Bell Quiz

1. Bell Quiz

2. civilizations

3. What is a civilization? • A complex culture with 5 unique characteristics • Advanced Cities • Specialized Workers • Complex Institutions • Record Keeping • Advanced Technology • Was Ur in Sumer a Civilization? What evidence shows is there for or against?

4. The River Valley Civilizations

6. Mesopotamia • “The land between the rivers” • Located in Southwest Asia in the middle of some of the driest regions on earth lies a crescent shaped piece of farmland. • The Fertile Crescent • Lies between the Tigris and the Euphrates river • Both rivers flow towards the Persian gulf and flood regularly onto Mesopotamia leaving fertile silt • Allowed for large well producing fields allowing for civilization.

7. Sumerians arrive in 3300 BC • People first arrived in Mesopotamia before 4500 BC but in 3300 BC the Sumerians arrived and developed ways to make the land useful • Learned how to adapt to the rough environment • Unpredictable flooding combined with drought • Dug irrigation ditches that carried water to their fields in drought • No natural barriers for protection • Built city walls with mud bricks • Natural resources were limited • Traded grain and cloth and tools with people in surrounding areas for the natural resources they lacked.

8. Sumerians organized • Building cities and irrigation on a large scale like the Sumerians shows us that they were organized. • Leaders were needed to plan and supervisor • Laws would be needed to settle disputes over land and water usage • Civilization is slowly developing.

9. Civilization grows out of Sumer • By 3,000 BC the Sumerians had built a number of cities • Surrounded by fields of wheat and barley • Each city had the same culture but they all had their own governments and different rulers • Each city and the land it controlled formed the first city states. • Basically like a country as we know them today. • Sumerian City states included • Uruk, Kish, Lagash, Umma, and Ur. • All had a walled temple with a ziggurat

10. Priests and Rulers in Sumer • Early Sumerian government was based around temple priests • Priests controlled the relationship between the god and the blessings of good crops, so all people looked to the priests • Priests lead from the ziggurat and it served not only as a temple but as a city hall • Priest managed irrigation control from the ziggurat • Farmers paid taxes to the priests • Commanders • In time of war control of the city was put in the hands of a commander. • As time went on and wars became more frequent rulers became permanent. • In time most commanders became full time rulers, and they would pass power down to sons, creating a Dynasty • Series of rulers from a single family. • By 2500 BC most Sumerian city states were under dynastic control

11. Cities spread through the Crescent • By 2500 BC the surplus of crops allowed the cities in Sumer to travel long distances for trade, this allowed for new cities to grow all over • Found in present day Iraq, Turkey and Syria • Shared their culture with the people they traded with • Eventually Sumerian culture spread throughout the region • Cultural Diffusion. • Process in which new ideas or a product spreads from one culture to another

12. Sumerian Culture Polytheism: belief in many Gods Control different things

13. Sumerian Gods • Enlil • God of Storms • Among the most powerful • “the raging flood that had no rival” • Wife is ninlil • Demons: Ugallu • Protected humans from evil demons that cause disease, misfortunes, and misery

14. Sumerian Gods • Gods do and feel like humans do • They fall in love and have children and fight and more • Gods are immortal and all-powerful • Humans are servants to the gods • If gods are not happy they may strike you down with fire, flood, or war • So keep them happy! • And sacrifice animals food and wine to them on the ziggurat • Afterlife: • “the land of no return” • No joy • “dust is their fare and clay their food”

15. Sumerian Epics • Myths and legends told in long poems • Epic of Gilgamesh • Story of the king of Uruk • Not a good guy… so the gods send Enkidu to keep him in check • They become friends and start to do good things, but they tick off one of the women gods and she Punished them. • Enkidu dies, and Gilgamesh is crushed. • He wants to become immortal so he meets with Urshanabiwho is Immortal, he tells Gilgamesh he can’t become immortal but there is a plant that will make him younger • Gilgamesh gets the plant but its stolen by a snake who eats it and gets younger • Realizes he cant be immortal and he should live his life and be a good king. • Becomes a good king.

16. Sumerian Culture Social Classes Divided the people and controlled behavior Polytheism: belief in many Gods Control different things

17. Sumerian Social Classes

18. Women in Sumer • Could work as merchants, Farmers, and Artisans • Could hold property in their name • Join the priesthood • Some upper class could read and write • Rare • Had more rights than women later in history

19. Sumerian Culture Social Classes Divided the people and controlled behavior Inventors and architects arose out of Sumer to create some of the most important inventions in history Polytheism: belief in many Gods Control different things

20. Sumerian Inventions • Believed they were the first to use the wheel, the sail, and the plow • Also the first to use bronze, ushering the Bronze age • A period of time when bronze was used to make just about everything • Sumerians were some of the first to use arches, columns, ramps, and the pyramid shape in design

21. Sumerian Culture Social Classes Divided the people and controlled behavior Inventors and architects arose out of Sumer to create some of the most important inventions in history Polytheism: belief in many Gods Control different things First to use arithmetic and geometry Invented a system of writing

22. Education grows in Sumer • In order to create such a well designed and laid out city the Sumerians had to use arithmetic and geometry • Developed a number system and mathematics with a base 60 • This creates the system of time we still use today • 60 Seconds = Minute • 60 Minutes = hour • Cuneiform • System of writing • Made maps on clay tablets and wrote records on clay tablets • Records of astronomy, chemistry, and medicine

23. Civilizations lead to Empire • From 3,000 BC to 2,000 BC the Sumerian city states were almost constantly at war with each other • Weakened cities were vulnerable to attack from the people of the surrounding areas • Sumerian city states were eventually taken over by neighboring cities who shared their culture • Sargon of Akkad • Akkadians were the first to conquer the Sumerians and spread the culture beyond the fertile crescent • First Empire • Brings together several peoples, nations, or independent states under the control of one ruler • Controlled from the Mediterranean coast to Iran • Lasted 200 years until it disintegrated from within.

24. Babylonian Empire • About 2000 BC nomadic warriors known as Amorites invaded Mesopotamia • Overwhelmed the Sumerians and created a new capitol at Babylon on the Euphrates River • Reached its peak under the leadership of Hammurabi (1792 BC to 1750 BC) • Hammurabi is most well known because of his code of laws he put together • Hammurabi’s Code

25. Hammurabi’s Code • Recognized that a single, uniform code of laws would help to unify the diverse groups within the empire. • Based off of existing rules from the empire and engraved on a stone and copied and sent to all the empire • Rules were established and set with their punishments on the tablet. • Ranging from fines to death • And social class • 282 laws that covered everything they could think of • Community relations, family, business, crime and more • Sought to protect women and children from unfair treatment

26. Code of Hammurabi • 8. If a man has stolen an ox, a sheep, a pig, or a boat that belonged to a temple or palace, he shall repay thirty times its cost. If it belonged to a private citizen, he shall repay ten times. If the thief cannot pay, he shall be put to death. • 142. If a woman hates her husband and says to him “You cannot be with me,” the authorities in her district will investigate the case. If she has been chaste and without fault, even though her husband has neglected or belittled her, she will be held innocent and may return to her father’s house. • 143. If the woman is at fault, she shall be thrown into the river.

27. Code of Hammurabi • 196. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out. • 198. If he puts out the eye of a freed man or break the bone of a free man, he shall pay one gold mina. • 199. If he put out the eye of a man’s slave, or break the bone of a man’s slave, he shall pay one-half of its value

28. What we learn from the code • What they valued • Women and children had different punishments • Social classes determined punishment • Equality • An eye for an eye • Believed that Government had a responsibility over society • “To Bring about the rule of righteousness in the land, to destroy the wicked and evil doers; so that the strong should not harm the weak.” –prolouge to the code • For example the government will compensate a victim if a thief is not caught

29. End of Babylon • Two centuries after Hammurabi the Babylonian empire fell the Kassites • Over the next years new empires would take control and loose the fertile crescent • The Assyrians • The Phoenicians • And the Israelites • All would adopt many ideas from the early Sumerians.