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Ancient Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent Chap 8 Sec 2 Notes The Mesopotamian City-State The Fertile Crescent Hammurabi—ancient Mesopotamian emperor, ruled 1792–1750 B.C. Mesopotamia—Greek for “land between the rivers” Covers area of Iraq, parts of Syria, Turkey Region called Fertile Crescent due to shape, fertile soil City-States Sumerians—first inhabitants form city-states around 3000 B.C. City-state—city and areas it controls Three challenges influence development of city-states: - high walls protect from hostile invaders - irrigation canals provide water to area with little rainfall - allow safe trading of grain, dates, cloth in exchange for stones, metals,timber Government by Priests and Kings Each city-state builds temple to specific guardian god - temple is built on ziggurat—pyramid-shaped tower City-states are first ruled by temple priests, then elected leaders - leaders later become kings Kings control politics, military; priests control religion, economy From Kings to Emperors Sometimes kings conquer other city-states - let conquered city-states keep gods, local control Some kings build empires from conquered lands - empire—group of countries under one ruler’s control - force conquered people to worship emperor as god The Class System The Three Classes Mesopotamia has class system—society divided into social groups - each group, or class, has certain rights, protections Top class: kings, priests, rich property owners Middle class: skilled workers, merchants, farmers Bottom class: slave workers - some captured in wars, others sold into slavery to pay debts A Culture Based on Writing Cuneiform Cuneiform—one of first systems of writing, developed by Sumerians - used to write lists, records, histories, religious beliefs, science Most Sumerians cannot write; scribes trained to keep records Educating Scribes Most scribes are children of rich officials, priests, merchants Boys, some girls attend “tablet houses”—scribe schools Memorize 600 wedge-shaped characters Scribes Played Many Roles Scribes also write own literary, scientific works - some women write lullabies, love songs Traveling scribes share writings from other countries Scribes read works out loud to audiences Stories include tales from The Epic of Gilgamesh