ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA- “THE LAND BETWEEN TWO

RIVERS”

Mesopotamia

A.) GEOGRAPHY

! LOCATED BETWEEN THE TIGRIS-EUPHRATES RIVERS

! BOTH RIVERS FLOW INTO THE PERSIAN GULF

! LOCATED IN PRESENT DAY IRAQ

Fertile Crescent

1.) Positives and Negatives of Geography

! POSITIVE ! abundant amount

of clay ! easy till-able soil ! water supply from

Tigris-Euphrates Rivers

! NEGATIVE ! few natural

resources ! minimal protection

to the north ! Heat ! Irregular Floods

B.) Sumerian Civilization

! CITY STATES- self-governing unit made up of a city and its surrounding villages and farmland.

1.) Sumerian Society ! Nobles: King, priests, officials ! Clients: Free, dependent ! Commoners: Free, own land ! Slaves

2.) Sumerian Inventions ! Wheel ! Time – 60 minutes in an hour, 60 seconds in

a minute ! 12 month lunar calendar ! arch ! ramp

3.) SUMERIAN CITY-STATES ! ALWAYS IN CONFLICT OVER

WATER AND LAND

! CREATED WALLS FOR PROTECTION

! FARMS WERE LOCATED OUTSIDE OF THE CITY

C.) Sumerian Religion

1.) Religion Basics

! Ziggurats: pyramid site of the temple of the main gods. – Each city-state had their own gods and goddesses

– Sun god – most important. – Connect Heaven and Earth – Center for Learning

Ziggurat – Holy Mountain

How to Build a Ziggurat

D.) Writing: Cuneiform

SUMERIAN WRITING ! CALLED CUNEIFORM

(LATIN FOR WEDGE) ! WRITTEN ON CLAY

TABLETS ! NEEDED FOR

Administrative Work ! LEARNED IN SCHOOL,

BY MALES

Cuneiform

E.) Economy

1.) SUMERIAN ECONOMY ! Make, sell or barter goods. ! Trade helped expansion. ! Development of money

– Will evolve over time.

End of Sumeria ! Arrival of Sargon

! Akkadian Tribes Move in

! Destroy Sumerian Settlements

F.) Babylonians ! Chief god: Marduk

– Prayed for good harvest and success in business.

– Source of rise of culture

! King Hammurabi ! Hammurabi’s Code

– Earliest code of law

Hammurabi’s Code ! Harsh punishment for crimes. ! Based on equal retaliation.

–  “ If a man bring an accusation against a man and charge him with a capital crime, but cannot prove it, the accuser, shall be put to death”

–  “If the slave of a freed man strike the body of a freed man, his ear shall be cut off”

What do you think?

–  “If any one bring an accusation against a man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river prove that the accused is not guilty, and he escape unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser.

What do you Think? ! If any one owe a debt for a loan,

and a storm prostrates the grain, or the harvest fail, or the grain does not grow for lack of water; in that year he need not give his creditor any grain, he washes his debt-tablet in water and pays no rent for this year.

What do you Think – If a man strike a free-born woman so

that she lose her unborn child, he shall pay ten shekels for her loss. ! “If the woman dies, his daughter shall be

put to death.

- If any one steal the minor son of another, he shall be put to death.

- If any one is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death.