9/19 Focus: Early civilizations developed in Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers

• 9/19 Focus:– Early civilizations developed in

Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers

– There were few natural barriers in this region which made it a crossroads where people shared customs and ideas.

• Do Now–What are the characteristics of a

civilization?

Public Works

SpecializationOf Labor

ArtsArchitecture

Writing & Record Keeping

Social Classes

Religion

Cities & Government

CivilizationCivilization

Mesopotamian Mesopotamian CivilizationsCivilizations

Sumer and Babylon

MesopotamiaMesopotamia• Fertile Crescent • “The Land between the

Two Rivers”– Tigris and Euphrates

Rivers– Fertile farmland from

silt left by floods– Floods were

unpredictable• Lack of natural barriers

allowed frequent migrations of people and invasions – Cultural diffusion

• First civilizations are thought to have developed here

SumerSumer• The first civilization to develop in

Mesopotamia about 5,500 B.C.E• City-States developed along the

Tigris and Euphrates rivers – An independent political unit with

its own government• Ur, Uruk, Kish, Lagesh

– Used mud bricks due to lack of other building materials

• Cities were protected by defensive walls

• Ziggurats were found at the center of each city– A large, tiered, pyramid shaped structure – Built for the god or goddess of each city

ReligionReligion

• Were polytheistic– Enlil, the god of air and storms, was one

of the most important– Gods controlled natural events

• Viewed their gods as hostile and unpredictable– Similar to their environment

• Priests held high status in Sumer–Worked to keep the gods pleased

GovernmentGovernment

• War chiefs often became Kings• Kings performed rituals to please the

gods• Dynasties developed – A series of rulers from one family

TradeTrade

• Traded with people across Southwest Asia– Lacked many

natural resources

– Traded for timber, stone, metals

WritingWriting

• Cuneiform – Form of writing that

used sharp tools to make wedge shaped symbols on clay tablets

– Scribes were paid and had a high place in society

LiteratureLiterature

• The Gilgamesh Epic– One of the oldest

surviving works of literature

– 4,000 year old story of a Sumerian hero who seeks immortality

– Originally a story that was passed on through oral tradition

• Babylon

• Numbers