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show and use the information to
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Use each link. Some will be helpful to
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Middle
EasternSouthwest
Asia
Civilizations
Ancient Civilizations of
Mesopotamia and the
Fertile Crescent
Geography
• Fertile Crescent – Is an area in the Middle East that is
shaped like a crescent moon and contains fertile
soil that includes Mesopotamia to the Nile River
Valley.
Geography:
• Mesopotamia: The “Land Between Two Rivers” Lies
in the Middle East between the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers.
Mesopotamia
Current Area of Mesopotamia
Assyria
Babylon
SUMER
Ancient Civilizations that Occupied the
Mesopotamia in the Middle East:
•
•
•
•
Sumerians
Babylonians
Phoenicians
Hebrews
Ancient Sumer
• Sumer is considered the “Cradle of Civilization”
• Hunter-Gatherers settled into the First civilizations
• First settled in the Fertile land in Lower
Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers.
o Severe Flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates
• floods bring in silt - makes for Fertile
farmland
• irrigation systems with Canals and Dams
• Geography allows for a food Surplus
Economic Pattern
• Traded with people of Nile river valley
and Indus river valley
Sumer
Geography
• Location:
o Around the southern
portions of the Tigris
and Euphrates Rivers.
o Small, about the size
of the state of
Massachusetts.
o Located on a flat
open plain with little
to no natural barriers
• Dates:
o 3500 to 2000 BCE
Ancient Sumer
• Sumerians formed their civilization around 3500 B.C.
and fell to foreign invaders 1500 years later (around
2000 BC)
• The Sumerian Civilization was a collection of citystates that shared a common culture, language
and religion
• What is a city-state?
City-State – consists of the city itself and the land
surrounding it
• Many city-states in ancient Sumer:
• City-states were originally run by a council but most would
later be run by a king or monarch.
• A monarchy is when one person has total control of the
government and passes the rule down to their heir.
o AKA. Hereditary Rule (Father to son or Mother to child)
• Monarchies are sometimes more efficient ways to govern
(means to rule).
• The Role of the King
o Military Ruler
o Religious Leader
• god
o Political and Government Leader
Social Pattern
Religion
The Ancient Sumerians built huge temples called
Ziggurats to honor their gods and goddess.
The Sumerians practiced a polytheistic religion, meaning that they
worshipped many gods.
Their gods were often related to forces in nature or human activities.
Each city-state was typically dedicated to one particular god or deity. The
Sumerians payed tribute to all Sumerian gods but focused primarily on the
one from their city-state.
Genders
Men enjoyed much more legal rights than Women did.
Men could sell their wives or children into slavery to overcome a debt
Click Here http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/ziggurats/explore/exp_set.html
to explore the Great Ziggurat at Ur.
Ancient Sumer
Social Class
• “Important” people:
Slaves – built the great
1. Kings
2. Nobles/Priests
3. Merchants
4. Artisans
5. Scribes
6. Farmers
7. Slaves
Scribes – the people of
Ziggurats and irrigation
projects
• Try to build your own
Zuggurat by managing
your slaves
o Click Here to build
a Ziggurat at Ur (a
great city)
ancient Sumer that could
write. They trained in
schools and wrote in
Cuneiform, which uses
pictures to represent words.
Farmers- Grow the food
• Cuneiform
Sumer
o wrote by pressing a
tool into a clay
tablet.
o Most symbols were
some type of wedge.
o developed from
Sumerian Pictograms:
o image meant words
• which are some of
the earliest known
forms of writing
Technology
Sumer
• Other Contributions
o Irrigation systems
• Ditches and canals that are built to
traffic water to crops.
o may have been the first to invent
and use the wheel.
o Potters wheel
o invented the arch. It is one of the
strongest forms in building.
o developed an early form a clock
(we use the same time system)
o Built Ziggurats
• Large temples dedicated to a god
• A form of step pyramid: the sides
are not straight they are tiered.
• At this point you should have everything filled in in
your chart for the Sumerian Civilization.
• If you do not, go back over the slide show to find
what you missed. (use your right-click to move
back)
Location of Babylon
• Began in Lower Mesopotamia:
Babylonia
• Location:
o Starting in the middle
of Mesopotamia,
eventually spreading
north and south to
control the majority of
the region.
• Dates:
o 1792 to
approximately 1600
BCE
Expanded to include most of the Middle East in a
great empire:
controlled a large territory of many city-states.
Ancient Babylonians
• Empire at its height from 1800-1600 BC
• Located in the middle region of Mesopotamia
• Led by its most famous ruler
• Hammurabi:
Ancient Babylonians
• Large Empire that needed to be
governed fairly and consistently
• Existed from 1800-1600 B.C.
• Created the very specific, very strict
written code of laws.
o Hammurabi’s Code
Babylon
• Hammurabi
o Became a powerful ruler in
the city of Babylon around
1792 B.C.E..
o Conquered most of the
Tigris-Euphrates River
Valley, and built on the
Sumerian civilization that
had begun there.
o Great military and political
leader.
• He created the
Code of Hammurabi,
• The 1st written set of
LAWS
Babylon
• Code of Hammurabi
o Collection of laws that dealt with all
aspects of life.
o Punishment was harsh, as the code
was based on the idea of “an eye for
and eye”
o Punishment was also given according
to social class.
• Ex: If a rich man destroyed the eye
of a poor man, he would have to
pay a fine… and get to keep his
eye
Ancient Babylonians
• Hammurabi’s Code survives to this day:
At this point, you should have
everything you need to know about
the Babylonians. If not, go back
through and find the correct
answers.
LYDIA
• Location:
Lydia
o Asia Minor or
Anatolia
o present day Turkey
• Dates:
o 650’s to 540 BCE
Lydia
• first civilization to establish a system of coined
money.
o Began to use c. 600 BCE
o Before coined money merchants had to barter
• Barter: the exchange of one good or service
for another.
Lydia
• Through trade the concept of a money economy
was spread to other civilizations
o Eventually adopted by the Greeks and Persian, and then
slowly continued to be picked up by civilizations across the
world
At this point, you should have
everything you need to know about
the Lydian. If not, go back through
and find the correct answers.
The Phoenicians
Phoenicians: Location
• The Phoenicians lived on a piece of land along the
Western bank of the Mediterranean Sea.
• They did not have good farmland, but they did have
access to the sea. They became great traders, sailing
around the Mediterranean to trade for food and
goods.
Phoenicia
• Location:
o Long the eastern coast of the
Mediterranean sea
o present day Israel, Lebanon
(mainly), and Syria
• smaller than other Fertile
Crescent civilizations, but still
managed to become an
economic force in the region
• Dates:
o Approximately 1500 to 300BCE
Phoenicia
• bordered by the Lebanon Mountains to the
east
o made traveling eastward difficult
o This forced the focus of movement to the west, The
Mediterranean Sea
o became the greatest traders in the ancient world.
• traded all over the Mediterranean Sea and Basin (notice
the sailed close to the coast line)
Phoenicia
• Known for producing:
o blown glass
o purple dye (made from a shellfish.)
o Lumber (their most important natural resource)
• Many ancient peoples used this lumber for
building houses and boats (ships)
Phoenicians:
Accomplishments
• The Phoenicians did not govern a large territory like
the Babylonians, instead they set up small city-states
around the Mediterranean as bases for their trade
routes.
• What is a city-state?
• The Phoenicians became great explorers, spreading
Babylonian and Sumerian culture all around Europe
and North Africa.
Phoenicians: Important
People
• Each Phoenician city-state was its own country and
had its own king. As a result, history does not focus
on any one king or leader from this loose union of
cities.
• We do not need to know any important people
from the Phoenicians, but we do need to know
what they created.
Phoenician Trade Routes
Phoenicia
Phoenicia
Products used for trade:
- metal work
- purple textiles
- glass
- carved ivory (imported from Africa)
- cedar logs (lumber)
Phoenicians: Contributions to the
world
• In order to keep records on all that they
traded around the Mediterranean Sea, the
Phoenicians developed the world’s first
alphabet.
• In the Phoenician writing system, unlike the
Cuneiform of Sumer, symbols, or letters,
represented sounds instead of words.
• The alphabet we use is based on the
Phoenician alphabet!
Language
• Pictograms
o Are the first written symbols
• In the ancient civilization of Sumer Cuneiform
developed
• Phoenicians developed the Alphabet.
Got everything about the
Phoenicians?
The Hebrews
A group of people founded by Abraham
Location:
In the southern part of the Fertile
Crescent lies a land called Canaan,
where many groups lived. One
group was the Hebrews
Location
• Geographic problems (famine and drought) forced
the Hebrews to Egypt.
• They were enslaved by the Egyptians and then led
out from slavery by Moses in what was called the
Exodus.
Accomplishments:
• Religion: The Hebrews developed the first religion
that worshipped one god, or was Monotheistic. It
was called “Judaism”
• Law Code: The Ten Commandments
o According to the Bible, Moses received this list of ten rules from their one
God.
• King David eventually established a kingdom in
Canaan called Israel.
STOP
• Did you get all three important people from the
Hebrews?
• Did you click on all of the links and answer the extra
credit assignments?
• The last slide has a link that will help you with the last
question on your chart.
Mesopotamia Basic
Review!
• Is the land between 2 rivers
o The TIGRIS and the EUPHRATES
• Achievements of Civilizations:
o
o
o
o
o
The Lydians developed money (silver coins)
Phoenicians Developed the Alphabet
Jews developed Monotheistic religion
Babylonians developed Law codes
Sumerians invented the wheel