Transcript basic unit of the Sumerian civilization

Mesopotamia
Indus Huang he
Nile
River Civilizations:
Southwest Asia
The Fertile Crescent
Mesopotamia
“land between the
rivers”
 Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers
Irrigation and drainage
ditches leads to:

growing crops on
regular basis
Civilization
develops
First Civilization
The
Sumerians
3500 BC
1. Cities
City-State:
basic unit
of the Sumerian
civilization
Examples: Ur, Uruk, and Kish
Sumer
Citizens of Ur pay their taxes
Ur: World’s first city
Sumerian City-States
2. Government
 Theocracy
– ruled by divine
authority
 Kings got their power directly
from the gods
 Priest & priestesses supervised
the temples and had a great deal
of power
3. Religion
 Temples
were dedicated to the
chief god or goddess of the city
 Built on a massive stepped tower
called a ziggurat
 Polytheistic – belief in many gods
The Ziggurat
Ziggurat today
4. Social Structure
Nobles – royal &
priestly officials
Commoners – farmers,
merchants, craftspeople
Slaves – belonged to palace officials
5. Writing
 Cuneiform
–
“wedged shaped”
system of writing
 Scribes held the
most important
positions in society
6. Art & Technology
 Wagon
wheel
 Potter’s wheel
 Sundial
 Astronomy
 Number system based on 60
 Geometry
 Arch
First Empires
 Large
political state or unit,
usually under a single leader, that
controls many people or
territories
 Easy
to create & difficult to
maintain
Akkadians
Sargon –
leader
conquered
Sumerians
2340 B.C.
Second Empire
Babylon 1792 BC
Babylon
Hammurabi
leader
–
Established
a legal code
based on
strict justice
Code of Hammurabi
 Based
on the principle of
retribution – “An eye for an eye,
tooth for a tooth”
 Patriarchal society – dominated by
men
 Page
41 & 44 in your textbook
The
Phoenicians
1100 BC
Phoenicians
 Best
known for their alphabet
 Simplified writing by using 22
different signs to represent the
sounds of speech
 Passed on to the Greeks and
eventually to us
The Children of
Israel (Judaism)
Moses
leads
Jews
back to
Palestine
http://www.christiancinema.com/films/ten.commandments.jpg
Movement of the Jews
7000
B.C. move from Ur to
Palestine
Drought around 1650 B.C. moved
them from Palestine to Egypt
Jews were enslaved in Egypt
 “ten lost tribes” 722 B.C.
Monotheistic
Believed
in only one God
All other religions at this
time were polytheistic
Covenant, Commandments,
Prophet
Torah
“Bible”
or holy
book
of the
Jews
The Temple in
Jerusalem
Assyria
From Northern
Mesopotamia
warlike and
cruel
671 BC--crushed
Mesopotamia and Egypt
612 BC--destroyed by
combined enemies
Persia
550 BC Cyrus
the Great
conquers Fertile
Crescent and
Asia Minor
Wise and tolerant
conqueror
Respected
local
religions
Prevented destruction
Sent Jews back to
Palestine
Died in Battle
Tomb of Cyrus the Great
Cambyses
becomes king-back to brutality
Darius the Great
(probably killed Cambyses)
Extended
the
empire
continued policies
of Cyrus
Created efficient
government
Divided
into 20
Provinces
Capital: Persepolis
United his empire
through standard
roads, coins, weights
and measures
The Great Royal Road
Empire lasted 1,000 years
Zoroastrianism
Religion
of the Persians
Founder was Zoroaster 600 B.C.
Teachings written in the Zend
Avesta
Monotheistic
One God: Ahuramazda
Spiritual
armies of
light and dark
Day of judgement
Free will
The Fall of Persia
Weak
Kings after Darius
Too many sons fighting
for power (one had 115)
Alexander the Great
Assyrian Empire
 700
B.C. – 612 B.C.
 Committed atrocities on their
captives
 Fell to the Chaldeans under
Nebuchadnezzar