Transcript Mesopotamian Civilizations

Mesopotamian
Civilizations
Mr. Stowinsky
World History
Mesopotamia – The Fertile
Crescent
• Stretches from the Isthmus of Suez to the
Persian Gulf
• Between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers –
both rivers often flooded
• No natural barriers – many people came to
it
Sumer
• We aren’t sure where they came from
• Used wedge-shaped writing called
cuneiform – about 600 symbols
• Built large temples, called ziggurats, to
their gods
• Used a base-60 number system
– This is why seconds and minutes are counted
by 60 today
• Had the wheel
Sumerian Society
• City-states – a town or city and the
surrounding land controlled by it
• Upper class – kings, high priests, nobles
• Middle class – Lower priests, merchants,
scholars
• Lower class – peasant farmers, slaves
Education and Religion
•
•
•
•
Only upper class boys received education
Polytheistic
City-states each had their own god
Buried food and tools with their dead
Empires of the Fertile Crescent
The Akkadians
• The Akkadians conquered the Sumerians
• Their most powerful king was named
Sargon
• Empire only lasted about 150 years
• The Babylonians conquered the Akkadians
Empires of the Fertile Crescent
The Babylonians
• Hammurabi conquered most of the Fertile
Crescent
• Code of Hammurabi – 282 laws
– first known set of laws written
– “an eye for an eye”
• Women mostly equal, except they could
not divorce their husbands
Other Conquerors
• The Hittites conquered Babylon
• Had a less severe code of laws
• The Assyrians looted and destroyed
Babylon
• First civilization to use cavalry – soldiers
on horseback
Other Conquerors
• The Chaldeans, led by Nebuchadnezzar,
conquered Mesopotamia and rebuilt
Babylon
• Made advances in astronomy, could
predict solar and lunar eclipses
• Did not last long after Neb’s death
The Persians
• Cyrus the Great captured Babylon and
took over Mesopotamia
• Largest empire of the time – stretched
from India to Europe
• Conquered people were allowed to keep
their customs and laws and were treated
fairly
• Built roads to keep the empire connected
Persian Religion
• Started out polytheistic
• Zoroaster, a prophet, taught that people
must choose between good and evil
• Good would eventually defeat evil
• The good were rewarded, the bad were
punished
The Phoenicians
• Phoenicia was the western end of the
Fertile Crescent, was a loose union of citystates
• Had little fertile land, so Phoenicians
traded on the sea
• Most skilled sea traders at this time
Phoenician Trade
• Lumber was an important resource for
shipbuilding and trade
• Borrowed gold and silver smithing from
Egyptians
• Use a shellfish called murex to make royal
purple dye
• Created the first alphabet
The Lydians
• Barter – trading one good or service for
another – no use of money
• The Lydians were the first people to use
coined money
• Money economy – economic system
based on the use of money
You’re Done!
• Achievement Unlocked – Survived all the
Notes – 100 G