3. Mesopotamia - The Land Between
Two Rivers
Mesopotamia was a place where many cities began to grow. As
its name suggests, Mesopotamia was located between two
rivers. The two rivers were the Tigris River and the Euphrates
River.
Mesopotamia was located in the Middle East, and surrounded
by desert. People came to Mesopotamia because the soil
between the two rivers was very fertile.
When a newborn baby begins life, he or she is placed in a
cradle. Mesopotamia is called the cradle of civilization
because the first civilizations began there, about 5,500 years
ago in 3500 B.C.
4. Overview: Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is not a
country. “Mesopotamia”
means “the land between
two rivers” in Greek.
Mesopotamia is the region in
the middle east between the
Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
There were several
civilizations that flourished
in the area between 5000
BCE and 612 BCE, including
the Assyrians, Babylonians,
and Sumerians.
12. Timeline: 4 major kingdoms of
Mesopotamia
Between 3000 BC and 600
BC, four major kingdoms
ruled Mesopotamia, the area
between the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers:
• Sumer
• Bablyon
• Assyria
• Persia
13. Political Structures:
Sumerians, 5000-1900s BCE
• Sumer was divided
into city-states,
meaning that each
city had it’s own ruler,
laws, and social
customs.
• Each city-state was
centered around a
temple dedicated to a
god or goddess.
•Each city-state was
ruled by a priest-king
or a king who was the
head of the city
government and the
temple.
•Kings had both civic
and religious
responsibilities.
14. Economics: Mesopotamia
• Mesopotamia’s
economy was based
on agriculture and
trade.
• Mesopotamian’s
traded natural
resources, like jewels
and precious stones.
•Mesopotamian’s
traded their natural
resources and excess
crops for things that
were scarce in
Mesopotamia, like
wood.
•Mesopotamian’s also
traded art, pottery,
jewelry, and slaves.
15. Religion & Philosophy
Mesopotamian civilizations were primarily polytheistic,
worshipping multiple gods and goddesses.
The gods
were
worshipped
in temples
called
Ziggurats.
16. Inventions & Technology - Sumer
• Sumerians developed cuneiform, the oldest
known written human language.
• Sumerians are responsible for the beginnings of
mathematics – arithmetic, geometry, and
algebra.
• Sumerians also invented or developed the wheel,
irrigation systems, and many tools and weapons,
such as hoes, axes, knives, arrowheads, swords,
chariots, sandals, and more.
18. First Empire in Mesopotamia
3000 – 2000 B.C. the City-States began to war
with each other.
Sargon of Akkad (2350 B.C.) He took control
of the region, creating world’s first empire -
when several peoples, nations, or previously
independent states are placed under the
control of one ruler.
23. Men and Women
Men were heads of the
house. They could divorce
for no reason or even sell
their wives and children for
up to 3 years. Men arranged
marriages for children.
