DEJ – 1.

ROČNÍK - MEZOPOTÁMIA

MESOPOTAMIA
 Location: Between Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
 In modern-day Iraq
 People first began to settle and farm the flat, swampy lands in southern Mesopotamia
before 4500 B.C.
 Around 3300 B.C., the people called the Sumerians, arrived on the scene.
 Good soil was the advantage that attracted these settlers.

SUMER
 The Sumerians stand out in history as one of the first groups of people to form a
civilization.
 By 3000 B.C., the Sumerians had built a number of cities
 Each city formed a city-state.
 A city-state functioned much as an independent country does today.
 Sumerian city-states included Ur, Uruk, Kish, Lagash, Umma, ….
 The center of all Sumerian cities was the walled temple with a ziggurat in the
middle.

 ZIGGURAT – a temple to a god; the most important building in every city

WHO RULED SUMER?

 priests, rulers

ECONOMY
 primarily agricultural, metal working, trade

SOCIETY - 3 CLASSES:
 Upper Class - Royal family, leading officials, priests
 Middle Class - Scribes, merchants, craftspeople
 Lower Class - Peasant farmers (90%), slaves (most captured in war)

SUMERIAN RELIGION
 a religion of many gods - the belief in more than one god is called polytheism

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 DEJ – 1. ROČNÍK - MEZOPOTÁMIA

SUMERIAN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

 Sumerians invented the wheel, the sail, and the plow and that they were among the
first to use bronze.
 Arithmetic and geometry - the Sumerians developed a number system in base 60,
from which stem the modern units for measuring time (60 seconds = 1 minute) and the
360 degrees of a circle.

SUMERIAN WRITING
 Sumerians created a system of writing called CUNEIFORM - “Wedge-shaped”
 It was used for record keeping and teaching
 Used a reed stylus to make wedge-shaped markings on clay tablets
 Tablets were then baked in the sun

AKKAD
 not far from modern Baghdad, people known as the Akkadians established their
own kingdom at a capital city called Akkade, under their first king, Sargon
 The Akkadians conquered all the Sumerian city-states and invaded southwestern
Iran and northern Syria.
 This was history’s first empire, having a heartland, provinces, and an absolute
ruler.
 External attack and internal weakness destroyed the Akkadian Empire

BABYLONIAN EMPIRE
 Around 2,000 B.C. a group of nomadic warriors known as the Amorites invaded
Mesopotamia. The Amorites established Babylon as their capital city.

HAMMURABI (1792-1750 B.C.)

 was a powerful and influential king
 Hammurabi established a collection of laws that became known as
“HAMMURABI’S CODE”
 One of the principles of this code was the principle Eye for an Eye