Transcript Mesopotamia - Main

The Ancient Middle East
Mesopotamia
• “Land b/w two rivers”
– b/w Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
– Frequent Flooding
– Need for advanced network of canals spurs an
advanced government.
Characteristics of Mesopotamian Civilizations
 City states
 Each city had its own king and patron god or goddess
 City states often warred with each other
Highly legalistic
Law Codes
Contracts
Judicial proceedings and appeals processes
 Extensive trading networks
The Ancient Middle East:Mesopotamia

Sumerians created the first known
civilization in the ancient Middle East.
Rise of the City-States
Large
towns cooperate w/countryside for
mutual defense.
Supervised
the development and
maintenance of the canals.
Frequent
fighting b/w Mesopotamian cities.
Religion
Ziggurat
– Home or temple of the City-State God
Believe
in more than one God
Natural
events blamed on the gods.
City-States were
built around
Ziggurats.
The god or spirit
of the Ziggurat
watched over
the fortunes of
the town.
Ziggurats also
contained
tombs, and
temples for
priests.
The City Center
Temples served civic and
religious purposes
 Daily sacrifices and rituals
 Storage of surplus grain and
other foods
 Dwelling of priests and
priestesses
 Locale where craftsmen and
artisans could practice their
trades
Religion
Fear of natural disasters
and invasions contributed
to the Sumerians
believing that at death
they would descend to a
dark underworld forever.
Religion and City States
People were wholly dependent on their city’s
god for food and protection.
Sumerians did not worship their rulers
as god. Instead, they worshiped their
Kings.
Ancient Sumerian record keepers marked pictographic symbols
in soft pieces of clay with a pointed reed. The clay tablets were
then baked to make them hard. We call the Sumerian’s writing
system cuneiform. Cuneiform means wedged shaped, because
the marks in the clay were wedges.
The first pictographs were simple. A writer would draw an
object like a fish or a broom to communicate to others. This
system worked well in a simple society, but it would be difficult
to describe abstract concepts such as justice or liberty in
pictographs. Many Chinese people continue to use a
pictographic system today, but the government has endorsed the
Pinyin system of phonetic writing.
Eventually, most cultures developed phonetic writing systems
where a symbol represents a sound rather than an object.
English speaking people, agree that the symbols D-O-G refer to
an animal. English, French, Spanish, German and Russian are
examples of phonetic languages. Phonetic languages make small
typewriters and computer keyboards possible. Imagine a
different key for every single word!
CUNEIFORM
Sumerian writing developed around 3100
BC
Symbols were engraved on clay tablets
Scribes kept business records and poems on
tablets
Written
Language
Cuneiform
– the use
of wedge-like shapes.
With the development of cities came a more complex
economy and more complex social structures. This
cultural evolution is reflected in the tokens, which
begin to appear in a much greater diversity of shapes
and are given more complicated designs of incisions
and holes.
Sumerian Schools
 Literacy was a highly valued skill
 Sumerians set up first institutions of
formal education
 Education included writing and
mathematics
 Tuition paid for education
 Educated were privileged elite:
government officials, scribes, etc.
Legacy of Sumerians
 Cuneiform writing
 The wheel
 Potter’s wheel
 The Sail
 Pick-axe
 Brick mold
 Glass
 60-based counting system: 60
minutes to an hour, 360 degrees
to a circle
 12 Month Calendar
 Beer
 Epic poetry
Arches, Columns, Ramps
Sargon of Akkad unifies
Mesopotamia: world’s first
empire, ca. 2240 B.C.
The First Empire
• Around 2350 B.C. Sargon, and Akkadian
Soldier founds the first empire.
– Extends from S. Mes. To the Med.
• Adopted cuneiform and religion of Sumerians.
• Fixed canals and sent armies to protect
caravans.
• Other empires were found.
– Babylon
• 1700 B.C. Hammurabi carves out an empire.
Reign of Hammurabi of Babylon,
1792-1750 B.C.
Hammurabi
• Best known for code of laws
• 282 Laws - 3,600 lines of Cuneiform
– Trade, family, labor, real estate, & property.
– Eye for an Eye, Tooth for a Tooth.
– Harsh punishment, yet distinguished from
major & minor offenses.
– State was the authority.
The Iron Age
• In 1600 B.C. Babylon fell to invaders
• Around 1550 B.C. the Hittites controlled
the area.
– First to use Iron weapons.
– Advantage over opponents.
– 1200 B.C. the Iron Age takes off.
The Assyrian Empire
• 1100 B.C. Conquests begin
• Harsh and brutal empire.
– “I cut their heads and like heaps of grain, I
piled them up.”
• 700 B.C. Babylon captured.
• By 625 B.C. Empire extends from fertile
crescent to the Nile River valley.
Assyrian Government
• Provinces ruled by governors responsible to
the King.
• Build roads to each province.
• Deported people that disagreed with
government.
• World’s first library at Nineveh – 22,000
clay tablets.
The Persian Empire
• In 550 B.C. Cyrus becomes king of Persia.
• Within 20 years Cyrus controls the fertile
crescent.
– Tolerance of conquered people.
– Allowed them to self-govern
– Respected their religions.
• By 500 B.C. controls territory from India to
Egypt.
Persian Empire
• Improvements
– Road Systems – Great Royal Road
• Efficient Government – Darius (Father of Xerxes)
– Satrapies – individual provinces
• Collected taxes and administered laws.
• Inspectors sent into each province as well
• Religion – Belief in good or evil.
– Zorastrians – Zend Avesta – Hymns and religious poems
• The person had control of his or her salvation.
• Believed in Ethical and Moral conduct.
• Believed in Final Day of Judgment.
Early Small States
• Phoenicians
– Small city-states in the Eastern
Mediterranean Sea near present day
Lebanon. Cyprus to Gibraltar. Carthage.
– Purple dye and Royalty.
– Introduced the less advanced people to
civilization.
– Created an easy alphabet of 22 symbols.
• Later adopted by the Greeks.
Lydians and Hebrews
• Lydians
– Introduced the money economy or coin system.
– Coins could be stored
– Introduction of Set Prices.
• Hebrews
– 2000 B.C. Hebrews settle near Palestine.
– Believed God to be the driving force of
civilization.
– Created Old Testament
– Around 1800 B.C. famine forces the Hebrews to
Egypt.
Hebrews
• In Egypt, Pharaohs enslave Hebrews
• The Hebrews followed Moses
– Moses presents the 10 Commandments
– Obedience to God allows the Hebrew to stay
together as they settled and established the
Kingdom of Israel in 1025 B.C.
Moses
Was main “covenant holder” of God.
– Said that the Hebrews would be protected and that
they were the “Chosen People”
Hebrew Legacy
• Monolithic religion or the belief in one god.
• Hebrew Law
–
–
–
–
–
No one was above God not even the king.
Ethical world view.
Ten commandments.
Old Testament (The Torah)
Women had few rights, but were respected.
Hebrews, cont.
• Kingdom of Israel
– David of Solomon reigns from 1000-930 B.C.
• Israel Flourishes
• Jerusalem created as the Capital under Solomon
– In 772 B.C. the Assyrians conquered Israel.
• Thousands are exiled across the world.
• Later controlled by the Persians, Greeks, and Romans.