Mesopotamia

Mesopotamians

• First settlements date to 4000 B.C. around Sumer (southern Mesopotamia).

• 2700 B.C. – Sumerian king Gilgamesh recorded to exist in the city of Uruk. Ur recorded to exist (city of the biblical Abraham).

• 2340 B.C. – Sargon the Great – Akkadian Empire• 1800 B.C. – Hammurabi leads Babylon and creates first

law code.• 1000 B.C. – Assyrians conquer Babylon. Tablets

recording Epic of Gilgamesh created.• 612 B.C. – Chaldeans conquer Assyrians• 539 B.C. – Persians conquer Chaldeans

The Fertile Crescent• Arc of land between the

Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea in

Southwest Asia• Mesopotamia means

• “land between the rivers”• Tigris River

• Euphrates River

• Both rivers flooded once a year and left thick bed

of silt.–Silt: rich, new soil

•1The Greeks named the region between the Tigris and Euphrates “mesopotamia” after they visited the region.•2. Mesopotamia suffered from droughts and flooding. The Tigris and Euphrates flooding without warning and therefore could randomly destroy towns and villages.•Chaotic flooding led Mesopotamians to develop a pessimistic worldview and feel that the Gods were cruel and harsh.•3. Between 4000 B.C. and 3000 B.C. agricultural villages evolved into cities in northern and southern Mesopotamia.•4. A city-state is a city and its surrounding country side.•5. Each city-state had a protective deity (God or Goddess) that the citizens would worship.•6. Priests gained control over many aspects of Mesopotamian society.•7. Mesopotamia had a wealth of natural resources and few natural barriers, thus it was vulnerable to political upheaval, which led to continuous wars over land during the early centuries.

PoliticalPower of the Priests• Sumer’s earliest

governments were controlled by temple priests– Farmers believed they

needed blessings for success of their crops

– Priests were the middle man for the Gods

– Priests demanded portion of farmer crops as tax

Political

• Later followed

Hereditary rulers: when

the power is passed

down to family

members

Sargon

Economy = Specialization of labor

• Metal tools and weapons (bronze, iron)

• Increasing agricultural surplus (better tools, plows, irrigation)

• Increasing trade along rivers – traded with Egypt

• Development of the world’s first cities

• Invented the wheel, sail,and plow

•First to use bronze.•Developed system of writing•Built irrigation systems, buildings, surveyed flooded fields.

8. An important early region of Mesopotamia was Sumer (southern Mesopotamia).9. The Sumerians are credited with several inventions such as the wheel, plow, and writing. 10. As Mesopotamians developed an agricultural society the importance of maintaining records for business transactions and storage led to the development of cuneiform writing.11. The Epic of Gilgamesh deals with one man’s search for immortality and the realization that all men die and thus death is inevitable.

Epic of GilgameshEpic poems about myths and legends of MesopotamiaOne of the earliest works of literature in the world

“Gilgamesh, whither are you wandering?Life, which you look for, you will never find.For when the gods created man, they letDeath be his share, and withheld lifeIn their own hands”

Religion• Polytheistic: • Belief in Many Gods • Built impressive ziggurats or

temples to sacrifice food, wine and animals

• Belief that souls of the dead wandered in the land of no return

12. Ziggurats served as religious shrines to glorify a ruler and symbolically connect the heavens with the earth. Ziggurats were also used as storage houses for grains and other taxes collected by priests and rulers.13. In art and archaeology a register is a vertical level of work that consists of different levels that are clearly separated by lines. Comic books use this form.14. The vessels from Uruk show a highly structured and organized agricultural society in which religion dominates daily life. The need for organization and structure must have dominated Mesopotamian society because large scale agricultural construction projects would require central organization by a leader or group of leaders. The belief in the connection between deities and agriculture is evidenced by the images of priests carrying baskets of food as offerings to the gods.15. Votive figures were images dedicated to the gods. They were used in place of humans for the purposes of continued worship. 16. The wide eyes, erect posture, and clasping of hands in front of their chests suggests a form of reverence and prayer. 17.Lapis lazuli had to be imported and thus suggests that Mesopotamia was trading with other cultures.

Sumerian Society

Kings and Priests

Wealthy merchants

Ordinary Sumerian people

Slaves

Women

• Could hold property• Join lower ranks of

priesthood• There were few women

scribes

18. Cylindar seals were used to verify business transactions.

19. The figure represented in this sculpture was possibly mutilated to take away its power.

20. The stele shows one man leading an army up a mountain side. The army is killing anyone in the way. The leader is at the head of the procession of soldiers and is larger than the others. Images of stars look over the march as the leader moves towards the heavens. The stele suggests that the leader is powerful and linked with the gods.

21. The Babylonian leader Hammurabi developed the first code of laws.

22. Early Mesopotamian society was plagued by war and lawlessness; thus, Hammurabi created laws to maintain order.

23. The laws of Hammurabi were not equal and favored the rich and powerful over the average citizen or slave and men over women.

24. The Assyrians were conquerors and their art depicts their elaborate strongholds, warlike attitude and their battle tactics.

Pictures Cited• Slide 1 - http://www.mayfairgames.com/mfg-shop/phalanx/pics/pha6016-cl.jpg

• Slide 3 - http://www.hawaii.edu/ahead/Iraq%20General/mesopotamia.jpg

• Slide 4 – http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~patters/culinary/media/fertilec.jpg

• Slide 5 – http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en-commons/thumb/a/a5/288px-Tigr-euph.png

• Slide 6 – http://individual.utoronto.ca/CLA160Y/Images/TellAsmarFig.jpg

• Slide 7 – http://www.mysteriousworld.com/Content/Images/Journal/2003/Autumn/Osiria/Sargon180.gif

• Slide 8 – http://www.cetis.ac.uk/members/accessibility/meetings/2006/sig14/sig14images/ah5jpg

• Slide 9 – http://questgarden.com/52/41/5/070613164641/images/ziggurat1.gif

• Slide 10 – http://www.meridianmagazine.com/ideas/images/ur3.jpg, http://todoweb2002.iespana.es/ceramica/mesopotamia/ziggurat.jpg

• Slide 11 – Made by Clara Kim

• Slide 12 – http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/m/images/mesopot_sumer_asmarfigs_lg.jpg

• Slide 13 – http://www.allaboutarchaeology.org/images/epic-of-gilgamesh.jpg

• Slide 14 – www.archaeology.org

• Slide 15 –http://siteresources.worldbank.org/NEWS/Images/071506-Mtwango-Irrigation.JPG