Download Sumer and Babylon

Sumer and Babylon
AIM: HOW DID THE MAIN
ASPECTS OF CIVILIZATION
BEGIN IN MESOPOTAMIA?
DO NOW: WHAT ARE THE
RIVERS OF MESOPOTAMIA?
Civilization
 Surplus (extra) crops
 Resulted in the growth of towns and cities
Sumer
 Southern Mesopotamia
 About a dozen small cities
 Created first wheeled vehicles
Cuneiform
 Cuneiform – system of writing invented in Sumer
 Brought cities together
 First created to record farm surpluses
 Used sharp reeds to scratch onto clay tablets
Cuneiform
 Oldest tablets – symbols are like pictographs
 Gradually simplify symbols so can write faster
 Over 500 signs
School in Sumer
 Most could not write
 Honor to go to school and be a scribe
 Possible for girls to be scribes
City-States of Sumer
 City-state – a self-governing city that also governs
surrounding villages
 Life centered around the city-states
City-States of Sumer
 Went to war to control the river
 Walls built to protect against attack
Open Ziggurat of Ur Worksheet
Religion
 Ziggurat – large building with a temple at its peak
 Center of city
 STEPPED PYRAMID
 Polytheism
Hammurabi’s Code
AIM: HOW DID
HAMMURABI’S CODE SHOW
THE IMPORTANCE OF
GOVERNMENT?
DO NOW: WHY ARE LAWS
SO IMPORTANT?
WHY DO WE NEED LAWS?
Hammurabi’s Code
AIM: HOW DID
HAMMURABI’S CODE SHOW
THE IMPORTANCE OF
GOVERNMENT?
DO NOW: TAKE OUT
HAMMURABI’S CODE
WORKSHEET
Babylon
 Empire of Babylonia
 Hammurabi – king of Babylon
Hammurabi’s Code
 Code of law – a written set of laws that apply to
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everyone under a government
One of world’s oldest set of laws
Slavery existed
Not everyone was equal
Written in cuneiform
Hammurabi’s Code
 If a physician operates on a man for a severe wound with a
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bronze tool and causes that man’s death… they shall cut off
his hand.
If a builder builds a house for a man and does not make the
construction sound, and the house which he has built
collapses and causes death, that builder shall be put to
death.
If a man destroys the eye of another man, they shall destroy
his eye.
If a son strikes his father, they shall cut off his hand.
Anyone who steals a child shall be put to death.
Convicted thieves shall have their hands cut off.
If a man destroys the eye of a slave, he shall pay one-half
the slave’s value.
Homework
 Answer the Aim in a paragraph
 Can this type of strict laws be good for society today?
Why or why not?
 Hammurabi’s Code worksheet