Transcript Ch 1, Sec 2: Mesopotamian Civilization

Ch 1, Sec 2: Mesopotamian
Civilization
Civilization
• Complex societies that have:
– Cities
– Organized Governments
– Art
– Religion
– Class Divisions
– Writing system
How were rivers helpful?
• Rivers:
– provided fertile farm land
– helped people trade with each other
– Spread ideas to new places
– Rise of cities
Role of Government
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Helped distribute food
Built buildings and other projects
Created laws
Made armies for defense
New inventions
• Writing systems
• calendars
Mesopotamia
• In present day Southern Iraq
• Earliest known civilization
• Created between the Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers
• Unpredictable weather made farming a
problem
Farming in Mesopotamia
• Rivers flooded lands for rich soil
• Farmers built dams to control the water
• Created irrigation ditches to water fields away
from the rivers
• Led to lots of cities to develop in the region of
Sumer
City-States
• Cities were far from each other
• Did not talk to each other
• City-State: Individual city with the surrounding
land run by their own government
• Went to war with
each other
• Built mud walls
for protection
Religion
• Believed in many gods
• Built ziggurats (temples) to each god
– Biggest buildings in a town
– Means “Mountain of god” or “hill of heaven”
• Priests and priestesses ran the temples
– Only people to go to the top for ceremonies
• Priests and priestesses ran the government
Sumerian Kings
• Priests and priestesses-first rulers
• War heroes-second rulers
– Position was passed along through family
• Ran the gov’t
• Led the army
Life in Sumerian Cities
• Kings lived in palaces
• Common people farmed and lived in mud
brick houses
• Artisans specialized in making tools, clothes,
and pottery
• Traders moved goods between cities
Social Classes
• 3 groups:
– 1. Upper class: priests, kings, gov’t officials
– 2. Middle Class: artisans, merchants, farmers,
and fishermen
– 3. Lower class: slaves
• Slaves were property
• Slaves were could be prisoners of war, criminals, or owe
someone money
Men and Women
• Men:
– Could go to school
– Could run businesses
– Head of the house
• Women:
– Had some rights
– Could buy and sell property
– Could run businesses
– Raised the children
Cuneiform
• Helps keep records and pass on ideas
• a system of writing using wedge shaped marks
cut into clay tablets
• Scribes were rich boys that kept gov’t records
using cuneiform
Literature
• Epic of Gilgamesh:
– Oldest known story
– A poem that tells the story of a hero
– A story of a king who searches for a way to live
forever
Advances in Math and Science
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Irrigation
Wagon Wheel
Plow
Sailboat
Breakthroughs in Geometry
A new number system based on 60
– 60 min in an hr, 60 sec in a min
• Created a 12 month calendar based on the moon
The End of Sumer
• City-states fought each other
• Outside groups attacked the city-states
• The Akkadians, led by Sargon, attacked Sumer
– Defeated Sumer
– Set up an empire by 2340 B.C.
Babylonians
• Took over Sargon’s empire in 1800 B.C.
• City of Babylon was center of trade
• Ran by King Hammurabi
– Created a justice system called the Code of
Hammurabi