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
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