Download Mesopotamia Unit

Mesopotamia Unit
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Settled community,
w/ domesticated
plants/animals
Could support large
populations
◦ As population
increase, so did
complexity
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One earliest village
Catal Huyuk
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Sumer 1st civilization
◦ 5000 BCE develop city states S. Mesopotamia
◦ Invented wheel, buildings, irrigation systems, plow,
bronze weapons, writing (cuneiform)
◦ Important:
 Each city state independent
 City states fought o/ irrigable land & trading rights
◦ Future leaders would try unite lands/people into
empire
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“Land b/t Rivers”
◦ Tigris & Euphrates
 Flood April-June
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Modern day Iraq
Arid climate
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Resources
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◦ Very hot & dry, little rainfall
◦ Regional differences however
◦ Had water & fertile soil = “gifts”
◦ Lacked stone, timber, copper, tin, iron, gold
 Encouraged foreign trade
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Geography/Climate caused people have
pessimistic attitude
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Akkad
◦ Sargon the Great
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Babylonia
◦ Hammurabi
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Assyria
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Assurnasirpal
Sennacherib
Esarhaddon
Assurbanipal
Babylonia II
◦ Nabopolassar
◦ Nebuchsdnezzar
Hammurabi Code Project
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282 percepts/laws
Dealt w/ social,
family issues
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Healthcare
Criminal Justice System
Family Life
Jobs
Slaves
Military
1.
2.
3.
4.
Was Hammurabi’s form of justice fair?
Were the laws appropriate for their time
period?
Do you think these laws were actively
followed and enforced?
Should laws promote punishment or
reform?
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Polytheistic
◦ Belief many gods
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Anthropomorphic
◦ Human-like characteristics
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Had human emotions
◦ Compassionate, cruel
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Also envisioned darker powers
(demons/monsters)
Pazuzu
Lamashtu
Huwawa
1.
2.
3.
4.
An/Anu
◦ Father of Gods; God of
Sky
Enlil
◦ God of Air
Utu/Shamash
◦ Sun God; God of Truth
and Justice
Nanna/Sin
◦ Moon God
5.
6.
7.
8.
Inanna/Ishtar
◦ Goddess of Love and War
Ninhursag
◦ Mother Earth
Enki/Ea
◦ God of Fresh Waters; God
of Magic, Wisdom, Arts
Marduk
◦ National God of Babylon
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Tiered temple made
of mud-bricks
Dwellings places of
the gods
◦ Each city-state had a
patron god
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Only priests
permitted inside
ziggurat
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In earliest days, King chief priest
Later professional priesthoods
Various duties:
◦ Ritual slaughter animals
◦ Interpret omens
◦ Singing songs
◦ Provide regular offerings of food and
refreshments to deity
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Practice of women offering sex for pay on the
sacred grounds of the Temple of Ishtar
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Participated public festivals
Tried to predict “heaven’s will”
Exorcism
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No notion of an afterlife where the good were
rewarded
Life after Death was dismal and bleak
◦ “Land of No Return”
What then was the incentive for living a pious
life?
Buddhas of Bamiyan
Pyramid Menkaure
Mosel Museum
Temple Bel
4 Horses St. Marks
The Amber Room