Transcript SARGON I The First Emperor

SARGON I
The World’s First Emperor
Sargon I of Akkad (a region in the north of Sumeria) grew
too big for his britches, and began conquering
many of the other city-states.
GREED!!!
 The
growth of civilization’s main
ingredient: greed.
 After
conquering one city, Sargon I
wants another one, and then another
one, and another…
Sargon creates the 1st Empire
An EMPIRE is a group of states
under one ruler.
Sargon’s empire included all of
Mesopotamia.
After he died, the separate citystates came back to power. There
was no new leader.
King Hammurabi of Babylon
• Hammurabi created the next empire.
He conquered Akkad & Sumer.
• He made Babylon’s
gods everyone’s gods.
This united all the
people in his
empire.
Hammurabi (continued)
He continued to develop
irrigation & canals.
He also started official taxes
on products (ugh!)
Hammurabi’s biggest achievement:
HAMMURABI’S CODE!
He took the best and fairest laws from every
city-state, and wrote a set of rules for
everyone in the empire to follow.
The most important laws had to do with
people being innocent until proven guilty.
It said there should not be any prison
sentences- only fines, or…death.
Members of the upper classes were punished
more severely than poorer people- why?
THE RISE & FALL OF BABYLON
• Babylon became a trade center:
traders brought silver and gold
from India & China to be traded
for Babylonian goods.
• Hammurabi rules for 40 years.
When he dies, everything
breaks up again into city-states.
Why study Sumeria?
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Well, they invented writing.
They invented the wheel.
They invented the sailboat.
They invented the plow.
They invented the 12 month calendar.
They invented the 60 minute hour & the
60 second minute.
· They invented the 360 degree circle.
Now, please turn to page 60
in your textbook.
 We’re
going to learn the
difference between a fact and
an opinion.
HOMEWORK
• Imagine that you are a visitor to
Mesopotamia. Use the following words in a
letter home in which you describe what you
have seen and experienced during your visit.
(150-250 words)
2264 B.C.
24 Hammurabi road
Lakash, Sumeria
3V4 M7Q
artisans
priest-kings
cuneiform
empire
ziggurat
scribe
reform
city-state reign