Mesopotamia, meaning "between rivers" in Greek, refers to the region located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that largely corresponds to modern day Iraq. Early settlers formed small villages and towns that grew into large cities as they learned irrigation and agriculture. New inventions like writing developed to help govern the growing cities, giving rise to one of the earliest human civilizations. King Hammurabi was an early ruler of Mesopotamia, famous for establishing one of the first legal codes. The Mesopotamians invented many technologies still in use today like wheels, boats, plows, calendars, and money. They also developed early systems of math and established pantheons of gods.

2. • The name Mesopotamia means "between
rivers" because it is located between the
Tigris and the Euphrates River.

3. • Mesopotamia is located between the rivers
of Tigris and Euphrates, largely
corresponding to the modern day Iraq, and
also some part of northeastern Syria,
southeastern Turkey, and southeastern Iran.
• It is located in modern day Iraq.

5. Who was the first king?
• King Hammurabi was first
king.

6. • Early settlers in Mesopotamia started to
gather in small villages and towns.
• As they learned how to irrigate land and grow
crops on large farms, the towns grew bigger.
• Eventually these towns became large cities.
• New inventions such as government and
writing were formed to help keep order in the
cities. The first human civilization was
formed.

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Wheels
Chariot
Sailboat
Money
Writing
Seeder Plow
Calandar
Math
Shaduf
Glass

8. • The oldest wheel known was
found in Mesopotamia dated
3,500 BC.
• It was made of planks of
wood joined together.

9. Chariot
• The chariots were one of the wheeled
vehicles that the Mesopotamian
people invented.
• With a great civilization they would
need to get around places faster than
walking.
• So they made a chariot.
• It has a platform for someone to
stand on with wheels and then either
something like a horse or an ox would
pull you along.
• They also would use the chariot to
take very important people around
the city.

10. • Mesopotamians were smart
people.
• They created the sailboat for
getting water from the Tigris
and Euphrates Rivers.
• They also used the sailboat
to go and fish in the rivers.

11. Money
• They invented a kind of money
system by using clay tokens for
trades.
• Tokens were of different sizes
and shapes.
• The tokens were put into a clay
ball with the number of tokens
pressed on the outside.

13. Seeder Plow
• The Mesopotamians also invented
the seeder plow, which was at the
time a revolutionary innovation.
• It allowed the farmer to
simultaneously plow a field and
seed it, drastically reducing the time
to plant and increasing crop
production.

14. • The Mesopotamians Invented the
first calander.
• They used the calandar to see
when they should plant their
crops and when they should
harvest their crops.
• The solar year was divided into
two seasons.
• The summer included the barley
harvest in the second half of May
and the winter roughly
corresponded with our fall /
winter.

15. • The Mesopotamians where
experimenting with ways to
count, measure and solve
mathematical problems.
• They were the first people
to give place values to
numbers.
• They were first to recognize
the concept of zero.

16. • The shaduf is a structure that helps
transport water from a river or lake into a
ditch or canal.
• On one end there is a large rock, which acts
as a weight, and on the other is a bucket.
• The weight balances out the weight of the
water in the bucket so it is effortless to
move.
• The bucket dips into the water, then a
person rotates the Shaduf so its over a
ditch and then they dump the water into
the ditch.
• The water falls into the ditch and is
directed to the needed area.

17. • One day some sailors were going to go ashore to rest
and cook something to eat.
• They gathered some wood and started a fire.
• They were on a beach so the wood and the fire were
on top of sand. Surprisingly, the sand under the fire
started to melt and this liquid started to run down.
• After it cooled, it hardened and turned into a clear
hard object.
• The Mesopotamians used the glass for art and initially
they didn't use the glass for drinking out of.
• After the Mesopotamian’s discovered glass they
started to use the glass for more high tech weapons
sutch as dagers, spears and chariots.

18. Gods of Mesopotamian
• Sumerian Gods
• Babylonian Gods
• Assyrian Gods

19. Sumerian Gods
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Anu - Sometimes called An, Anu was the god of the heavens and king of the
gods. The city associated with Anu was Uruk.
Enlil - The god of air, wind, and storms, Enlil held the Tablets of Destiny. These
tablets gave him control over the fate of man and made him very powerful. He
wore a crown with horns. He was associated with the city of Nippur.
Enki - Enki was the shaper of the world as well as god of wisdom, intellect, and
magic. He invented the plough and was responsible for making plants grow. He
is drawn holding Zu, the storm bird. He was god of the city of Eridu.
Utu - The god of the sun as well as justice and the law, Utu is drawn holding a
saw like instrument. Mythology says that Utu travels across the world each day
in a chariot.
Inanna - Inanna was the goddess of love and war. Her symbol is a star with eight
points. Her primary city was Uruk, but she was also prominent in the city of
Babylon.
Nanna - Nanna was also called Sin. He was god of the moon. His home was the
city of Ur.

20. • Marduk - Marduk was the primary god of the Babylonians and
had Babylon as his main city. He was considered the supreme
deity over all the other gods. He had as many as 50 different
titles. He was sometimes pictured with his pet dragon.
• Nergal - God of the underworld, Nergal was an evil god who
brought war and famine on the people. His city was Kuthu.
• Tiamat - Goddess of the sea, Tiamat is drawn as a huge dragon.
Marduk defeated her in battle.
• Shamash - The Babylonian version of Utu
• Ea - Same as Enki

21. • Ashur (Assur) - The primary god of the Assyrians. He
was also the god of war and married to the goddess
Ishtar. His symbols are a winged disc and the bow
and arrow.
• Ishtar - Similar to Inanna, she was goddess of love
and war.
• Shamash - The Assyrian version of Utu
• Elil - The Assyrian version of Enlil.
• Ea - Same as Enki