Transcript mesopotamia - Haiku Learning

MESOPOTAMIA
THE 1ST CIVILIZATION
GEOGRAPHY
• Tigris & Euphrates Rivers most important
physical features of region
• Area between these 2 rivers = Mesopotamia /
fertile crescent
• Modern day country of Iraq
The Rise of Civilization
• Hunter-gatherers learned how to plant crops
& grow their own food
• Floods from T & E brought silt to the land
• Silt made it ideal for farming
• Silt = mixture of rich soil and tiny rocks
• Excess food let to population increase >
villages develop
IRRIGATION
•
•
•
•
•
•
Fertile soil, but farming difficult
Received little rain>>>drought
When rain fell >>>> floods
Needed to learn to control water
Irrigation & canals
Irrigation & canals >>> surplus of
food>>>division of labor>>>people working
on different jobs>>>growth of cities
SUMER
• Farms (rural) & urban (cities)
combined>>>city-states
• City-states fought each other to gain more
farmland
• Another society developed – Akkadians
• Lived in peace for many years, but soon
attacked
• Sargon – first leader to have a permanent
army / world’s first empire
SUMERIAN CULTURE
• Polytheistic – worshipped many gods
• Each city-state considered one god to be its
special protector
• Believed gods had enormous powers / bring
good harvest, floods, illness, death, health, etc
• Priests helped people perform religious
ceremonies
• Social heirarchy = ranking system of society
ZIGGURAT
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
a pyramid-shaped temple tower
Center of each city-state
Two – 7 tiers (levels
Bricks / sun-dried bricks (dried mud)
Place of worship
Priests only people to go inside
meeting places between heaven and earth
BABYLON
• After Sumerian rule (city-state of Ur), Babylon rose
to power
• Hammurabi rose to power – monarch
• Brought all of Mesopotamia under his
control>>>Babylonian Empire
• Hammurabi most famous for code of laws
• Ruled for 42 years / most important city in Meso
HAMMURABI’S CODE
• 282 laws that dealt with almost every part of
daily life
• Laws included trade, loans, theft, marriage,
injury, murder
• Social class mattered>>>if rich man injured,
the harsher the penalty
SUMERIAN ACHIEVEMENTS
•
•
•
•
•
•
WRITING
WHEEL
PLOW
POTTER’S WHEEL
CLOCK
SEWERS
• CALENDAR
• AREAS OF TRIANGLES &
RECTANTGLES
• # SYSTEM BASED ON
THE # 60
• LISTED WHAT MEDICINE
WORKED FOR WHAT
SYMPTOMS
HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON
• built by King Nebuchadnezzar in 605 BC / rebuilt
Babylon
• gardens built to cheer up his homesick wife, Amyitis
(daughter of the king of the Medes) was married to
Neb to create alliance between the nations.
• The land she came from was green, rugged and
mountainous, and found Mesopotamia depressing.
• The king decided to recreate her homeland
HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON
•
•
•
•
Possibly a myth / no one knows for sure
Different stories of how big
Some famous historians did not mention it
Some say 80 ft high / 400 ft x 400 ft