Text 1: Civilizations Arise in the Fertile Crescent

Topic 2: The Ancient Middle East and Egypt (3200 B.C.E. - 500 B.C.E.)Lesson 1: A Civilization Emerges in Sumer

Civilizations Arise in the Fertile Crescent

The Middle East was home to one of the world’s first civilizations

Its location and other environmental features posed unique challenges

Civilizations Arise in the Fertile Crescent

The Sumerians were the first of many peoples to contribute to the civilization of the region

Made distinctive contributions that influenced a long line of later people in the Middle East and in other parts of the world

Geography of the Fertile Crescent

Sumerian civilization rose over 5,000

years ago along the Tigris and

Euphrates rivers

The Tigris-Euphrates Valley lies in

eastern end of the Fertile Crescent,

the area that stretches in an arc from

the Persian Gulf to the

Mediterranean Sea

The ancient Greeks called the valley

Mesopotamia, meaning “between the

rivers”

Geography of the Fertile Crescent

The fertile soil attracted Stone Age farmers, who began to raise crops on the land

Their descendants produced the surplus food needed to support growing populations

Around 3300 B.C.E., the world’s first civilization developed in Sumer

Geography of the Fertile Crescent

The Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow from the highlands of modern-day Turkey through Iraq into the Persian Gulf

Spring or early summer, melting snows from the mountains can cause the rivers to flood

In some years, savage floods cause huge damage

Geography of the Fertile Crescent

Despite the danger of flooding, farmers planted a variety of crops

Silt left by floodwaters made the soil fertile

Good soil meant that the people of Mesopotamia could rely on a stable food supply

A World Crossroads

The Fertile Crescent has often been called the “crossroads of the world” because it commands access to three continents: Asia, Africa, and Europe

The region has few natural barriers

Nomadic herders, ambitious invaders, and traders moved through the deserts and crossed the mountains leading into the Fertile Crescent

A World Crossroads

The region also became a crossroads where people and ideas met and mingled

Each new group made its own contributions to the history of the region

These civilizations passed on their achievements eastward toward India and westward into Europe

Sumerians Overcome Environmental Challenges

Control of the Tigris and Euphrates was key to the rise of civilization in Mesopotamia

The rivers rose in terrifying floods that washed away topsoil and destroyed mud-brick villages when they were at their most violent

Sumerians Overcome Environmental Challenges

People told stories about the wanderings of a hero named Gilgamesh

These stories were collected into a long narrative poem, The Epic of Gilgamesh

It describes a great flood that destroys the world

Sumerians Overcome Environmental Challenges

Archaeologists have found evidence of these catastrophic floods occurring regularly in ancient times

Lower Mesopotamia suffered summer droughts and hot winds, which could turn fertile soil to dust, shrivel crops, and cause famine

Sumerians Overcome Environmental Challenges

Early farming communities had to worked together to build dikes, dams, and irrigation systems

This work led to the rise of an elaborate, well-run government

Temple priests and then royal officials provided the leadership needed to ensure cooperation and a large work force

Sumerians Overcome Environmental Challenges

Villagers were organized to build dikes to hold back floodwaters and irrigation ditches to carry water to fields

Successful farming communities grew into cities

Sumerian civilization thrived thanks to fertile soil, water, and the complex organization of government, religion, and specialized classes

Sumerian City-States

By 3000 B.C.E. , Sumerians built a number of cities

Each city and the land surrounding formed a city-state

Few natural resources were present to build these cities

They build with clay and water

Sumerian City-States

The clay was used to make bricks, which they shaped in wooden molds and dried in the sun

These bricks were the building blocks for some of the world’s first great cities, such as Ur and Uruk

Sumerian City-States

Trade brought riches

Traders sailed along the rivers or risked the dangers of desert travel to carry goods to distant regions

Unclear where and when the wheel was invented, the Sumerians may have made the first wheeled vehicles

Goods from as far away as Egypt and India have been found