The Fertile Crescent The FC was in present day Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Syria & Iraq

Mesopotamia - land between two rivers –Tigris –Euphrates Present Day Iraq Settled 5000 BC Flat plain Need protection from flooding rivers & from invaders –built dams & channels –irrigation

Sumerian Civilization (3000 BC) City State – an independent state consisting of the city & the farms around it (12) within Sumer valley common culture, language, religion

Religion Polytheistic – believed in many gods each City State has a temple – Ziggurat

Deities unpredictable & selfish bring famine, disease, flood, destruction priests & priestesses ask for blessings ceremonies to appease gods An – god of seasons Enlil – wind and agriculture Underworld – no light or air

The Story on Enmesh and Enten Summer Myth in which Enlil, son of the Sumerian supreme God chooses the gifts of Enten (creator of animals over Enmesh creator of villages) Importance of Neolithic

Government Kings are also priests, responsible for pleasing the deity. This makes the government a Theocracy – or government controlled by religious leaders

Sumerian inventions (develop around the need to trade) –wheel –arch – sturdier buildings –potter’s wheel –sundial –# system (based on 60) –lunar calendar –1st bronze –Cuneiform – writing symbols for ideas & objects hard to learn  scribe class studies at eddubas business, history, literature

Empires of Mesopotamia & Hammurabi’s Code

Sargon of Akkad– 2350 BC conquered all c-s of Sumer 1st Empire – many peoples & previously independent states under one ruler

Hammurabi of Babylon When approx B.C.E. Problem – many different laws & customs throughout the land and acts of vengeance were common Solution- Created a codified law system based on class rank. Harsh punishments

Pillar of Law

Hammurabi’s Code: “to make justice appear in the land” 1st “Codified” Law (organized law code) 1st Written law – engraved on stones throughout the empire Uniform – all cs had to abide by it

Questions What categories does it deal with? Is there equality under Hammurabi’s law? Does it “make justice appear in the land?” How do Hammurabi’s laws compare with ours in terms of the 1. types of laws, 2. types of punishments, 3. goal of the law?