Chapter 2.1

1. Chapter 2.1 Civilization Begins in Mesopotamia: Short Answers and Essential Question

2. What role did geography play in the development of of Mesopotamian civilization?

3. Located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers • little rain, but soil enriched by layers of silt deposited by the overflowing of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers • flooding , due to spring run-off, was unpredictable, and sometimes caused damaging floods • people learned how to control the flooding (irrigation and drainage ditches) made it possible to grow an abundance food • promoted agriculture and supported cities, where trade and industry could thrive

4. Describe the city of Uruk • first Sumerian city with population of 50,000 people by 2700 B.C. • walled city with defensive towers and dwellings made of mud bricks • dwellings of different sizes, indicating a social structure consisting of peasants and of people with higher status (city officials, priests & priestesses)

5. Why were the early Mesopotamian city-states considered to be theocracies? • most prominent building in a Sumerian city was the temple dedicated to the chief god or goddess of the city, often built atop a ziggurat • priest or priestess who supervised this temple had great power (surplus food and crafts stored here) • Sumerians believed that gods ruled their cities • even when ruled by a king, it was believed that these rulers derived their power from the gods (divine authority)

6. Describe the economy and society of Sumerian city-states economy • farming • trade (bartered with civilizations in Eastern Mediterranean and India wool, barley, dried fish, wheat and metal goods for imported copper, tin and timber • industry (tools and jewelry made of bronze)

7. Describe the economy and society of Sumerian city-states society • nobles (royalty and priests & their families) • commoners (servants, farmers, merchants, fishers, and artisans) • slaves (used for building projects, weaving, grinding grain, as workers for rich landowners)

8. Sumerian achievements

9. Code of Hammurabi (some of the laws) • If anyone commits a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death. • If a man wishes to separate from a woman who has borne him children, or from his wife who has borne him children, then he shall give that wife her dowry, and a part of the usufruct (right of use) of field , garden, and property, so that she can rear her children. • If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.

10. Code of Hammurabi (what this tell us about Mesopotamian society) • severe penalties for criminal offenses • officials held strictly accountable for enforcing laws • regulated marriage • patriarchal society • women had rights (although not as many as men)

11. Were the city-states of Mesopotamia the first human civilizations?

12. The Epic of Gilgamesh The Deluge tablet of the Gilgamesh epic in Akkadian

13. The Standard of Ur (war panel) depicting a a border skirmish (excavated in Ur in 1920 – now in British Museum

14. The Standard of Ur (peace panel) portrays a banquet scene – attendants parade animals, fish, and other goods (possibly war booty) before seated figures, while a lyrist entertains the throng