THE FIRST CIVILIZATIONS: MESOPOTAMIA

María Jesús Campos

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THE FIRST URBAN CIVILIZATIONS: THE RIVER

CIVILIZATIONS

Some 6.000 years ago,

some Neolithic villages

became cities as a result of

agricultural and commercial

prosperity.

These civilisations invented

writing.

The first great civilizations developed along large

rivers surrounded by fertile land:

Mesopotamia: Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

Egypt: the River Nile

India: Indus River

China: Huang He (Yellow) and Yangtze (Blue) Rivers

MESOPOTAMIA, THE LAND BETWEEN TWO

RIVERS

The first civilizations

appeared in the Fertile

Crescent, in the fertile plains

between the Tigris and

Euphrates rivers.

This area was called Sumer.

POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

Thanks to agricultural and

commercial prosperity,

Neolithic villages became

independent city-states.

The most important city-

states in Sumer were Ur,

Uruk and Lagash.

They had in common

racial features but they

were independent in

politics.

Need for defense led to an

increase in the importance of

military commanders and, finally,

to the creation of monarchies.

The monarch controlled the

city-state and was in charge of:

Executive power: government

Legislative power: law

Military power: army

Religious power: connections

to de god

Judicial power: justice

He was advised by civil servants and

scribes (bureaucracy) that collected

taxes, applied the orders and the

laws…

He controlled the population through

the army and the priests.

SOCIETY

Population increased

thanks to the production of

food and the prosperity

achieved through

commerce.

They were urban

civilizations. Most of the

people lived in the city-

state.

The social division

increased. It was

connected to their function

within the city.

Monarch

Priests

Army and Scribes (civil

servants)Peasants, Farmers,

Merchants, Traders…

Slaves

Mesopotamian hierarchy: privileged groups and

non-privileged groups.

Privileged-groups: controlled the power and the

wealth.

The Monarch

The priests

The army and the civil servants

Non-privileged groups: produced the products

needed by society

Farmers, peasants, stockbreeders…

Merchants, traders, craftsman...

Slaves: group without rights. They were their

master’s property. They became slaves through conquest

(war prisoners) or debts.

MESOPOTAMIAN RELIGION

Polytheistic: their gods were

similar to human beings but they

were immortal.

Temples were the god’s residences

on Earth. They were built on

stepped pyramids called

ziggurats.

Each city-state was under the

protection of a god.

They believed in life after death

and buried their dead with

everything they would possibly

need.

MESOPOTAMIAN CULTURE

The Sumerian people are

believed to be the first ones

to develop a written

language.

Cuneiform writing

consisted of signs drawn on

clay tablets with a reed.

Writing made it possible to

organize the state by

recording government

issues and business

transactions.

The first schools were created

here to train scribes. Only

male children from rich families

went to school.

The Code of Hammurabi is

one of the earliest legal codes

in history.

Engraved on a rock around 1800

BC.

Based on the law of retaliation

(“an eye for an eye”).

MESOPOTAMIAN ART: ARCHITECTURE

Materials: brick and adobe (bricks of clay and

straw)

To sustain the ceiling they invented the arch and

the vault.

Walls were decorated with brightly coloured glazed

ceramics with floral motives, geometric designs,

scenes of war…

Type of buildings:

Palaces

Ziggurats (temples)

Ziggurats: temples

built at the center of

the city. They were

the house of god on

Earth.

MESOPOTAMIAN ART: SCULPTURE

Materials: gold, lapis, clay,

wood…

Types:

Statues (not attached)

Reliefs (different carving

techniques)

Themes:

Men and women worshipping

Kings

Military or hunting scenes…

Examples:

King Gudea of

Lagash

Standard of Ur (2700

B.C.)

Doorway of the

Khorsabad palace:

Lamassu (bull with

human head and

wings to protect the

king from visible and

invisible enemies)

MESOPOTAMIAN POLITICAL EVOLUTION

Mesopotamia was divided

into 2 regions inhabited by

two different people:

The Assyrians in the north

The Akkadians and

Sumerians who lived in the

South.

The political evolution of

Mesopotamia is marked by

an alternation of power

between these peoples.

Mesopotamian empires:

The Sumerians.

The Akkadian Empire

The Babylonian

Empire

The Assyrian Empire

The Persian Empire

The Sumerians: city of Sumer. Controlled the territory

organized in different city-states during the 3rd millenium.

Akkadian Empire: the city of Akkad controlled the cities of

Lower Mesopotamia between the year 2330 BC and the

year 2200 B.C. when the empire disappeared and a long

period of division started.

Babylonian Empire: around 1800 the city of Babylon

founded an empire that was going to last until the 900 BC.

(Code of Hammurabi)

Assyrian Empire: expanded from the Persian Gulf to the

Mediterranean sea. Main cities Asur and Ninive. From the

9th century BC to the 6th century whe it was conquered by

the Persians.

WHAT DID MESOPOTAMIANS DO FOR US?

Developed by María Jesús CamposChusteacher

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