The earliest civilization in Mesopotamia was the Sumerian civilization in southern Mesopotamia around 3500 BC. The Sumerians established cities like Ur and developed irrigation systems to farm the fertile land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. One of the earliest empires was established by Sargon I of Akkad around 2300 BC when he conquered the Sumerian city-states. Another important Mesopotamian ruler was Hammurabi of Babylon in the 18th century BC, who created one of the earliest codes of law and expanded his empire. Mesopotamian civilizations made significant contributions to math, science, and law that influenced other ancient cultures.

1. Chapter 3: Mesopotamia

2. LESSON 3
1. Introduction to Mesopotamia
2. The Rise of Sumer
3. Sumerian Cities
4. Sumerian Religion/Beliefs
5. Sumerian Education and Family Life
6. Priests and Kings
7. Later Mesopotamian Empires
8. Sargon 1
9. Hammurabi
10. Babylon
11. Mesopotamia Contributions

4. Mesopotamia - the land between the rivers.
The earliest known civilization
Situated between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in
the Middle East (part of Iraq).
The river flows over 1000 miles across the Middle East into
the Persian Gulf.
About 5000 BC, people migrated from the Arabian
Peninsula and Turkey towards Mesopotamia.
The land was fertile and water from the river provided fish
for food.

5. THE RISE OF SUMER
 South Mesopotamia /Sumer.
 The people who settled there about 3500 BC ago were
called Sumerians.
 Sumerians = Short, stocky, black-haired people.
 Earliest known civilization on earth.
 Sumerians learned to control the water from the river
which flooded every spring.
 Built levees. Levees = raised area of soil to keep back
floodwaters.
 In Summer when its dry, to keep water, they poked holes
in the ground.
 Made channels and canals for irrigation - grew wheat,
sesame, date palms and vegetables.

6. SUMERIAN PEOPLE

7. THE RISE OF SUMER
 As population increased, bigger cities were built and
Sumerians became better planners.
 There was no building stone and little timber in Sumer.
Building = made bricks out of mud from river + crushed
reeds + baked under the sun.
 Built many cities. Most famous = Ur.
 The Sumerians were the first city-builders in this area of
the world.

8. Sumerian Cities
 Each Sumerian City was considered a state in itself. Each
city has:
1. Its own God, its own government
2. Its own farmland around it, a wall of bricks with bronze
gates. The gates protected the cities from lions and bandits.
3. Narrow winding streets going to the center of the city.
4. Near the center of the city: Two storey-houses with wooden
balconies for the upper class (priests and merchants).
5. Behind the upper class houses are the middle class’s one
storey houses. Middle class = government officials,
shopkeepers, artisans/skilled workers.
6. Further out - lower class people = farmers, unskilled
workers, fishermen.

9. SUMERIAN CITIES

10. SUMERIAN CITY STATE

11. Sumerian Religion/Beliefs
 At the center of the city was a temple (ziggurat).
 The word means ‘mountain of God’ or ‘hill of heaven’.
 Many square levels made the temple.
 The higher the level, the smaller the square.
 Great stairways lead up to the top which was believed to be
the home of the city’s chief God.
 Only priests enter the home of God.
 Around ziggurat = courts. Courts + ziggurat were
considered the center of Sumerian life.
 Here - Children go to school, goods are kept, the poor were
fed, great events celebrated.

13. ZIGGURAT NEAR UR

14. Sumerian Religion/Beliefs
 Over 3000 Gods. Forces of Nature = wind, rain, flood were
thought of as alive. Because they could not control these
forces, they were believed as Gods.
 There were at first, only Male Gods. Then, there came the
Female Gods.
 The Male Gods had to work hard to please the Female
Gods and so created Humans out of Mud from the river as
slaves.
 Humans’ function = to serve Gods and make them happy.
If Gods were not happy, crops would not grow.
 Lands were owned by city’s God. Only priests know the will
of God.
 Priests also run the administration of land and school.
Priests = powerful.

15. Mesopotamian Gods

16. Sumerian Education
 Only sons of the rich go to schools. Poor people were
farmers and apprentices.
 Schools were made up of rooms called ‘tablet houses’. It’s
called so because there the students learn how to write.
 Students sat on brick benches and wrote with sharp reeds
on clay tablets the size of postcards.
 Sumerian writing - cuneiform (shaped like wedges).
 Writing - to keep track of business deals. At first they knew
each other, then when population grew, they needed a
system.
 Used pictures to represent objects. Then..used writing to
represent ideas. At last..used writing to represent
syllables ; /dog/ /gi/ - doggy

17. Sumerian Education
 Once graduated, a student becomes a scribe or writer
 He works as a public writer, government writers, palace
writers or temple writers.
 Females?... They do not go to school but had rights
to buy and sell property, run business and own and sell
slaves.
 Women handled their husband affairs when they are away.
But husbands are still head of home. So he had liberty to
divorce the wife or sell or rent his wife and children as
slaves for up to 3 yrs.
 Children are expected to support their parents when the
parents become old.

18. Priests and Kings
 At first the priests were the kings.
One of the most famous priest-king
= Gilgamesh of Uruk. He was so
glorified he seemed more god than
human.
 The oldest known story in the world
(written about 1700 BC) was about
Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu.
 The story told about them who
travelled the world and performed
acts of courage.
 Part of the story tells about a great
flood that covered the whole world.
Similar to Noah and the Ark.

19. Priests and Kings
 Priest-kings had advice from an assembly made up of free
men. During war - the assembly will choose one of them as
a military leader to lead the war.
 After war, the military leaders gained more and more
power. They stayed in power even after the war.
 By 3000BC, they took the power of the priests and became
King. Replaced the Priest-kings.
 Later, sons of kings inherit the throne from their fathers.

20. Political:What was the earliest kingdom
in Mesopotamia? The second?

21. Later Mesopotamian Empires
 About 2400BC - the power of Sumer faded. New
civilizations begin to develop in Mesopotamia as
conquerors moved in.
 SARGON 1 - ruler of Akkad (Northern
Mesopotamia).
 About 2300 BC, he moved south and conquered the city
states of Sumer.
 He united Sumer and Akkad and became the King of
Sumer and Akkad.
 His empire covered all of Mesopotamia and so he was the
one who created the world’s first empire.
 Empire = Group of states under one ruler.

22. The Reign of SARGON 1
 Language - Akkadian. Sumerian
language was used only for
worshipping Gods.
 Religion - they worshipped the
Sumerian Gods. They also wrote their
language in Sumerian cuneiform.
 Sargon I ruled his empire for over 50
years. His death marked the fall of the
empire.
 The city states became separated and
rose to power on their own.
 About 1800BC a group of people called
AMORITES built cities near the Tigris-
Euphrates valley.
 One of the cities - Babylon

23. The Reign of HAMMURABI
 The King of Babylon - Hammurabi.
 He conquered Akkad and Sumer and became the ruler of a
New empire
 Worshipped Sumerian Gods as well but the people
changed the Gods’ names to Babylonian names.
Hammurabi
1. Extended his empire to Mediterranean Sea.
2. Changed religion by raising the God of Babylon above all
other gods.
3. Improved irrigation system by building and repairing canals
4. Reorganized the tax system and began a government
program.

24. HAMMURABI

25. The Reign of HAMMURABI
 His best known reform/improvement = code of law. Each
city-state had its own code of law.
 He chose the best laws from each code and combined them
for his empire.
 He appointed royal judges to make sure that the codes were
carried out fairly and justly. Judges who were not honest
were punished.
 His code covered almost everything in daily life. One of the
law says ‘Innocent until proven guilty’. Once proven guilty, a
person is punished.
 Punishment included fines and death sentences. There
were no prison sentences.
 The punishment for the upper class was more severe.

26. BABYLON
 During Hammurabi’s reign, Babylon was an important trade
center.
 Its people exchanged surplus with money or goods they do
not have (Surplus = extra products)
 They brought goods to city markets on donkeys or rafts on
the rivers.
 Traders - came from all over eg. India and China. They paid
gold and silver for Babylonian goods.
 Hammurabi ruled for over 40 years. His reign/period of
power is known as THE GOLDEN AGE OF BABYLON.
 After his death, Mesopotamia was divided again.

27. Mesopotamian Contributions
 From Sumer until the reign of Hammurabi, there were many
influences of Mesopotamia on other civilizations.
- Mesopotamia known as ‘Cradle of Civilization’ (earliest
civilization) because of the inventions, customs and ideas
which were copied and improved upon up till now.
1. Oldest written records.
2. First to write down their laws.
3. Cuneiform - model for other writings.
4. Invented - wheel, plow, sailboat.

28. Mesopotamian Contributions
5. 12 month calendar based on the moon’s cycle.
6. Math - developed number system based on 60 - from
there came 60 minutes, 60 seconds, 360 degree.
7. Clock - that was controlled by drops of water.

29. Hammurabi code of law

31. Cuneiform on clay tablet

33. The Hanging Garden of Babylon

35. The City of Babylon

37. Babylon now