ancient civilizations: mesopotamia
DESCRIPTION
Ancient Civilizations: Mesopotamia. Geography. North east of Egypt Good farmland Between the Tigris, Euphrates Rivers. Fertile Crescent. “the cradle of civilization”. Lack of natural barriers Frequent migration and invasion Very diverse group of people. Mesopotamia. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Ancient Civilizations:
Mesopotamia
Geography• Fertile
Crescent•North east of Egypt•Good farmland•Between the Tigris, Euphrates Rivers
“the cradle of civilization”• Lack of natural barriers• Frequent migration and invasion• Very diverse group of people
Mesopotamia• “the land between two rivers”• Eastern end of fertile crescent• A crossroads where people shared ideas
and customs
Sumerian Civilization• First civilization in Mesopotamia was Sumer.• City –states: political units made up of a city and
surrounding land.
City-States• Fought each other for land and
water• War leaders evolved into
hereditary rulers
Religion• Polytheistic (many gods/ goddesses) • Ziggurat: largest building in city-state,
temple to city-state’s chief god or goddess
ZigguratOffered sacrifices of animals, grains, wine
Holy day celebrationsceremonies and processions
Happy gods/goddessesprosperous city-state
Government• Ruler/ Chief servant of the gods
responsible for:–Maintaining city walls– Irrigation systems– Leading army– Enforcing laws– Employing Scribes• Collect taxes• Keep records
Society• Social hierarchy- system of
ranks
Women in society• Role changed over time.• Early days mother-
goddess honored.• Large city-states: warrior
leaders and male gods replaced mother-goddess.
• Could own property and trade.
Contributions to society• Cuneiform- wedge-shaped
writing
Other contributions• First wheeled vehicles• Irrigation systems/ dikes/
canals• Algebra/geometry• Astronomy
Other civilizations of Mesopotamia
• Assyrians• Persians• Babylonians• Hittites• Lydians
Assyrians• Upper Tigris region• Conquered entire Fertile Crescent• Enemies united to destroy, empire collapsed
Persians
• Ruler- Darius• Divided the empire into
provinces• Built roads- aid travel and
communication
Babylonians
• Powerful ruler- Hammurabi• Code of Hammurabi- first major collection of laws
in history
Hittites• Mined iron ore to produce iron• Brought the world into the iron
age
Lydians• Developed a system of coined
money