FIRST CIVILIZATIONSMESOPOTAMIA AND EGYPT

6,000 YEARS AGO IN THE MIDDLE EAST.

AGRICULTURAL AND COMMERCIAL PROSPERITY =

URBAN CIVILIZATIONS

THE FIRST CITY STATE WAS IN SUMER BETWEEN THE TIGRIS

AND EUPHRATES RIVERS

CITY-STATES (UR, URUK, LAGASH) WERE DEPENDENT ON RIVERS TO

FARM. SOME PEOPLE WERE CRAFTSMEN. TRADE LED

TO THE INVENTION OF MONEY

COMMANDERS WHO TOOK OVER CITY STATES (FOR POWER)

BECAME THE FIRST MONARCHS (KINGS)

THE FIRST FOUR EMPIRES WERE THE AKKADIAN EMPIRE, THE

BABYLONIAN EMPIRE, THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE, AND THE

PERSIAN EMPIRE IN MESOPOTAMIA BETWEEN 3RD AND 1ST MILLENNIUM

THE TEMPLE (ZIGGURAT) WAS BUILT TO WORSHIP THE

GODS. PRIESTS LIVED THERE.

THE ZIGGURAT AND THE PALACE WERE THE MAIN BUILDINGS IN

THE CITY STATES. THEY WERE MADE OF ADOBE AND COVERED

IN BITUMEN.

GLAZED CERAMICS DECORATED THEZIGGURAT. WORSHIPPING MEN AND

WOMEN WORSHIPPING WERE SCULPTURES, OR REPRESENTATIONS

OF KING GUDEA WERE SCULPTURES.

THE LARGEST CONTRIBUTIONS OF THESE URBAN CIVILIZATIONS

WERE THE ARCH AND THE VAULT, THEY MADE MORE BUILDING

POSSIBILITIES.

ANOTHER BIG CONTRIBUTION WAS HAMMURABI’S CODE.

HAMMURABI’S CODE WAS A CODE FOR BABYLONIAN LAW AND WRITTEN IN AKKADIAN.

SOME OF THE LAWS ARE:

IF A SON STRIKES HIS FATHER, HIS HANDS WILL BE CUT OFF.

SOME OF THE LAWS ARE:

IF A MAN PUTS OUT THE EYE OF ANOTHER MAN, HIS EYE WILL BE

PUT OUT. AN EYE FOR AN EYE.

SOME OF THE LAWS ARE:

IF A MAN BREAKS ANOTHER MANS BONE, HIS BONE WILL BE

BROKEN.

SOME OF THE LAWS ARE:

IF A MAN KNOCKS OUT ANOTHER MANS TEETH, HIS TEETH WILL BE KNOCKED OUT. A TOOTH FOR A

TOOTH.

HAMMURABI’S CODE DID NOT TREAT SLAVES AS EQUALS. IF A

WRONG WAS DONE TO A SLAVE, THE MAN WHO COMMITTED THE

CRIME HAD TO PAY THEIR MASTER HAVE OF THEIR COST.

HAMMURABI’S CODE IS WRITTEN ON 12 TABLETS (STELES).

HAMMURABI’S CODE HAS 282 LAWS. IT IS KEPT IN THE LOUVRE MUSEUM (LARGEST MUSEUM IN

THE WORLD) IN PARIS, FRANCE.

SIMPLY PUT, HAMMURABI’S CODE IS: AN EYE FOR AN EYE, A

TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.