Ancient Mesopotamia centered around family life, religion, and rulers. Family roles were divided by gender, with women responsible for childcare and household tasks. Men had more power and boys were trained for their father's trade. The religion was polytheistic, worshipping gods like Anu, Enki, and Nanna. Major rulers included Gilgamesh, Naram-Sin, and Hammurabi, who established one of the earliest legal codes. Important cities included Babylon on the Euphrates River, known for the Hanging Gardens and later captured by Cyrus the Great.

1. Ancient Mesopotamia
By Meghan Wolff

2. Ancient Mesopotamia is known for the family life,
religion, and their rulers for the land. Without these
three things, Ancient Mesopotamia would not be there.

4. Babylon
• Was on of the most
important cities
– When Hammurabi made
it the capital of his
kingdom was when it
became important
• It was on the Euphrates
River
• The Hanging Gardens
was one of its major
features.
• When Nabonidus was
ruleing, Babylon was
captured by Cyrus the
Great.
– It was use as one of the
administrative capitals of
the Persian Empire.

5. Family Life

6. Women Role’s
• Women rarely acted as an individual
outside of their families.
–Those who acted out were royalty or the
wives of men who had power.
• Women could own there own land, file for
divorce, and own their own businesses.
• The girls in the family took care of the kids,
cleaned the house and made dinner.
–This was to get them ready to be
married off.

7. Men’s Role
• Men are way more powerful than women
• Boys were taught their father’s trade
• If the boys were royal offspring or sons of
rich professionals, they got to go to school.

8. Divorce
• If there is a divorce the man and woman
both would have to pay a fine.
• If there were kids then the woman would face
penalties
• Women could initiate divorce, but had to
prove her husband’s abuse or adultery
– If women were caught they would be killed but
is a man was caught he would be punished
financially

9. Religion

10. Polytheistic Belief
• Polytheistic is a religion that believes in
multiple Gods instead of just one
• They believe in demons that the Gods
created who could be good or evil

11. Gods
An
• King of all the Gods
• God of the sky
• An credited with the
creation of the universe
itself or with Enlil.
Enki
• One of the three most
powerful gods in
Mesopotamia
• God of fresh water and
wisdom
• He was patron of the arts
and crafts and other
achievement of civilization

12. Namma
• Known as the mother of the God Enki
• There is little known about Namma
• She is mainly known for her role in the
cosmogony of early Mesopotamia and
her importance in magic.

13. Nanna
• Also known as Suen or Sin
• God of the moon
– The moon is one of the most important deities
in the wider pantheon of Mesopotamia.
• Symbol is as a bull
– The horizontal crescent of the waxing moon
appearing similar to the horns of the bull

14. Utu/Samas
• Sun God
• Brings light and warmth to the land
– Allowing plants and crops to grow
• God of truth
• He was the son of Nanna and twin brother of Inana
• His wife was Aya (goddess of the dawn)
• He played an essential role in rituals

15. Three Major Rulers

16. Gilgamesh
• Gilgamesh was the son of Priest-King
Lugalbando and Goddess Ninsun
• Gilgamesh was a demi god
• Best known as a hero
• There are numerous tales about him
• His son is Ur-Nungal

17. Naram-Sin
• Naram-Sin means “Beloved of Sin”
• He was the last great King in the Akkadian
Emipre.
• Known as “King of the four corners” and “living
god”
• They believe he only had one son, Shar-Kali-
Sharri
• He is in many stories, legends, and songs.
• Best known for the story The Curse of Agade

18. Hammurabi
• He ruled in central Mesopotamia
• His term was for 42 years
• Hammu means “family” and rapi means “great”
• He proclaimed the earliest and most complete
ancient legal codes
• The code collected 282 laws and standards
• An example of his code:
§ 21 – If a man make a breach in a house,
they shall put him to death in front of that
breach and they shall thrust him therein.

19. Major Land Marks/Myths

20. Hanging Gardens
• The name comes from
the Greek word
kremastos
• Or a Latin word pensilis
(meaning hangs or
overhanging)
• It was built on the
banks of the Euphrates
river Circa.
• They say King
Nebuchadnezzar II
constructed it for his
wife
• The garden was
decorated with gate
guardian figures and
scupltures.

21. Tower of Babel
• This tower was to reach up to heaven.
– The story says that God came down and did
not want them to come up to heaven so he
changed everyones language so they could
not understand one another.
– They had to stop building it then.
• They say it was 91 metres in height.
• Alexander the Great ordered for it to be
demolished in preparation for a reconstruction
that his death forestalled.

22. Fun Facts

23. Facts about Mesopotamia
• Mesopotamia means land between the
rivers
• Known as the beginning of civilization
• Mesopotamia is normally called the
place where history began.
• Each city has their own primary god.
• At the center of each major city was a
temple to the city's god called a ziggurat

24. Continued Facts
• The first civilization was the Sumerians,
then Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians,
and then finally Persians.
• The Sumerians are the ones who created
the wheel
• The buildings, walls, and structures were
made from sun-dried bricks.
• Mesopotamia is part of a larger area that
archeologists call the Fertile Crescent

25. 5 Critical Questions

26. 1. How did your topic fit into
the daily life of your particular
civilization in the era that you
are covering?
Ancient Mesopotamia fits into our daily
life by how there was so many heroic rulers.

27. 2. What was it about your topic
that makes it unique to our
study of world history?
To me, my topic is unique to our study
in the world history by how the people lived.
It is very interesting to learn how the children
where raised and they society.

28. 3. How would you have felt
about your topic if you had
been living during the era you
are covering?
I think I would have actually liked to live
in Ancient Mesopotamia. They had a lot of
very well known rulers and hero’s. The life
style would not be bad, but I would probably
have a problem with taking care of the
house and children everyday.

29. 4. How has your topic changed
over the years?
Ancient Mesopotamia has changed
over the years by how the region is now and
the life style. All the children are aloud to go
to school now. Also they have only one ruler
for the whole region.

30. 5. What new information did
you learn about your topic that
you didn’t already know?
One big thing that I learn was that they
could get divorces. It is interesting that they
would have to pay a fine and if they had
children, only the mother would be
punished. I thought it was awful that if a
mother got caught cheating she would be
kill, but if a father did he would just be
punished.

31. Works Cited
• http://www.ducksters.com/history/mesopota
mia/ancient_mesopotamia.php
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel
• http://www.ancient.eu/gilgamesh/
• mesopotamiamania.weebly.com/family-life-
and-society.html
• http://www.ancientmesopotamians.com/soci
ety-of-mesopotamia.html