CHAPTER 2 SECTION 1

Mesopotamia

Bell Ringer

QUESTION: Write down one thing you learned about Mesopotamia through the reading?

Early Mesopotamia

This civilization is considered the birth of civilization. Why do you think?

Civilization: a group of people who have a complex organized society within a culture

Mesopotamia means: land between the rivers

Tigris and Euphrates

Consisted of Sumer and Akkad

Very similar civilizations within Mesopotamia

Fertile Crescent

Region in the middle east

crescent-shaped

area of relatively fertile land

Mesopotamia and the Nile valley are part of the fertile Crescent

Known as the Cradle of Civilization

The birthplace of agriculture, urbanization, writing, trade, science, history and organized religion

Climate of Mesopotamia

Ideal for farming

Long summers-hot dry and temperatures around 120 degrees

November to April is a the rainy season which causes the riverbanks to flood

Because of the lack of water in some regions and season, the Mesopotamians came up with a solution: They moved from a plateau (area of high and flat ground) to the area

between the rivers (Tigris and Euphrates) in search of fertile land

Found: rich soil, fish, able to grow crops

Then they started to irrigate- building of trenches and ditches in order to move water from one place to another

Mesopotamian irrigation

Why was it necessary?

The Mesopotamians

Problem solvers

Used natural resources – they built houses, temples, and palaces out of mud brick and straw

Most people worked as farmers or herders of goat, sheep and cattle

Crops: wheat, barley, onions, garlic, lettuce, etc

Used the rivers to transport goods and services – they made a surplus in food meaning more than they needed – helped with the rise of the civilization

Growth of city-states

Once farming techniques had been improved, families started to thrive and grow

This attracted other people to move into this region By 3500 B.C. there were many city-states of

Mesopotamia Uruk, Kish, Lagash, Nippur, Umma, and Ur

City-State: individual unit, complete with its own form of government and traditions

Because of these characteristics, both physical and human, Mesopotamia became a region

There is still not a single power controlled over all the city-states

Division of Labor

Because of the surplus of food and increase in trade, the Mesopotamians were able to hold different jobs

Religious leaders, soldiers, farmers, herders, and artisans (craftspeople)

In exchange for their service, people were paid with food

Trade increased and became its own industry or business

Used donkeys to transport goods

Traded wheat and barley for stone, cooper and wood

Persian Gulf was a major trading center

Increase in money which helped in spreading the Mesopotamian culture

Answer this

What is meant by “Cradle of Civilization”

Explain what it means

Fun facts:

Mesopotamia invented the wheel, plow, irrigation systems and the sailboat

Priests would read the livers of chickens or lambs to see what the gods wanted for sacrifices

In the Mesopotamian religion there are 4 main gods of Earth, Water, Air and the Heavens. And there were 3,000 lesser gods