Mesopotamia

1. Mesopotamia

2. Ancient Mesopotamia: c. 3500-1700 BCE •  6.05 Identify and locate geographical features of ancient Mesopotamia including: (G) ● Black Sea ● Euphrates River ● Mediterranean Sea ● Persian Gulf ● Tigris River ● Zagros Mountains • 6.06 Explain how geographic and climate features led to the region being known as the Fertile Crescent. (G, H)  • 6.07 Explain how irrigation, silt, metallurgy, production of tools, use of animals, slave labor, and inventions such as the wheel, sail, and plow led to advancements in agriculture. (C, E, H) • 6.08 Analyze how advancements in agriculture in Sumer led to economic growth, expansion of trade and transportation, and the emergence of independent city-states. (C, E, G, H, P) 

3. Mesopotamia • names means "land between the rivers" • Refers to area where The Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow in Southwest Asia • Start in mountains of now Turkey and Kurdistan and flow through now Iraq southeast to the Persian Gulf.  • Rivers provided water and means of travel

4. Mesopotamia • ▪This area was later called the Fertile Crescent because it looks like a quarter moon. • The Fertile Crescent covers the present-day countries of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Israel.

5. ● Mediterranean Sea ● Persian Gulf ● Tigris River ● Euphrates River● Zagros Mountains● Black Sea

6. Fertile Soil • Rain and melting snow caused rivers to swell • This water flowed down the mountains and it picked up soil • Rivers reached plains and water overflowed onto the floodplain • (Floodplain is the flat lands bordering the banks) • Water spread over the floodplain and carried soil onto the land • Fine soil deposited by rivers is called silt, which is fertile and good for growing crops. 

7. Semiarid Climate • Less than 10 inches of rain a year • Hot summers • Region was dry • People could still grow crops because of rivers and fertile soil.  • Farming villages were widespread across southern Mesopotamia by 4000 B.C. 

8. Vocabulary Strategy • The prefix semi means “half.” The word arid means “dry.” A semiarid region has some rain, but remains fairly dry

9. Review: What made Mesopotamia a good region for farming?

10. Floods and Droughts Floods and Droughts • Yearly flood was unpredictable • Drought is a period when not enough rain and snow fell.  • Too little rain and melting snow or too much caused problems. • Early communities in Mesopotamia depended on river deposits of silt. • It made the region a good place for farming.

11. Mesopotamia’s yearly floods did NOT come as regularly as those in Egypt. • They often came at the wrong time for farmers. • The rivers did not flood during planting season when dry fields needed to be softened and prepared for new growth. • Instead, floods came just as crops were ready to be  harvested. • Problems solved by irrigation.

12. Farmers had to protect their fields from flood damage. • They also had to keep them watered in the hot, dry climate. • Southern Mesopotamia rarely received rain. • Droughts, or long periods of dry weather, were a constant threat to farmers and their crops.

13. Northern Mesopotamia usually had enough rain, but the rocky earth had only pockets of fertile soil. • The flooding rivers did NOT leave behind as much silt in the north. • Which area (Northern or Southern Mesopotamia) had more fertile land?  Explain. Southern Mesopotamia b/c there was more silt in the south.

14. In the Fall farmers of southern Mesopotamia needed water to plant and raise new crops. • Unfortunately, Fall was the time when the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were at their lowest.

15. Spring was harvest time; however, it was also the time the rivers flooded. • The time the rivers flooded was such a problem because it happened during the harvest. • The perfect time would be the Fall since this is when they were planting the crops and the fields were dry. • To solve these difficulties, ancient farmers learned to build water-control and irrigation systems.

16. Irrigation • By circa 6000 B.C. farmers built canals • Canals carried water from rivers to their field- this is called irrigation • Silt often clogged the canals (had to be cleaned) • Built dams to hold back excess water

17. Review: How did Mesopotamians water their crops during droughts?

18. Rise of agriculture enabled villages • As more people decided to live in community, villages grew larger • In time, they became cities • Leaders began organizing workers to solve problems, such as building and cleaning irrigation canals • Over time society and culture grew more complex. • These changes led to an advanced form of culture called civilization. • Historians think the first civilization rose about 3300 B.C. in Sumer

19. Sumerian cities • Were centers of trade, learning, and religion • Most people still lived in country side • Over time cities began to rule the surrounding lands and villages •  A community that included a city and its nearby farmlands was called a city-state.  • Between 10,000 and 100,000 people might have lived in a city.  • Each city-state ruled itself. • Cities of Sumer grew gradually and had narrow, winding streets. 

20. City-states • Most were located near the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates river • Land here was fertile • Allowed for farmers to grow more food • Food surpluses supported a larger population

21. Sumerians were good at solving problems. They invented tools and developed special knowledge to improve their lives. They were first to invent some of the things we use daily.

22. Science and Technology • Historians believe that Sumerians may have invented the plow (about 6000 B.C.) and the wheel (about 3500 B.C.).  • These inventions helped Sumerians a great deal in their daily lives

23. Plow • First important tool invented to help farmers • Often simple digging sticks with handles • Could be pushed or pulled, first by people, then by animals • Plows broke up hard soil making planting easier • Also water could sink more deeply into plowed soil which allowed the plants to receive more water. 

24. Wheel • Wheeled wagons helped farmers take crops to market more easily and quickly • Transporting good on the river was still more efficient • Special kind of wheel was the potters wheel.  • Allowed Sumerians to make pottery faster. • Pots were important storage containers for surplus food. 

25. Metallurgy  • Separating metals from their ores, purifying and working the metals into usable forms, and understanding the physical nature of metals and their alloys are all aspects of metallurgy • A mixture of copper and tin (called metal-smithing) was used to make sharper tools that lasted longer. 

26. Bronze • Sumerians were among the first people to use bronze. • Bronze was stronger than copper so tools lasted longer and were sharper. • Bronze tools became another item that Sumerians could trade. 

27. Mathematics • Was developed to keep records of crops and trade goods • Number system was based on the number 60 • Measurement of time eventually helped with creation of calendars • Used triangles and rope to set land boundaries • Understood geometric shapes such as rectangles, triangles, and squares. • Used these shapes to make bricks, build ramps, and dig canals.

28. Summary • • The Tigris and Euphrates rivers made the soil of Mesopotamia good for growing crops.  •  The people of Mesopotamia developed an irrigation system to bring water to crops.  •  Mesopotamia had few resources. People traded surplus crops to get what they needed.

30. 6.09 Explain the basic concepts of monarchy and empire and identify Mesopotamia as the regional location of the world’s first empire. (G, H, P) • 6.10 Explain the concept of polytheism and its presence in Mesopotamia, with respect to beliefs about the relationship of deities to the natural world and their importance in everyday life. (C, H)  • 6.11 Identify the important achievements of the Mesopotamian civilization, including cuneiform, clay tablets, and ziggurats, and identify the Epic of Gilgamesh as the oldest written epic. (C, E, H)  • 6.12 Analyze the impact of the introduction of written law in the Code of Hammurabi and explain its basic principles of justice. (C, E, H, P) 

31. Religion • Believed in many gods and goddesses • Known as polytheism • Believed in four main gods created the world and ruled over it • Gods of sky, wind, foothills(hills that are near mountains), and fresh water. • Each city-state worshipped its own god • Sumerians had thousands of lesser gods. • Sumerians believed their gods looked and acted like people

32. Priests • Life in Sumer had many dangers (such as floods, droughts, and invasions) • Sumerians believed the gods could prevent these troubles. • To protect cities, people tried to please the gods. • Each god had many priests. • Priests worked to satisfy the gods and claimed to have influence with them • This caused people to accept the priests as leaders. 

33. Gods  • Though of gods as rich landowners who created humans to work for them. • People said prayers and made offerings to the gods • Everyone to part in rituals and followed religious rules. • These took place a the ziggurat

34.  Ziggurats • Largest and most important structure in a Sumerian city • Was a temple • First built about 2200 B.C • center of city life The ziggurat functioned as a sort of city hall.  •  priests ran the irrigation systems.  • People came to the ziggurat to pay the priests for their services with grain and other items.  • As a result, the priests controlled the storage of surplus grain. The priests ended up controlling much of the wealth of the city-state

35. New Leaders •  Around 3000 B.C., as city-states became richer, other groups of people began to attack them to take their wealth • Some attackers came from other regions, some came from rival city-states. • This caused the people to ask a powerful man to rule them and protect the city. • Af first, such leaders led the city-state during war • Eventually, these leaders took control full time • These new leaders maintained the canals, managed the surplus grain, and acted as judges. 

36. King • These new leaders became kings who are the hightest-rank leader of a group of people. • Kings ruled a kingdom. • Sumer became a kingdom under one king by 2375 B.C. • Priest still remained important because their job was to keep the gods happy and keep evil away. • People believed the gods let the kings rule. 

37. World's first empire • Civilizations came and went amid much warfare. The first to create a Sumerian empire was Sargon I from northern Sumer. Sargon of Akkad, also known as “Sargon the Great”, known for his conquest of the Sumerian city-states in the 24th and 23rd centuries B.C

38. Code of Hammurabi and basic principles of justice • •“an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth”  • •If any one strike the body of a man higher in rank than he, he shall receive sixty blows with an ox-whip in public. • •If any one bring an accusation of any crime before the elders, and does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if it be a capital offense charged, be put to death.  • •Nobody was above the law! • •BUT not everybody was treated the same. Example: Owner/Slave

39. Social Classes in Sumer • King and priests were at the top  • Upper class included landowners, government officials, and rich merchants • In-between classes included all free people like farmers and artisans • Lowest class included slaves. 

40. Written Language • Picture Writing • ◆First, Sumerians used clay tokens that had an image of a product. • ◆The symbols were known as pictographs. • ◆Pictographs, which means picture writing was eventually put on tablets not tokens.

41. Cuneiform • Sumerians developed the earliest-known writing called cuneiform, in which scribes (record-keepers) carved symbols onto wet clay tablets that were later dried. Only boys were sent to schools to become scribes. • Stylus: A Writing Tool made from a stick or reed. • The writing system was very complex. The Sumerian language contained about 600 different symbols. Learning all those symbols took years. As a result, few people were able to read and write. The people who specialized in writing were called scribes. They were professional record keepers. Other people in Sumerian society respected them highly.

42. Importance of Writing • •Record keeping, history, and tax collection.

43. Why It Matters Now . . .  • The Sumerians developed the first system of writing. Writing makes it easier for people to pass on knowledge from generation to generation.

44. Epics • Sumerians wrote stories, proverbs, songs, and epics.  Epics are long poems that tell stories of heroes. • The Epic of Gilgamesh • King Gilgamesh of Uruk • Enkidu – wild man tamed by a woman • Enemies who became close friends and go on a big adventure

45. Summary • Sumer had a complex society and culture. Historians consider it the first civilization.  •  Sumerian city-states were a form of government that included cities and the land around them.  • Priests were the first leaders in Sumer, but kings became leaders when the need for defense grew