Mesopotamian Cities• The first cities in the world

• Why did people begin to gather in cities?

1. Protection• After agriculture began in the region,

humans began to live in larger groups

• It became dangerous to stay in smallergroups

• So small villages became larger villages

• Larger villages became little towns

• And small towns became larger towns

• For a larger town to support itspopulation, it must have enough foodand water

• For this reason, the location of a town or city is crucial

• Irrigation became the system by whichthe Mesopotamians ensured that theyhad enough food and fresh water

• So we know that humans moved intotowns to protect themselves from othergroups, but how did people protectthemselves from other people within the towns?

2. Laws• The Mesopotamians created the first

legal system

• In many towns and cities, laws weredeveloped by local kings, which meantthey could change often

• But in more sophisticated cities, lawswere written down

• That way, everybody knew what the lawsand punishments were

• In general, punishments were severe by today’s standards

A legal code for our society• Imagine our class is a Mesopotamian

society with a king or queen

• Work in small groups to come up with the laws we need

• Don’t forget to include the punishmentfor breaking each law!

The groups…

• The royal family

• The bureaucracy

• The workers

• Farmers

• The rich, who don’tneed to work

• Slaves

A few considerations…• Are the laws and consequences the same

for everybody?

• Do the laws and consequences apply to young people as well?

Hammurabi’s Code• A well-preserved Mesopotamian code of

law from 1754 BCE

• Hammurabi was a king

• The laws were written in fairly plain language so that everybody couldunderstand

Hammurabi’s Code