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Chapter 2 Section 1 Notes
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I. Geography of the Fertile Crescent
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A. The Fertile Crescent is an upside down
crescent running from the Persian Gulf north along the Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers to the Coast of Israel
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B. The valley between two rivers becomes
known as Mesopotamia “ Land Between the Rivers”
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1. Each year the rivers would flood
and leave a rich layer of soil called
silt
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C. People began to live there around 4500
B.C. but the Sumerians would settle there around
3500 B.C.
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D. Environmental problems
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1. Unpredictable floods
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2. Sumer was a cluster of small
villages on a plain with no protection
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3. Limited natural resources
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E. Solutions for problems
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1. Irrigation canals
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SUMERIAN IRRIGATION
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2. For defense they built city walls of
mud brick
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3. Traded grain for other natural
resources
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II. Sumerians Create City States
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A. One of the first groups to form a civilization ( 5
Characteristics )
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B. Each of the City-states was
independent, had their own ruler , and
surrounding farm lands
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C. Power of Priests
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1. Theocracy is a government in
which the religious leader is also the
ruler
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2. Priests controlled early government
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3. Communicated with the gods
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4. Collected taxes
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D. How monarchs came into leadership
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1. In times of war commanders took
control
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2. Gradually commanders took control of standing
armies
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3. Eventually commanders
became the full time rulers
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4. Dynasty is a series of rulers from
the same family
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E. Spread of cities
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1. Contact from other peoples help
create more Sumerian Cities
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2. Cultural Diffusion is the process of a new
idea or product from one culture to
another
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III. Sumerian Culture
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A. A religion of many gods
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B. Polytheism the believe in many
gods
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Reptilian Nature god
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Inanna Queen of Beasts
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3. gods had human characteristics
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4. “Land of No Return”
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a. Dismal, gloomy place between
earth’s crust and the ancient sea
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C. Epic of Gilgamesh
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1. Earliest works of literature,
Gilgamesh’s unsuccessful quest
for immortality
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D. Life in Sumerian Society
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1. Social classes developed
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a. Priest and Kings
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c. Fieldworkers majority of people
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E. Sumerian Science and Technology
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1. Wheel 2. Sail
3. Plow
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Sailboat of the Sumerians
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4. First to use bronze
5. First system of writing
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6. Astronomy, chemical
substances, symptoms of
disease
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7. Numbering system based on 6
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Sumerian Numbering System
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a. 60 minutes , 60 seconds
b. 360 degrees
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a. Arches, columns, ramps
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IV. The First Empire Builders
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A. Sargon of Akkad ( Semitic- Arabic
and Hebrew cross )
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1. Around 2350 B.C. Sargon from Akkad from north and conquered the
Sumerians
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2. His city state Akkad had long
adopted Sumerian ideas
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3. He conquers both territory in the north
and all of Sumer thus creating the
worlds first empire
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a. An Empire is when a ruler
conquers one or more city-states
or territory
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B. Babylonian Empire
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1. Another Semitic group, the Amorites
overwhelm the Sumerians and
start the Babylonian Empire
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2. Hammurabi from 1792-1750 B.C.
Rules the Babylonians at its
height
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a. Hammurabi’s Code of Laws
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Hammurabi and Sample of Laws
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1. Reorganized all of the laws of the
Sumerians
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2. 282 specific laws
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3. Different punishments for rich
and poor