Chapter 2 Section 2 the Fertile Crescent
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Transcript of Chapter 2 Section 2 the Fertile Crescent
Chapter 2Early Civilizations
World History
Fall 2008 Hasquin
Section 2 – The Fertile Crescent
Setting the Scene
Terms:City-State, Cuneiform
People to Meet: The Sumerians, Sargon I, the Akkadians, Hammurabi
Places to Locate:Fertile Crescent, Mesopotamia, Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
Ancient River Valley Civs
The Twin Rivers
People move into the area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers from Asia Minor.
The area is known as Mesopotamia
“Land between the Rivers”
An area of the Fertile Crescent
Made up of modern nations of Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Syria & Iraq
Rivers continuedNeolithic farmers used the T&E to water their crops.
The T&E do not flood regularly like the Nile.Dry summers and wet springs complicate agriculture.
Floods were strong and unpredictable.
Dams, levees and channels were constructed to control floodwaters and irrigate crops.
Surplus grains were being produced by 4000 BC.
The Sumerian Civilization
Central Asian Sumerians move into Mesopotamia – 3500 BC
The Southern area of T&E become known as Sumer
Sumer is the birthplace of some of the world’s oldest cities
Sumerian City-States
By 3000 BC there are 12 City-States
The 3 most notable are Ur, Uruk and Eridu
A city-state is the city itself and the lands surrounding it.
The people of Sumer share common culture, language, and religion
Each city-state contains a ziggurat or temple.
The ziggurat is layered and has a temple on top.
Sumerian Government
Each city-state was governed independently of the others.
Some were controlled by councils, eventually lead by military leaders, and then kings.
Sumerian kings were also the chief priest
Gov’t was a monarchy and theocracy
Kings oversaw agriculture because it was tied the local deity.
Also handed out punishment for crimes – usually fines.
Roles of Men and Women
Family life and the roles of men and women were regulated.
Men had authority over women and children.
Women had few rights, but were able to own property and run a business.
Writing on Clay Tablets
Commerce was the driving force behind life in Sumer.
Writing was developed to keep track of business transactions
Writing dates to 3100 BC and is the oldest system
Cuneiform uses pictograms and used wedge-shaped characters.
Writing continued
The pictograms were made by pressing a stylus into tablets of wet clay and then drying or baking them.
Special training was required to be a writer or “scribe.”
Scribes were important and ranked high in the social class.
Literature was also developed, the most important work being Gilgamesh
Sumer’s Many Deities
Sumerians were polytheistic
Each deity represented a force of natureAn – Seasons, Enlil – Wind and Agriculture
Each city-state laid claim to it’s own deity.
Deities were viewed as unpredictable and selfish.
Humans had little control over their lives and the afterlife was grim and unwelcoming
Sumerian InventionsInvented the wagon wheel
The Arch
Potter’s Wheel
Sundial
12 Month Calendar
360 days
Base 60 numerical system
Bronze – Tin and Copper (Alloy)
Metal Plow
First Mesopotamian Empires
Sumer will eventually fall to outside invaders.
Sargon I was the 1st empire builder of Mesopotamia
Mystical life
Builds Akkadian Empire in Northern Mesopotamia
Expands and unites all of Mesopotamia under his rule
Mother abandons him in a reed basket on the Euphrates river
Rescued and raised by farmer
Established kingdom in North Mesopotamia – Akkad
Sargon wants to expand empireUnites city state 800 years before Egyptian new kingdom
Akkadian language replaces Sumerian
AmoritesExpanded into Syria
Overrun Sumerian city-states and capture city of Babylon
Babylon becomes capitol and Hammurabi becomes king
Hammurabi strengthens government
Babylon becomes major trade center – Egypt to China
Produced grain & cloth
Hammurabi’s Code of Law“To make justice appear in the land”
Collected laws of different city-states
282 law sections dealing with daily life
Penalized wrongdoers severely
“eye for an eye”
Laws were written to protect the less powerful
Three classes of Babylonian social classes – Kings, priest, nobles- artisans, farmers – slaves
Most slaves were captured in war
Used cuneiform for writing
Babylonian empire declines after Hammurabi’s death
Hittites break empire apartBabylon will reemerge as the Chaldeans
The Fertile Crescent
Ziggurat at Ur
Cuneiform Symbols
Gilgamesh
Akkadian Empire
Sumer & Early Empires