Ancient Mesopotamia: Cradle of

Civilization

• Geography of Mesopotamia

• The crossroads of the World

• Samaria: the First City-state

• A Blending of Cultures

Geography

The Land Between Two Rivers.

• Like Egypt, The Mesopotamia region is

dependent upon the floods of the rivers for fertile

silt coughed up throughout the year.

• Unlike Egypt, the floods of the Tigris/ Euphrates

region are unpredictable.

• Also, While the Egyptians were protected by

natural barriers, Mesopotamia had no such

protection. So the different peoples were subject

to frequent migrations and invasions.

Assyria, Akkad, & Sumer

• The region was

dominated by three

Nation City- States,

Assyria, Akkad, and

Sumer.

• The creators of the

first civilization in the

area were the

Sumerians.

The Sumerians

• Earliest evidence of the Sumerians is around 3000 B.C.E.

W/ the founding of the cities of Eridu, Ur, & Uruk. As these cities grew to have more economic and political control over the country side, they formed City-States.

The City-State.

• The City-State was the earliest form of

government.

• Usually it had a King at the head of a

Monarchy.

• A City-State forms when a town or city and

the areas that surround it cooperate for

economic support and mutual defense.

Sumerian Religion

• Leader is the

Priest/King

• Most important

building is the

Ziggurat.

• Sumerians were

polytheistic, many

believed a council of

gods ruled the earth

Religion

• They believed that

their gods spent their

time causing

problems for humans.

• The afterlife was a

deep dark cave where

people wondered

around.

Written Languages

• As Sumerian society becomes more

complex, the need to be able to write

things down became important.

• 3000 B.C.E. the Sumerians developed a

wedge shape system called cuneiform.

• Priest and rulers were increasingly

dependent on men who could write and

understand the cuneiform called scribes.

Women, Education, &Social Classes

Women were considered property to their Fathers, and later to their husbands. Very few rights.

They were responsible for having children and raising boys until they are eight years old. When their formal training began. Girls were tutored at home.

Social Classes were established at birth with little opportunity to advance

Empires of Mesopotamia

• 2350 B.C.E. – as Sumerian power weakened, an Akkadian warrior named Sargon, created the first Empire.

• An Empire is a large political state that controls many different peoples and lands.

Empires are easy to create and very difficult to control.

The Akkadians were called Semiticbecause they spoke a Semitic language.

Akkadian Empire

• The Akkadians used much of what the Sumerians had developed.

• 2100 B.C.E.= After Sargon, weak rulers were not able to keep the empire united. Civil war breaks out.

• 1720 B.C.E.= leadership would come from the small city-state of Babylon in southern Akkad.

• The leaders name is Hammurabi.

Code of Hammurabi

• The great legacy of the early Babylonian Empire was Hammurabi’s Code.

• Hammurabi was truly one of the great rulers of ancient times.

• While he showed great concern for the welfare of his people, he believed in strict discipline.

• The basic principle behind his laws was,

• ” An eye for an eye”

Importance of the Code

• Distinguished

between major and

minor offences

• Established the

STATE as the

authority that would

enforce the law.

• Attempted to ensure

Social Justice

Beginning of the Iron Age

• The Babylonians fell in

1600 B.C.E. To the

Kassites and they fell to

the Hittites around 1559

B.C.E.

• The Hittites were

successful invaders

because of :

Careful Strategy

Skillful Diplomacy

Superior Weapons

The Hittites

• They were the first people to discover that higher heat allowed them the soften iron so that it could be pounded into swords, spears, and battle axes.

• The Hittites were able to keep their metalwork a secret for about 400 years.

• 1200 B.C.E. the Hittites would fall to the Assyrians

The Assyrians 900-607 B.C.E.

• They were the most feared and the most hated!

• They depended on:

A Disciplined Army

Iron weapons

A Well Trained cavalry

Effective Siege equipment

Assyrian Empire• Assyrians built their capital at

Nineveh with taxes and loot

collected from conquered

peoples.

• The Assyrian King

Assurbanipal built a great

library at Nineveh. They

organized and preserved 2000

clay tablets in the worlds first

library.

• In 612 BCE, oppressed people

within the empire joined forces

with the Medes and Chaldeans

to capture and destroy

Nineveh and the Assyrian

Empire.