Mesopotamian Civilization Section 2
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Transcript Mesopotamian Civilization Section 2
Resources for Civilization, Achievements, and Empires
Tigris &
Euphrates
Rivers
Boundaries of
Mesopotamia
SE Asia
Inside the Fertile
Crescent
Unpredictable
flooding
water resource for
trade/transportation,
fishing, freshwater,
farming
irrigation
Supplying dry land with
water
Canals
Ditches
Dams
Reservoirs
Mesopotamia
“Land between the
rivers” in Greek language
Very fertile
Made up of many citystates
Sumer
SE region of
Mesopotamia
Flat land
Many successful citystates located in this
region
Sumerians invented
many things we still use
today.
City-state
a city surrounded by
walls
with farmland on the
outside
ex. - Babylon, Ur, Uruk,
Nippur, Akkad
had separate
governments
polytheism
Belief in many gods
Started as a way to
explain events in nature
Ziggurat
Religious temple to city-
state’s most important
god
Multi-layered mudbrick
Located in center of citystate
People left offerings
Priests in charge
Cuneiform
Wedge-shaped writing
system
On clay with a stylus
Written by scribes
Invented to keep track of
records
trade & government
Sumerian achievement
Sargon
Akkadian king (city of
Akkad)
Conquered all of
Mesopotamia
created world’s first
empire
United all of Meso.
under one rule
Hammurabi
Hammurabi’s Code of
Law
282 laws
Governed every aspect
of life
“eye for an eye”
Fair within same social
classes