Download Bellringer:

BELLRINGER:
• 1.Take out your HW (your notes on pages 10-16 in the Duiker book) and
have them on your desk for a HW check.
• 2. Get out the Map Activity sheet we picked up last class but did not
work on. We will work on this map together to start the class.
• 3. Update your ToC:
• Page #14: Notes – Mesopotamia
• Page #15: Map Activity: Mapping Mesopotamia
• 4. Write down your HW:
• Read/take notes on pages 16-23 in your DUIKER textbook (stop just before the
“Spread of Egyptian Influence” section)
AGENDA:
• 1. Bellringer (Notes Check)
• 2. Map Activity: River Valley Civilizations
• 3. Notes: Mesopotamia
• 4. Map Activity: Mapping Mesopotamia
GEOGRAPHY
GEOGRAPHY:
• Located in the Fertile Crescent
(modern-day Iraq)
• Between Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
• Climate = generally dry and hot
• Flooding = irregular – can’t predict it!
• Problematic! Hurts crops, affects
worldview
• Cities located along the Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers
RELIGION:
• Polytheistic (believe in many gods)
• Different gods/goddesses = different
areas of life
• Life/actions centered on how to best
please the gods
• Feel that what happens is a punishment/gift
from gods
• EX: Irregular flooding = happens when
gods are punishing them
• Where do they worship? Ziggurats
• Priests have a lot of power in
Mesopotamian culture
ACHIEVEMENTS:
• Writing systems
• Developed writing system called cuneiform
• Scribes = new occupation in civilizations (to write stuff down!)
• Technological innovations
• Irrigation (to allow for successful farming)
• Machines (wheel, plow, sailboat, etc.)
• Intellectual achievements
• Wrote of Epic of Gilgamesh, early law code (Hammurabi’s
Code)
• Mathematic achievements (number system based on 60)
POLITICS/GOVERNMENT:
• Throughout Mesopotamia, there were different
city-states – each city-state had its own king
• City-state examples: Ur and Sumer
• Government led by kings (often got their power
through military victories)
• Kings = highest servant of the gods
• Each city-state had own armies, laws, etc.
• Had a ziggurat at its center, cities were surrounded
by walls
• Famous city-state/leader: Hammurabi, who led the city
of Babylon
A CLOSER LOOK: HAMMURABI’S CODE
• Written by Hammurabi, one of the
most famous Mesopotamian kings
• Why did he create Hammurabi’s Code?
• Ruled the Babylonian Empire, which he was
expanding = more people under his control
• More people = more diversity  needs a
universal law code fair to all people
• Hammurabi’s Code’s goal: To provide
fair justice to all people
• “An eye for an eye”
LOOKING AT HAMMURABI’S
CODE: THROUGH QUOTES
What should be done to the
carpenter who builds a house
that falls and kills the
owner?
Code 2: If a builder builds a house
for a man and does not make its
construction sound, and the house
which he has built collapses and
causes the death of the owner of
the house, the builder shall be put
to death.
What should be done about a
wife who ignores her duties
and belittles her husband?
Code 143: If the woman has not been
careful but has gadded about,
neglecting her house and belittling
her husband, they shall throw that
woman into the water.
What happens if a man is
unable to pay his debts?
Code 117: If a man be in debt
and is unable to pay his
creditors, he shall sell his
wife, son, or daughter, or bind
them over to service. For three
years they shall work in the
houses of their purchaser or
master; in the fourth year they
shall be given their freedom.
What should happen to a
boy who slaps his father?
Code 195: If a son strikes his
father, they shall cut off his
hand.
What happens if a man
accuses someone of murder
and it is not proved?
Code: The accuser will be put
to death.
How is the truth determined
when one man brings an
accusation against another?
Code 2: If any one bring an accusation against a man, and
the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if
he sink in the river his accuser shall take possession
of his house. But if the river prove that the accused is
not guilty, and he escape unhurt, then he who had
brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he
who leaped into the river shall take possession of the
house that had belonged to his accuser.
ECONOMICS:
• Agriculture-based economy
• Most of money/profit in
Mesopotamia came via
farming crops
• Trade did happen, though
• Traded wheat, tools, barley for
metals like copper, timber, etc.
SOCIAL:
• Patriarchal society
• Daily life based around
farming and religion
• Different social classes
• Housing differed based on
your class
AFTER THE NOTES:
• 1. Work with a neighbor to complete the Mapping
Mesopotamia map activity. Use page 28 in your
ANCIENT WORLD TEXTBOOK to complete this
activity.