Mesopotamia Sumer babylon

2. What does
it mean to
be
civilized?
What advantages
did River Valleys
offer for starting
a civilization?
Would YOU settle
here?

3. The Fertile Crescent/Mesopotamia

5. Location, Location, Location!
* FC Today: Iraq, Syria, Jordan
Lebanon, Israel,Turkey & Iran
*FC is horseshoe/crescent shaped
area of good farmland between
Tigris & Euphrates rivers that
stretches from W
Mediterranean to
Persian Gulf

7. Location!
• Don’t write!
• Tigris & Euphrates flow
from E. Turkey
to Persian Gulf.
• Area known
as Mesopotamia
(land btw rivers)

8. • Floods at least once a
year, leaving thick silt
(mud).Very fertile.Flooding
unpredictable
• Desert region
• No barriers
for

11. • Don’t write: Settle 3300 BC
• Good soil, few resources, no
protection & flooding
Write the Solutions!
• Dug irrigation ditches
• Built city walls w/ mud
bricks
*trade tools for raw
materials

12. Farmers built
ODams ---
to control floods
OChannels ---
OWalls *****
OWaterways ***** to water crops
(irrigation)
ODitches *****

13. Barley and dates

14. Sumerians!

15. • By 3000 BC built city-states
-independent cities w/ own
govts & rulers,
& separate
gods
• Share culture
• Ex: Kish,
Lagash,
Ur, Uruk

17. *All CS’s had ziggurat (temple) in
middle
*Govt controlled by zig priests
• Farmers need blessings of gods
for crops & priests were go
betweens
• During war, led by commanders
(eventually became
full time leader)
• Creates a Dynasty- single family
rule

18. • Don’t write!!!
• Built in receding tiers upon a rectangular, oval, or
square platform, the ziggurat was a pyramidal structure
with a flat top. Sun-baked bricks made up the core of
the ziggurat with facings of fired bricks on the outside.
The facings were often glazed in different colors!

19. Built like a wedding cake in
layers!

21. • C/S’s grew wealthy from
surplus food & start trading
• Cities spread & so does
cultural
diffusion- (new
idea/product
spreads from
one culture to
another)

22. Religion
*Polytheistic- many gods
• Gods all powerful
& immortal w/
humans as slaves,
fatalistic,
pessimistic
(build ziggarats, offer sacrifice
of animals,wine)
• Enlil- god of storms/air,
controls cosmos & man

24. Social class structure!
Kings, priests, landowners
Wealthy merchants
Field workers
Slaves (sold as kids or pows)
****Women had rights! Could own
property, be merchants, etc!!!***

25. Cuneiform
1st written epic
Arches,
columns,
ramps, pyramid
shape design
Dev number
system base 60
(time, 360)
Invented wheel,
plow, sail and
use bronze
Inventions & ideas
develop from needs!!

32. • At war from 3000-2000 bc.
• Never recover, but don’t die
out.
• Succeeding rulers use
Sumerian culture

33. Akkadians

34. Akkadians & Sargon
• 2350 BC: SARGON of AKKAD
led his army to conquer c-s of
Sumer & adopted their culture
• Controls Meso & creates first
EMPIRE (brings together people,
nations, or independent states
under 1 ruler)
• Fell apart due to invasions,
fighting & famine after 200
years

36. BABYLON

37. Amorites/Babylonians!
• 2000 BC: nomadic Amorites
invade Sumer & est Babylon
• 1750 BC- Hammurabi of Babylon
creates a uniform code of laws,
carved in stone (stele) & posted
near temples all over
Babylon
To bring about the rule of righteousness
in the land, to destroy the wicked and
the evil doers, so that the strong should
not harm the weak

39. • Steles had intro & conclusion
with 282 specific laws listed
under headings: trade,
business, marriage, family
• Severe punishments apply to
all (but different for rich &
poor,
men &
women)

40. Why do you think the stele were often placed near
temples?
Why were they so large? Why were they in stone?

41. Hittites Don’t Write
• 2000 BC Hittites appear
from Anatolia (high, rocky
platuea w/ minerals, timber
in Turkey)
• Indo-European speakers.
Separate city states create
empire (Hattusas capital)
• Invade T/E around 1600 BC

43. • Tactics:
• 1st to work iron into weapons (had
charcoal & iron ore)
• 2 wheeled chariots, wood frame,
leather
covered, 2-4 horses
• Stalemate w/
Egyptians

45. Phonecians
• Don’t’ write! 1100 BC- Lebanon today!
• Merchants, traders &
seafarers who built CS’s that
competed w/ each other
(Byblos, Tyre, Sidon) all over
Med, sailing to Great Britain &
S. Africa
• Traded goods (wine, weapons,
metals), superb craftsmen
(red/purple dye, wood, ivory)

47. • Create alphabet: phonetic w/
one pic for one sound
• Introduced to trade partners

48. LYDIANS
• Mostly in Anatolia (Tur)
• 1st to coin money of gold &
silver btw 700 BC to 550 BC.
Traders (coins stamped w/ king’s symbol of lion
head & sunburst)
• Destroyed by
Persians

49. • 300 miles N Mesopotamia (descend
from Sumer-Akkadians)
• Aggressive, cruel, constant warfare
to expand use army, control trade
routes! Very rich!
*Defeat Syria, Egypt
Palestine, Babylonia,
Sumer btw 1000 &
Assyrians

51. Military Tactics
• Iron helmets/leather skirts w/
scales, iron swords & iron tipped
spears, shields
• span rivers w/
pontoons, floating
bridges
• Dig under walls
to weaken them
(sappers)

53. 1
3
4
2

54. • March shoulder to shoulder,
shoot arrows, climb ladders.
• Impale/ behead
those not killed
in battle,
*women, kids
murdered
sold into slavery

56. • Don’t write!!!
• Military service compulsory for all,,
• Assyrians invented siege machines, like
battering rams & mobile towers shooting
arrows.
• Supreme Assyrian
god was Ashur
(war god), cruel to
enemies &
merciful with his
believers.

57. • Tiglat Palasar I (1116-1078 BC) "I killed four
giant, powerful bulls in the desert of the Mitanni
land, with my hard bow, my steel sword, and my
sharp arrows... I also killed 10 strong elephant
bulls in Harran on the banks of the Habur River. I
captured 4 living elephants
From the order of the
Ninurta god, I killed in fight,
standing on foot, 120 brave
hearted lions and 800 lions
from my war chariot."

58. Ruling Power
• Officials govern land closest to
Assyria as provinces, made
dependent & chose their rulers
(governors report to central
authority)
• Pay taxes & tribute, destroyed
if don’t

59. • Don’t Write!
• Ninevah was a walled
city 3 x 1 miles long
• Carvings of military campaigns
• King Ashurbanipal created 1st
library w/ 20,000 tablets from FC
(organized by
room, subject
matter)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpKxRJDmnQI

61. • destroyed by Chaldeans
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW9X3P0lbZk

62. • 612 BC-538 BC Chaldeans orNeo-
Babylonians, invade Assyria destroy
Nineveh
• Made Babylon capital (1000 yrs after
Hammurabi) & restore city
• Nebuchadnezzar built Hanging
Gardens of Babylon
• study astronomy (chart star positions)
from ziggurat
• Destroyed by Persians

64. Built garden to please his wife Amytis of Media, who longed for the trees and fragrant plants of her
homeland.[1]
Gardens destroyed by earthquakes. 100 feet ( long by 100 ft wide & built in tiers so
that it resembled a theatre. Vaults constructed under the terraces carried weight of the planted
garden; Highest part garden, (75 feet) was on the same level as the city walls. Roofs of vaults
supported the garden made of stone beams 16 ft long,. Laid over these were a layer of reeds set
in thick tar, then two courses of baked brick bonded by cement, & finally a covering of lead to
prevent the moisture in the soil penetrating the roof.. The earth was levelled off & t planted w/
every kind of tree. Galleries were sunlit, & contained conduits for the water which was raised by
pumps from the river, though no one outside could see it being done

65. Don’t Write! Persians
*Today: Iran (Caspian Sea to
Persian Gulf)
*fertile
farmland
w/ many
minerals
(gold, silver,
copper, lead
lapis lazuli)

66. • 550 BC Cyrus the Great
conquers from Indus to Anatolia
• Kind, tolerant, honors local
customs traditions, religions,
• Allowed Jews to return to Israel

67. • Don’t Write! 530 BC Son Cyrus’ Cambyses conquers Egypt & is
cruel,dies. Brother Smerdis (fake, tries to take over) Darius
knows he is a fake
• Darius, (522 BC) noble in king’s
body guard, seized throne w/ help
of elite soldiers & puts down
revolts
• Conquest!! Conquers
& controls 2500 miles (Afghanistan
into India)

69. *Persia div into 20 provinces,
using homelands, keep their
religion, languages & laws
• Use satrap - gov to rule
locally, plus a mili leader &
tax collector & use spies

70. • Royal Road 1677 miles
(messenger relays)
• METAL coins

71. Zoroastrianism
• Religion started by Zoroaster
(600 BC. Prophet)
• Earth is battleground btw spirit
of good (light) & evil (darkness)
• Each person part of struggle
• Ahura Mazda judges everyone at
end of time on how well you
fought

73. So how did the Mesopotamians
impact us?
Wheels chariot plow
sailboat money writing
Calendar math glass
shaduuf trade library
1st united empires Ziggurats
Irrigation Metal tools
1st written epic transportation
independent city states code of law

76. Hebrews, Israel and Judaism

77. • Palestine:east end of Med
• Hebrews/ Isrealites/Jews lived in
Canaan
(btw Jordan R &
Med Sea)
• Crossroads of ME-
seaports on Red
& Med Seas

78. • Torah tells story of Hebrews
(1st
5 books of
Heb/Christian bible
*1800 BC Abraham chosen by God
to lead/be the “father” of
Hebrews &
move to Canaan.
Wanders for

79. *Don’t write!!
*believe in 1 god,Yaweh (Monotheism)
*had power over all people, not a physical
being
*God looked after Hebrews & given
homeland (Canaan) if they obeyed . This
mutual promise called
the covenant
His Grandson Jacob (aka Israel) had 12 sons, each was leader
of 12 tribes of Israel. 1600 BC Joseph led them to Egypt
due to famine & were enslaved

80. • 1200-1300 BC? Moses led
Isrealites out of Egyptian slavery,
(called the Exodus).
• Given 10 commandments
(social & religious behavior,
new covenant w/ god)
• Wander 40
years &
return to
promised land

81. • Don’t Write!!
• Major beliefs: God’s
mercy
• Live justly with one
another
• Moral life in god’s
laws
• Worship 1 god
• no one above law
• Right conduct
• Interpreted by
prophets

84. • Organized into 12 tribes. Would
unite under judges periodically.
• From 1020-922 BC, Israelites
unite under 3 kings to form
Israel
• 1025 BC: Saul
(1st king) drove
out Philistines

85. • King David- unites tribes, est
Jerusalem as capital
• King Solomon- built trade empire on
Med, building program & big Temple
in Jerusalem for the Ark of the
Covenant
(holds 10
commandments)

87. • Solomon's
projects raised
taxes, strain all
• Solomon dies &
Jews in N Israel
revolt & divides
Is in half:
Israel in N
Judah in S

88. Judah & Israel Fall (DON”T WRITE)
• 783 BC: pay tribute to Assyria
• 722 BC: Israel falls
• 586 BC: Neb destroys Judah &
Jerusalem.
• Jews exiled
to Babylon
(Babylonian
Captivity)

89. • 539 BC: Cyrus the Great
(Persia) conquers Babylon &
allows Jews to return
• Jerusalem
rebuilt 445 BC,
but later
taken
by Greeks,
then Romans

91. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wksHEDgBRnM
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RP2KfewiJA irrigation
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki8S5I83Ccc
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=y4NkTbjrez8&list=PLXxEtktMoV5Fw2XHE3m65LBXHSc_M4Pey bugs
bunny

92. Tiglath Pileser I Reading
1. Describe what you think Tilgath’s personality
is like? How does he wish to be viewed by the
reader?
2. Summarize what happened on this campaign
3. Is this record credible? Why or why not?
4. What does his attitude tell you?
5. Imagine you are the king of Tunabi. How
would you feel as his army approached?
Design a defense plan against Assyrian
technology!
6. How does this writing help to explain why the
Assyrian empire expanded so quickly?

93. Hanging garden
• Long program 53- 1:06 minutes
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=_BUE5jEMfEU
• http://www.unmuseum.org/wonders.htm

94. Design your own Hanging Gardens!
Like Nebuchadnezzar did to make his wife
happy, design your own happy place!
*Where would it be?
*What would it look like?
*What would it have?
*Why would this
make you happy?
Draw it out!
Label it!

95. Bell ringer – 5 minutes
Be sure to include today’s date!

96. Hammurabi!
1. Write down as many school rules as
you can think of!
2. Read through YOUR section of laws. Pick
out 3 that you think are really strange or
have a question about & pick 3 that you
think could exist today
3. What do these laws tell you about society in
Babylon?
4. Using the rest of the laws, answer the DBQ
questions!
5. Create 5 Hammurabi style laws of your own
for school, with punishments!