Early History of the Middle East

Mesopotamia/Fertile Crescent landscape btwn the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea Curve shape/richness of land --- called the Fertile Crescent Mesopotamia  “land between the rivers”  Tigris & Euphrates  Farmers used rivers to flood Mesopotamian area to grow wheat/barley  Large harvests allowed villages to grow

Sumerians One of the 1 st groups of people to form a civilization 5 Characteristics set them apart from earlier societies:  Advanced cities (1)  Specialized workers(2)  Complex institutions(3)  Record keeping(4)  Improved technology(5)

Sumerians continued 1 st civilization to form a city state  City state: a city and its surrounding lands functioning as an individual political unit Early gov’t controlled by temple priests or by military leaders in times of war Polytheistic --- thought gods were immortal and all powerful Beginning of social classes  Kings, landowners, priest - 1 st  Regular workers – 2 nd  Slaves – 3rd

Sumerians continued Sumerians technologically advanced:  Needed geometry to plan cities, survey fields (1)  1 st to use bronze (2)  Architecture --- columns, arches (3)  Cuneiform --- Sumerian writing system (4) Reasons for Sumerian civilization ending?  Warring city-states (1)  Foreign attacks (2)  Ideas from civilization were adapted by other cultures (3)

Babylonians Capital on the Euphrates River Original invaders called the Amorites took over Sumerians Established an empire  Empire: brings together several peoples, nations, or previously independent states under the control of one ruler Empire reached peak at the time of Hammurabi

Babylonians continued Hammurabi’s Code  Uniform code of laws that unified diverse groups in the empire  Code also had judgments for broken laws  Used the eye for an eye punishment --- Example

Phoenicians Located in present day Lebanon Powerful traders along the Mediterranean Developed city-states Greatest legacy was the Phoenician Alphabet:  Developed so merchants could record transactions from sea trade  Used symbols to represent sound  Through travel, Phoenicians the alphabet introduced to other lands

The Crusades Occurred from 11 th -13 th Centuries Series of military expeditions Christians wanted to regain Holy Land from the Muslims & Jews Byzantine Empire (Eastern Orthodox Christian) felt threatened by the Turks (Muslim) & Jews Turks threatened the Byzantine capital of Constantinople Rally cry for Christian warriors was to retake the Holy Land away from the infidels or unbelievers

The Crusades continued During the Early Crusades, Christians were able to take lands away from Muslims --- took Jerusalem Muslims began to strike back Later Crusades, Christians organized young people (Children’s Crusade) to fight the Muslims Byzantine Empire ---- not as powerful Christians unable to defeat the Muslims

The Crusades continued Results of the Crusades:  Pope’s power weakened in the Christian Church (1)  Muslims & Jews faced more persecution from Christians (2)  Christians in Muslim controlled areas also faced persecution (3)