Download Early River Valley Civilizations 3500 BC-450 BC

 Do Now: Name as many countries in Europe as you can
 Obj: Explain why the Fertile Crescent was able to
support civilizations
Understand the function of City-states
HW: Active Reading pg. #35-41; Main Ideas #3-5; Critical
Thinking # 6
Vocabulary
 Fertile Crescent
 Mesopotamia
 silt
 City-state
 Dynasty
 Cultural diffusion
 Polytheism
 Empire
 Hammurabi
Mesopotamia
 Fertile Crescent
 Great farm land in Southwest Asia, surrounded by
desert
 Mesopotamia- “land between the rivers” (Greek)


Tigris and Euphrates rivers surround Mes.
Rivers flood the land every year and leave behind silt
Environmental Challenges
 Sumerians (3300 BC)
faced with 3 challenges:
 Unpredictable floods
 Solutions Through
Organization:
 Irrigations ditches from
river to crops
 No protection
 High city walls made of
 Low natural resources
mud bricks (lots of
mud)
 Trade: surplus food for
raw materials
Sumerians Create City-States
 3000 BC several city-
states emerge
 Same culture different
rulers
 Act as independent
countries
 First ruled by priests
 Farmers pray for crops
to grow
 During war, elected
strong fighter to lead
 After a while fighters
kept control
permanently
 Led to dynasty
Sumerian Culture
 Polytheism
 Belief in more than one god
 Describe gods are doing “human” things; i.e. falling in
love, having children, quarreling

However; viewed as immortal and all-powerful-humans are
servants
 Built large ziggurats to offer sacrifices to the gods
Sumerian Culture
 Life in Sumerian Culture: Social Class
Kings,
priests
Wealthy
Merchants
Slaves
Sumerian Culture
 Science and Technology:
 The wheel, the sail, plow, and among the first to use
bronze
 Arithmetic: number system based on 60; still used for
measuring time (60 seconds=1 minute) and 360* in a
circle
 Architectural: arches, columns, ramps
 Cuneiform: writing system carved into clay tablets.

Some oldest written records of astronomy, chemistry, and
medicine
Building Empires
 3000-2000 B.C.E. Sumerians city-states plagued with
war
 Left Sumer weak and vulnerable to outsiders
 Sargon of Akkad:
 2350 B.C.E. Sargon led his Akkadians to victory over
Sumer


Control over both North and South Mesopotamia created the
world’s first empire
Akkadians maintained strong Sumerian culture
Babylonian Empire
 2000 B.C.E. nomadic tribe called Amorites invade
Mesopotamia
 Gradually overwhelm the Sumerians and establish
capital in Babylon on the Euphrates River.
Hammurabi and his Code
 Babylonian Empire reached its peak under the rule of
Hammurabi. (1792 B.C.E. – 1750 B.C.E)
 Hammurabi’s Code:
 Attempt to unify diverse people of his empire




Code consisted of 282 specific laws
Dealt with everything that affected the community
Protected women and children from unfair treatment
Code was copied onto stone tablets and spread throughout the
empire.