CITY-STATES IN MESOPOTAMIA

Members- Sophia MidenceClaudia BaquedanoFelipe Lin

ENVIROMENT A desert climate dominate the landscape between the persian Gulf and the mediterranean sea in southwest Asia. Yet with in this dry region lies an arc of land that provided some of the best farming in southwest Asia. The regions curved shape and the richness of its land led scholars to call it the fertile crescent.

The rivers framing mesopotamia are the tigris and euphrates. They flow southeast ward to the persian Gulf. The tigris and Euphrates rivers flooded Mesopotamia at least once a year.

MESOPOTAMIA´S MAP

LANGUAGE

The ancient languages of Mesopotamia have come down to us in the cuneiform script. Assyrian and Babylonian are sister dialects of a single language known as Akkadian, which is related to other Semitic languages such as Arabic and Hebrew.

The script was invented before 3000 BC and was first used for the Sumerian language, which has no known relatives. Sumerian was spoken in South Iraq until it died out around 2000 BC, giving way to Akkadian

CULTURE

The belief system, social structure, technology, and arts of the sumerians reflected their civilization´s triumph over its dry and harsh environment.

RELIGION

Worshiped many gods. Believed gods controlled every aspect of life.

Saw afterlife as a grim place. Everybody would go into darkness and eat dust.

To keep the gods happy, each city built a ziggurat, or pyramid temple.

They were polytheism, a religion of many gods.

GODS

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Historians believe that sumerians invented the wheel, the sail, and the plow and that they were among the first to use bronze.

• Arithmetic and geometry: in order to erect city walls and buildings, plan irrigation systems, and survey flooded fields, sumerians needed arithmeteic and geometry.

•Architectural innovations: arches, columns,ramps, nad the pyramid shaped the design of the ziggurat and permanently influences mesopotamia civilization.

•Cuneiform: sumerians created a system of writing. one of the first known maps was made on a clay tablet in about 2300 B.C. other tablets contain some of the oldest written records of scientific investigations in the areas of astronomy, chesmistry, and medicine.

CUENIFORM

POWER AND AUDITORY

Civilazations came the begining of what we call social classes. Kings, land holders, and some priest made up the highest level in sumerian society wealthy merchants rankd next. the vast majority of ordinary sumerian people worked with their hands in fields and workshops. At the lowest level level of sumerian society were the slaves. some slaves were foreigners who had been sold into slavery as children to pay the debts of their poor parents,. Debt slaves could hope to eventually buy their freedom.

SUMERIANS

Irrigated fields and produced 3 main crops

barley, dates and sesame seeds

built canals, dikes, dams and drainage systems

developed cuneiform writing

invented the wheel

Abundance of food = increase of population

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

controlled land on behalf of gods

most of profits of trade went to

The Sumerians were not successful in uniting lower Mesopotamia

Southern Mesopotamia 3500-2000 BCE

AKKADIANS

Leader Sargon the Great

unified lower Mesopotamia after conquering Sumerians in 2331 BCE

Established capital at Akkad

Spread Mesopotamian culture

Akkadians conquered by invading barbarians by 2200 BCE

Akkad- northern Mesopotamia 2340 – 2180 BCE

BABYLONIANS THE HAMMURABI KING

Conquered Akkad and Assyria

Built

walls to protect the city

canals and dikes to improve crops

Economy based on agriculture and wool

Individuals could own land

Artisans and merchants could keep most profits and even formed guilds

1830-1500 BCE

Grain used as the medium of exchange

emergence of currency :

shekel = 180 grains of barley;

mina = 60 shekels l

Mina was eventually represented by metals - one of first uses of money

still based on grain

Hammurabi’s Legacy

law code

Babylonians reunited Mesopotamia in 1830

central location dominated trade and secured control

YET AGAIN, Mesopotamia was not unified for long…

CODE OF HAMMURABI

•To enforce his rule, Hammurabi collected all the laws of Babylon in a code that would apply everywhere in the land

• Most extensive law code from the ancient world (c. 1800 BCE)

• Code of 282 laws inscribed on a stone pillar placed in the public hall for all to see

•Hammurabi Stone depicts Hammurabi as receiving his authority from god Shamash

•Set of divinely inspired laws; as well as societal laws

• Punishments were designed to fit the crimes as people must be responsible for own actions

• Hammurabi Code was an origin to the concept of “eye for an eye…” ie. If a son struck his father, the son’s hand would be cut off

• Consequences for crimes depended on rank in society (ie. only fines for nobility)

HAMMURABI

VOCABULARY Fertile Cresent- An Arc of rich farmland in the southwest asia bewteen the persian gulf and the mediterranean sea.

Mesopotamia-An ancient region of southwest Asia between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in modern-day Iraq.

City-state- A city and a sourrounding lands fuctioning as an independent unit.

Dynasty- A series from a ruler from a single family .

Cultural diffusion- The spreading of ideas or products from one culture to another.

Polytheisim- A beleif in many gods.

Empire - Political unit in which a # of peoples or countries are controlled by a sibgle ruler.

Hammurabi- Babylonian king who made Babylon the chief Mesopotamian kingdom and codified the laws of Mesopotamia and Sumeria.

MESOPOTAMIACULTURAL DIFFUSION

ASSESMENT What were the three enviromental challenges to sumerians?

A/ Unpredictable flooding combined with a period of Little or no rain,With no natural barriers for protection,and the natural resources of sumerians were limited

How did the sumerians view the gods?

A/ they pay them respect and they think that the gods were bringing misfortune,luck, and natural disasters

What areas of life did Hammurabi´s code cover?

A/it covered what affected the family including family relationships business conduct and crime

How was sumerian culture spread through Mesopotamia?

A/ by trading with neighboring countries and groups.

Why is the development of a written code of laws important to a society?

A/ so it can bring order and protect the people in a society

How did the need of interact with the environment lead to advances in civilization?

A/ because they needed resources so the more interaction to the enviroment they got to learn and discover different things of the world

Thank you for your attention…