Mesopotamia

1
Mesopotamia

• Ch. 2, Sec. 1 (pp. 29 - 34)
• SSWH1a Describe the development of Mesopotamian
  societies include the religious, cultural,
  economic, and political facets of society, with
  attention to Hammurabis law code.

2
Geography Background

• In the modern Middle East are the Tigris
  Euphrates Rivers
• The land between these rivers and the land that
  lies along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean
  Sea form an arc of very fertile soil (known as
  the Fertile Crescent)
• The land between the Tigris Euphrates rivers is
  called Mesopotamia (which literally means land
  between rivers)
• Remember, the city of Ur was located in Sumer,
  which itself was in Mesopotamia

3
Environmental Challenges

• Unpredictable flooding
• So they created irrigation ditches
• No natural barriers for protection
• So they built walls around their cities
• Few natural resources
• So they traded with their neighbors

4
Ancient Irrigation Ditches
5
Sumerians Create City-States

• Sumerians built many cities
• Cities each had their own government rulers
  (similar to modern countries)
• Cities the surrounding lands were known as
  city-states (because they operated independently
  of one another)
• Sumerian govt was usually led by both religion
  military leaders
• Leaders would often come from the same families
  (dynasties)
• Sumerian ideas often spread to neighboring
  cultures (this process is called cultural
  diffusion)
• In other words, if Im worshipping a Rain God
  my neighbor sees me doing this starts
  worshipping the Rain God then cultural
  diffusion has occurred

6
City-States in Sumer
7
Sumerian Culture

• Sumerians were polytheistic (they believed in
  more than one god)
• These gods were anthropomorphic, yet all-powerful
  immortal
• The afterlife was seen as very dismal
• Social classes
• (Highest class) kings, landholders priests
• Wealthy merchants
• Manual laborers (field workshop)
• (Lowest class) Slaves (debtors prisoners)
• Technology
• Base 60 number system
• Architecture (arches, columns, ramps, etc.)
• Cuneiform

8
Empire Building

• From 3000 - 2000 B.C., Sumerians were almost
  constantly at war with one another
• 2350 B.C., Sargon (an Akkadian from the north)
  conquered Sumer united northern southern
  Mesopotamia for the first time
• This union lasted 200 years
• 2000 B.C., the Babylonian Empire (with its
  capital at Babylon) dominated Mesopotamia
• The greatest ruler of Babylon was Hammurabi who
  created a single set of common laws for
  Mesopotamia
• Hammurabis Code dealt with property issues,
  family issues, crime, etc.
• The Code applied to everyone, but dealt
  differently w/ the rich the poor
• The Code frequently applied the principle an eye
  for an eye a tooth for a tooth

9
A Hammurabi Stele an Inscription of the Code of
Hammurabi
10
The Fall of the Babylonians

• 1500 B.C., the Babylonian Empire fell to the
  neighboring Kassites
• Many groups would later come to dominate
  Mesopotamia (Assyrians, Hebrews, Phoenicians,
  etc.)
• While all this was going on, other people such as
  the Egyptians, Chinese people of the Indus
  River Valley were experiencing the rise fall of
  civilization