Transcript Mesopotamia
Warm Up • Explain how the Agricultural Revolution changed life for mankind. CPS Quiz Mesopotamia Key Terms • • • • • • • • Fertile Crescent Mesopotamia Barter City-state Dynasty Cultural diffusion Polytheism Empire • Hammurabi’s Code Mesopotamia Preview • Mesopotamia Preview Video • Mesopotamia Song Preview Geography of Fertile Crescent • Between the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean Sea • Southwest Asia • Desert climate • Curved shape and fertile land gave it it’s name Mesopotamia • Part of the Fertile Crescent • “land between the rivers” • Between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers • Annual floods left rich soil for farming Sumer • Bronze Age began here • Early civilization in city of Ur • Agricultural Economy with irrigation system • Roads of windowless houses and shops for craftsmen • System of bartering Environmental Disadvantages • Land almost a desert because of unpredictable floods and little to no rain • No natural barriers for protection • Natural resources were limited, specifically building materials Problems Solved • Irrigation ditches to carry water from rivers to fields • Built city walls with mud bricks • Traded goods with people of mountains and desert for raw materials (stone, wood, and metal) Sumer Civilization • Set apart from other early societies due to use of five characteristics of civilization • Built cities surrounded by fields, that shared same culture • Each city formed its own government, making a city-state Sumer Government • Early gov’t controlled by temple priests • Believed success of crops depending on blessings of gods • Priests were believed to be able to talk to gods • Priests took portion of every farmer’s crops as taxes Sumer Government • Men chose a tough fighter to lead city in war • Power ended at end of war • Some military leaders became rulers and would pass power on to their son, forming a dynasty Cultural Diffusion • New cities started in other locations in Fertile Crescent • Sumerians shared products and ideas with these new cultures • Spread of ideas or products from one culture to another is cultural diffusion Sumerian Religion • Polytheism, belief in more than one god • Different gods controlled forces of nature • Most powerful god was Enlil, god of storm and air • Gods were like people • Gods immortal • Humans were servants • Believed dead souls went to underworld Sumerian Society • Social classes • Slaves were lowest level • Kings, landholders, and some priests were • Slaves were prisoners highest level of war or Sumerians sold as children to pay • Wealthy merchants of debts of their poor were upper class parents • Most Sumerians worked in fields or workshops and were middle class Sumerian Science and Technology • Invented wheel, sail, and plow • Developed number system in base 60, which is used for modern time and measuring a circle • Architecture • System of writing called cuneiform First Empires • City-states fighting one another • Sargon, leader of Akkad defeated Sumer • Controlled all of Mesopotamia, creating first empire • Empire brings peoples, nations, or states under control of one ruler Babylonian Empire • 2000 B.C. nomadic warriors known as Amorites invade the region • Take control of Sumer • Create capital on the Euphrates River, called Babylon • Empire at strongest with Hammurabi as leader Hammurabi’s Code • Code of laws used to • unify diverse groups in empire • • Code engraved in stone that were placed all over empire • Dealt with all issues • Protected women and children Punishment depended on social class and gender Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth mentality Activity • Hammurabi’s Code Interpretation and Illustration Assyrian Empire • Assyria 850BC advanced military strength • Rise of warrior people • Northern Mesopotamia • Warlike behavior • Rule the Tigris to Egypt • Sennacherib destroyed, 82 cities, 820 villages, and burned Babylon Military Organization and Conquest • Used iron – Armor – Spears – swords • Siege of cities – Pontoons for bridges – Undermine walls – Marched shoulder to shoulder Military Organization and Conquest • • • • • Archers Battering rams Killed captives Enslaved people Forced exile Assyrian Culture • Nineveh- largest city of its day • Sculptures of lion hunts and military campaigns • King Ashurbanipal collected 20,000 clay tablets • Library had modern features – Cataloging The Empire Crumbles • 612 BC • Chaldeans and Medes level Nineveh • Rebirth of Babylon • Nebuchadnezzar restored Babylon • Hanging Gardens • Seven tiered Ziggurat • Sun, moon, earth and five planets in our solar system Activity • Civilization Chart