MESOPOTAMIAAncient Civilizations

HOME OF THE FIRST CIVILIZATION

Located in modern-day Iraq

Two main regions:

• Northern region = Assyria

• Southern region = Sumer

FORM OF GOVERNMENT King + council of elders

Elders

Powerful, aristocratic families Advise the king

The king eventually established a dynasty.

CITY LIFE IN MESOPOTAMIA Temple in the center of the city

Roads connected farms + town + temple

Creation of city-states

Dedicated to patron gods/goddesses

Competition for trade = frequent wars

THE ZIGGURAT

In the center of the city

Connected heaven and earth (god and man)

The Tower of Babel

MESOPOTAMIAN GODS AND GODDESSES

WHAT CAN YOU TELL ABOUT THESE DEITIES? WHY DO THE EYES LOOK SO BIG?

THE DEVELOPMENT OF WRITING

MESOPOTAMIAN WRITING

Cuneiform: Wedge-shaped symbolsUses a stylus to write in clay tablets

Mostly for record keeping

MESOPOTAMIAN CONTRIBUTIONS

MESOPOTAMIAN INVENTIONS

THE FIRST MAP First map

Calculations based on 60 (:60, 60 minutes, 360°)

First wheel – purpose?

Surgery

12-month calendar (every 3 years, add 13th month)

AN EARLY POTTERY WHEEL

Why was the first wheel used for pottery?

Why wasn’t it used for transportation?

A MESOPOTAMIAN CALENDAR

Can you find the twelve months on this calendar?

Why is the calendar designed this way?

Why isn’t it laid out in a grid, the way our calendars are?

MESOPOTAMIAN KINGS

FAMOUS MESOPOTAMIAN KINGS The Sumerian king list:

Gilgamesh

Sargon

Hammurabi

GILGAMESH

GILGAMESH: A REAL KING

Brave but ruthless warrior in real life

Legend says he wanted to find immortality

Story recorded in a famous epic poem

SARGON

SARGON THE GREAT

An Akkadian king

Conquered Sumeria and Mesopotamia

SARGON: FOUNDER OF A MIGHTY DYNASTY

First king to create multiethnic, centrally ruled empire

Founded dynasty that lasted for 150 years

HAMMURABI

HAMMURABI: THE BABYLONIAN LAW-GIVER

United city-states into Babylonia

Famous for “codifying” 282 laws

Carved laws into eight-foot stele

Severe laws

“Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth”

HAMMURABI’S JUSTICE

Top of the stele: Hammurabi with Shamash, god of justice

Below that picture are columns of laws, written in Akkadian language

THE CODE OF HAMMURABI

The Code of Hammurabi – carved into stone

Why was it important for law to be written down (or carved into something)?

HAMMURABI’S LAWS – WRITTEN IN CUNEIFORM

16 columns of text on the front; 28 columns on the back.

In prologue, Hammurabi invokes the gods

In epilogue, discusses the greatness of his justice

Each law is conditional (“if/then”)