Unit 3 - Mesopotamia

1. Unit 3 - Mesopotamia Hammurabi’s Code

2. Quiz • Title loose leaf paper– Unit 3 Mesopotamia Sumer Quiz • Heading on page – name, date, block • 1. Explain Sumer’s significance in history. (What makes Sumer a big deal?) • A. • 2. What role did Sargon play in Sumer’s history? (What made him a big deal?) • A. • 3. What role did religion play in the lives of the Sumerians? (How important was religion?) • A. • B. • 4. Describe Sumer’s social hierarchy (the different groups of people). • A. • B. • C.

3. Babylonians Conquer Mesopotamia Although Ur rose to glory after the death of Sargon, Repeated foreign attacks drained its strength. By 2000 BCE, Ur lay in ruins. With Ur’s power gone, several waves of invaders battled to gain control of Mesopotamia.

4. Hammurabi Babylon was a city located on the Euphrates River near what is today Baghdad, Iraq. Babylon had once been a Sumerian town. By 1800 BCE, however, it was home to a powerful government of its own. In 1792 BCE, Hammurabi became Babylon’s king. He would become the city’s greatest monarch, a ruler of a kingdom or empire.

5. Hammurabi’s Code Hammurabi was a brilliant leader who eventually conquered all of Mesopotamia into his empire, called the Babylonian Empire, after his capital. Hammurabi is most famous for his code of laws, called Hammurabi’s Code. Hammurabi’s Code was a set of 282 laws that dealt with almost every part of daily life.

6. Hammurabi’s Code Hammurabi’s Code was important not only for how thorough it was, but also because it was written down for all to see. People all over the Babylonian Empire could read exactly what was against the law.