MesopotamiaThe Land Between The Rivers

fMesopotamia is the earliest of allcivilizationsf Where people first formed permanent

settlements

fMesopotamia is the area betweenthe Tigris River and Euphrates River(present day Iraq)f Its name is from two Greek words ”meso” and

“potamos”f Combined they mean “between the rivers”

“The Cradle of Civilization”The Fertile Crescent

fLittle rainfall for crops

fHot and dry climate in the summers

fWinters brought fierce windstormsleaving muddy river valleys

fSprings brought catastrophicflooding of the rivers

fArid soil containing little minerals

fNo stone or timber resources

Geographic Conditions

Then why live here?Natural Levees: natural buildup of sediment of

thousands of years of flooding

fcreate a high and safe flood plain

fmake irrigation and canal constructioneasy

fprovide protection

fthe surrounding swamps were full of fish& waterfowl

freeds provided food for sheep / goats

freeds also were used as buildingresources

Natural LeveesEverything you need in one safe place.

fOver the centuries, many differentpeople lived in this area creating acollection of independent states

fSumer- southern part (3500-2000 BCE)

fAkkad- northern part (2340–2180 BCE)

fBabylonia- these two regions wereunified (1830-1500 BCE)

fAssyria- Assyrian Empire (1100-612 BCE)

History of Mesopotamia

fEstablished the social, economic andintellectual basis of Mesopotamia

fFirst to develop writing in the form ofcuneiform

fSumerians are credited to have inventedthe wheel

fEridu became the first city of the world

fHowever, the Sumerians were notsuccessful in uniting lower Mesopotamia

Sumerians

fLeader: Sargon the Great

fSargon’s greatest achievement was theunification of lower Mesopotamia (afterconquering Sumerians in 2331 BCE)

fEstablished capital at Akkad

fSpread Mesopotamian culturethroughout Fertile Crescent

fDynasty established by Sargon wasshort-lived… Akkadians were conqueredby the invading barbarians by 2200 BCE

f

Akkadians

fBabylonians reunited Mesopotamiain 1830 BCE

fUsed their central location todominate trade and establishcontrol over all of Mesopotamia

fKing Hammurabif conquered Akkad and Sumer and gained control

of north and southf His Legacy: created the first law code

Babylonians

Hammurabi’s Law Code

fCode of 282 laws inscribed on a stone pillarplaced in the centre of town for all to see

fStone depicts Hammurabi as receiving hisauthority from god Shamash

fPunishments were designed to fit the crimes aspeople must be responsible for own actions

fwas the orginal “eye for an eye…” ie. If a sonstruck his father, the son’s hand would be cutoff

fConsequences for crimes depended on rank insociety (ie. only fines for nobility)

Hammurabi’s Law Code

f10th century BCE, Assyriaemerged as dominant force

fAssyrian reunitedMesopotamia and establishedthe first true empire

fAssyrian army was mostfeared due to their brutal,bloodthirsty & terrorizingtactics and use of ironweapons, battering rams,chariots

AssyriansBlood Thirsty Armies of Doom

fAssyrian Empire stretched from PersianGulf north and west to Syria, Palestine andEgypt

fHowever, states began to revolt and onceagain, Assyrian Empire collapsed by late7th century BCE

fBy 539 BCE, Mesopotamia part of the vastPersian Empire (led by Cyrus the Great)

fPersian Empire dominated for 800 yearsuntil Alexander the Great

Assyrians

fEarly political structure an earlyform of democracyf Council of town members

fFrequent wars led to the emergenceof warriors as leadersf Elect to rule during war, stays on afterwards

fEventually rise of monarchy andtheocracy f King = godf Gov’t run by priests

GovernmentDemocracy to a Theocracy

fover 3600 gods and demigodsf Include gods from all different regionsf all of Mesopotamia shared the same religion and

the same main gods

fPosition of King was enhanced andsupported by religion

fKingship created by gods and theking’s power was divinely ordained

ReligionPolytheistic

fEnlil, supreme god & godof air

fIshtar, goddess of fertility& life

fAn, god of heaven

fEnki, god of water &underworld

fShamash, god of sun andgiver of law

Mesopotamian Gods

It was important for gods to behonoured by religious ceremonies

Gods andgoddesses were

worshipped at hugetemples called

ziggurats

fTemples created from mud brickand placed on platforms due toconstant flooding

fTemples evolved to ziggurats-- astack of 1-7 platforms decreasingin size from bottom to top

fFamous ziggurat was Tower ofBabel (over 100m above ground and91m base)

ZigguratsWhere Ceremonies were performed by priests

Social Structure

Nobles

Free Clients: work for gov’t in

exchange for land

Commoners:landowners and

craftsmen

Slaves

Nobles included theking, his family, thechief priests and thehigh palace officials;they had the best land

Slaves werecaptured prisoners

of war used asmanual labourers

in military, civilengineering, or

agriculturalprojects, or as

householdservants.

Development of Writing

fFirst form of writing was Cuneiform(meaning “wedge shaped”)

fallowed the transmission of knowledge,the codification of laws, and recording ofgoods to facilitate trade

fCuneiform spread to Persia and Egyptf lead to the exchange of ideas among cultures

WritingDating to 3500 BCE

fGilgamesh is the first known work of greatliterature and epic poem

fGilgamesh is a great king and hero

fEpic contains 1st mention of a great flood

fGilgamesh parallels the story of Noah and theArk in the Old Testament (but much earlier)

fModern science argues an increase in the sealevels about 6,000 years agof the melting ice drained to the oceans causing the sea level to rise

more than ten feet in one century

The First Written StoryThe Epic Story of Gilgamesh

fFrom 1922 to 1934, anarchaeologist named C. LeonardWoolley excavated the site ofthe ancient Sumerian city of Ur

fFound at Ur was a mass gravecontaining the bodies of 6guards and 68 court ladies(servants of kings and queens) f they drank a poisoned drink and fell asleep

never to wake again, choosing toaccompany the kings and queens in theafterlife

The Royal Tombs ofUR

fcodified laws

fthe building of places of worship (ziggurats)

fthe birthplace of writing (cuneiform)

fInvention of the wheel, plow and sailboat

fOldest written records of a creation story f First great epic poem--Gilgamesh

fFirst civilization based on large scale agriculture

f12 month calendar

fnumber system based on 60f 60 minutes, 60 seconds, 360 degree circle

fWater clock

Legacies of Mesopotamia