Download ancient mesopotamia- *the land between the rivers

ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA- “THE LAND BETWEEN TWO RIVERS”
Energy 6th Grade
Social Studies
Mr. Spooner
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIADEFINITIONS
• CITY STATES- self-governing unit made up of a
city and its surrounding villages and farmland.
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA-GEOGRAPHY
• LOCATED BETWEEN THE TIGRIS-EUPHRATES
RIVERS
• BOTH RIVERS FLOW INTO THE PERSIAN GULF
• LOCATED IN PRESENT DAY IRAQ
Fertile Crescent
Mesopotamia
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA- GEOGRAPHY
• POSITIVE
• abundant amount of
clay
• easy till-able soil
• water supply from
Tigris-Euphrates Rivers
• NEGATIVE
• few natural resources
• minimal protection
from deserts and
mountains
City-States
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIASUMERIAN CIVILIZATION
• BELIEVED TO BE SETTLED CA. 3000 B.C.
• DIVIDED INTO CITY-STATES
• HELPED TO DEVELOP THE FIRST FORM OF
ORGANIZED RELIGION
• CREATED ONE OF THE EARLIEST FORM OF
WRITING
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIASUMERIAN CITY-STATES
• ALWAYS IN CONSTANT CONFLICT
OVER WATER RIGHTS AND LAND
• CREATED WALLS FOR
PROTECTION, WITH MOATS
ALONG THE OUTSIDE
• FARMS WERE LOCATED ALONG
THE OUTSIDE OF THE CITY
Sumerians invented:
• Wheel
• Time – 60 minutes in an hour, 60 seconds in
a minute
• 12 month lunar calendar
• arch
• ramp
Religion
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIASUMERIAN RELIGION
• Ziggurats: pyramid site of the
temple of the main gods.
– Each city-state had their own
gods and goddesses
– Sun god – most important.
• Life after death was an
extension of life.
Ziggurat – Holy Mountain
Ziggurat
• Large pyramid shaped structures
• Connected to heaven and earth
• Ziggurat: “center for learning and religion”
How to Build a Ziggurat
How to Build a Ziggurat
Sumerian Religion
• Monotheism: worshiping one
god.
– “Mono” – means one
• Polytheism: worshiping many
gods.
– “Poly” – means many
Writing:
Cuneiform
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIASUMERIAN WRITING
• CALLED CUNEIFORM (LATIN
FOR WEDGE)
• WRITTEN ON CLAY TABLETS
• NEEDED FOR RELIGION,
GOVERNMENT, AND TRADE
• LEARNED IN SCHOOL, BY
MALES THAT LASTED FROM
SUNRISE TO SUNSET
Sumerian Writing: cuneiform
Cuneiform is created by pressing a
pointed stylus into a clay tablet.
Cuneiform
Economy
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIASUMERIAN ECONOMY
• Make, sell or barter goods.
• Trade helped expansion.
• Development of money
– Will evolve over time.
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIASUMERIAN ECONOMY
•
•
•
•
RICH
government officials
religious leaders
traders
• POOR
• Farmers
• craftsman
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIASUMERIAN PASTIMES
• Entertainment
– No longer had to hunt and gather.
– More time for fun times.
• Rich had more time than poor.
• Activities:
– BOARD GAMES
– INSTRUMENTS
– BARE FISTED BOXING
• Activities geared toward young
and used for socializing.
The invention of Agriculture changed
the way people lived.
• Agriculture (Farming)
• Growth of Cities
• Division of Labor
(Specialization)
• Trade
• Writing and Mathematics
Persians
Akkadians
Babylonians
•
Sumeria
Hittites
Mesopotamian
Civilization
Chaldeans
Lydians
Phoenicians
Assyrians
Hittites
• Iron Weapons
• Add to your map the
location:
– Hittites
– Assyrians
– Akkadians
Assyrians
• Chief god Assur
• Chariots used
• First Cavalry
Akkadians
• Spoke a Semitic Language related to modern Hebrew
and Arabic
When heaven above was not yet named, nor earth
below pronounced by name, Apsu, the first one,
their begetter and maker Tiamat, who bore them all,
had mixed their waters together, but had not formed
pastures, nor discovered reed-beds. When yet no
gods were manifest, nor names pronounced, nor
destinies decreed, then gods were born within them.
Babylonians
• Chief god: Marduk
– Prayed for good harvest
and success in business.
• King Hammurabi
• Hammurabi’s Code
– Earliest code of law
– Based on equal
retaliation.
Hammurabi’s Code
• 282 laws.
• Harsh punishment for crimes.
• Based on equal retaliation.
– “ If a man bring an accusation against a man and charge
him with a capital crime, but cannot prove it, the accuser,
shall be put to death”
– “If the slave of a freed man strike the body of a freed man,
his ear shall be cut off”
• Laws were varied for the wealthy and powerful.
What do you think?
– “ If a man bring an accusation against a man and charge
him with a capital crime, but cannot prove it, the accuser,
shall be put to death”
– “If the slave of a freed man strike the body of a freed man,
his ear shall be cut off”
– If a man strike a free-born woman so that she lose her
unborn child, he shall pay ten shekels for her loss.
• “If the woman die, his daughter shall be put to death.
Chaldeans
• Skilled astronomers
• Hanging Gardens of
Babylon
• King
Nebuchadnezzar
built them for his
wife
– One of the Ancient
Wonders of the
World
http://www.crystalinks.com/seven.html
Persians
• Present day Iran
• Spoke an Indo-European Language
• Zoroastrianism
– Belief in final judgment and training for it
Phoenicians
• Major natural
resource: lumber
from cedar forests.
• Invented the art of
glassblowing.
• Alphabet
– Then adopted by
Greeks.
– Then adopted by
Romans
• Please label
Phoenicia on your
map.
Lydians
• First to use a money economy.
– An economic system based in the use of money as
a measure of value and a unit of account.