1. Mesopotamia Part 1 (The Fertile Crescent)

ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA- “THE LAND BETWEEN TWO RIVERS”

Mesopotamia was located in the Middle East.

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SUMERIANS

I. Mesopotamian Civilizations

PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.

A. Located in the Tigris and Euphrates River Valley (Present day Iraq)

B. Protected by mountains and dry lands from nomadic invaders

C. Ruled by kings and polytheistic in religious practices

Iraq is now the country where the Sumerians lived

Ruled by kings and were polytheistic in thatLike Egyptians they worshipped many gods.

II. Sumer (Sumerians)A. Settled by 3,000 BC

1. Earliest Civilization in Fertile Crescent

The Sumerian Civilization started somewhere between 5000 B.C. and 4000 B.C. when Neolithic Farmers began to settle the Tigris Euphrates Valley.

II. Sumer (Sumerians)2. Developed Cuneiform

a. 1st form of writingb. Writers would press signs into clay tablets (about 1000 signs)

They had a number system that was based on 60… and they developed an early form a clock (we use the same time system)

II. Sumer (Sumerians)3. Built Ziggurats

a. Were baked brick placed into layers up to 150 feet highb. Served as a shrine to a Sumerian Gods

4. Empire lasted until 2330 BC when the Akkadians conquered region

Ziggurats where in the center of every city-state.They were part of a temple complex wherereligious and government functions were conducted.

Homes and businesses surrounded the center of the City. The closer to the Ziggurat the more important person you were.

Sumerian Ziggurat

II. Sumer (Sumerians)THE WHEEL!

III. Babylon (Babylonians)A. Gained control of Mesopotamia around 2180 BC 

B. Rule of Hammurabi (1792 BC)

1. Great military and political leader. Gains control of most of Mesopotamia

III. Babylon (Babylonians)2. Code of Hammurabi

a. Set of 282 laws developed under the rule of Hammurabi

b. Laws dealt with commerce, industry, property rights, working conditions & wages.c. Punishment “An Eye for An Eye”

III. Babylon (Babylonians)1. If a man has borne false witness in a trial, or has not established the statement that he

has made, if that case be a capital trial, that man shall be put to death.

2. If a man has accused another of laying a nertu [death spell?] upon him, but has not proved it, he shall be put to death.

3. If a man has stolen goods from a temple, or house, he shall be put to death; and he that has received the stolen property from him shall be put to death.

4. If a man has stolen a child, he shall be put to death.

5. If a man has broken into a house he shall be killed before the breach and buried there.

6. If a man has committed highway robbery and has been caught, that man shall be put to

death.

IV. The Epic of Gilgamesh (2000BC) A. One of the oldest known works of

literature. 1. Written in Cuneiform on 12 tablets 2. Each tablet tells of an adventure of the King of Uruk (Gilgamesh) 3. Table 11 contains a story about a

Great Flood.

Fertile Crescent Map

Mediterranean Sea

Red Sea

Persian Gulf