Chapter 5

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Chapter 5 History of the Fertile Crescent
Section Notes
Video
Geography of the FertileCrescent The Rise of
Sumer Sumerian Achievements Later Peoples of the
Fertile Crescent
Impact of a System of Laws
Maps
The Fertile Crescent, 7000-500 BC The Fertile
Crescent Sargons Empire, c. 2330 BC Babylonian
and Assyrian Empires Phoenicia, c. 800
BCAssessment Map Mesopotamia
Close-up
The City-State of Ur
Images
Quick Facts
Fishing in the Euphrates Sumerian
Society Development of Writing Assyrian Army
Chapter 5 Visual Summary
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Geography of the Fertile Crescent

• The Big Idea
• The valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
  were the site of the worlds first
  civilizations.
• Main Ideas
• The rivers of Southwest Asia supported the growth
  of civilization.
• New farming techniques led to the growth of
  cities.

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Main Idea 1The rivers of Southwest Asia
supported the growth of civilization.

• The area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
  is known as Mesopotamia.
• Mesopotamia is part of the Fertile Crescent, a
  large arc of rich, or fertile, farmland.
• The Fertile Crescent extends from the Persian
  Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea.
• Mesopotamia was first settled by hunter-gatherers
  more than 12,000 years ago.
• The first farm settlements formed in Mesopotamia
  about 7000 BC.
• Yearly floods brought silt, a mixture of rich
  soil and tiny rocks, to the land. Fertile silt
  made the land ideal for farming.
• Farmers grew wheat, barley, and other types of
  grain.
• Livestock, birds, and fish were also good sources
  of food.

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Main Idea 2New farming techniques led to the
growth of cities.
Fertile soil did not mean easy farming.
Region received little rain.
Flooding could destroy crops, kill livestock, and
wash away homes.
Farmers knew they needed ways to control the
rivers flow.
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Farming and Cities

• Controlling Water
• Used irrigation, a way of supplying water to an
  area of land
• Dug out large storage basins to collect
  rain
• Dug canals, human-made waterways, to
  connect the basins to irrigation ditches
• Built up the rivers banks to prevent flooding

• Food Surpluses
• Irrigation increased amount farmers could grow.
• Produced food surplus, or more than they needed
• Fewer needed to farm
• New occupations developed.
• Division of labor each worker specialized in a
  particular task or job
• Developed laws and government

• Appearance of Cities
• Settlements grew both in size and complexity.
• Developed cities between 4000 and 3000 BC
• Society still based on agriculture
• Cities became important trading centers and power
  bases for government.
• Cities were the political, religious, cultural,
  and economic centers.

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The Rise of Sumer

• The Big Idea
• The Sumerians developed the first civilization
  in Mesopotamia.
• Main Ideas
• The Sumerians created the worlds first advanced
  society.
• Religion played a major role in Sumerian society.

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Main Idea 1The Sumerians created the worlds
first advanced society.

• No one knows where the Sumerians came from.
• By 3000 BC several hundred thousand had settled
  in a part of Mesopotamia they called Sumer.
• They developed an advanced society and the
  worlds first civilization.
• Most Sumerians were farmers.
• Society centers were the urban, or city, areas.
• The basic political unit of Sumer was the
  city-state, which consisted of a central city and
  all the countryside around it, combining the
  rural and urban parts.
• Fought each other to gain more farmland
• Built strong armies and thick walls around cities

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Rise of the Akkadian Empire and Sargon
Another society, the Akkadian, developed just
north of Sumer, and for many years they lived in
peace.
In 2300s BC Sargon sought to extend Akkadian
territory.
Built new capital of Akkad on the Euphrates River
Launched a series of wars against neighboring
kingdoms
First ruler with a permanent army
Defeated all the city-states of Sumer and
conquered northern Mesopotamia
Established worlds first empire, or land with
different territories and peoples under a single
rule
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End of the Akkadian Empire

• 2200s BC hostile tribes from the east captured
  Akkad
• 2100s BC Ur rebuilt and conquered Mesopotamia
• Political stability restored
• Sumerians again the most powerful civilization in
  the region

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Main Idea 2Religion played a major role in
Sumerian society.

• Religion played a role in nearly every aspect of
  Sumerian life.

• Sumerians practiced polytheism, the worship of
  many gods.

• Sumerians believed that their gods had enormous
  powers.

• Every Sumerian had to serve and worship the gods.

• Priests, people who performed or led religious
  ceremonies, had great status in Sumer.

• Priests made offerings to the gods in temples,
  special buildings where priests performed their
  religious ceremonies.

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Sumerian Social Order
Kings of Sumer claimed that they had been chosen
by the gods to rule.
Priests were just below kings in Sumers social
hierarchy, the division of society by rank or
class.
Next were Sumers skilled craftspeople,
merchants, and traders. Trade had a great impact
on Sumerian society.
Below traders, farmers and laborers made up the
large working class.
Slaves were at the bottom of the social order.
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Men and Women in Sumer

• Men
• Held political power
• Made laws
• Were educated

• Women
• Took care of home and children
• Some in upper-class were educated
• Some educated women were priestesses and helped
  shape Sumerian culture.
• One priestess, a daughter of Sargon, Enheduanna,
  was the first known female writer in history.

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Sumerian Achievements

• The Big Idea
• The Sumerians made many advances that helped
  their society develop.
• Main Ideas
• The Sumerians invented the worlds first writing
  system.
• Advances and inventions changed Sumerian lives.
• Many types of art developed in Sumer.

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Main Idea 1The Sumerians invented the worlds
first writing system.
Sumerians developed cuneiform, the worlds first
system of writing.
They used sharp tools called styluses to make
wedge-shaped symbols on clay tablets.
Earlier written communication had used
pictographs, or picture symbols.
Sumerian writers could combine multiple symbols
to express more complex ideas.
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Uses of Writing

• First used to keep business records
• Scribes, or writers, were hired by people,
  government, and temples to keep track of items
  traded.
• Wrote works on history, law, grammar, and math
• Wrote stories, proverbs, songs, poems, and epics,
  long poems that tell the stories of heroes

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Main Idea 2Advances and inventions changed
Sumerian lives.

• Used for wheeled vehicles and a potters wheel to
  spin clay as a craftsperson shapes it into bowls

Wheel
Plow

• Pulled by oxen to prepare soil for planting

Clock

• Used falling water to measure time

• Built under city streets to carry waste away

Sewers
Bronze

• Used to make strong tools and weapons

Makeup and Glass Jewelry

• For personal ornamentation

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Math and Science

• Developed math system based on the number 60
• Divided a circle into 360 degrees
• Divided a year into 12 months
• Calculated areas of rectangles and triangles

• Studied the natural world
• Wrote long lists of names of animals, plants, and
  minerals

• Produced many healing drugs
• Catalogued medical knowledge, listing treatments

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Main Idea 3 Many types of art developed in
Sumer.
Architecture The science of building
Most Sumerian rulers lived in large palaces.
Other rich Sumerians had two-story homes with as
many as a dozen rooms.
Most people lived in smaller, one-story
houses. Six or seven rooms were arranged around a
small courtyard.
City centers were dominated by temples. Each
city had a ziggurat, a pyramid-shaped temple.
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Other Arts

• Statues of gods were created for temples. Small
  objects were also created out of ivory and rare
  woods.

Sculpture

• Beautiful works were created with advanced
  methods using imported gold, silver, and gems.

Jewelry

• Cylinder seals were stone cylinders engraved with
  designs. When rolled over clay, the designs leave
  behind an imprint. They were used to show
  ownership of containers, to sign documents, and
  to decorate other clay objects.

CylinderSeals

• Music and dance provided entertainment in
  marketplaces, homes, palaces, and temples. People
  sang and played instruments such as reed pipes,
  drums, tambourines, and harplike stringed
  instruments called lyres.

Music andDance
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Later Peoples of the Fertile Crescent

• The Big Idea
• After the Sumerians, many cultures ruled parts
  of the Fertile Crescent.
• Main Ideas
• The Babylonians conquered Mesopotamia and created
  a code of law.
• Invasions of Mesopotamia changed the regions
  culture.
• The Phoenicians built a trading society in the
  eastern Mediterranean region.

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Main Idea 1The Babylonians conquered
Mesopotamia and created a code of law.

• Babylon was located on the Euphrates near what is
  now Baghdad, Iraq. It had once been Sumerian.
• By 1800 BC it was home to a powerful government
  of its own.
• In 1792 BC Hammurabi became Babylons king, and
  would become the citys greatest ruler.
• His most important accomplishment was Hammurabis
  Code.
• Set of 282 laws that dealt with almost every part
  of daily life
• Some ideas in the Code are still found in laws
  today.
• Each crime brought a specific penalty.
• Different social classes required different
  penalties.
• Written down for all to see

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Main Idea 2Invasions of Mesopotamia changed the
regions culture.

• Several other civilizations developed in and
  around the Fertile Crescent.
• Their armies battled for land.
• Control of the region passed from one empire to
  another.

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Invasions of Mesopotamia

• Hittites and Kassites
• Hittites built a strong kingdom in Asia Minor.
• First to master ironworking
• Skillfully used chariot, a wheeled, horse-drawn
  cart used in battle
• Captured Babylon around 1595 BC
• Babylon was soon captured by the Kassites, people
  from the north, who ruled for almost 400 years.

• Assyrians
• From northern Mesopotamia
• Briefly gained control of Babylon in 1200s BC,
  but soon defeated.
• About 900 BC began to conquer all of Fertile
  Crescent
• Strong armies
• Heavy taxes
• Harsh laws
• Ruled through local leaders

• Chaldeans
• From Syrian desert
• Led attack on the Assyrians and destroyed the
  empire in 612 BC
• King Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt Babylon.
• Admired ideas and culture of Sumerians
• Babylon became a center for astronomy.
• Created a calendar and solved complex problems of
  geometry

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Main Idea 3 The Phoenicians built a trading
society in the eastern Mediterranean region.

• Phoenicia was at the western end of the Fertile
  Crescent, along the Mediterranean Sea, where the
  nation of Lebanon is now.

• Phoenicians were largely an urban people, with
  cities such as Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos, which
  still exist today.

• Phoenicias overland trade routes were blocked by
  mountains and hostile neighbors, so they built a
  sea trading society.

• Phoenician traders travelled to Egypt, Greece,
  Italy, Sicily, Spain, and the Atlantic Ocean.
  They founded several new colonies, including
  Carthage in northern Africa.

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Phoenician Accomplishments
Wealthy trading society, based mostly on
plentiful cedar lumber
Also traded silverwork, ivory carvings, and
slaves
Made and sold beautiful glass items
Made purple dye from a type of shellfish
Dyed fabric with the purple dye and traded the
cloth, which was popular with rich people
Developed one of the worlds first alphabets, a
set of letters that can be combined to form words
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