The Fertile Crescent

A section in the Middle East – it extends from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf

A rich food growing area in part of the world where most of the land is too dry for farming.

Fertile Crescent

Mesopotamia

The best farmland in the Fertile Crescent

It is a narrow strip of land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

Mesopotamia means “between rivers”

Waterfront Living

Most people live near water. People need water for drink, food, cleaning and

transportation. Some examples include:

EgyptEgypt Nile RiverNile RiverNew York CityNew York City New York HarborNew York HarborChicagoChicago Lake MichiganLake MichiganLos AngelesLos Angeles Pacific OceanPacific Ocean

Civilizations

A surplus of food – When people have enough food, they begin to develop other needs.

Division of Labor – When people have one job, they tend to do that job very well. They are also more likely to choose a job in a field they enjoy.

Civilizations ContinuedOrganized Government and Religion –

When people have the same laws, it is easier to trade. People living under the same government, or having the same religious beliefs are likely to have the same values.

Writing – This allowed societies to keep records and communicate.

The Sumerians

Most likely nomads

Nomads – travel in small groups until they have eaten the food that grows wild and hunted the animals in the area. When food is no longer plentiful, they move to a new area.

Sumerians LearnedPlanting seeds and plowing land, they were able

to grow crops.

To domesticate, or tame animals to help them plow their lands.

To invent, they invented the wheel, which made it possible to carry heavy loads.

To use irrigation, this is a way to bring water to crops to grow more food.

City-States

City-States – are nations the size of cities that have their own government and traditions.

Walls around each city-state protected the citizens from outside invaders.

Sumerians

Polytheistic – they believed in many gods.

AnuAnu god of the heavensgod of the heavensEnlilEnlil god of windgod of windEnkiEnki god of watergod of waterNinhursagNinhursag mother of all godsmother of all gods

Sumerians

Ziggurats – huge temples where citizens worshiped their gods.

Ziggurats were believed by many people in Mesopotamia to link the heavens and the Earth.

Ziggurat

Numbering of YearsToday we live in 2010, which is sometimes

written AD2010.

AD – refers to the term anno Domini, or “the year of the Lord”.

The years before the birth of Christ are numbered backward from His birth.

We refer to these year as BC – before Christ.

Sumerian Writing -- CuneiformSumerians marked pictograph symbols

into soft pieces of clay with a pointed reed.

Sumerians then baked the clay tablets to make them hard.

Sumerians called their writing cuneiform, which means wedged shape, because the marks in the clay were wedges.

Cuneiform

Writing allowed civilizations to develop

Allowed people to keep records of transactions.

Allowed people to send messages with couriers to far away places without traveling.

Allowed people to pass on their accumulated knowledge to future generations.

Gilgamesh

This is an ancient poem written in Mesopotamia. The poem tells of a great flood that covers the earth many years earlier, making it similar to the story of Noah in the Old Testament in the Bible.

The themes of this ancient poem include: friendship, love, happiness, and death.

Hammurabi

Hammurabi – was the king of the city-state Babylon.

Hammurabi conquered the nearby city-states and created the kingdom of Babylon.

Code of Hammurabi System of Laws

The 282 laws were engraved in stone and placed in a public location for everyone to see.

Hammurabi required that everyone be responsible for their own actions.

Some of Hammurabi’s were based on the principle “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth”

If someone put out another person’s eye, then their eye If someone put out another person’s eye, then their eye would be put out in return. would be put out in return.

AssyriansLived upstream on the Tigris River from the

Babylonians.

Developed powerful armies with iron weapons.

Cut off water supply to Babylon, used chariots, and battering rams to help in their battles.

In time, the Medes and Persians conquered the Assyrians.