ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA & EGYPT THE START OF SOUTHWEST ASIA & NORTH AFRICA

HAMMURABI’S EMPIRE Ancient ruler of Mesopotamia in the Fertile Crescent (modern day Iraq, NE Syria and SE Turkey) from B.C. Recorded the laws on a huge black stone There were 282 laws Each law was believed to be given to him by Shamash Very strict laws-if it could be proven you were at fault, your consequences were equal to the damage. If you built a house and it fell down and killed a man, then you would be killed too because you built the house.

MESOPOTAMIA IS ESTABLISHED Around 3000 B.C. a people group called the Sumerians established city-states within Mesopotamia. City states have 3 major threats to their success: Invaders-people that want to conquer and rule them Lack of rainfall-they built canals to ensure irrigation Trade-they were subject to pirates, bandits and wild animals Temple priests were the first governors and eventually leaders had to be elected Eventually priests controlled religion and economy and kings controlled politics and military

SUMERIANS Established the first writing system, cuneiform to keep all forms of records. about 600 characters total Few Sumerians learned to read and write, so there were scribes to take care of all writing and reading needs Only wealthy families could send their kids to school, most of which were boys School was from dawn to dusk and they would leave their homes to be in school for a month at a time The people were divided into a three-part class system, kings/nobles/priests, merchants/farmers, peasants

ANCIENT EGYPT According to Herodotus, a majority of all things built are believed only exist because of the Nile River. The Nile River was also a threat because of its high chances of flooding. The Egyptians would count on the flood to make the land fertile, but sometimes it would flood too much and destroy fields and homes. Mud from the Nile would be helpful for making pottery and bricks for building. They also started making paper called papyrus from the papyrus plant, which is where the word paper comes from. Egyptians preferred writing on papyrus instead of the clay tablets the Sumerians used

AFTER LIFE! Egyptians believed in the after-life, and once it was discovered bodies didn’t decay as fast in the sand, they started building pyramids (triangle shaped buildings) to keep the bodies in. Their hope was to preserve the bodies as a way of honoring their pharaohs or kings It was believed that the pharaohs would get to spend their after-life in these pyramids They were usually huge and capped in gold Leaders were appointed to design the pyramids Every Egyptian had a part in building the pyramids

EGYPTIAN LIFE Egyptians created their own style of writing called hieroglyphics that used pictographs to express words and sounds They believed that whoever was ruling was the son of Re, the sun god and possibly Horus, the sky god too Egyptians looked to their pharaoh to know how to live their lives religiously Temples were everywhere! Some were built to honor major gods like Re or Horus Some were built to honor gods from their own civilization Some were built to worship their pharaohs Only priests could actually be in the temple, other small buildings were next to the temples for the common people to worship, pray or leave offerings for their gods Most homes had shrines, or small areas dedicated to a specific person or god so that they could honor the dead family members and pharoahs