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Early River Valley Civilizations
Persian Gulf to
Mediterranean Sea
 Some of the best
farming land, the
Fertile Crescent

 Plain area called
Mesopotamia (land
between the rivers.)
Tigris and Euphrates
frame Mesopotamia
 Flooded once a year,
leaving silt

Problem
 Unpredictable
flooding
 Little or no rain
 No natural barriers
 Natural resources
limited
Answer



Irrigation ditches
City walls built
Trade
Domino Effect
 People had to work
together
 Leaders needed
 Laws began
organized
government

Each city acted as
independent country
 Uruk, Kish, Lagash,
Umma, and Ur
 Read the Ancient City of
Ur



Temple priests controlled
government
Manages the irrigation
system from the ziggurat
and demanded crop as
taxes
Wartime men chose a
fighter to command
soldiers

Some became full-time
rulers who passed power
to sons creating a dynasty
City-states became
rich because of food
surplus
 Long-distance trade
increased
 Cultural diffusion
occurred


Practiced polytheism
 Humans = servants
 Discuss views of life
 To keep Gods
happy, sacrifices
offered

Mesopotamian myths
and legends found in
Epic of Gilgamesh
Social classes began
 Discuss the lives of
women
 Sumerians invented:
wheel, sail, plow,
arithmetic, geometry,
arches, columns,
ramps, pyramid,
cuneiform


Sargon of Akkad
defeated city state of
Sumer
 First empire
 Amorites invade
Mesopotamia with
their capital in
Babylon
 Peak during
Hammurabi’s reign
 Hammurabi
established uniform
code of laws
▪ Different
punishments for
rich/poor/men/wo
men