Mesopotamia

Culture Definitions:
Part 1
6th
 6.6 River Valley Civilizations
The first civilizations arose in river valleys because
they were a good place to farm:
– Rich in soil due to silt from flooding
– Great source for water
– Valleys tend to be protected from invasion

Examples
– Egypt & Kush (Nile River)
– Mesopotamia (Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
– India (Indus and Ganges Rivers)
– China (Huang He River)
 6.6 River Valley Civilizations
Beginning in Mesopotamia, civilization
spread west to Egypt and east to India and
China. These three civilizations formed an
early international trading network that
eventually extended across the connected
lands of Eurasia and North Africa, a vast
region that lies in a temperate climate zone
where most of the world’s people have lived
since prehistoric times.
 6.10 Cradle of Civilization:
Located in the modern country of Iraq,
Mesopotamia is known as the "cradle of
civilization" because it is here that civilization first
began around 3500 BC, a date considered the
beginning of ancient times.
 6.6 Region:
• Mesopotamia is a region, not a country,
within the larger region of the Middle East.
Regions are the basic units of geography.
A Region is an area of the earth with
consistent cultural or physical
characteristics. Regions may be large like
the Middle East, or they may be smaller
like Mesopotamia.
 6.6 Between the Two Waters:
Mesopotamia lies between the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers; the name Mesopotamia
means "between the two waters" in
Greek.
 6.6 Fertile Crescent:
• The U shaped area
from the
Mediterranean
coast to the Persian
gulf which includes
Mesopotamia is
known as the
Fertile Crescent.
 6.10 Agriculture:
Here farmers learned to build irrigation
systems that turned the dry valley into a
prosperous center of agriculture supporting
many people. This is an early example of
how humans can change the natural
environment.
This agricultural economy was controlled
by government officials. The Tigris and
Euphrates flooded at least once a year, but
was unpredictable and destructive.
 6.9 Sumerians:
As settlements in southern Mesopotamia grew into
busy cities, this area called Sumer became the
world's first civilization. The natural resources were
limited to wood, stone and metal, but food
surpluses allowed for the specialization of labor
and increased trade along rivers and to the
Mediterranean.
 6.9
Sumerians:
■ social, economic and intellectual basis
■ Irrigated fields and produced 3 main
crops (barley, dates and sesame seeds)
■ built canals, dikes, dams and drainage systems
■ develop cuneiform writing
■ invented the wheel
■ Abundance of food led to steady increase of population (farm, towns,
cities)
■ first city of the world
■ Developed a trade system with bartering: mainly barley but also wool
and cloth for stone, metals, timber, copper, pearls and ivory
■ Individuals could only rent land from priests (who controlled land on
behalf of gods); most of profits of trade went to temple

■ However, the Sumerians were not successful in uniting lower

Mesopotamia
6.9 City-States:
• The Sumerians
built walled cities
made of mud &
developed city-
states (the city and
surrounding land it
controlled) which
operated as its own
country.
 6.9 Other City-States:
◆ By 3000 B.C. Sumer
had at least 12 city-
states.
◆ The most popular
were Kish, Ur, and
Nippur.
◆ Ur was the hometown
to Abraham, an
important figure in
Christianity, Judaism,
and Islam.
 Why are we studying this????

◆1. Can a person live longer without food or water?

◆2. Do we need the big irrigation systems or should rain be enough

for crops?
 Assignment:
• 6.12 Write an essay; Explain the effects of
how irrigation, metal-smithing, slavery, the
domestication of animals, and inventions
such as the wheel, the sail, and the plow
on the growth of Mesopotamian
civilizations.
Stop!
Mesopotamia

Culture Definitions:
Part 2
6th
 My Story DVD:
• Early People
• Beginning of Civilization
• The Fertile Crescent
 6.13 The Creation of Written
Picture Writing Language:
◆ First, Sumerians used
clay tokens that had an
image of a product.

◆ The symbols were known

as pictographs.

◆ Pictographs, which
means picture writing
was eventually put on
tablets not tokens.
 6.13 Writing/Cuneiform
Sumerians developed the
earliest-known writing
called cuneiform, in
which scribes (record-
keepers) carved symbols onto wet
clay tablets that were later dried.
Only boys were sent to schools to
become scribes.
Stylus: A Writing Tool made
from a stick or reed.
 6.13 Importance of Writing:
• Record keeping and tax collection.
 6.13 Epic of Gilgamesh:
The Sumerians are credited with writing the
world's oldest story, the Epic of Gilgamesh, about
the life of a Sumerian king.

Show Video.
 6th Grade Video:
• Story of Gilgamesh
Who was Gilgamesh?
◆ The legend of
Gilgamesh is the
oldest known literary
writing.
◆ The story was written
in cuneiform on clay
tablets around 2000
B.C.
◆ Gilgamesh was an
actual name of a king
in Sumer, but the
account of his life is
mythical.
6.12 Sumerian Science and
Technology
◆ Early inventions
included: the plow,
the sail and the
wheel.

◆ A special kind of wheel, the

potter’s wheel enabled
Sumerians to make pottery
much quicker.
 6.12 Bronze Age:
◆ Bronze, a mixture of copper and tin
(called metal-smithing) was used to
make sharper tools that lasted longer.
 6.13 Mesopotamian Art:
◆The Mesopotamian art consisted of large
sculptures, mosaics, and cylinder seals.
 6.13 Sumerians used Math
and Science:
• Sumerians used writing to do accounting,
record events, and teach such things as
Astronomy, chemistry and medicine.
• The Sumerian number system was based
on 12, which explains why we have 60-
minute hours, 24-hour days, 12-month
years, and 360-degree circles. They used
math for architecture (arches, columns,
and ramps), irrigation and surveying.
 6.11 Religion
Early religions usually worshiped several
gods, a practice called polytheism. Religion
was extremely important in Sumer where
originally priests were the most powerful
people in society. Priest controlled
government.
Priests supervised the worship of seven
great gods: earth, sky, sun, moon, salt
water, fresh water, and storm. Each City-
state had a patron god.
 6.11 Religion:
The Sumerians believed in
many gods and goddesses.
- A belief in many gods
and goddesses is called
polytheism.
Sumerians believed that four
main gods created the
world and ruled over it.
- The gods of the sky,
wind, foothills, and fresh
water.
Sumerians believed their
gods looked and acted like
people.
 6.13 Ziggurats
Sumerians believed their gods lived in statues
housed in temples including large pyramid-like
structures called ziggurats (“mountain of god”).
Priests fed
the god
statues
twice daily.
Sacrifices
(goats and
sheep) and
rituals were
performed
on top.
 6.6 Government:
Later, warrior kings would take control.
These military leaders would become full
time leaders and pass there rule to family
members.
This kind of hereditary rule is called a
Dynasty.
 Assignment:
• Draw a picture of how you think a town
would look in Mesopotamia.
Stop!
Mesopotamia

Culture Definitions:
Part 3
6th
 Things to Remember:
• Mesopotamia is known as the "cradle of
civilization“.
• Mesopotamia means "between the waters“
• The Sumerians are credited with writing
the world's oldest story, the Epic of
Gilgamesh.
• Sumerians believed their gods lived in
large pyramid-like structures called
ziggurats.
 6.6 Social Classes:
•Top – Priest and later Kings
•High – Wealthy merchants and traders
•Middle – Farmers and Artisans
•Bottom – Slaves (either taken prisoner
after conflict or sold for payment
of debt)
Women could do most jobs, own property,
and become priestesses but could not be
educated.
6.9 Prophet Abraham

○ Lived in Ur
● God commanded him to move his
people to Canaan

Mesopotamia → Canaan → Egypt →

back to Canaan

○ Abraham promised to obey God, so God

looked after his people = Covenant.
 6.6 Cultural Diffusion
More people meant more ideas, more
inventions, and more diseases than in other
parts of the world.

Cultural Diffusion is the spread of ideas

from one culture to another. The ideas are
passed from one people to another through
trade and conflicts (war).
 6.9 Empire
• A group of lands and peoples ruled by
one type of government.
 6.14 Sargon, the First:
• The fertile valley of Mesopotamia was surrounded by
mountains and deserts which were natural barriers for
protection. Its wealth attracted many raiders and
conquerors over the centuries. Civilizations
came
and went amid much warfare. The first to
create a Sumerian empire was Sargon I
from northern Sumer. Sargon of Akkad,
also known as “Sargon the Great”, known
for his conquest of the Sumerian city-
states in the 24th and 23rd centuries B.C.
6.14 Hammurabi:
One of the most powerful
civilizations to arise in
Mesopotamia was Babylon
(1900 to 500 BC).
Hammurabi was an early
king of Babylon who
created an empire by
bringing much of
Mesopotamia under his
control.
 6.14 Babylon Empire:
Hammurabi helped unite the Babylonian empire
by publishing a set of laws known as the Code of
Hammurabi, history's first known written laws. He
had the 300 laws of the code carved onto stone
pillars for all to see, which meant that nobody was
above the law; it applied to everyone. However,
the punishments were based on class and were
very harsh. The goals of Hammurabi's Code
included, "stable government and good rule...that
the strong may not oppress the weak."
 6.14 Code of Hammurabi
• “AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH”
• If any one strike the body of a man higher in
rank than he, he shall receive sixty blows with an
ox-whip in public.
• If any one bring an accusation of any crime
before the elders, and does not prove what he
has charged, he shall, if it be a capital offense
charged, be put to death.
• Nobody was above the law!
• BUT not everybody was treated the
same. Example: Owner/Slave
 6.14 Mesopotamia: history
(Babylonian period)
• 2027 BCE: Ur falls, Babylon rises
• The most famous king of the Babylonian
dynasty is Hammurabi (ca. 1792-1750
BCE)
• 1600 BCE: the Babylonian kingdom fell
under the pressure from some people
from the North, especially the Assyrian.
■ 6.9
■ 10th century BCE, Assyria emerged as dominant force in the
north
■ City of Assur- became important trading and political center
■ After Hammurabi’s death, Babylon fell apart and kings of Assur
controlled more of surrounding area and came to dominate
■ Made conquered lands pay taxes (food, animals, metals or
timber)
■ Rule by fear as kings were first to have a permanent army
made up of professional soldiers (estimated 200 000 men)
■ Made superior weapons of bronze and iron
■ iron changed lifestyles in Mesopotamia in weapons and in daily
life. It replaced wooden wheels and applied to horse drawn
chariots.

• Assyrian reunited Mesopotamia and

established the first true empire
• However, states began to revolt and
ONCE AGAIN, Assyrian Empire collapsed
by late 7th century BCE

• By 539 BCE, Mesopotamia part of the

vast Persian Empire (led by Cyrus the
Great)
• Persian Empire dominated for 800 years
until Alexander the Great
 6.9 Persian Empire:
■Assyrian Empire collapsed by late 7th century BCE

■ Mesopotamia then became part of the vast Persian

Empire (led by Cyrus the Great)

■ Persian Empire dominated for 800 years until

Alexander the Great.
 6.9 Who was the best?
Sumer Babylon Assyrian
■ Closely tied to ■ Production of food
environment through farming ■ Kings conquered
■ Irrigation ■ Private ownership lands to create
techniques for of land vs empire of Assyria
farming ownership by the ■ Cooler climate could
■ wheel gods produce crops with
Developed little irrigation
■ Trade- bartering ■
mathematics and ■ Deposits of ore
■ Writing- cuneiform allowed for
calendar system
■ Religion tied to and system of units development and use
government as for currency of iron
priests and kings ■ Assyrian army
made decision for ■ Hammurabi’s law
code became most
gods effective military
■ ziggurats force
Conclusions (Students Read):
• Mesopotamian civilization: link with agriculture
• Mesopotamian religion: POLYTHEISTIC, influenced
by natural landscape: water is important!
• Both humans and Gods fear chaos: humans are
created by the Gods to help them deal with it, but
Gods are NOT ‘omnipotent’!
• Direct link between Gods, kings and people: the king
can do no harm nor wrong, as he is the ‘lieutenant’ of
the Gods, enlisted to help them deal with the chaos
• No afterlife! The only reward is to keep chaos at bay
 Legacies of Mesopotamia
Revolutionary innovations emerged in
Mesopotamia such as (list 3):
■ codified laws
■ ziggurats
■ Cuneiform
■ Irrigation
■ Metal working, tools
■ Trade
■ transportation
■ wheel
■ Writing
■ mathematics
■ prosperous living based on large scale agriculture
 Assignment:
• 6.8 On a historical map, locate and
describe the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers,
Zagros and Caucuses Mountains, Persian
Gulf, Caspian and Black Sea, Dead Sea
and Sea of Galilee and explain why the
region is referred to as the Fertile
Crescent.
 Review/Quiz:
• 1. _____ Who was at the top of Mesopotamian society.
• 2. _____ could do most jobs in Mesopotamian society.
• 3. _____ is the spread of ideas from one culture to
another.
• 4. _____ was an early king of Babylon who created an
empire by bringing much of Mesopotamia under his
control.
• 5. _____ Hammurabi helped unite the Babylonian
empire by publishing a set of laws known as the?
The End!