6. Mesopotamia
QuickTimeª and a
• “Mesopotamia”
decompressor
are needed to see this picture. comes from Greek
– “meso” = between
– “potamoi” = rivers
• Left: Tigris-Euphrates river
basin
• Mesopotamia was located between the Tigris
and Euphrates rivers in the Bronze Age
• Called the “Cradle of Civilization”
• First settled around 6000 BCE
7. Inventions from the Fertile
Crescent
• Writing • Mathematics
• Trade – Times tables
– Squares, square
• Secondary roots
occupations – Quadratics
• The Calendar – Fractions
– The sundial • Laws
• Cities • The Wheel
• Architecture • Irrigation
• Temples
8. Rich soil > Farming > Irrigation
• The fertile crescent was rich in nutrients
for farming
• The rivers flooded often, meaning
nutrient-rich silt constantly replenishes
the soil
• This soil was excellent for farming
• Mesopotamia invented levees to protect
against flooding, which became complex
irrigation systems
• The native plants in the area happened to
be mostly edible
9. Lack of natural resources > trade > writing
> the wheel > taxes
• The fertile crescent was not very rich in
natural resources like wood and metal
• This deficiency forced inhabitants to trade
with others
• Writing was invented largely to record
trades, like ancient stone receipts
• The wheel was invented to help people
carry goods to trade from one place to
another more easily
• Taxes were invented to collect money for
the city from trade
10. Fertility > Cities > Law >
Architecture
• Before this point, people were mostly
nomadic hunter-gatherers
• The discovery of the fertile crescent and
its ideal growing climate meant people
settled more
• Cities were created to house more people
on a permanent basis
• Laws were established to keep order, e.g.
Hammurabi’s Code
• Stronger structures were needed to hold
up bigger buildings, e.g. arches
11. More people > Cities >
Secondary Sector Industry >
Wages
• Until now, most people were
shepherds, hunters, gatherers, or
farmers
• Cities meant jobs like soldiers,
smiths, and authors
• Wages were paid in grain from
farmers, a form of proto-socialism
12. Trade > Math > The Calendar
> The Sundial
• Math was invented to assist in trades
• The Mesopotamians used a base-60 system,
inventing squares, roots, times tables,
trigonometry, quadratic equations..
• Sound familiar? This is thought to be the reason
there are 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a
day, and 360 degrees in a circle
• They also were the first to use a seven-day
week, to keep track of which they invented the
sundial
13. Unpredictable conditions >
Flooding > Religions
• The natural conditions of the fertile
crescent were unpredictable and
occasionally violent
• Flooding was especially dangerous
• The people of Mesopotamia believed in
many gods, and prayed to them to send
rain and prevent disasters
• Pyramid-like temples called ziggurats
• This is believed to be one of the world’s
earliest religions, and the first temples
14. • Mesopotamia today is
no longer very fertile
• The only land
retaining its fertility is
Egypt’s Nile River
Valley
• Longtime irrigation may have deposited mineral
salts over the fields, effectively killing them
• Overcrowding led to pollution and war
• Modern-day damming of rivers by Turkey and
Syria and draining of the river basin in 2003
15. • The Cradle of
Civilization is now
situated in
Eastern Iraq and
Syria,
• Baghdad is
located in the
center
Baghdad • Modern day
Mesopotamia is a
war zone
16. So why does it matter?
• The nutrient-rich soil, lack of natural
resources, and unpredictable conditions
led to a society somewhat similar to our
own, almost 8000 years in the past
• Without these conditions in the Fertile
Crescent, our civilization might be very
different
• Of course eventually we would have
developed trade, math, and religion
• They would have been radically different
