MESOPOTAMIA What culture gave this region between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers the name Mesopotamia?

Code of Hammurabi “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”

The Fertile Crescent Modern day Iraq Meso (Greek) = middle Potamos (Greek) = river “The land between the rivers”

Civilization What is Civilization? “Cradle of Civilization” Society with a developed knowledge of farming, trade, government, art and science. “Cradle of Civilization” First known civilization in human history 3,500 - 3,000 B.C.E. - Earliest evidence of civilization

Ancient Sumer Earliest known civilization. Southern Mesopotamia Each Sumerian city was considered a state in itself with its own god and government The Sumerians were the first city builders in Mesopotamia

Levees Wet Season Control flood waters Dry Season Irrigate crops Sumerians where the first people to attempt to control their natural environment: Levees and Irrigation Wet Season Control flood waters Dry Season Irrigate crops

Vocabulary City-State: A city and surrounding territory which also has it’s own independent government Ziggurat: A Sumerian temple which means “mountain of god.” They served as the city center.

Ziggurat: Modern Iraq

Recent Events in Ur (Iraq)

Religious and Family Life Ziggurats served as the center of Sumerian cities around them were courts The Sumerians believed that the forces of nature such as wind, rain and flood were gods: There were over 3,000 Sumerian Gods Sumerians believed that the gods created humans from the mud of rivers to do their work

Sumerian Priests They were very powerful All of a Sumerian city-state’s land was controlled and administered by the city’s priests Also, priests controlled the schools

Respond to the prompt below: Remember a time when you had trouble with a relationship? A friend, a coach, a parent, a teacher that you needed to get along better with? What did you do?

Tablet Schools Only the sons of the rich could attend school: students sat on stone benches and wrote with sharp edged reeds on clay tablets. Only the sons of the rich could attend school: students sat on stone benches and wrote with sharp edged reeds on clay tablets Schools were referred to as tablet houses because students learned how to write Sumerian writing was called: Cuneiform: it was made of hundreds of markings shaped like wedges

Cuneiform

Early Cuneiform-Pictographs

Sumerian Classroom Learning to Write

Sumerian Proverbs He who has much gold may be happy, He who has much silver may be happy, But he who has nothing can sleep. A mere friend may agree with you, A real friend will argue.

Writing Writing developed as a result of the development of business Initially, Sumerians used pictures to represent objects. Then they used pictures to represent ideas. Finally the used pictures to represent syllables. When a student graduated from school he became a scribe: or a writer. Scribes worked for the Temple, the palace, the government or the army. Some scribes set up their own businesses

Priests and Kings At first Sumerian Priests were the Kings of city-states Priest-Kings received advice from an assembly made of free men When war broke out with another city-state the assembly would select one of its members to serve as military leader until the war was over. As time went on these leaders stayed in charge even after the war was over: 3000 B.C. the took the place of priests as permanent kings At the same time kingship became hereditary: or passed from parent to child.

Priest-Kings to Kings Free men took power from the priests during times of war After the war was over, the newly appointed kings remained in power Their power passed through a hereditary system Parent to child