Ancient River Valley Civilizations

Characteristics of Civilizations Cities Government Complex Religions Job Specialization Social Classes Art & Architecture Public Works Writing

ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA Oldest known civilization Cradle of human civilization Old Testament Nebuchadnezzar Ziggurat (right) Hanging gardens

Geography Earliest civilizations rose in the valleys between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Some say this Fertile Crescent was the real Garden of Eden.

Tigris and Euphrates Rives

In what modern day country was the Fertile Crescent?

Kingdoms of Mesopotamia Sumerians Babylonians Assyrians Persians

Sumer, B.C. Sargon ’ s Empire, B.C. The Dynasty of Ur, B.C. The Amorite invasions, B.C. Reign of Hammurapi of Babylon, B.C.

CITIES & GOVERNMENT

The State and Urban Revolution: In the city-state (or state), kin and tribal loyalties are, by definition, subordinated and replaced by political ties…. What makes a city-state different from an agricultural town is the synergy created by its people interacting with each other on the basis of political relationships rather than traditional blood ties.

Ur, the capital city of Mesopotamia

The King The Governors The Aristocracy The Peasantry Social and political organization: The King: he had military powers. The Governors: they governed the territories of the kingdom. They were generals and judges at the same time. The aristocracy: they were priests and traders. The peasants: the people who work the land.

Kish was one of the twelve city-states of ancient Sumer civilization. In this city lived the famous and magnificent Akkadian King Sargon of Agade, founder of the first Empire in history. One of the earlier kings in Kish was Etana who "stabilized all the lands" securing the 1st dynasty of Kish and establishing rule over ancient Sumer and some of its neighbors. The title King of Kish became synonymous with King of Sumer. Ziggurat of Kish Grand Palace of Kish Ruins of Kish

Mesopotamian Law Code of Hammurabi Written on a stele (at right) in cuneiform Based on the premise of an“eye for an eye tooth for a tooth”

Hammurabi’s Code *Strict code of justice with severe penalties *Penalties varied according to the social class of the victim *Largest category of laws focused on marriage and the family – supported the patriarchal society

COMPLEX RELIGION

For thousands of years, Nippur was the religious center of Mesopotamia. According to Sumerian religion, it was at Nippur where Enlil, the supreme god of the Sumerian pantheon, created mankind. Although never a capital city, Nippur had great political importance because royal rule over Mesopotamia was not considered legitimate without recognition in its temples. Thus, Nippur was the focus of pilgrimage and building programs by dozens of kings including Hammurabi of Babylon and Ashurbanipal of Assyria.

Map of Nippur

These carved stone figures, their eyes wide with awe and their hands clasped in reverence, were placed in Mesopotamian temples by worshippers to stand in perpetual prayer on their behalf before the god or goddess to whom the sanctuary was dedicated. There were many gods. For example, Anu was the father of the gods and the god of the sky; Enlil was the god of the air; Utu was the sun god and the lord of truth and justice; Nanna was the moon god; Inanna was the goddess of love and war; Ninhursag was the goddess of earth; and Enki was the god of fresh water as well as the lord of wisdom and magic. While they served and revered the great gods, most people felt little connection with these distant beings. Ordinary people depended on a relationship with their own personal god - a kind of guardian angel - who protected individuals and interceded for them with the great deities.

The statue of the god Marduk with his dragon, from a Babylonian cylinder seal. Marduk killed Tiamat. Apsu: the fresh waters (male principle) Tiamat: the salt waters (female principle) Ea, the god of intelligence and wisdom, puts Apsu in a trance and then kills him.

Ziggurats Temples

Ziggurat of Ur Nammu

ART & ARCHITECTURE/PUBLIC WORKS

The ancient city of Babylon, under King Nebuchadnezzar II, must have been a wonder to the traveler's eyes. "In addition to its size," wrote Herodotus, a historian in 450 BC, "Babylon surpasses in splendor any city in the known world." Herodotus claimed the outer walls were 56 miles in length, 80 feet thick and 320 feet high. Wide enough, he said, to allow a four-horse chariot to turn. The inner walls were "not so thick as the first, but hardly less strong." Inside the walls were fortresses and temples containing immense statues of solid gold. Rising above the city was the famous Tower of Babel, a temple to the god Marduk, that seemed to reach to the heavensTower of Babel

Hanging Gardens of Babylon One of the seven wonders of the Ancient World.

Uruk

Another painting of the hanging gardens with Tower of Babel in back

Fragment from the Stele of the Vultures, erected by Eannatum of Lagash. It depicts the battle of Umma with Eannatum of Lagash defeating the king of Umma, included is a professional phalanx. Circa 2525 B.C.

Upper Register of the Stele of Vultures

The Standard of Ur comes to us from a royal tombs found in the ancient Sumerian city of Ur. In the Standard of Ur, a chariot is shown in the top register on the left. The Standard presents, on the top 2 registers, the aftermath of another successful victory for Sumer, with a procession of troops presenting POWs to the victorious king at the center of the top.

The Law Code of Hammurapi

WRITING

Writing The Sumerians invented writing. This is cuneiform. Babylonians wrote using this “wedge- shaped” writing on clay tablets.

The Beginnings of Writing Farmers needed to keep records. The Sumerians were very good farmers. They raised animals such as goats and cows (called livestock). Because they needed to keep records of their livestock, food, and other things, officials began using tokens. Tokens were used for trade. Clay tokens came in different shapes and sizes. These represented different objects. For example, a cone shape could have represented a bag of wheat. These tokens were placed inside clay balls that were sealed. If you were sending five goats to someone, then you would put five tokens in the clay ball. When the goat arrived, the person would open the clay ball and count the tokens to make sure the correct number of goats had arrived. The number of tokens began to be pressed on the outside of the clay balls. Many experts believe that this is how writing on clay tablets began. A system of writing develops. The earliest form of writing dates back to 3300 B.C. People back then would draw "word-pictures" on clay tablets using a pointed instrument called a stylus. These "word-pictures" then developed into wedge-shaped signs. This type of script was called cuneiform (from the Latin word cuneus which means wedge). Who used cuneiform? Not everyone learned to read and write. The ones that were picked by the gods were called scribes. Boys that were chosen to become scribes (professional writers) began to study at the age of 8. They finished when they were 20 years old. The scribes wrote on clay tablets and used a triangular shaped reed called a stylus to make marks in the clay. The marks represented the tens of thousands of words in their language.

THE ORIGINS OF WRITING: Tokens are small geometric clay objects (cylinders, cones, spheres, etc.) found all over the Near East from about 8000 B.C. until the development of writing. The earliest tokens were simple shapes and were comparatively unadorned; they stood for basic agricultural commodities such as grain and sheep. A specific shape of token always represented a specific quantity of a particular item. For example, "the cone... stood for a small measure of grain, the sphere represented a large measure of grain, the ovoid stood for a jar of oil." (Before Writing 161). Two jars of oil would be represented by two ovoids, three jars by three ovoids, and so on. Thus, the tokens presented an abstraction of the things being counted, but also a system of great specificity and precision.

With the development of cities came a more complex economy and more complex social structures. This cultural evolution is reflected in the tokens, which begin to appear in a much greater diversity of shapes and are given more complicated designs of incisions and holes.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF CUNEIFORM: The Sumerian writing system during the early periods was constantly in flux. The original direction of writing was from top to bottom, but for reasons unknown, it changed to left-to-right very early on (perhaps around 3000 BCE). This also affected the orientation of the signs by rotating all of them 90° counterclockwise. Another change in this early system involved the "style" of the signs. The early signs were more "linear" in that the strokes making up the signs were lines and curves. But starting after 3000 BC, these strokes started to evolve into wedges, thus changing the visual style of the signs from linear to "cuneiform".

Cuneiform

Sumerian Alphabet

Sumerian Economy Sumerians (Mesopotamians) were known to trade with the Egyptians, the Indus Valley civilizations and the Chinese. In later years, these trade routes became Silk Road.

Sumerians invented the wheel! The wheel was invented by 6000 BC! It helped with the military, farming and trade. This wheel is made of wood.

Sumer, B.C.

Sargon of Akkad unifies Mesopotamia: world’s first empire, ca B.C.

The Dynasty of Ur, B.C.

Reign of Hammurapi of Babylon, B.C.

Mesopotamia Quiz What law system did Sumerians use? What was the trade route followed by the Sumerians called? Between what 2 rivers did the Fertile Crescent appear? What type of writing did they use? Name one architectural accomplishment of the Sumerians.