Chapter 2 Section 1

Mesopotamia

Fertile Crescent

• Land area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

• Called MESOPOTAMIA or land between rivers

• Located in current day Iraq

Government

• Formed city-states….cities that had their own government

• First people were Sumerians

• Had walls built of mud, used arches and domes

• Center of city was a religious temple called a ziggurat

• Gods were thought to have ruled the cities making them a theocracy or a govt. by divine authority

• Later kings took power

Empires

• Large political state under the rule of one ruler• First was started by Sargon

• Babylonian Empire was led by King Hammurabi• Started the Code of Hammurabi

• 282 laws dealing with all aspects of life

• Was uniform throughout the Babylonian Empire

Customs and Traditions

• Patriarchal society• Society dominated by men• Women had less rights

• Polytheism• Belief in many gods

• Cuneiform• Early system of writing• Scribes were the first record keepers

Sumerian Inventions

• Wagon Wheel

• Potters wheel

• Sundial

• Arch

• Math and Astronomy