Transcript Chapter 2 - Early Civilizations MP

Chapter 2
Early Civilizations
Lesson 1 – The Fertile Crescent
A. Civilization Begins
1. civilizations – groups of people who have a
complex and organized society within their own
culture
a. Customs
b. Food supply
c. Social divisions
d. Government
e. Religion
f. Technology
B. Fertile Crescent - Mesopotamia
1.
2.
3.
4.
Fertile (rich soil…shaped like a crescent)
Where the first peoples lived in groups
Lands of Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Israel
Mesopotamia…land between 2 rivers
a. Tigris
b. Euphrates
C - Climate
• Long, hot, dry summers
• No rain May to October
• November to April heavy rain can cause flooding
• Irrigation trenches and ditches that brought water
to the fields
D- The People
• Reeds to build huts
• Bricks by mixing mud with straw
• Dried in the sun
• most people worked as farmers or herders of
domesticated goats, cattle, and sheep
• Transported foods and goods on the rivers
• Surplus food was a major step toward the rise of
civilization in Southern Mesopotamia
E – Growth of the City States
• 1. city state – city that acts like a state
• Artisan – craftsperson who helps make things for
the city-states
• Some people became traders…through trade
Mesopotamians came into contact with others and
spread their culture
Causes
Rainfall was too low in
Mesopotamia
Populations in Southern
Mesopotamia grew.
Mesopotamia lacked
many natural resources.
Effects
Causes
Rainfall was too low in
Mesopotamia
Effects
They put in irrigation
systems
Populations in Southern City-states were
Mesopotamia grew.
established
Mesopotamia lacked
Trade was established
many natural resources. with other peoples.
Lesson 2 – Mesopotamia
A. Sumer and Akkad
2 city states:
Sumer in the South and Akkad in the North
1. similar societies, main difference was
language
2. People constructed ziggurats – temples
formed by stacked rectangular platforms that
formed a huge pyramid type structure…reaching
for the heavens
B. Religion and Government
1. polytheism – belief in many gods
2. society – organized community with
established rules and traditions
3. divine kingship – belief that the right to rule
was given by god
4. right to rule could be passed from father to
son
5. Sumerian Class system:
a. King
b. Wealthy businesspeople,
landowners and government
workers
c. Artisans and farm workers
d. slaves
C - Writing
1. Writing was developed to keep track of business
transactions
2. Scribe – professional writer
3. Cuneiform – wedge shaped markings
4. Writing was a giant step forward for civilization
D – Rise and Fall of Akkadia
1. Sargon, Sumerian ruler who expanded trade and
wealth in Akkadia
2. Akkadians conquered city-states
3. Created an empire (large territory under a single
ruler)
4. Dynasty – ruling family
E – Sumer’s Final Days
1. Last dynasty was in 2000 B.C. …slowly Sumer
declined and Sumer fell to invaders from the
North (Akkadia)
2. Cuneiform, ziggurats and the wheel were first
used by Sumerians
3. Sumerians gave the world writing, religion, and
technology
Lesson 3 – Babylonia and Assyria
A. Hammurabi and Babylonia
1. After Ur fell, people began traveling to
Babylon
2.Hammurabi became king of Babylon. He was a
great leader and his empire was known as
Babylonia.
B. Babylonian Civilization
1. daily life did not change under Hammurabi,
but Babylonians spoke their own language
2. Babylon became a center of culture and
learning…math, literature and law
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Ancient Mesopotamia
C. Code of Hammurabi
1. 282 laws (some based on Sumerian and
Akkadian law)
2. business practices, property ownership,
medical practice, marriage, childcare
3. Most complete code of law to survive…we
can learn about Babylonian life and society
D. Hammurabi purpose…”to render good to the
people, to make justice…to destroy the evil…”
E. Different punishments based on the loss of the
lawbreaker and the victim of the crime…”an eye
for an eye…or a tooth for a tooth.”
D – The Assyrians
1. Babylonia (bottom) southern
Mesopotamia…Assyrians northern Mesopotamia
2. Assyrians placed higher value on war and
conquest than Babylonians
3. Babylonia grew under Nebuchadnezzar and then
declined after his death
Lesson 4: Hebrews, Phoenicians and
Lydians
I – The Hebrews
A. Abraham (Ur) God spoke to him and told him to
leave his homeland and resettle in Canaan
1. covenant – agreement
2. monotheism – worship of only one
God, key principle of Judaism
B. Hebrews lived in Canaan before moving to
Egypt…the Egyptians forced them into slavery
C. Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt into the
Promised Land.
D. God gave Moses the Ten Commandments
1. These laws were different from
Hammurabi…they provided guidance for the
worship of God and rules for moral behavior
E. God expanded the covenant to include people
escaping from Egypt and descendants of
Abraham
F.
Hebrew Bible
1. Torah (first 5 books of Hebrew Bible), torah
means “to teach”
2. provides guidance and laws for the Jewish
people
3. early Hebrews recorded information in Torah
for later Hebrews to study
G. Israel and Judah
1. Hebrews settled in Canaan and lived in 12
tribes
2. Deborah was a judge who encouraged a
military leader to gather the tribes and attack
the Canaanites
3. Deborah is viewed as a national leader…she
was a prophet and judge
4. King David united the tribes and founded the
kingdom of Israel (1,000BC)…the capital was in
Jerusalem
5. David’s son, Solomon, built a temple to house
the Torah
6. After Solomon’s death, the kingdom split
Israel North
Judah South
7. Kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians in 722 B.C.
and the people fled
8. Judah fell to the Babylonians (Nebuchadnezzar
II)…he forced many Judeans to live in Babylonia.
9. The Jewish people continued to practice their
religion and eventually returned to Jerusalem
II – Phoenicians and Lydians
A. Phoenicians - Trade partners of Solomon
1. Well known throughout the trading world
2. Carthage – most important trading post…in
North Africa!
3. They may have traded as far north as Europe
4. They linked most of the ancient world through
trade, which promoted the exchange of new ideas
and the exchange of goods
5. Alphabet – 22 characters for writing, each
character stood for a consonant…the Greeks added
vowels!
6. Lydians had trouble with payments – people
usually bartered (exchange of goods and services
for others)
a. Some paid in rings of silver or bars of gold
7. Lydians (western Asia) invented coins by 500BC
a. Coins made trading simpler and easier