section 1-civilization begins in mesopotamia akkadian warrior

Section 1-Civilization Begins in Mesopotamia

Akkadian Warrior

Chapter 2-Western Asia and Egypt-3500-500 B.C

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Key EventsAs you read, look for the key events in the history of Southwest Asia and Egypt.

• The Sumerians in Mesopotamia were among the first groups to build a civilization, and they were the first to develop a system of writing.

• Due in large part to the Nile, early Egyptian civilization was stable and prosperous. Massive monuments, the pyramids, were built to honor the deaths of the pharaohs.

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Key EventsAs you read, look for the key events in the history of Southwest Asia and Egypt.• The Israelites emerged as a distinct people.



• Of the other empires that came into being in Southwest Asia, the longest lasting and most powerful were the Assyrian and Persian Empires.

The Impact TodayThe events that occurred during this time period still impact our lives today.



• The peoples of Mesopotamia and Egypt built cities and struggled with the problems of organized government.

• The Israelites developed a major world religion, which influenced the development of Christianity and Islam and has a continuing effect on Western civilization.

Chapter ObjectivesAfter studying this chapter, you should be able to:



• explain the impact of geography.

• describe the significance of religion.

• list major sets of laws.

• name the first empires and why they declined.

• list characteristics of life in these societies.

• describe the effects of wars and conquests.

Chapter ObjectivesAfter studying this chapter, you should be able to:• identify the importance of early inventions.

• Mesopotamia, one of the first civilizations, began between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

• The Sumerians formed city-states and created forms of communication that affect our lives today.

Main Ideas



Civilization in Mesopotamia Begins

Key Termscity-state

ziggurat

theocracy

empire

patriarchal

polytheistic

cuneiform

Sumerians

People to IdentifySargon

Hammurabi

Tigris River

Places to LocateFertile Crescent

Uruk

Babylon

Euphrates River

Mesopotamia




Akkadians

• How did geography affect the civilizations in Mesopotamia?

Preview Questions

• How did the Akkadian Empire begin?




Preview of Events Civilization in Mesopotamia Begins

One of the most interesting objects discovered by archaeologists in the Mesopotamian city of Ur was the so-called “Standard of Ur,” a wooden box decorated with images of peace on one side and images of war on the other. The box’s beauty testifies to the artistic talent of the Sumerians.

(pages 37–38)(pages 37–38)

The Impact of Geography • Mesopotamia is at the eastern end of the Fertile

Crescent, an arc of land from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf.

• Mesopotamia (“between the rivers”) is the valley between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

• These rivers often overflow and leave silt, which makes the soil rich for a flourishing agricultural economy.

• Mesopotamian civilization was one of history’s important early civilizations to grow in a river valley.





The Impact of Geography (cont.)

• People in Mesopotamia, therefore, developed a system of drainage ditches and irrigation works.

• The resulting large food supply made possible significant population growth and the emergence of civilization in Mesopotamia.

• Developing consistent agriculture required controlling the water supply.

(pages 37–38)(pages 37–38)



• Mesopotamian civilization involved many peoples.

• The Sumerians developed the first Mesopotamian civilization.

• Ancient Mesopotamia covered three general areas: Assyria, Akkad, and Sumer. Several peoples lived in these areas.

The Impact of Geography (cont.)

(pages 37–38)(pages 37–38)



• These states controlled the surrounding countryside politically and economically.

• City-states were the basic political unit of the Sumerian civilization.

• By 3000 B.C. the Sumerians had formed a number of city-states centered around cities such as Ur and Uruk.

The City-States of Ancient Mesopotamia

(pages 38–40)(pages 38–40)



The City-States of Ancient Mesopotamia (cont.)

• Using them they invented the arch and the dome and built some of the largest brick buildings in the world.

• The most important building in each city was the temple.

• Often it was built on top of a massive stepped tower called a ziggurat.

• The Sumerians built largely with mud bricks.

(pages 38–40)(pages 38–40)



• The Sumerian state was a theocracy, then–a government by divine authority.

• Priests and priestesses were important figures politically as well as religiously.

• Eventually, ruling power passed more into the hands of kings, who traced their authority back to the divine.

• Sumerians believed gods and goddesses owned and ruled the cities.


(pages 38–40)(pages 38–40)



• The invention of the wheel around 3000 B.C. facilitated trade.

• The Sumerian economy was principally agricultural, but industry (metalwork and woolen textiles, for example) and trade were important.


(pages 38–40)(pages 38–40)



• Nobles included the royal family, royal officials, priests, and their families.

• Commoners worked for large estates as farmers, merchants, fishers, and craftspeople. Around 90 percent of the people were farmers.

• Slaves principally worked on large building projects, wove cloth, and worked the farms of the nobles.

• The Sumerian city-states had three classes: nobles, commoners, and slaves.


(pages 38–40)(pages 38–40)



(pages 40–41)(pages 40–41)

Empires in Ancient Mesopotamia • The Akkadians lived north of the Sumerian city-

states. • The Akkadians are called a Semitic people

because they spoke a Semitic language.

• Around 2340 B.C., the leader of the Akkadians, Sargon, conquered the Sumerian city-states and set up the world’s first empire.



Empires in Ancient Mesopotamia

• In 1792 B.C., Hammurabi of Babylon, a city-state south of Akkad, established a new empire over much of both Akkad and Sumer.

• An empire is a large political unit that controls many peoples and territories.

(pages 40–41)(pages 40–41)

(cont.)



• It calls for harsh punishments against criminals.

• The principle of retaliation (“an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”) is fundamental in Hammurabi’s code.

(pages 41–42)(pages 41–42)

• The Code of Hammurabi is one of the world’s most important early systems of law.

The Code of Hammurabi



The Code of Hammurabi (cont.)

• A crime committed against a noble brought a harsher punishment than the same crime committed against a commoner.

• Hammurabi’s code punished public officials who failed in their duties or were corrupt.

• It also had what we would call consumer protection provisions, for example, holding builders responsible for the quality of their work.

• Punishments varied according to social status.

(pages 41–42)(pages 41–42)




• The largest group of laws in the code covered marriage and the family.

• Parents arranged marriages, and the bride and groom had to sign a marriage contract to be officially married.

• If a building collapsed and killed someone, the builder was executed. Damages had to be paid to people injured.

(pages 41–42)(pages 41–42)




• Women had fewer privileges and rights than men.

• The code also enforced obedience of children to parents.

• A father could cut off the hand of a son who had hit him, for example.

• Hammurabi’s code expresses the patriarchal nature of Mesopotamian society.

(pages 41–42)(pages 41–42)



(page 42)(page 42)

The Importance of Religion • Due to the harsh physical environment and

famines, Mesopotamians believed that the world was controlled by often destructive supernatural forces and deities.

• The Mesopotamians were polytheistic because they believed in many gods and goddesses.

• They identified three thousand of them.



The Importance of Religion (cont.)

• Sumerians believed that human beings were created to do the manual labor the gods and goddesses were not willing to do.

• As inferior beings, people could never be sure what the deities might do to help or hurt them.

• Human beings were to serve and obey the gods and goddesses.

(page 42)(page 42)



• They created a system of writing called cuneiform (“wedge-shaped”).

• They used a reed stylus to make wedge-shaped markings on clay tablets, which were then baked in the sun.

(pages 42–43)(pages 42–43)

• The Sumerians were important inventors.

The Creativity of the Sumerians



The Creativity of the Sumerians (cont.)

• A new class of scribes (writers and copyists) arose.

• Being a scribe was the key to a successful career for an upper-class Mesopotamian boy.

• Writing also passed on cultural knowledge from generation to generation, sometimes in new ways.

(pages 42–43)(pages 42–43)

• Writing was used for record keeping, teaching, and law.



• The Epic of Gilgamesh, the most important piece of Mesopotamian literature, teaches the lesson that only the gods are immortal.


(pages 42–43)(pages 42–43)

• Gilgamesh is wise and strong, a being who is part human and part god.

• Gilgamesh befriends a hairy beast named Enkidu.

• When Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh feels the pain of his friend’s death, and he searches for the secret of immortality.

• He fails.



• In mathematics they invented a number system based on 60, and they made advances in applying geometry to engineering.

• In astronomy, the Sumerians charted the constellations using their number system of 60.

• The Sumerians invented important technologies, such as the wagon wheel.


(pages 42–43)(pages 42–43)

section 1-civilization begins in mesopotamia akkadian warrior

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