians known as carriers of
civilization = trade
 Developed an alphabet that evolved into
ours
Map showing the Babylonian territory
upon Hammurabi's ascension in c. 1792
BC and upon his death in c. 1750 BC
Royal portrait - Hammurabi King of Babylon -1900 BC
Figures at top of stone "fingernail" above
Hammurabi's code of laws.
Persian Empire’s Influence
 Conquered the vast empire from Asia Minor to
Indus Valley – Iran – Darius I – ruled at peak
 Gov’t
 Divided into provinces
 Governor/Satrap was responsible for collecting
taxes and for keeping order
 Tolerance of other peoples
 Trade/Communication
 Improved & expanded the road system
 Uniform system of coinage
Darius the Great
(526 – 485 B. C. E.)
 Established a tax-collecting
system.
 Divided the empire into
districts called SATRAPIES.
 Built the great Royal Road
(video) system.
Greece and Rome addition
to the Middle East
 Hellenism (Hellenistic Civilization)
Hellenism
(Hellenistic Civilization)
 Alexander spread the concept of Hellenism
throughout his newly-conquered empire.
 Hellenism comes from the term Hellenes, which is
what the Greeks called themselves.
 Hellenism, therefore, is the spread of Greek culture
throughout Alexander’s empire.
 Under Hellenism Greek art, architecture,
literature, technology, and ideas were blended
into the Middle East
 This culture diffusion continued well after
Alexander’s abrupt death in 323 B.C.E.
Alexander the Great
video
3:00
or video
7:00
 Macedonian (Greek) King that laid the
final death blow to the Persian Empire
and conquered it.
Roman Conquest
 Eventually another Mediterranean civilization,
Rome, conquered all the lands around the
Mediterranean rim.
 Under Roman rule trade flourished throughout
the Middle East.
 Roman rule also brought with it an extensive
law system, road network, national security
force, and economic stability.
 By 395 C.E. the Roman Empire split into two
halves, the Roman and Byzantine Empires.
 The Byzantine Empire continued to ruler over parts
of Asia Minor for the next 1000 years.
Constantine’s City-Constantinople
Roman Empire
Greece and Rome addition
to the Middle East
 Hellenistic civilization: 330’s BC
 Blended Greek culture with cultures of ancient
Middle East
 Alexander the Great conquered Persian Empire
 Pursued research in science mathematics, medicine
and philosophy
 Rome: by 115 AD ruled much of ME:
 trade and diffusion flowed
 split Byzantine Empire next 1,000 years from
Constantinople – split by 330 AD
 About 700 years – fall of Rome isolated with Europe
Even BIGGER Idea:
 Over thousands of years, migrating
people, traders, and conquerors have
brought many ethnic groups and their
ideas to the region.