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THE FERTILE CRESCENT◊ Fertile Crescent =
moon-shaped strip of land from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf that is excellent farmland
• Located in modern-day Middle East
THE FERTILE CRESCENT
• Mesopotamia = located within the Fertile Crescent, between the Tigris & Euphrates Rivers
• Rivers were NOT a reliable source of water (unlike the Nile)
• Ran dry in summer; flooded in springVillages joined together to build dams, canals, and ditches
Ancient Mesopotamia• Ancient Mesopotamia covered three
general areas:– Assyria– Akkad– Sumer
• Several different ethnicities lived in these areas.
• The Sumerians developed the first Mesopotamian civilization.
THE EMPIRE• The Akkadians
lived north of the Sumerian city-states.
• Around 2340 B.C.E. the leader of the Akkadians, Sargon, conquered the Sumerian city-states and set up the world’s first empire.
Sumerians
• By 3,000 B.C.E. the Sumerians had formed a number of city-states centered around cities such as Ur and Uruk
• City-states were the basic political unit of the Sumerian Civilization.
City-States
● City-states governed themselves● Each city and the surrounding land it
controlled formed a city-state. A city-state functioned much as an independent country does today.
Laws regulated the roles of women & men → men had far more rights
Ziggurats● The center of all Sumerian cities
was the walled temple with a ziggurat in the middle. There the priests and rulers appealed to the gods for the well-being of the city-state.
● The temple (most important building) was built on top of a massive stepped tower called a ziggurat.
Sumerians believed gods and goddesses owned and ruled the cities.
Religion● Polytheistic - meaning they believed in many gods who controlled different forces of nature
● believed gods to do what humans do
● Worship in ziggurats
● wealth devoted to building temples
● believed success of crops depended on the gods
● believed priest and eventually kings to be representative to the gods
Social Structure
• Three classes– Highest class were
nobles. This included the royal family, royal officials, priests and their families.
Social Structure
• Three classes– The middle class were
commoners. They worked for large estates as farmers or they worked as merchants, fishermen, and craftspeople.
Social Structure
• Three classes– The lowest class were
slaves who worked on large building projects, wove cloth, and worked the farms of the nobles for next to nothing.
Economy● based on agriculture
● large-scale system of water control, crops could be grown on a regular basis
● traded for stone, wood, and metal from other societies to build empires
Writing System◊ Cuneiform = Sumerian system of
writing• The symbols represented
complex ideas
• The Sumerians created a system of writing called cuneiform (wedge-shaped). They used a reed stylus to make wedge-shaped markings on clay tablets. Writing was for record keeping, teaching, and law.
Sumerian Inventions1. Wagon Wheel2. Arch3. Potter’s Wheel4. Sundial5. 12-month Calendar6. Metal Plow
The Epic of GilgameshThis is the most important piece of Mesopotamian literature, teaches the lesson that only gods are immortal. Gilgamesh is wise and strong, a being who is part human and part god.
Gilgamesh befriends a hairy beast named Enkidu. When Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh feels the pain of his friend’s death, and he searches for the secret of immortality. He fails.
Hammurabi and the Second Empire: Babylonia
• In 1792 B.C.E. Hammurabi of Babylon, a city-state south of Akkad, established a new empire over much of both Akkad and Sumer.
• ruled for 43 years
• a skilled warrior
• a clever administrator and a diplomat
Hammurabi’s Law Code
● The Code of Hammurabi is one of the world’s most important early systems of law.
● It calls for harsh punishments against criminals.
Hammurabi’s Law Code● The principle of retaliation; “an eye
for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” is fundamental in Hammurabi’s code.282 laws
- conditional sentence- if you do this, you will receive this
punishment
● inscribed on an 8-foot-high stone slab
Purpose for the Code● “to promote the welfare of the people, make justice visible in the land, destroy the wicked person and the evil, in order that the strong might not injure the weak.”
● placed all groups in the empire under one law
Purpose for the Code● deals with many aspects of daily life: property rights, trade(business), family issues, professional services, and crime
● contained consumer protection laws to encourage the proper performance of work
● largest group of laws dealt with marriage and the family
Marriage & Family Laws
● Parents arranged marriages, and the two parties signed a marriage contract
● protected women and children
● Women still had fewer privileges and rights than men
● expressed the patriarchal nature of Mesopotamian society
● enforced the obedience of children to parents