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Chapter 2

Chapter 2. MESOPOTAMIA. 1. Geography. 1. Geography. Etymology : mesos (Gk: middle) potamos (Gk: river) Meso-potamia : “land between rivers” The area between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris . Approximately modern Iraq. 2. Historical Overview.

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Chapter 2

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  1. Chapter 2 MESOPOTAMIA

  2. 1. Geography

  3. 1. Geography • Etymology: mesos (Gk: middle) potamos (Gk: river) Meso-potamia: “land between rivers” • The area between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. • Approximately modern Iraq

  4. 2. Historical Overview • A succession of different peoples occupying the same territory and assimilating elements of the previous culture. 3000- 2350 BCE Sumerian (Gilgamesh) 2350-2000 BCE Akkadian (Sargon) 2000-1600 BCE Neo-Sumerian (Gudea) Babylonian (Hammurabi)

  5. 2. Historical Overview 1600- 850 BCE Hittites Elamites 850- 612 BCE Assyrian (Ashurnasirpal II) 612-538 BCE Neo-Babylonian (Nebuchadnezzar) 538-327 BCE Persian (Cyrus, Darius)

  6. 3. Sumerian Civilization • Their economy was based on agriculture. • They introduced technological innovations: • Plow • Channels of irrigation • Wheel • Sailing boats (trade through the river)

  7. 3. Sumerian Civilization • With the successful development of agriculture only a portion of the population had to engage in food production. • This made possible the specialization of labor: while some farmed the land, others took care of manufacturing, trade and administration. • Excess crops were used for trade or as goods for recreational/ ritual consumption (i.e. beer)

  8. 3. Sumerian Civilization • Their agricultural success allowed the Sumerians to grow and establish the first great urban centers: Uruk, Lagash and Ur (10,000-50,000 inhabitants)

  9. 3. Sumerian Civilization Standard of Ur (2600 BCE)

  10. 3. Sumerian Civilization

  11. 3. Sumerian civilization • Politics: • Monarchy with extreme divisions between social classes • Ruler • Aristocracy (rich landowners, wealthy merchants, priests, military chiefs) • Small business people, traders, artisans… • Small landowners and tenant farmers. • Slaves (captured in war or prisoners)

  12. 4. Religion • Gods personified the forces of nature which threatened human existence. • Anu: heaven god • Enlil: air god • Ea/Enki: water god • Ninhursag/ Belitini: mother goddess • Sin: Moon god • Shamash: Sun god • Innana/Isthar: planet Venus, love and war goddess • Marduck: Patron of Babylon Kudurru (boundary post) of Melishihu, Babylon 1202-1188 BCE

  13. 4. Religion Mesopotamian religion was: • Polytheistic (many gods) • Anthropomorphic (gods have human traits) • Humans are seen as imperfect and obligated to some higher being.

  14. 4. Religion. • To placate these powers religion becomes a system of transaction between humans and gods. • As propitiatory devices Sumerians used prayer, sacrifice, and ritual.

  15. 5. Architecture Ziggurat at Ur (2100 BCE)

  16. 5. Architecture • Function and visual meaning

  17. 5. Architecture • Used clay bricks as the primary material for their buildings. • They used post-and-lintel constructions for entranceways • Overseeing the city there was a ziggurat (platform topped by a temple)

  18. 5. Architecture • Khorsabad, the fortified city and palace of Sargon II (721-705 BCE) • Mesopotamian cities where surrounded by a wall.

  19. 6. Writing • Sumerians were the first people to create a system of symbols representing a human language: they invented writing. • Their writing system is called cuneiform. • It consisted of incisions made with a wedge-shaped reed on clay tablets.

  20. 6. Writing • The first writing system was pictographic. • Later it became ideographic. • Finally Sumerians used phonograms and created a syllabic writing system.  = eye  = Look!  = I

  21. 6. Writing Archives and extensive libraries

  22. 7. Literature • Epic of Gilgamesh • An epic is a long narrative poem that recounts the deeds of a hero in quest of meaning and identity. • Gilgamesh probably ruled over the Sumerian city of Uruk around 2700 BCE. • Originally a Sumerian tale, preserved in Akkadian.

  23. 8. Sculpture and crafts • Lyre and goat from the Royal Cemetery of Ur (2600 BCE)

  24. 8. Recapitulation 3,000- 2,350 BCE Sumerian (Gilgamesh) 2,350-2,000 BCE Akkadian (Sargon) 2,000-1600 BCE Babylonian (Hammurabi) 1600- 850 BCE Hitites Elamites

  25. 9. Akkadian Civilization (2,350-2,000 BCE) • Sargon I (2332-2249 BCE) • Adopted Sumerian culture • Head of an Akkadian Ruler, from Nineveh (Kuyunjik) Iraq. c. 2300-2200 B.C Bronze, height 12” (3.7 cm). Iraq Museum, Baghdad. Lost wax technique.

  26. 10. Babylonian Civilization (2,000-1600 BCE) • Code of Hammurabi (Babylon, 1700 BCE) • First code of law • Includes criminal and civil law (protection of property). • To some extent it interprets justice as retaliation (punishment = crime). • Law resides in the written code rather than on the king’s wishes.

  27. 11. Recapitulation 850- 612 BCE Assyrian (Ashurnasirpal II) 612-538 BCE Neo-Babylonian (Nebuchadnezzar) Medean 538-327 BCE Persian (Cyrus, Darius)

  28. 12. Assyrian Civilization 850- 612 BCE • Use or iron for weaponry. • Extensive empire (all the Middle East including Egypt). Lamassu or winged lion Palace of Ashurnasirpal II, Nimrud (883-859 BCE)

  29. 12. Assyrian civilization 850- 612 BCE Ashurnasirpal II, Nimrud (883-859 BCE)

  30. 12. Assyrian civilization 850- 612 BCE

  31. 13. Hebrews • Originated in Mesopotamia (garden of Eden, Noah’s Ark, Abraham of Ur). • Moved to Canaan, then Egypt, settled in the Sinai/ Dead Sea region. • Later founded Jerusalem (Solomon- 961-933 BCE). • Split kingdom: Samaria/ Jerusalem • 587 BCE -Jerusalem captured by Nebuchadnezzar (deportation to Babylon) • 520 BCE. Return to Jerusalem and reconstruction.

  32. 13. Hebrews • Covenant • Ten Commandments • Ethical monotheism

  33. 12. Neo-Babylonian 612-538 BCE Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar, 604-562 BCE

  34. Ishtar Gate and the throne room, from Babylon, Iraq. C. 575 B.C. Glazed brick, height of gate originally 40’ (12.2 m) with towers rising 100’ (30.5 m., Staatliche Museenzu Berlin).

  35. 12. Neo-Babylonian 612-538 BCE

  36. 13. Persian Empire 538-327 BCE Persepolis

  37. 13. Persian Empire 538-327 BCE Winged lions and column capital Persepolis.

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