1. Foundations

2. Learning Target: Early Civilizations contribution to Human Foundation  Factors that lead to civilized society, the impact of geography and location on early civilizations, and the major characteristics of Mesopotamia.

3.  Is the time before people developed writing.

4.  The name comes from the fact that people make tools and weapons with stones.  Paleolithic: Means “old stone” in Greek.  It was 2.5 million years ago and lasted to 8000 B.C.  Paleolithic people hunted animals, gathered nuts, berries, fruits, grains, caught fish, ate insects, and ate plants.

5.  Nomads: People who regularly move from place to place. The hunters and gathers.  The way that Paleolithic people lived depended largely on their environment.  The taming of fire was a big development for the age.  Another large development was the spoken language. This made it easier for people to work together and pass on knowledge.

7.  Period started after the last ice age and it means: “new stone age.”  People began to domesticate: Tame animals, and plants for human use.  They use animals for milk, meat, pulling carts, wool, and work load. They learned to grow their own food so that they could stay in a permanent place rather than moving around to stay with the food. This was called the farming revolution.

8.  Communities began to develop because of farming.  A steady food supply meant a growing population of people. They lived in one area and since not everyone was needed for farming people in the community developed specializations.  Specializations: The development of different kinds of jobs. Skills.

9. Skills included pottery from clay, and using plant fibers to make mats and weave cloth. Craftspeople and farmers exchanged their products in the system called trade. They exchanged things that they made for goods they did not have.

10.  This was one of the ancient civilizations.  Mesopotamia is in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.  They are located around water because it is used for farming, easy to travel, and trade.  Civilizations: Complex societies that have cities, organized governments, art, religion, class division, and a writing system.  Trade provided a way for goods and ideas to move place to place.

12.  As cities took shape the need for organization became apparent.  Governments formed to organize the people.  Leaders took charge of food supplies and building projects. They made laws to keep the order and assembled armies to fend off enemies.  Mesopotamia means land between the the rivers.

13.  The Southern group of cities in Mesopotamia were called Sumerian cities. It was difficult to get from city to city in the region because of the scorching desert.  City-States formed: Cities that had their own government and were not part of larger units.  Sumerians believed in many gods. Each was thought to have power over natural forces like- Flooding, or basket weaving.

14.  Sumerians tried to please their gods. Each city state built a grand temple called a ziggurat. Means “mountain of God” or “hill of heaven.”  Ziggurats had tiers like a giant square wedding cake and it was usually the largest building in the city.  At the top of each ziggurat was a special place of worship called a shrine that only the priests and priestesses could enter. Priests and priestesses were powerful and controlled much of the land. Later kings ran the government.

16.  Sumerian kings usually lived in large palaces, while ordinary people lived in small mud-brick houses.  Most workers were farmers, but some were artisans. Artisans: Skilled workers who made metal products, cloth, or pottery. Others worked as merchants or traders.  There was a class system. 1. Kings, priests, and government officials. 2. Artisans, merchants, farmers, and fishers. 3. Slaves who worked on farms.

17.  The Sumerians left a big mark on world history. Their ideas and inventions were copied and improved upon by others. As a result Mesopotamia has been called: “The cradle of civilization.”

18.  The people of Sumer created writing. This is important because it helps people keep records and pass on their ideas to others.  They invented writing to keep track of business deals.  Their form of writing is called Cuneiform.  Only a few people (mostly boys) learned how to write. After years of training they became scribes or record keepers.

20.  Sumerians also made advancements in irrigation systems. They also invented the wagon wheel to help them carry people and goods from place to place. They invented the plow.  They developed math ideas. They used geometry to measure fields and put up buildings. We have them to thank for 60- minutes in a hour. They watched the stars and developed a 12-month calendar based on the cycles of the moon.

21.  Sumerian city-states lost power when they were conquered by outsiders.  The Akkadians were the people to the North of Sumer. Their leader was named Sargon.  Around 2340 B.C. Sargon conquered all of Mesopotamia. He set up the world’s first empire.  Empire: is a group of many different lands under one ruler.

23.  Sargon’s empire dominated the region for 200 years before falling.  In 1800’s B.C. The city of Babylon became the center of trade.  Hammurabi was the king of Babylon. In 1792 B.C. he started to conquer the cities to the north and the south and created the Babylonian empire.

24.  Hammurabi was best know for his code of laws, or collection of laws.  He took what he believed were the best laws from each city-state and put them into one code.  His code covered crimes, farming and business activities, and marriage and family-almost every area of life. The code made it so everyone in Babylon followed the same laws.

25.  About 1000 years after Hammurabi, a new empire formed. Assyria was north of Babylon near the Tigris River.  There was a fertile valley there that was a prime place for farming. The valley was the envy of invaders.  To defend the land the Assyrians built a large army. Around 900 B.C. they began to take over the region.

26.  The Assyrians were so strong because they were so well organized. At the core were groups of foot soldiers armed with spears and daggers. Other soldiers were experts with bows and arrows. The army also had chariot riders and soldiers who fought on horseback.  Assyrians were considered cruel because they punished anyone who resisted their rule, drove people from their lands, and made settlers pay taxes. (Anyone who moved into their region).  This was the first army to use iron weapons.

27.  The Assyrians learned how to heat iron oar, to hammer it out, rapidly cooled it to make iron stronger. They learned this from the Hittites.  Assyrians would attack cities any way they could. They tunneled under walls, climbed over walls with ladders, and they used trees as battering rams to knock down city gates.  After a city was captured they burned the buildings and carried away its people and goods.

28.  By about 650 B.C. the empire stretched from the Persian Gulf to the Nile River. The capital was at Nineveh on the Tigris River.  Assyrian kings divided the empire into provinces: political districts. The king chose officials to govern each province.  They built roads to join all the parts of the empire. Government soldiers were posted at stations along the way to protect traders from bandits.

29.  The Assyrians lived much like other Mesopotamians. Their writing was based on Babylonian writing, and they worshiped many of the same gods.  Their laws were similar, but lawbreakers faced more brutal and cruel punishments in Assyria.  As builders, they showed great skill. They erected large temples that they filled with wall carvings and statues.  They also collected literature. They had the first library.

30.  The cruel treatment of the people led to many rebellions. Around 650 B.C. the Assyrians began to fight each other over who would be the next king.  A group of people called the Chaldeans seized the opportunity to rebel. They captured the capital (Neneveh) in 612 B.C. The empire soon crumbled.

31.  The king was Nebuchadnezzar. Most of the Chaldeans were descendents of the Babylonian people and they rebuilt the city of Babylon. It became the glorious center of their empire.  They build a wall to circle Babylon that was made of brick. It was so wide that two chariots could pass on the road on top. Built into the wall every 100 yards were watch towers for soldiers to keep watch.

32.  In the center of the city they built a 300 ft ziggurat. Another marvel was the Hanging Gardens at the kings palace.  These gardens were made of terraces that showcased large trees, masses of flowering vines, and other beautiful plants.  A pump brought water from the river.  Nebuchadnezzar built the gardens to please his wife, who missed the mountains and plants of her homeland.

35.  Babylon was right along the major trade route between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea, so it became rich from trade.  It was also the center of science. They believed that the chafes in the sky revealed the plans of god. They studied the heavens. The Chaldeans made one of the first sundials and were the first to have seven-day weeks.

36.  The Chaldeans began to lose power because they had a hard time controlling the people they had conquered.  In 539 B.C. the Persians from the mountains in the northeast captured Babylon.  Mesopotamia became part of the new Persian Empire.

37. 1. Define Paleolithic 2. Explain why domesticating plants and animals was a significant historical advancement. 3. What did they call their temples in Mesopotamia? 4. Why was the Assyrian army so strong? 5. What material were the Assyrian weapons made out of? 6. Why did King Nebuchadnezzar build the hanging gardens? 7. What is an empire? 8. True or False: Hammurabi created the first library.