Transcript mer - Mrs. Nabulsi`s Weebly Wiesbaden Middle School DODDS

“Sumer
and Babylon”
Stripes Team
Yokota
Middle School
READ ALOUD
• “This is an ancient
Mesopotamian riddle.
See if you can solve
it.
– ‘He whose eyes are
not open enters it. He
whose eyes are wide
open comes out of it.
– What is it?’
– The solution is: It’s a
school.”
Vocabulary/People/Places
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Cuneiform
City-state
Ziggurat
Polytheism
Code of law
Sargon
Hammurabi
Sumer
Babylonia
The Big Picture
• Sumer begins in 3000 BC as one of the many
towns populating the area around the southern
area of the Fertile Crescent due to surpluses in
produce.
• In Egypt, this is the time Menes is unifying his
country.
• Sumerians wanted their independence
• Sumerians “worked hard to control the Tigris and
the Euphrates rivers to produce food crops
(Banks 108).
The Big Picture Continued
• All Sumerians worshipped similar gods.
• Ideas investigated
– Math
– Science
– System of writing called cuneiform
• Created
– wheeled vehicles
– Sailboats
– Simple machines like pottery wheel
“A System of Writing (p. 109)
Definition – system of writing using symbols that resembled he items
expressed. initially but simplified later for faster application.
• Writing enabled
– Communities to unite and communicate
– Sharing of
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Letters
Laws
Stories
Instructions
Riddles
Records
Proverbs
Writing used
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Sharp reeds for scratching
Clay tablets wet when written on and dry to serve as records
500 signs
Similarly used like the Egyptian’s hieroglyphs sound and shape to create
symbols
School in Sumer
• Writing meant being able to go to school
and bringing honor to yourself and family
• Local School
– Boys, usually
– Make clay tablets and reeds
– Practice
– Learn basic cuneiforms
• District schools
– Mathematics for accurate records
Subject matters of the scribes
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Love letters
Stories
Laws
Songs
Tax records
Preserved because of
clay tablets
Basic Cuneiform Writing
• Head
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To walk
Hand
Barley
Bread
Water
Day
Bird
City-States of Sumer
• 3500-2500 BC – city-states arose
• Definition – “self-governing city that also
governs surrounding villages” (Banks 110).
• Examples:
– Ur
– Uruk
– Eridu
Living in a Sumerian City
• Wars about water
• Protection of water resulted in walled cities
• Walls included large gates to bring in people,
produce, etc.
• Gates allowed the sale of goods from those
living outside the city.
• King’s palace was center of law.
• King not a god.
• Houses of clay and straw bricks
Uniting City-States
• Sargon, King of Kish
• 2300 C
• Expanded to northern
Fertile Crescent,
modern Syria
• Traded with
Phoenicians (timber) ,
Egyptians
• Also spread the use
of cuneiforms
Religion in Ancient Sumer
• Ziggurat – “large building with a temple on
its peak” (Banks 111).
• In center of city
• Religion
important
Polytheistic
Each city focused on one god/goddess
Gods
• Ishtar – goddess of love and war
• Enki – god of water
The Rise of Babylon
• Rebellion against the empire of Sumer in
2279 BC brought the end of the citystates.
• Sargon had ruled 56 years
• People from the Syrian desert moved into
northern Mesopotamia
• Formed Babylon
Northern Empire
• 1800 BC Babylon’s kind, Hammurabi,
sought to control the old city-states of
Sumer.
• Created dams on the Euphrates
• Could cut off or flood areas south
• Attached the Sumerians
• Controlled Babylon
• Created empire of Babylonia
Northern Babylonia (cont)
• Trade Imports
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Silver
Copper
Timber
Wine
Turkey, Syria, Iran
• Trade Exports
– Grains
– Fruits
– Learned to refrigerate with blocks of ice
• Culture
– Kept from Sumerians
• Cuneiforms
• Language
Began dictionaries
A Code of Law
• 200 laws on pillar found
in 1901
• Oldest code of law
• Written set of laws that
apply to one government
• Copies of these found
outside empire
• http://www.fordham.edu/h
alsall/ancient/hamcode.ht
ml
The “New” Babylonia
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Hammurabi dies in 1750 BC
South rebelled
Western Asian saw new powers
Rules from Hammurabi respected and
remained in force
• 689 BC Babylon destroyed by Nineveh
• 620 BC, Babylon was rebuilt
• Became the world largest city
The “New” Babylon (cont.)
• Known for beauty and technology
• Structure
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Wall
Moat
Split by Euphrates River
Movable bridge
Underwater tunnels\Huge ziggurat (200 x 100 yards)
Sewer system
Grid streets
3-4 story homes
Hanging gardens
• something
Sorrow in Babylon
• Many prisoners lived in and hated Babylon
• Prisoners were from today’s Israel
Why It Matters?
• Left records
• Formed
– Language
– Schools
– Literature
– Science
– laws
MAIN IDEAS
• Cuneiforms probably developed as a way
to keep track of farm supplies and surplus.
The system was later expanded to
communicate more complex ideas as well.
• Mesopotamia was not always unified into
a single empire. Both government and
religion greatly shaped life on a local level.
• Cuneiform writing helped Sargon, King of
Kish, to rule over great distances.
Think About It
• Why was it an honor to become a scribe in
Mesopotamia?
• How was Egyptian culture similar to the culture of
Mesopotamia? How was it different?
• Hoe did cuneiform help Sargon to create and rule an
empire in Mesopotamia?
• Look at the excerpt from the story of Gilgamesh on page
110. Make conclusions about what was important in
ancient Sumer.
• Write a one-paragraph response to the laws found in the
Code of Hammurabi. How did they protect the people of
Babylon?
Gilgamesh
• http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/GILG.HT
M
• HISTORY
Second half 5th millennium
BCE: A non-Semitic people
moves into Mesopotamia, and
gradually start developing the
area. The people are called
proto-Euphrateans or
Ubadians (after the village AlUbaid, where their earliest
remains were discovered). The
main achievements of the
Ubaidians were draining the
marshes so that they could be
used in agriculture, they
developed trade and
established industries like
weaving, leatherwork,
metalwork, masonry and
pottery.
•
Around 4000: Semites move in
from the desert of modern Syria
and Arabia.
Around 3500: The oldest
document describing the wheel.
Around 3300: A people called
Sumerians move into the territory.
We do not know with certainty
from where they came, but it is
often suggested that their
homeland was today's Turkey.
Around 3100: The cuneiform
writing system is starting to be
used.
Around 2800: The king of Kish,
Etana, manages to defeat the
other city states, and unites the
country.
28th century: King
Meskiaggasher of Erech takes
control of Sumer and extends his
kingdom an area from
Mediterranean Sea to the Zagros
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Around 2700: King
Enmebaragesi becomes the ruler
of Sumer, and wins over Elam. He
makes Nippur the cultural centre
of Sumer.
27th century: King Mesanepeda
of Ur defeats the ruler of Sumer,
and founds what is referred to as
the 1st dynasty of Ur.
Around 2500: King
Lugalanemundu of Adab extends
Sumer to cover the area from the
Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean
Sea, bordering the Taurus
mountains in the north, and the
Zagros mountains in the east.
25th century: Conflicts between
the city-states of Sumer, making
the entire country weaker.
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Around 2330: Sargon 1 the Great
conquers all of Sumer, and makes
the north-mesopotamian city
Agade his new capital. This
became the beginning of the
Akkadian dynasty.
Around 2220: The Gutians from
the Zagros mountains conquer
and take control over Akkad and
Sumer.
Around 2150: The rulers of
Lagash rise to become important
political factors in Sumer, but is
still under the governance of
Gutian rulers.
Around 2115: Sumer comes back
under local rulers, when Utuhegal
of Erech beats the Gutians.
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round 2100: Ur-Nammu, a
general, founds the 3rd dynasty of
Ur.
21st century: Sumer flourishes
under stable leadership.
Around 2000: The Elamites
destroy Ur and capture the king.
20th century: Many wars
between city-states in Sumer, at
first between Isin and Larsa, later
between Larsa and Babylon.
Around 1900: The Semitic tribe
Amorites conquers most of
Mesopotamia, and establishes
their kings in Babylon.
1792: Hammurabi becomes king
of Babylonia, and over the next 3
decades he made Babylon the
strong power in Mesopotamia.
From him, we stop talking about
Sumer, and start talking about
Babylonia. However, Sumerian
culture became a central part of
Babylonian society.
A
Babylon
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HISTORY
Around 1810 BCE?: Born in
Babylon. It is not known when
Hammurabi was born, but when
he took power in 1792, he was
relatively young, although old
enough to be an effective leader.
1792: King Sin-muballit dies, and
Hammurabi becomes ruler.
— King Rim-Sin of Larsa
conquers Isin, the country
between Babylonia and Larsa.
This resulted in some clashes
between Babylonia and Larsa, but
no war.
1787: Hammurabi conquers Uruk
and Isin.
1786: Clashes with Larsa, but
there is no final outcome to the
conflicts.
1784: Fightings with the
neighbours in the northwest and
east.
1764: Hammurabi wages a war
against a coalition of Ashru,
Eshnunna and Elam, countries
that blocked Babylonia's access to
the metal-producing areas in Iran.
1763: New war against King RimSin of Larsa, where it is believed
that Hammurabi dammed the river
Euphrates to weaken Larsa. This
war ends with the total victory of
Hammurabi.
1760: War against Babylonia's
neighbours in the east.
1761: War against Mari in the
northwest, despite the fact that
King Zimrilim of Mari had been
Hammurabi's ally for decades.
1755: Eshnunnu in the north is
totally defeated by Hammurabi.
This time too, it results from
damming up the Tigris River.
1750: Hammurabi dies, and is
succeeded by his son,
Sumsuiluna.