Transcript Chapter 1-2 Notes

Chapter 1-2 Notes
8th Grade Social Studies
Mesopotamia
A. Civilizations began in the Tigris and
Euphrates river valleys
– Civilization- complex society with cities,
government, art, religion, class divisions,
and a writing system
– Rivers and waterways are the key to the
development of civilizations
Mesopotamia Cont.
Sumer- located in the center of
Mesopotamia
– Sumerians had their own city-states with
individual governments and armies
– Each city state had a ziggurat at its center
• Ziggurat- religious temple
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Mesopotamia Cont.
– Each city-state had an upper, middle, and
lower class
Contributions of Sumerians
– Mesopotamia known as the “cradle of
civilization”
– Cuneiform invented
• Only scribes were taught to read and write
cuneiform
Mesopotamia Cont.
– Epic of Gilgamesh- the oldest known story
in the world
– New technology was invented
• Ex: wagon wheel, sailboat, and plow
– Important mathematical ideas like
geometry, a 12-month calendar, and a
number system
Sargon and Hammurabi
Sargon- king of Akkadians
– Conquered all of Mesopotamia and set up
the world’s first empire
• Empire- group of many lands under one ruler
– C. 1700s B.C.-the Babylonians conquered
Sargon’s empire
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Sargon and Hammurabi
Hammurabi- king of Babylon
– He conquered the largest empire in history
– Used the Code of Hammurabi to establish
order throughout the empire
• Comprised of 282 laws
• Most famous of all laws was “an eye for an eye,
a tooth for at tooth”
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