Mesopotamia

Creation of CivilizationCreation of Civilization• People were nomads at first—wanders, followed

the food

• Farming allowed people to stay in one place• This allowed more free time• People become specialized, learn skills, develop

culture

The Fertile CrescentThe Fertile Crescent• 1st civilization develops in the

middle east• Two rivers in present day Iraq—

Tigris and Euphrates, area now called the Fertile Crescent

• The rivers would flood and leave silt on fields

• Villages joined together to use irrigation

• Villages grow into civilizations/kingdoms– Sumer-Summerians– Babylonians– Assyrians

GovernmentGovernment• Ruled by kings called lugals

• Most important job was war

• Lugal was also head priest

• City-States—like states of a country

• Hammurabi—most powerful of luguls, united the area

• He focused on law and order

• Code of Hammurabi-300 laws, strong protected the weak, eye for an eye approach

ReligionReligion Polytheistic—belief in many gods

An—God of Heaven

Enil—air god Enki—water god

Ninhursag—mother earth

Utu—sun god, used chariot across sky

Nanna—moon god, used boat to pull moon

Religion cont.• Ziggurat—religious temple3 or more

levels, 70+ feet high

• Believed that gods lived on top—stairs to come down to earth, sometimes used human sacrifice

Daily Life in Mesopotamia

• 3 classes of people– Aristocracy—rich and powerful, priests, high

gov. officials, and generals– Working Class—paid in goods and food, no $,

architects, scribes, merchants, farmers– Slaves—prisoners of war or families sold into

slavery to pay off debts

Daily Life cont.• 1-2 story mud and brick homes• Father arranged marriages• Men—shaved heads, kilts, long beards• Women—braided hair, wore loose fitting long

dresses• Games like checkers, music and dance were big,

small harp called a lyre

Mesopotamian Achievements

• Wheel for pottery, farming, chariots for war

• Arches for support in architecture

• Pulley, sundial• Calendar into weeks,

days

Achievements contAchievements cont.

• Cuneiform-first written language—pressed wedges into damp clay

• 500 combinations-scribes

• Epic of Gilgamesh—first novel

• Code of Hammurabi written in it

Hanging Gardens of Babylon

• 1 of 7 Ancient Wonders of the World

• Levels of gardens with complex irrigation system