THE ANCIENT SOCIETIES OF MESOPOTAMIA

• MESOPOTAMIA MEANS’ “LAND BETWEEN THE RIVERS”

• IT IS USED TO DESCRIBE THE LAND BETWEEN THE TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES RIVER

• MESOPOTAMIA IS IN THE EASTERN PART OF THE AREA CALLED THE FERTILE CRESCENT

EFFECTS OF GEOGRAPHY ON CIVILIZATION IN MESOPOTAMIA

• NO NATURAL BARRIERS – THE PEOPLE OF MESOPOTAMIA WERE INVADED FREQUENTLY

• NEWCOMERS CONTRIBUTED TO CULTURE• NO STONE – LACK OF STONE MEANT PEOPLE USED SUN

DRIED CLAY BRICKS FOR BUILDING AND CLAY TABLETS FOR WRITING

• ABUNDANCE OF WATER - ENCOURAGED PEOPLE TO SETTLE DOWN AND STAY

• FREQUENT FLOODS – MEANT PEOPLE HAD TO ORGANIZE GOVERNMENTS TO BUILD DIKES AND CANALS

SUMERIANS• EARLIEST KNOWN PEOPLE OF

MESOPOTAMIA• ESTABLISHED SMALL CITY-

STATES AROUND 4000 B.C.• CITY-STATES WERE

CONSTANTLY AT WAR WITH EACH OTHER

• BUILT MUD BRICK WALLS AND TOWERS FOR DEFENSE

• OLDEST AND LARGEST WAS UR

ANCIENT FESTIVAL IN UR

CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE SUMERIANS

• CUNEIFORM WRITING – A SHARP POINTED STICK CALLED A STYLUS WAS USED TO DRAW WEDGED SHAPED CHARACTERS INTO SOFT CLAY TABLETS, WHICH WERE THEN BAKED TO HARDEN.

• CUNEIFORM ALPHABET HAD ABOUT 550 LETTERS

• DEVELOPED A NUMBER SYSTEM BASED ON 60. TODAY WE USE THIS UNIT TO MEASURE TIME

• ARCHITECTURE – SUMERIANS INVENTED THE ARCH AND A TYPE OF PYRAMID CALLED A ZIGGURAT.

• DEVELOPED THE WHEEL

A ZIGGURAT

SUMERIAN RELIGION

• SUMERIAN CITY STATES WERE THEOCRACIES

• RELIGION WAS POLYTHEISTIC

• THE ZIGGURAT WAS THE CENTER OF GOVERNMENT & RELIGION

EPIC OF GILGAMESH

ONE OF THE OLDEST KNOWN WORKS OF LITERATURE, THE EPIC POEM OFGILGAMESH TELLS THE STORY OF GILGAMESH, A KING, AND HIS FRIENDSHIPWITH ENKIDU, A WILDMAN MADE BY THE GODS.

BABYLONIANS

• BABYLON – ONE OF THE CITY STATES OF MESOPOTAMIA

• ABOUT 1750 B.C. KING HAMMURABI CONQUERED THE OTHER CITY STATES OF MESOPOTAMIA

• HAMMURABI ESTABLISHED THE BABYLONIAN EMPIRE

• BABYLONIAN EMPIRE WAS OVERTHROWN BY INVADERS AROUND 1700 B.C.

ANCIENT BABYLON

HAMMURABI

• ALTHOUGH THE REIGN OF THE BABYLONIANS WAS SHORT, THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF HAMMURABI AND THE BABYLONIANS WERE GREAT

CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE BABYLONIANS

• CODE OF HAMMURABI – OLDEST KNOWN LEGAL SYSTEM

1. AN EYE FOR AN EYE2. DIVISION OF CLASSES – HARSHER PUNISHMENT CRIME

AGAINST NOBLES & PRIESTS3. FAIR TREATMENT OF WOMEN – THEY COULD OWN

PROPERTY AND BUSINESSES4. BUSINESS LAW – GOVERNED WAGES, CONTRACTS,

INTERESTS AND PROPERTY

CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE BABYLONIANS

• OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS INCLUDE:1. ASTRONOMY & ASTROLOGY– BELIEVED THEIR

ANCESTORS CAME FROM THE STARS, SO THEY STUDIED THE MOVEMENTS OF THE HEAVENS VERY CLOSELY. DATA THEY RECORDED WAS LATER ESSENTIAL TO ASTRONOMY

2. RELIGIOUS LITERATURE – BABYLONIAN EPICS BUILT ON THE SUMERIAN GILGAMESH STORIES. THEIR STORIES OF THE CREATION, FIRST MAN AND WOMAN, AND GREAT FLOOD INFLUENCED THE OLD TESTAMENT

Hammurabi’s Code- You be the Judge!

For each of the following events, decide as a team what you think should happen to the person accused.

Be prepared to defend you verdict to the court!

Case #1

What should be done to the carpenter who builds a house that falls and kills the owner?

If a builder builds a house for a man and does not make its construction sound, and the house which he has built collapses and causes the death of the owner of the house, the builder shall be put to death.

Case #2

What should be done about a wife who ignores her duties and belittles her husband?

If the woman has not been careful but has gadded about, neglecting her house and belittling her husband, they shall throw that woman into the water.

Case #3

What should be done when a "sister of god" (or nun) enters the wine shop for a drink?

If a "sister of god" (nun) who is not living in a convent opens a wine shop or enters a wine shop for a drink, they shall burn that woman.

Case #4

What should be done if a son is adopted and then the birth-parents want him back?

If a man takes in his own home a young boy as a son and rears him, one may not bring claim for that adopted son.

Case #5 What happens if a man is unable to

pay his debts?

If a man be in debt and is unable to pay his creditors, he shall sell his wife, son, or daughter, or bind them over to service. For three years they shall work in the houses of their purchaser or master; in the fourth year they shall be given their freedom.

Case #6

What should happen to a boy who slaps his father?

If a son strikes his father, they shall cut off his hand.

Case #7

What happens to the wine seller who fails to arrest bad characters gathered at her shop?

If bad characters gather in the house of a wine seller and she does not arrest those characters and bring them to the palace, that wine seller shall be put to death.

Case #8

How is the truth determined when one man brings an accusation against another?

If any one bring an accusation against a man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river prove that the accused is not guilty, and he escape unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser.

Our Hammurabi’s Code On your blank poster paper, complete the

following assignment. From our discussion on the government system in

Babylon, write a 4 new laws that you think would govern a society in the best possible way. Your laws must be written in complete sentences. The group must decorate their tablet like a Sumerian

ruler would have! Keep the following questions in mind while your

group is creating new laws. Do you feel that this government system is a fair one for

it’s people? Do you think that this type of government would work in

today’s world? Do you think that the US government should be more

like Hammurabi’s?*Your group has 25 minutes to complete your tablet