1. Cradle of Civilization
Mesopotamia
Cradle of Civilization

2. Mesopotamia Geographic area- In modern day country of Iraq
The name means “land between 2 rivers”
2 Rivers- Tigris River and Euphrates River

3. Mesopotamia
The constant water supply from the 2 rivers provided rich farm land ideal for growing crops.
The rivers flooded each spring, the early people in the area built levees to keep the flood waters back and built irrigation systems.

4. Mesopotamia Area was first settled about 4500-4000 B.C.
These people were originally farmers, herders, and fishermen.
They made tools, bricks, clay figures, and pottery.

5. Sumer The people who lived there were called Sumerians
The first known civilization around 3500 B.C.
The Sumerian people made wagon wheels, used copper and bronze, made sail boats, used plows, wrote laws, and studied astronomy.

6. Sumer Important city states developed
Built strong walled cities for protection from outside invaders
Important Sumerian city-
Ur (capital of Sumer) had a population of around 200,000
Most cities were unattractive- no public services available to remove garbage and sewage. This was left to pile up on the streets.

7. Sumerian Cities Streets were narrow, unpaved, winding
Houses were one story mud brick structures with flat roofs.
Members of the upper class had 2 story houses with many rooms that included sleeping quarters and servants quarters and burial plots below the house
Household utensils made out of stone, copper and bronze
Merchants supplied the townspeople with material items

8. Religion Sumerians constructed shrines or temples called Ziggurats.
Ziggurats were to serve as a pedestal for the gods to descend to Earth.
On top was a shrine room where people would pray or hope to entertain a divine visitor.

9. Religion
Public was not invited to engage in temple rituals, but they needed to constantly pray or the gods would not bless their lands.
Around the ziggurat were courts where artisans worked, children went to school, and people traded and stored goods there.
Sumerians believed that all of nature was controlled by gods

10. Education
The Sumerian schools were called “tablet houses” and were used to educate scribes for various religious, governmental, and commercial jobs.
Schools at first were mostly religious and were for rich children
Male only
Classes went from morning until sunset
Curriculum included- grammar, penmanship, science, and math

11. Writing
Writing helped man maintain a complex economic and political society
Sumerian writing dates back as early as 3100 B.C.
Dried Mud tablets with a sharp pointed reed called a stylus was how they wrote the cuneiform.
This writing was adopted by their conquerors and used for about 2000 years.

12. Family Life Woman had rights in Sumerian society
They could buy and sell property and could run businesses
The husband was the head of the household
He could divorce his wife or rent out his wife and children for up to three years
Children were expected to support their parents when they became old

13. Priests and Kings Priests were also the kings of the city-states
Gilgamesh was the most famous
Received advice from an assembly of free men
During wars, the assembly chose a military leader to serve until the war was over
Eventually, these leaders stayed in charge and became kings.
Kingship became hereditary

14. Ticket out the Door

15. Later Mesopotamian Empires
Section 2
Later Mesopotamian Empires

16. Sargon 1 Ruled an area called Akkad
Began to conquer city-states one by one and became king of all of them
Created world’s first empire
Ruled for 50 years

17. Hammurabi of Babylon
Hammurabi was king of Babylon who conquered Akkad and Sumer
The Babylonians took on the language and religion of the people they conquered
Hammurabi improved irrigation systems and changed the religion
Developed his own set of laws called the Code of Hammurabi

18. Hammurabi Appointed judges to carry out the code
Judges were punished if not honest
He believed people were innocent until proven guilty
During Hammurabi’s rule, Babylon became a trade center
Hammurabi’s reign is known as the Golden Age of Babylon

19. Ticket Out the Door
How is Hammurabi’s code similar to the laws in the United States?

20. Section 3
Contributions

21. Inventions and Contributions
Inventions and customs of the Sumerians and Babylonians were copied and improved upon by other cultures.

22. Inventions and Contributions
Oldest written records in the world
First written laws
Cuneiform was a model for other people’s system of writing

23. Inventions and Contributions
Invented the wheel which aided transportation
Invented the plow which allowed farmers to grow more food
Invented the sailboat which replaced muscle power with wind power

24. wheel

25. Inventions and contributions
Developed a 12 month calendar based on the cycles of the moon
It marked the times for religious festivals and planting

26. Inventions and Contributions
Contributions to math
Developed a number system based on 60
60 minute hour
60 second minute
360 degree circle
Clock that was controlled by water

27. Ticket out the Door