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Mesopotamia The Seeds of Creativity

Mesopotamia The Seeds of Creativity. The Rivers and the Land. Between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Sumerian Period 3500-2350 BC. Note: Few natural barriers to invasion. Sumerian Period 3500-2350 BC. Polytheistic religion

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Mesopotamia The Seeds of Creativity

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  1. Mesopotamia The Seeds of Creativity

  2. The Rivers and the Land Between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

  3. Sumerian Period3500-2350 BC Note: Few natural barriers to invasion

  4. Sumerian Period3500-2350 BC • Polytheistic religion • Religion was directed toward ensuring a good crop and good trading • No ethics from religion • Priests subservient to kings • Invasion-prone area so armies were important • First wheeled vehicles • Ziggurats • Temples • Tombs • Governmental sites

  5. Ziggurat

  6. Sumerian Period3500-2350 BC Creative Contribution: Writing (cuneiform) • Written on clay tablets with reed or sharpened stick • Recorded business and laws • 1200 known characters

  7. Akkadian/ Early Babylonian Period (2350-1650 BC)

  8. Akkadian/ Early Babylonian Period (2350-1650 BC) Creative Contributions: • Standing army • System of royal servants and landholders • Poetry/epic • Written law • Governmental bureaucracy • Mathematics

  9. Akkadian/ Early Babylonian Period (2350-1650 BC) • Standing army • Led by Sargon I the King of Akkad • Conquered the Sumerians • Expanded the empire greatly (paid the army from the spoils of war) • New lands and territories that had to be controlled • Royal servants given new lands • Very loyal • Created economic vigor in trade • Created intelligent division of labor

  10. Akkadian/ Early Babylonian Period (2350-1650 BC) • Poetry • Epic of Gilgamesh • About 2000 B.C. • Oldest known literary document • Account of King Gilgamesh • Includes a flood story (similar to Bible)

  11. Akkadian/ Early Babylonian Period (2350-1650 BC) • Written Law: The Code of Hammurabi • Developed by King Hammurabi (~1700 B.C.) • Great leader, ruled during the cultural pinnacle of the early Babylonian Period • Personally supervised navigation, construction of temples, agriculture, and tax collection. • First set of laws (predates Moses by 200 years) • Brought uniformity to society • Reduced resentment and possibilities for revolt • Engraved on 8-foot stella (pillar)

  12. Code of Hammurabi – Trial by ordeal The Code established: -tax system -rights for women -strong system of punishment The main principle of the “Code” was that the strong should not injure the weak.

  13. Source: God Religious: Strong Capital crimes: Murder (unless God delivered him) Smite or curse parents Steal man and sell him Adultery Justice: Eye for eye or compensation Equality: No differences Source: Existing laws Religious: Little Capital crimes: False accusation or witness Stolen temple goods Stolen child Assisted fleeing slave Adultery Justice: Eye for eye or compensation Equality: Changes by rank Hammurabi Code vs The Bible

  14. Akkadian/ Early Babylonian Period (2350-1650 BC) • Governmental Bureaucracy • Established by King Hammurabi • Administrators paid by the government (local taxes), unlike Sargon I’s. • Could keep an eye on empire without expensive and continuous military entanglements.

  15. Hittites (1450-1200 B.C.) • From Anatolia (present day Turkey) • Creative Contribution: • Iron

  16. Hittites (1450-1200 B.C.) • Iron • Much harder and stronger than all former metals • Conquered Mesopotamia because of weapon strength (1650 B.C) • Agricultural productivity higher when farming tools were made of iron • Started the move from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age (1500 B.C.)

  17. Phoenicians/Philistines/Sea Peoples (1200 B.C.) • Conquered Hittites and learned the secrets of iron-working • Dominated Israelites until time of David • Controlled the coastal regions of Mesopotamia (then called Canaan)

  18. Phoenicians/Philistines/Sea Peoples (1200 B.C.) The Phoenicians-The traders of the ancient world. -traded: wool, papyrus, ivory, and glass for goods that they lacked. (They has little land to farm). -traveled the Mediterranean

  19. Assyrians (900-626 B.C.) • Creative contribution: • Torture • Creativity can be good or bad • Extremely vicious • Entire cities surrendered because of fear • Conquered Mesopotamia from within the territory of old Babylonian empire • Captured the 10 tribes of Israel and carried them northward (721 BC)

  20. Babylonians, Medes, Persians626-333 BC

  21. Babylonians, Medes, Persians626-333 BC • Powerful rulers • Nebuchadnezzar • Cyrus the Great • Darius - Xerxes • Empire very large • During this time period: • Established king worship

  22. Babylonians, Medes, Persians626-333 BC Creative Contibutions: • Art/technology • Hanging Gardens (one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world) • Government • City planning • Ethical Monotheism • Mathematics

  23. Babylonians, Medes, Persians626-333 BC • Ethical monotheism • Zoroastrianism • Arose from Persia in 7th Century B.C. • Founded by the prophet Zoroaster who used fire as part of worship • Communication with God • Very controversial group • Driven from Persia in 700 A.D. to India where they are known as the Parsi

  24. Mesopotamia • Conquered by Alexander the Great (333 BC) • This was the end of what is considered Mesopotamian history • We will discuss him later • kept creativity fresh

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