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Mesopotamia
The Worlds First Civilization
What is a civilization?
Civilizations - are ________________
societies. They have cities,
organized __________________, art,
__________________, class
divisions, and a writing system.
Why were river valleys important?
________________ - large amounts of
people could be fed
________________- goods and ideas to
move from place to place.
________________- grow up in these
valleys and became the centers of
civilizations.
Mesopotamia
The land between two rivers.
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia was
the worlds first
civilization.
The _______
_________that
allowed
Mesopotamia to
succeed were the
______________
and ____________.
The fertile crescent
In the spring, the __________
often _____________, leaving
behind rich _________ for
__________. The problem was
that the _________________
was very _______________.
It might flood one year, but not
the next. Every year, farmers
worried about their crops.
Irrigation
Over time, the farmers learned to build
________ and _____________to
___________the seasonal ___________.
They also built walls, waterways, and
__________to bring water to their fields. This
way of ________________crops is called
____________Irrigation allowed the farmers
to grow plenty of food and support a large
population.
Sumer
The first major ______________in
Mesopotamia was in a region called
______________.
Food in Sumer
The ___________ grew several kinds of
crops. The most valuable one was
__________, which was used to make
flour and bread. ___________were also
very valuable to the Sumerians.
They were eaten once ripe or else they
were dried for future consumption. Dates
also made an excellent wine.
Barley and dates
City-states
Each Sumerian city and the land around it
became a separate _____-________.
Each city-state had its own
_______________and was not part of any
________________unit.
Social Classes in Sumer
____________class - kings, priests,
warriors, and government officials.
_____________class - artisans,
merchants, farmers, and fishers. These
people made up the largest group.
_____________class - enslaved
people who worked on farms or in the
temples.
Writing
The most important
____________of
the Sumerians was
__________.
The writing of the
Sumerians was
called
___________.
Cuneiform alphabet
TheEpic of Gilgamesh
The most famous piece of
___________from Sumer is the
_________of Gilgamesh.
An epic is a long poem that tells the story
of a hero. The hero Gilgamesh is a king
who travels around the world with a
friend and performs great deeds. When
his friend dies, Gilgamesh searches for a
way to live forever.
Sumerian Inventions
_____________________
______________
_______________
__________________________
________________________
__________________________
wagon wheel
plow
sailboat
Sargon
In about 2340 B.C.,
___________conquered all
of Mesopotamia creating the
world’s first ____________.
An empire is a
_________of many different
lands under one
_________. Sargon’s
___________lasted for
more than _______years
before falling to invaders.
Hammurabi
_______________is best known for his law
__________, or collection of laws.
Law _____: If a judge makes an error
through his own fault when trying a case, he
must pay a fine, be removed from the
judge’s bench, and never judge another
case.
Law_________: If a son strikes his father,
the son’s hands shall be cut off.