Mesopotamia

The Earliest Civilization?

Adler, chapter 2

Mesopotamia

Adler, chapter 2

“Land between the rivers”

Adler, chapter 2

Nature’s tenuous bounty

• The Tigris (right) and the Euphrates

Adler, chapter 2

The Babylonian empire under Nebuchadnezzar II

circa 600 BCE

Adler, chapter 2

The Persian empire

6th century BCE

Adler, chapter 2

• The typical residence of a well-to-do businessman– windowless– a central open-air

courtyard

Sumerian home

Adler, chapter 2

Monumental architecture

• The ziggurat of Ur

Adler, chapter 2

Ur, city of the moon goddess

Adler, chapter 2

Even the Assyrians….

Adler, chapter 2

And the Neo-Babylonians• Nebuchchadnezzar’s famous

Hanging Gardens of Babylon– one of the seven wonders of

the world– supposedly built for his Persian

wife

Adler, chapter 2

Finally, the Achmenids

• Right: the ruins at Persepolis

Adler, chapter 2

Religious life• Question: what sort of

attitudes might we associate with the figures below?

• Right: worshipping the mood goddess

Adler, chapter 2

Warfare

• Below: the Standard of Ur• Right: Assyrian “frightfulness”

Adler, chapter 2

Warfare (cont.)

• Right: Jewish war captives

• Below: favorite “sport”

Adler, chapter 2

Inventions

• Writing– from the earliest (below) to

the very complex (far right)

Adler, chapter 2

Inventions (cont.)

• The plow– surely one of history’s most important inventions

Adler, chapter 2

Inventions (cont.)

• New world peoples did not make this discovery

Adler, chapter 2

Governing a troubled land

• Below: king Gudea of Lagesh• Right: temple tribute

Adler, chapter 2

Hammurabi

• The “Lawgiver”• From Adler:

– “How does the Hammurabi Code show that property rights were superior to human rights?”

Adler, chapter 2

Everyday life