Mesopotamia

Between the Rivers

Geography Promotes civilization

Geography???

• Farming began in southern Mesopotamia in 5500 BC

• Flat, swampy region

• The Tigris and Euphrates rivers often flooded during the spring

• The floods left a very fertile mud, called silt – this made the soil very rich

Geographic Challenges

• Little rain

• Water from rainfall and snowmelt

• Rivers overflow without warning

• Rivers dry up

Methods of Controlling Water

• developed methods to control water (i.e., basins, canals, dikes)

• projects required organization!!!

• complex government formed

Sumer: The Cities of Sumer

• First civilization

• 3,000 BC

• mud brick buildings

• Temples in the center

• ziggurats rose to the sky

• Walls surrounded the city

• city-state - a political unit with its own government

Sumer: Religion and Government

• polytheistic

• The gods controlled nature

• Each City-State had their own personal god

The City’s Center

Enlil

Rain Storm

Sumerian priests• Priests held high status

and governed the city-states

• City-states battled for dominance

• War chiefs began to rule as kings

• Many of the city-states’ kings formed dynasties

• A dynasty is a series of rulers from one family

Sumerian Culture: Writing• Cuneiform – Sumerian writing

• Wedge-shaped symbols on clay tablets

• first used to keep business accounts and other records

• Epic of Gilgamesh

• Scribes created written documents – this required years of schooling, but allowed one to move up in social class

Sumer: Scientific advancement

• The Wheel• The Plow• Used bronze to

make stronger weapons

• Medical knowledge, and performed basic surgeries

Sumer: The Arts• Sumerian

architecture: arches, ramps, and columns

• Sumerian Sculpture: statues with large, wide-open eyes, as well as small objects carved out of ivory

• cylinder seals

Empires in Mesopotamia • Frequent warfare

weakened Sumer’s city-states.

• Each new invader adapted parts of Sumerian culture into its own society

Empires in Mesopotamia

Sargon’s Akkadian Empire

• 2330 BCE

• Sargon I – first to create a permanent army

• Conquered all of Sumer and northern Mesopotamia

• Akkad was the world’s first empire

Continued…

• Used cuneiform as the main language for religion and literature

• Kept the power of the priesthood

• Empire lasted for 140 years

• spread Sumerian culture

• Tribes from the east invaded and captured Akkad

The Babylonian Empire

• The Amorites settled in Babylon on the Eurphrates, near modern Baghdad, Iraq

• Hammurabi became king of Babylon in 1792 BCE• He was a great warrior and UNITED all of

Mesopotamia in what is known as the Babylonian Empire

Hammurabi

• Great administrator• Managed buildings and projects• Improved the tax collection system• Increased trade• Honored old Sumerian gods• Allowed priests to retain their power• Schools continued to teach the Sumerian language

and cuneiform writing

Hammurabi’s Code• Code of laws

• 282 laws dealing with everything from trade and theft to injury and murder

Decline of Babylon

• After Hammurabi’s death, Babylonian power declined

• Less than 200 years later, the empire had fallen