Transcript MESOPOTAMIA
MESOPOTAMIA
OUR EARLIEST CIVILIZATION
“Pay head to the word of
your mother as though it
were the word of a god.”
---------Sumerian proverb
The People
From C. Asia
Arrived about 3500 BC
Settled in lower part of
twin river valley
Dark haired, light
skinned people
Language close to one
by Caspian Sea
The Fertile Crescent
--geography--
Geography
Between Tigris & Euphrates Rivers
Today’s Iraq & Kuwait
“mesopotamia”= “between two rivers” (Greek)
Floods made soil rich
Rivers allowed for irrigation
The Twin Rivers
Did not supply balanced
amounts of water
too dry
or too wet
(flooding)
Villagers had to work
together to survive
Built dams & escape
channels, canals & ditches
Considered world’s first
cities!
Sumerian Civilization
(World’s 1st Cities!)
3500—2300BC
Very few natural
resources
Built bricks of mud and
water
Region prospered from
trade with others
Used rivers & 1st
wheeled vehicles
Government
Lived in City-states
City-states= independent city and its
surrounding lands (20,000- 250,000 pop)
Each had own culture, language, religion, &
government
CITIES
UR
ERECH KISH
LAGASH
Kings
1.
2.
3.
4.
As city-states had battles---courageous war
leaders evolved into kings
Military leader and high priests ruled together
Then evolved into a THEOCRACY
Kings duties:
supervise farming
Enforce laws
Set penalties
Led religious ceremonies
Social classes
Ruling Family (theocracy with King!)
(theocracry= religious government)
2. Officials & priests
3. Middle class (merchants & artisans)
4. Peasant farmers
5. Slaves
1.
Job specialization
1.
2.
3.
4.
Not everyone had to farm now
EXAMPLES
Mathematics– measuring, surveying, calculating
slopes and water flow patterns
Astronomy- observing movements of moon for
lunar calendar (28day months)
Temple workers– weavers, carpenters, singers
Traveling merchants—donkey caravans, sailboats
on Persian Gulf
Religion
Polytheistic
Nature gods
City-states each had own
main gods
Kings were religious leaders
too
Gods behaved like ordinary
people
INANNA= life-giving goddess
NANNA= moon god
Priesthood
Religion endured 3,000years
3,000 deities=every realm of nature/human endeavor
(even plows, picks and molds)
Gods not equal
Top gods= heaven, air, earth and water
Supreme god= An (ruler of heavens)
Had human emotions
Communicated through omens (shape of liver of
sacrificed sheep etc.)
Religion
Not hopeful
People molded of clay to serve gods as slaves
Failure to serve= catastrophe
People were fearful and anxious
Benefit to the priests and temples
The many offerings made temples grandest
places
Ziggurat
Pyramid-temples in each city
Only priests could enter– shrine on top
Writing
Oldest in world
Cunneiform
Evolved from wedge shaped pictograms to script
Wrote on clay tablets, had schools
Sumerian Inventions!
Wheeled vehicles
Arch
Potters wheel
Sundial for time
# system based on 60
Algebra/geometry
12 month calendar (moon
cycles)
Bronze from copper and tin
Metal plow
Writing
Beaurcracy in government
“Tell a lie;
then if you tell the truth,
it will be deemed a lie.”
--Sumerian proverb
The End of Sumer
Region is constantly invaded– revived – and
Re-invaded
Invaders and Empires
1.
Akkadians (Semites) 2300BC—1st empire
2.
Babylonians 1790BC (Hebrew people enslaved)
3.
Assyrians 1100BC
4.
Persians 539 BC