Ancient Sumer and Empire Builders

The Fertile Crescent• First known civilization in area, Mesopotamia,

“between the rivers” in Greek• Between Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

• Key to development in Mesopotamia• Lots of similarities to Egypt. The two rivers

flooded badly at times. Epic of Gilgamesh tells of a great flood that destroyed the world about 4900 years ago.

• Temple priests and royal officials were leaders• Built using bricks of clay dried in sun, no timber• Sumer in SE Mesopotamia, 3300 BC

Sumerian Civilization• Ruler- maintain city walls,

irrigation system, led army, enforced laws, chief servant of god, hired scribes

• Social Hierarchy-Ruling family, leading officials, high priests-lesser priests, scribes, merchants, artisans-Majority; peasant farmers-Slaves

• Women; wives of rulers had special duties but most were dependant on men. Did have legal rights

Sumerian Religion• Polytheistic• Gods controlled forces of nature• Gods favored truth and justice but were

responsible for violence and suffering as well• Ziggurat (zihg uh rat)- pyramid-temple• Believed in afterlife but very grim

Showing that Sumerian Gods descended from the Heavens

Learning• 3200 BC invented writing, cuneiform (kyoo

nee uh form), wedge shapes

• Scribes go through years of learning

• Untidy copying or talking in class punished by caning

• Number system based on 6, dividing hour into 60 minutes and circle into 360 degrees

• Around 2500 BC armies of conquering peoples swept across Mesopotamia

• By 1900 BC Sumerian civilization was replaced

Sargon Hammurabi Assurbanipal

Nebuchadnezzar Cyrus the Great Darius Zoroaster

• 2300 BC, Sargon, ruler of Akkad, invaded and conquered neighboring city-states of Sumer

• Built first empire in history• Local rulers to help• Didn’t last long after his death

Code of Hammurabi

• 1790 BC• Not the author but had 300 known laws

carved on stone pillars for all to see• First time laws were codified• One section on criminal law. Used to take law into own

hands but tried to promote social order• Civil law; business, tax, marriage, inheritance• Designed to protect the powerless, (slaves, woman)• Order was essential in a stable empire

Code of Hammurabi

Spread of Ideas• Hittites came to Mesopotamia about 1400 BC, less

advanced but had extracted iron from ore. Weapons were harder and sharper edges. Started Iron Age . Fell 1200 BC

• Assyrians- 1100 BC, feared warriors but well ordered society, royal women veiled in public, first to put together library of cuneiform tablets

• Babylonians- 600 BC crushed Assyrians, Persian Gulf to Med Sea, massive rebuilding projects, Hanging Gardens, study of stars and planets

One of the “seven wonders of the ancient world”

Persian Empire

• 539 BC. Cyrus then Darius I 522 – 486 BC• Tolerance of other’s customs and beliefs• Satrap- governor in charge of province• Built huge system of roads to unite empire• Common set of weights and measures• Money economy (coins) set up but some still

used barter system• Both helped trade

• Zoroaster taught a single wise god, Ahura Mazda (ah hoo ruh mahz duh) ruled and in constant battle with Ahriman (ah rih muhn) prince of lies and evil

• Zend-Avesta- sacred book• Would be a judgment day• Christianity and Islam stress similar ideas

Phoenicians

• Sailors and traders in present day Lebanon and Syria

• Glass from sand and purple dye from sea snail

• Set up various colonies in North Africa and Sicily to Spain

• Gave us our alphabet, 22 symbols for consonant sounds

• How were these huge empires able to be so big and still be ruled by a single ruler?

• -leaders visited the regions, built and maintained roads for travel, and set out a code of laws that incorporated laws from conquered peoples, satraps