Mesopotamia

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Mesopotamia
The Cradle of Civilization
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Objectives
Objectives

• 1.Students will be able to identify
• What Mesopotamia means.
• The location of Mesopotamia.
• The names of the two rivers.
• Sumerians as the first civilization.
• 2.Identify key terms city-state, ziggurat,
  polytheism, theocracy, cuneiform and scribe.
• 3.Be able to read and understand a social
  structure chart.
• 4.Identify the accomplishments of the Sumerians.

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Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
The Cradle of Civilization
Archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley.

• Mesopotamia Called the Fertile Crescent, this
  was the first agrarian civilization in the world.

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Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia

• Mesopotamia the Land between two rivers. The
  land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
  (Modern day Iraq).

The land between two rivers.
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The Fertile Crescent
The Fertile Crescent
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Timeline - Mesopotamia
Timeline - Mesopotamia
Sumer
Akkad
Babylon
Assyria
Chaldean Babylon
Persia
3000 BC
2340 2100 BC
1792-1750 BC
900 BC 600 BC
600 539 BC
559 330 BC
How many civilizations controlled the
Mesopotamian region?
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Civilizations in Mesopotamia
Civilizations in Mesopotamia

• Empires in Mesopotamia fought for control over
  the land and water.
• Civilizations in the region - Sumerians,
  Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Persians.
  (Sumerian army pictured above).

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Sumer - the 1st Civilization
Sumer - the 1st Civilization
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Sumer - the 1st Civilization
Sumer - the 1st Civilization

• Dates back to 3,000 BC. Oldest of the
  civilizations.
• Key cities were Ur, Eridu, and Uruk.
• Cities formed city-states that acted like an
  independent nation.

Above Archaeologists Sir Charles Leonard Woolley
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Sumer - the 1st Civilization
Sumer - the 1st Civilization
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Sumer - City of Eridu
Sumer - City of Eridu

• Each City-state -surrounded by walls. Defense
  towers posted every 30-35 ft.
• Sun-dried bricks used to form buildings and
  houses.

Capital city in the East and sun-dried bricks.
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Geographic Factors
Geographic Factors

• Vicious weather patterns- floods, heavy rain,
  scorching winds, famine and drought.
• Floods of the Tigris and Euphrates were
  unpredictable.

Sites from Ancient Ur
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Technology and a Farming Revolution
Technology and a Farming Revolution

• Early civilizations will create irrigation and
  drainage ditches.
• Serious efforts to control the flow of the
  rivers.
• Enables them to grow crops regularly.

Sumerian farmers irrigate and work the fields.
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Sumer's Economy
Sumer's Economy

• Economy was primarily based on farming.
• Trade and Industry imported copper, tin, and
  timber. Exported fish, wool, barley and wheat.
• Traded by land and sea.

Sumerian farmer and tradesman on a raft.
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Sumerian Religions
Sumerian Religions

• Polytheistic the belief in many gods.
• Priests and priestesses were powerful and may
  have been the 1st rulers.
• Gods owned the cities. Over 3,000 gods.

Statues of worshippers.
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Sumerian Religions
Sumerian Religions
In Sumerian religions, the gods created man to
serve him and work the fields.
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Sumerian Religions
Sumerian Religions

• Believed the gods ruled the cities.
• Theocracy a government by divine authority.
  (Rule by god).
• Left-Marduk, the god of the city of Babylon.

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Sumerian Religions
Sumerian Religions

• Their religion was very gloomy.
• The gods were unpredictable, like their weather.
• Upon death, they would go to a terrible
  underworld or land of no return.

Image of Lilitu or the first wife of Adam.
Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.
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Sumerian Ziggurats
Sumerian Ziggurats

• Ziggurat temple set atop a stepped tower.
• Temple was the center of the city and its
  economic and political life.
• This was the most important building in the city.

The Ziggurat or Temple of Ur in Ancient
Sumer. This temple was the central focus of life
in the city of Ur.
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Sumerian Ziggurats
Sumerian Ziggurats
Above Artists rendering of the city of Ur. In
the background, you can see the temple or
ziggurat. Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.
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Check for Understanding
Check for Understanding

1. What does Mesopotamia mean?
2. Name the two rivers that encircle Mesopotamia.
3. How did most men earn a living in Sumer?
4. Where did the people of Sumer worship?
5. What is polytheism?

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Sumerian Social Structure
Sumerian Social Structure
Nobles and Slaves make up less than 10 of the
total pop.
Royals and Priests Officials and Families.
King
Nobles
90 - Temple officials, Farmers, merchants,
craftsmen and fishermen.
Commoners
Slaves work on buildings, grind grain, weave
cloth.
Slaves
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Sumerian Kings
Sumerian Kings

• Kings were divine.
• Led armies.
• Oversaw the building of public works and
  structures.
• Organized irrigation projects.
• Picture Standard of Ur Chariots. Courtesy of
  Wikipedia Commons

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Sumerian Priests
Sumerian Priests

• Priests kept calendars, time, and reported on
  harvesting and planting.
• Scribes wrote careful records of natural events
  on the earth and in the skies.

Statue of a priest of Sumer.
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Sumerian Scribes
Sumerian Scribes

• Men who recorded all aspects of Sumerian life.
• Educated, copyists, teachers and jurists.
• Upper class, successful, leaders of cities,
  temples and armies.

Sumerian scribe above.
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Sumerian Writing
Sumerian Writing

• 1st written language was the wedge-shaped writing
  of the Sumerians called cuneiform.
• Scribes wrote on clay tablets with a reed stylus.

Wedge-shaped Sumerian writing or cuneiform above.
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Sumerian Writings
Sumerian Writings
Shelves of a tablet library in Babylon.
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Sumerian Writings
Sumerian Writings

• Epic of Gilgamesh 1st Epic poem.
• Oldest poem in the history of the world.
• Sumerian tales about a hero named Gilgamesh.

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Sumerian Achievements
Sumerian Achievements
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Sumerian Achievements
Sumerian Achievements

• 1st system of writing cuneiform.
• Invented the wagon wheel.
• Invented the potters wheel.
• 1st to make copper tools.

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Sumerian Achievements
Sumerian Achievements

• Sundial to keep time.
• Astronomy chart constellations.
• Math number system based on 60. (60 minute
  hour).

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Sumerian Achievements
Sumerian Achievements

• Geometry measure fields and plan buildings.
• Designed the arch and the dome.

Ishtar Gate
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Check for Understanding
Check for Understanding

1. What was the writing style of the Sumerians
   called?
2. What is the oldest Epic poem in the history of
   the world?
3. Who invented the wheel?
4. What was a scribe?
5. The Sumerians were the first to accomplish many
   things. Name two.