Mesopotamia

1. Mesopotamia

3. Between the Rivers Geography Promotes civilization

4. Geography??? • Farming began in southern Mesopotamia in 5500 BC • Flat, swampy region • The Tigris and Euphrates rivers often flooded during the spring • The floods left a very fertile mud, called silt – this made the soil very rich

5. Geographic Challenges • Little rain • Water from rainfall and snowmelt • Rivers overflow without warning • Rivers dry up

6. Methods of Controlling Water • developed methods to control water (i.e., basins, canals, dikes) • projects required organization!!! • complex government formed

7. Sumer: The Cities of Sumer • First civilization • 3,000 BC • mud brick buildings • Temples in the center • ziggurats rose to the sky • Walls surrounded the city • city-state - a political unit with its own government

8. Sumer: Religion and Government • polytheistic • The gods controlled nature • Each City-State had their own personal god Enlil Rain Storm The City’s Center

9. Sumerian priests • Priests held high status and governed the city-states • City-states battled for dominance • War chiefs began to rule as kings • Many of the city-states’ kings formed dynasties • A dynasty is a series of rulers from one family

10. Sumerian Culture: Writing • Cuneiform – Sumerian writing • Wedge-shaped symbols on clay tablets • first used to keep business accounts and other records • Epic of Gilgamesh • Scribes created written documents – this required years of schooling, but allowed one to move up in social class

11. Sumer: Scientific advancement • The Wheel • The Plow • Used bronze to make stronger weapons • Medical knowledge, and performed basic surgeries

12. Sumer: The Arts • Sumerian architecture: arches, ramps, and columns • Sumerian Sculpture: statues with large, wide-open eyes, as well as small objects carved out of ivory • cylinder seals

13. Empires in Mesopotamia Empires in Mesopotamia • Frequent warfare weakened Sumer’s city-states. • Each new invader adapted parts of Sumerian culture into its own society

14. Sargon’s Akkadian Empire • 2330 BCE • Sargon I – first to create a permanent army • Conquered all of Sumer and northern Mesopotamia • Akkad was the world’s first empire

15. Continued… • Used cuneiform as the main language for religion and literature • Kept the power of the priesthood • Empire lasted for 140 years • spread Sumerian culture • Tribes from the east invaded and captured Akkad

16. The Babylonian Empire • The Amorites settled in Babylon on the Eurphrates, near modern Baghdad, Iraq • Hammurabibecame king of Babylon in 1792 BCE • He was a great warrior and UNITED all of Mesopotamia in what is known as the Babylonian Empire

17. Hammurabi • Great administrator • Managed buildings and projects • Improved the tax collection system • Increased trade • Honored old Sumerian gods • Allowed priests to retain their power • Schools continued to teach the Sumerian language and cuneiform writing

18. Hammurabi’s Code • Code of laws • 282 laws dealing with everything from trade and theft to injury and murder

19. Decline of Babylon • After Hammurabi’s death, Babylonian power declined • Less than 200 years later, the empire had fallen