Civilization first began in Mesopotamia due to favorable environmental conditions. The flooding and sediment deposition of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers enriched the soil and made agriculture possible. As populations grew, people constructed irrigation systems to control floods and produce surplus food, allowing cities and complex societies to form. The first major Sumerian city of Uruk reached a population of 50,000 by 2700 BCE, with ziggurats and temples dominating the landscape. Social stratification developed between nobles, commoners, and slaves. Writing, law, trade, and many innovations originated in early Mesopotamian societies, laying the foundations for later civilizations.

1. Civilization Begins in Mesopotamia:
Short Answers and Essential Question

3.  little rain, but soil enriched by layers of silt
deposited by the overflowing of the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers
 flooding , due to spring run-off, was
unpredictable, and sometimes caused
damaging floods
 people learned how to control the flooding
(irrigation and drainage ditches) made it
possible to grow an abundance food
 promoted agriculture and supported cities,
where trade and industry could thrive

4.  first Sumerian city with population of 50,000
people by 2700 B.C.
 walled city with defensive towers and
dwellings made of mud bricks
 dwellings of different sizes, indicating a social
structure consisting of peasants and of people
with higher status (city officials, priests &
priestesses)

5.  most prominent building in a Sumerian city
was the temple dedicated to the chief god or
goddess of the city, often built atop a ziggurat
 priest or priestess who supervised this temple
had great power (surplus food and crafts
stored here)
 Sumerians believed that gods ruled their cities
 even when ruled by a king, it was believed that
these rulers derived their power from the gods
(divine authority)

6.  farming
 trade (bartered with civilizations in Eastern
Mediterranean and India wool, barley, dried
fish, wheat and metal goods for imported
copper, tin and timber)
 industry (tools and jewelry made of bronze)

7.  nobles (royalty and priests & their families)
 commoners (servants, farmers, merchants,
fishers, and artisans)
 slaves (used for building projects, weaving,
grinding grain, as workers for rich landowners)

8. achievement effect on our lives today
cuneiform (Sumerian form of writing) basis for modern forms of
communication
the wheel cars, trucks, etc. still use wheels

9.  potters wheel
 sundial
 first to use bronze
 devised a number system based on 60
 used geometry to measure fields & erect
buildings
 charted the heavenly constellations

10.  If anyone commits a robbery and is caught,
then he shall be put to death.
 If a man wishes to separate from a woman who
has borne him children, or from his wife who
has borne him children, then he shall give that
wife her dowry, and a part of the usufruct (right
of use) of field , garden, and property, so that
she can rear her children.
 If a man put out the eye of another man, his
eye shall be put out.

11.  severe penalties for criminal offenses
 officials held strictly accountable for enforcing
laws
 regulated marriage
 patriarchal society
 women had rights (although not as many as
men)

12. characteristic evidence in Mesopotamia? time (approximate)
cities? Eridu, Ur, Uuk 3500-500 B.C.
government? kings, Code of Hammurabi
religion? priests & priestesses, ziggurat, 2100 B.C.
social structure? nobles, commoners, slaves 3500-500 B.C.
writing? cuneiform 3500 B.C.
art? Epic of Gilgamesh, Standard of Ur 2700 B.C.

13. The Deluge tablet of the Gilgamesh epic in
Akkadian

14. depicting a a border skirmish (excavated in Ur in 1920 – now in British Museum

15. portrays a banquet scene – attendants parade animals, fish, and other goods
(possibly war booty) before seated figures, while a lyrist entertains the throng