Transcript mesopotamia - Reagan Humanities

MESOPOTAMIA
THE RISE OF CITY-STATES
The Fertile Crescent
 The area is located between the Tigris
and Euphrates rivers leading into the
Mediterranean Sea.
 Fertile Crescent = good farming =
Mesopotamia.
 People who occupied this region were
called Sumerians.
Three disadvantages of
the Sumerian’s new
environment
1) Unpredictable flooding or little to
no rain.
2) No natural barriers for protection.
3) Natural resources were limited =
building materials were scarce.
Sumerian solutions to
problems
 Problems solved through organization:
1) Dug irrigation ditches - surplus of
water.
2) Built walls with mud bricks for defense
3) Traded goods with people from the
mountains and desert for raw
materials.
The results of organization
 Organization - cooperation -
leadership - organized government
= eventually a civilization.
The spread of city-states
 Each city and the surrounding land it
controlled formed a CITY-STATE.
 Each shared the same culture, but had
their own government and rulers.
 Functioned much like an independent
country does today.
 With the spread of city-states trade
increased involving the integration of
new cultures = CULTURAL DIFFUSION
Sumerian Culture
 Priests and Rulers shared control of the
City-State.
 A series of rulers from a single family is
called a DYNASTY.
 Sumerians believed in many different
gods = POLYTHEISM.
Sumerian Gods
 Both immortal and all-powerful.
 To keep the gods happy they built
temples, sacrificed animals, and offered
them food and wine.
Levels of Sumerian
Society
1) Kings, landholders, and priests
2) Wealthy merchants
3) Skilled laborers
4) Debt Slaves
Sumerian Science &
Technology
 Arithmetic and Geometry - building
walls, structures, and irrigation
systems.
 Architectural innovations - arches,
columns, ramps, etc…
 Cuneiform - system of writing investigations of astronomy,
chemistry and medicine.