Mesopotamia was home to some of the earliest civilizations. Around 4000 BC, people in Mesopotamia transitioned from hunter-gatherers to farmers, growing more food than needed and allowing specialization of jobs. One such civilization was the Sumerians, who built cities and worshipped many gods. They developed cuneiform writing and advanced technologies. Later empires that rose to power in Mesopotamia included the Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian, and Chaldean empires, which variously conquered territories through military might and instituted systems of governance, taxation, and division of lands.

1. Unit 2: Mesopotamia

2. Key Terms
 1. silt 11. tribute
 2. irrigation 12. province
 3. surplus 13. caravan
 4. city-state 14. astronomer
 5. polytheism
 6. ziggurat
 7. cuneiform
 8. scribe
 9. epic
 10. empire

3. First Civilizations in Mesopotamia
 Characteristics of Civilization:
 High level of culture and order
 Social classes
 Different types of jobs
 Science and the arts
 Government
 Values and beliefs

4.  Mesopotamia is the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in SW Asia.
 The first known civilization started there.
 People first stayed in Mesopotamia around 7000 B.C.
 At first they hunted and raised animals for food then (4000 B.C.) they started
to farm.

5.  Floods covered the lands with silt (rich soil), which was very good for farming.
 To control floods, they built dams.
 Built canals to allow water to flow to fields (called irrigation).

6.  Farmers grew more food than they needed so they had a surplus of food.
 This allowed other people to have different types of jobs.
 Small villages grew into cities.

7. Sumer’s Civilization
 People of Sumer were called Sumerians.
 Built many cities and were surrounded by deserts.
 Cities controlled all the surrounding land (city-states).

8.  Worshipped many gods (polytheism).
 Each city-state claimed one god as its own.
 Built large temples (ziggurat) to worship.

9.  Divided into social classes.
 Upper: kings, priests, warriors, government workers.
 Middle: farmers, fishers, artisans.
 Lower: slaves.

10.  Men were the head of the family and women ran the home and cared for the
children.

11. Sumerian Contributions
 Created cuneiform writing (using wedge-shaped marks to cut into damp clay).
 Oldest story in the world (Epic of Gilgamesh) comes from Sumer.
 First to use the wheel, sailboats, wooden plows.
 Made bronze out of copper and tin.
 Studied math and astronomy.

12. The First Empires
 City-states of Sumer fought one another often.
 Sargon (of Akkad) defeated them all in 2400 B.C.
 United the kingdoms to form an empire.
 Lasted for more than 200 years.

13.  The Amorites took over Mesopotamia in the 1800s B.C.
 Biggest city was Babylon.
 Hammurabi was King of Babylon.
 Conquered many Amorite cities and created the Babylonian Empire.

14.  Hammurabi was a fair ruler.
 His code of law called for “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth”.

15. The Assyrian Empire
 Assyrians took over around 900 B.C.
 Destroyed towns, robbed people, and set things on fire.
 Forced defeated people to pay tribute (money).

16.  Very good weapons made out of iron.
 Divided their empire into regions (provinces).

17. The Chaldean Empire
 Took over in 650 B.C.
 Defeated the Assyrians when they were arguing amongst themselves.
 King Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt Babylon.

18.  Major trade route ran through Babylon.
 Many caravans (merchants) passed through the city.
 Brought in a lot of money.
 Astronomers studied the stars, planets, and the moon.
 Created the first sundial to measure time.
 First to use a 7-day week.