Objective  Examine the impact of location and geography on the people and culture of the Middle East

Big Ideas Early Civilizations of the Middle East

First Civilizations Developments & Achievements  Fertile Crescent: Mesopotamia – Crash Course Crash CourseCrash Course  Successful farming settlements had grown into powerful city-states:  large town that has its own gov’t and controls the surrounding country side  Sumer: 3500BC  Built Ziggurats  System of writing - cuneiform  Used a wheel  Sailing ships = trade  Developed plow and accurate calendar  Built dams to control floods  System of measurement  All Influenced later people - Rap Rap

Gilgamesh is one of the oldest recorded stories in the world. It's about an ancient King of Uruk who may have actually existed and whose name - Gilgamesh - is on the Sumerian King List Sumer Website

An artist's rendition of one type of Sumerian sailboat. The rope indicates where the sails would have hung on the wooden mast. The body of the boat is made of bundled reeds covered with leather Sumerian Irrigation Canal and Plow

Lack of natural barriers around the Fertile Crescent  King Hammurabi conquered much of the Fertile Crescent - Babylonians  Drew up a code of law – single system of justice - laws laws  Mastery of iron: iron weapons - Hittites  Phoenicians known as carriers of civilization = trade  Developed an alphabet that evolved into ours

Royal portrait - Hammurabi - King of Babylon BC Map showing the Babylonian territory upon Hammurabi's ascension in c BC and upon his death in c BC Figures at top of stone "fingernail" above Hammurabi's code of laws.

Persian Empire’s Influence  Conquered the vast empire from Asia Minor to Indus Valley – Iran – Darius I – ruled at peak  Gov’t  Divided into provinces  Governor/Satrap was responsible for collecting taxes and for keeping order  Tolerance of other peoples  Trade/Communication  Improved & expanded the road system  Uniform system of coinage

Darius the Great (526 – 485 B. C. E.)  Established a tax-collecting system.  Divided the empire into districts called SATRAPIES.  Built the great Royal Road system.

Greece and Rome addition to the Middle East  Hellenistic civilization: 330’s BC  Blended Greek culture with cultures of ancient Middle East  Alexander the Great conquered Persian Empire  Pursued research in science mathematics, medicine and philosophy  Rome: by 115 AD ruled much of ME:  trade and diffusion flowed  split Byzantine Empire next 1,000 years from Constantinople – 330 AD

Alexander the Great  Macedonian (Greek) King that laid the final death blow to the Persian Empire and conquered it.

Constantine’s City-- Constantinople

Even BIGGER Idea:  Over thousands of years, migrating people, traders, and conquerors have brought many ethnic groups and their ideas to the region.