Southwest Asia: Beginnings

1. Southwest Asia: Beginnings

2. Mesopotamia: The Land Between the Rivers • Tigris and Euphrates – the two rivers that surround Mesopotamia • Annual Flooding – left fertile soil for farmers to grow crops but the flooding was unpredictable • Built dikes to hold back the flood and installed gates on the dams so they would provide direct water to their crops • Irrigation became an important part of Mesopotamian farming technology

3. Sumer Southern region of Mesopotamia that consisted of a series of city states Cities were walled and the houses were made out of mud bricks

4. Sumer Social Hierarchy

5. Sumer • Deities or gods and goddesses • Very important to the Sumerians • Made sure harvests were good and the people were prosperous • Believed the king received his power to rule from the deities • Ziggurat – special temples to honor their deities

6. Sumer • Inventions • Cuneiform – wedge-shaped system of writing • Based on pictures instead of letters like we use today • Scribes would use reeds or sticks to draw the shapes on clay tablets which would “bake” in the sun • Epic of Gilgamesh

7. The Babylonian Empire • Hammurabi • Ruler of Babylon, a city state in Sumer • Took over much of central and southern Mesopotamia • Code of Hammurabi • 282 laws that were carved on stone pillars and placed throughout the empire • People who broke the laws were punished severely • Laws regulated marriages and family issues • Fathers had absolute rule over the family and women had fewer rights that men

8. The Persian Conquerors • Power of city-states rose and fell constantly in Mesopotamia • Incoming kings may be powerful or weak • Cyrus the Great of Persia • Created a large empire in what is today Iran • Nicknamed the great because of how he treated the people he conquered

9. The Persian Conquerors • Darius • Enlarged the empire so it reached from Europe to India • Centralized government to rule over the empire • 20 satrapies that were governed by a satrap • Royal road linked the parts of the empire to Susa (capital of the Persian Empire)

10. The Israelites and the Beginning of Judaism

11. Judaism began in Mesopotamia • The beginnings of Judaism is recorded in what Christians call the Old Testament

12. The Israelites • Judaism began around 2000 BC with a leader named Abraham • Hebrews were nomadic herders who raised sheep and goats • Famine forced the Hebrews to migrate to Egypt in search of land and water • Egyptians enslaved the Hebrews until Moses led them out of Egypt and into Canaan

13. The Israelites • Invasion • Took many Jews as captives to Babylonia in Mesopotamia where they remained for about 50 years • Cyrus the Great allowed the Jews to return to their homeland where they were able to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple that had been destroyed

14. Jewish Beliefs • Judaism is MONOTHEISTIC – 1 God • God and the Jews enter a covenant • Jews would be protected if the Jews obeyed the ten commandants • Prophets – holy leaders • Teachings included a strong sense of right and wrong for individuals and communities • Social Injustice – looking out for others • The Rich and the powerful have a duty to help the poor and needy