Transcript Focusing on the Main Ideas

Warm up: Be sure to include today’s date in Cuneiform!
Ancient History and
Civilizations
In the next several units we are going to study
the history of the first civilizations.
Some of these civilizations coexisted, or were
around at the same time as one another;
however, there are other ancient civilizations
that existed at different times.
Civilizations
• Early man did not live in civilizations.
They lived in villages or communities.
• So what is a civilization?
Civilizations consist of:
O Cities
O Organized governments
O Art
O Religion
O Class divisions
O Writing systems
Civilizations started around rivers.
Why?
Good farming conditions
Provided fish and freshwater
Easy to travel
Easy to trade (way
goods and ideas
moved from place
to place)
Mesopotamian
Civilization
Chapter 1 – Section 2
Lesson Standards:
O Explain the role of agriculture in early settled communities.
O Recognize the immediate and long term impacts and
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influences of early agricultural communities such as
Southwest Asia and the African Nile Valley.
Understand the place of historical events in the context of
past, present and future.
Explain how different early human communities expressed
their beliefs.
Recognize major historical time periods (i.e., Early
Civilizations .
Recognize the basic components of culture (i.e., language,
common values, traditions, government, art, literature,
lifestyles).
Recognize the steps that give rise to complex
governmental organizations (city, city-states, and states).
Mesopotamian Civilization
Focusing on the Main Ideas
• Civilization in Mesopotamia began in the valleys
of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
• Sumerians invented writing and made other
important contributions to later peoples.
• Sumerian city-states lost power when they
were conquered by outsiders.
Civilization in Mesopotamia began in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers.
Civilizations first began as villages.
The villages gradually grew into complex societies.
O Earliest civilization started in area between
Tigris River and Euphrates River.
O This area called Mesopotamia (“land
between the rivers”)
O Mesopotamia located in the Fertile Crescent.
O Fertile Crescent was a curved strip of land
that extended from the Mediterranean Sea to
the Persian Gulf. The rivers in the area often
flooded in the spring leaving behind rich soil
for farming.
Flooding
O Floods in Mesopotamia were frequent and
unpredictable. Farmers learned to control
the rivers with dams and channels. They
also used the rivers to irrigate, or water,
their crops.
As cities formed, the people needed plans
and decisions made for the city. This led to
governments being formed.
O Laws - keep order
O Armies - defend themselves
O Building projects
During this time humans worried less about basic
needs.
Shelter
Food
Clothing
People could do other things.
 develop religions
 develop arts
 invent ways of writing
 create calendars
Farmers built
ODams
--to control floods
OChannels --OWalls
*****
OWaterways ***** to water crops
(irrigation)
ODitches *****
Cause
Irrigation
Effect
1.plenty of food
2. support large population
Sumer
O Region in southern Mesopotamia that had many cities.
O Each city was a city-state (had their own government
and not part of any larger government.
O Sumerian cities often fought
each other. To protect
themselves, the city-states built
walls around themselves.
Cause
Effect
City-states were separated
by deserts and mud flats
no travel or
communication
between each city-state
City-states fought each
other for (glory and
territory)
built walls around
city
Ziggurat
O Sumerians believed
in many gods
(polytheistic) and
thought their gods
had power over
nature and human
activity.
O They wanted to
please the gods.
O They built ziggurats
(grand temple) in the
center of each city
for their chief god.
Ziggurat
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•
It was built like a wedding cake.
On top was a special place of worship.
Only priest or priestesses could enter.
Government
OPriests may have been the first to rule.
OKings later ran the government.
People in Sumer
O Kings
O Farmers
O Artisans (skilled workers that made metal
products, cloth, and pottery)
O Merchants and traders (traveled to other
cities and traded tools, wheat, barley for
copper, tin, timber.
Social Classes
O Upper class- King, priests,
government officials
O Middle class- artisans,
merchants, farmers,
fishers (largest group)
O Lower class- slaves
(worked on farms or in
temples) Slaves may
have been prisoners of
war or owed debts.
Roles of Society
OMen – head of household
- school
OWomen – had rights, could buy and sell
property and run businesses.
Cradle of Civilization
Sumerians’ ideas and inventions were
copied and improved upon by other peoples.
They left a lasting mark on world history.
Cuneiform
O Greatest invention of Sumerians
O Type of writing
O Helped keep records of business and events
O Passed on their ideas to others
O Made up of wedge-shaped marks cut in damp
clay tablets with sharp reeds.
O Only males could learn to write and became
scribes.
O At first they used pictures to tell a story
(pictograph)
O Each picture evolved into a symbol for a word.
Literature
O Epic of Gilgamesh :world’s oldest known
story (epic- long poem that tells the story
of a hero)
O Gilgamesh is a king who travels around
the world with a friend performing great
deeds. His friend dies, and Gilgamesh
tries to find a way to live forever. He
learns this is only possible for the gods.
Innovations of Sumerians
O
O
O
O
O
O
Cuneiform
Irrigation systems
Wagon wheel
Plow
Sailboat
Number system based on 60 (60-minute
hour, 60-second minute, and 360-degree
circle)
O 12-month calendar based on cycles of the
moon.
O Mud bricks
Outsiders
O King Sargon- 2340 B.C. conquered
all of Mesopotamia when city-states
of Sumer fought among
themselves.
O King Sargon was king of the
Akkadians from northern
Mesopotamia.
O He set up the world’s first empire
(group of many different lands
under one ruler.)
O Empire lasted for about 200 years.
Hammurabi
O King Hammurabi –
1800s B.C. built the
city of Babylon on
the Euphrates
River.
O He united the cities
of Mesopotamia
under one rule and
created the
Babylonian Empire.
Hammurabi’s Code
O He created a law code, or collection of laws.
He took what he believed were the best laws
from each city-state and put them in one
code.
O His code influenced and was a model for
other civilizations.
O Laws covered crimes, farming,
business activities, marriage, and
family.
Assignment
O Each student will write a secret
message to trade with another student.
O Your partner will have to decipher
without help.