Geography of the Fertile Crescent

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Geography of the Fertile Crescent
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Mesopotamia
Tigris
Euphrates
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Sumerian Civilization
Asia Minor
5000 BC

• Irrigation and flood control

Arabian Peninsula
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Sumerian City-States

• City-State A town or city and the surrounding
  land it controls
• People of city states shared common culture
• Built around temples known as ziggurats.

• Population 20,000 250,000
• Inability of city-states to unite under a single
  government weakened the Sumerians.

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Sumerian Government

• City-States had dual governments
• Monarchies headed by hereditary kings
• Theocracies headed by a Patesi (High Priest)
• Leaders of city-states were Priest-Kings

Sumerian Religion

• Religion was at the center of Sumerian life.
• Sumerians were polytheistic
• Believed their gods were selfish and angry and
  punished humans with floods and famine.
• Believed that afterlife was grim and empty of
  light and air.

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Sumerian Economy and Society

• Most Sumerians were farmers
• Most surpluses went to support temples and
  priests
• Merchants traded goods among city-states

Priest-King Nobles Government Officials
Merchants Artisans
Farmers Peasants Slaves
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Sumerian Lifestyles

• Men ran daily affairs and controlled all
  property.
• Most aspects of daily life were based on religion.

Sumerian Education and Writing

• Sumerians developed a pictographic writing
  called Cuneiform

• Only upper class boys were educated and were
  taught by priests in temple schools

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Sumerian Developments, Inventions and
Contributions

• Invented the arch, the dome, and the vault.

• Developed algebra and a numbering system based on
  60.

• Invented the wagon wheel, potters wheel, metal
  plows and a 12 month calendar.

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Babylonian Civilization
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Akkadians Conquer Sumer - 2400 B.C.
Sargon the Great
Akkadian Empire
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Amorites Invade Mesopotamia 2200 B.C.

• Absorbed Sumerian culture
• Established the city of Babylon
• Became known as Babylonians

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Babylonia

1. Organized strong central government
2. Improved tax system
3. Built and improved road system throughout the
   empire
4. Increased trade with other civilizations
5. Established a strong justice system

Hammurabi
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Code of Hammurabi

• Combined laws of city-states into one central
  code
• Consisted of 282 laws dealing with all aspects of
  life including family relations, business
  conduct, and crime.
• Based on an eye for an eye principle
• Regulated all aspects and levels of Babylonian
  society but had different punishments depending
  on social class.

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Code of Hammurabi

• If any one is committing a robbery and is caught,
  then he shall be put to death.
• If any one steal the minor son of another, he
  shall be put to death.
• If a man take a woman as his wife, but have no
  intercourse with her, this woman is no wife to
  him.
• If a man be guilty of incest with his daughter,
  he shall be driven from the place (exiled).
• If a man betroth a girl to his son, and his son
  have intercourse with her, but he (the father)
  afterward defile her, and be surprised, then he
  shall be bound and cast into the water (drowned).
• If a son strike his father, his hands shall be
  hewn off.
• -If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye
  shall be put out. An eye for an eye
• -If he break another man's bone, his bone shall
  be broken.
• -If he put out the eye of a freed man, or break
  the bone of a freed man, he shall pay one gold
  mina.

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Epic of Gilgamesh
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Kassites