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9/19 Focus: Early civilizations developed in Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers

9/19 Focus: Early civilizations developed in Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers There were few natural barriers in this region which made it a crossroads where people shared customs and ideas. Do Now What are the characteristics of a civilization?. Mesopotamian Civilizations.

ethan-bernard
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9/19 Focus: Early civilizations developed in Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers

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  1. 9/19 Focus: • Early civilizations developed in Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers • There were few natural barriers in this region which made it a crossroads where people shared customs and ideas. • Do Now • What are the characteristics of a civilization?

  2. Mesopotamian Civilizations Sumer and Babylon

  3. Mesopotamia • Fertile Crescent • “The Land between the Two Rivers” • Tigris and Euphrates Rivers • Fertile farmland from silt left by floods • Floods were unpredictable • Lack of natural barriers allowed frequent migrations of people and invasions • Cultural diffusion • First civilizations are thought to have developed here

  4. Sumer • The first civilization to develop in Mesopotamia about 5,500 B.C.E • City-States developed along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers • An independent political unit with its own government • Ur, Uruk, Kish, Lagesh • Used mud bricks due to lack of other building materials • Cities were protected by defensive walls • Ziggurats were found at the center of each city • A large, tiered, pyramid shaped structure • Built for the god or goddess of each city

  5. Religion • Were polytheistic • Enlil, the god of air and storms, was one of the most important • Gods controlled natural events • Viewed their gods as hostile and unpredictable • Similar to their environment • Priests held high status in Sumer • Worked to keep the gods pleased

  6. Government • War chiefs often became Kings • Kings performed rituals to please the gods • Dynasties developed • A series of rulers from one family

  7. Trade • Traded with people across Southwest Asia • Lacked many natural resources • Traded for timber, stone, metals

  8. Writing • Cuneiform • Form of writing that used sharp tools to make wedge shaped symbols on clay tablets • Scribes were paid and had a high place in society

  9. Literature • The Gilgamesh Epic • One of the oldest surviving works of literature • 4,000 year old story of a Sumerian hero who seeks immortality • Originally a story that was passed on through oral tradition

  10. Babylon

  11. Numbers

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