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Chapter 2 Section 1
Notes
I. Geography of the
Fertile Crescent
A. The Fertile Crescent
is an upside down
crescent running from
the Persian Gulf north
along the Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers to the
Coast of Israel
B. The valley between
two rivers becomes
known as
Mesopotamia “ Land
Between the Rivers”
1. Each year the
rivers would flood
and leave a rich
layer of soil called
silt
C. People began to
live there around 4500
B.C. but the
Sumerians would
settle there around
3500 B.C.
D. Environmental
problems
1. Unpredictable
floods
2. Sumer was a
cluster of small
villages on a plain
with no protection
SUMER
3. Limited natural
resources
E. Solutions for
problems
1. Irrigation canals
SUMERIAN IRRIGATION
2. For defense they
built city walls of
mud brick
3. Traded grain for
other natural
resources
II. Sumerians Create
City States
A. One of the first
groups to form a
civilization ( 5
Characteristics )
B. Each of the Citystates was
independent, had
their own ruler , and
surrounding farm
lands
C. Power of Priests
1. Theocracy is a
government in
which the religious
leader is also the
ruler
2. Priests controlled
early government
3. Communicated
with the gods
4. Collected taxes
D. How monarchs
came into leadership
1. In times of war
commanders took
control
2. Gradually
commanders took
control of standing
armies
3. Eventually
commanders
became the full time
rulers
4. Dynasty is a
series of rulers from
the same family
E. Spread of cities
1. Contact from
other peoples help
create more
Sumerian Cities
2. Cultural
Diffusion is the
process of a new
idea or product from
one culture to
another
III. Sumerian
Culture
A. A religion of
many gods
B. Polytheism the
believe in many
gods
1. Nature gods
Reptilian Nature god
Inanna Queen of Beasts
2. 3000 gods
3. gods had human
characteristics
4. “Land of No
Return”
a. Dismal, gloomy
place between
earth’s crust and the
ancient sea
C. Epic of
Gilgamesh
1. Earliest works of
literature,
Gilgamesh’s
unsuccessful quest
for immortality
D. Life in Sumerian
Society
1. Social classes
developed
a. Priest and Kings
b. Merchants
c. Fieldworkers
majority of people
d. Slaves
E. Sumerian
Science and
Technology
1. Wheel
2. Sail
3. Plow
Sumerian wagon
Sailboat of the Sumerians
4. First to use
bronze
5. First system of
writing
6. Astronomy,
chemical
substances,
symptoms of
disease
7. Numbering
system based on 6
Sumerian Numbering System
a. 60 minutes , 60
seconds
b. 360 degrees
8. Architectural
a. Arches, columns,
ramps
IV. The First Empire
Builders
A. Sargon of Akkad
( Semitic- Arabic
and Hebrew cross )
Sargon the Great
1. Around 2350
B.C. Sargon from
Akkad from north
and conquered the
Sumerians
2. His city state
Akkad had long
adopted Sumerian
ideas
3. He conquers both
territory in the north
and all of Sumer
thus creating the
worlds first empire
a. An Empire is
when a ruler
conquers one or
more city-states
or territory
B. Babylonian
Empire
1. Another Semitic
group, the Amorites
overwhelm the
Sumerians and
start the Babylonian
Empire
2. Hammurabi from
1792-1750 B.C.
Rules the
Babylonians at its
height
a. Hammurabi’s
Code of Laws
Hammurabi and Sample of Laws
1. Reorganized all
of the laws of the
Sumerians
2. 282 specific laws
3. Different
punishments for rich
and poor