1. “The Cradle of Civilization”
Mesopotamia
“The Cradle of Civilization”

2. Significance of Mesopotamia
Earliest of civilizations – permanent settlements
“Mesopotamia” is Greek for “between the rivers”
Tigris River and Euphrates River
Lasted for approximately 3,000 years
Its peoples were the first to…
Irrigate fields
Devise writing system
Develop mathematics
Invent the wheel
Work with metal
Devise a written law code

4. Geographic Conditions
Little rainfall
Hot and dry climate
Wind and rain storms in winter
Muddy river valleys
Catastrophic flooding in spring
Arid soil containing few minerals
No stone or timber resources

5. Why live in Mesopotamia??
Natural Levees! (embankments produced by build-up of sediment from years of flooding)
Create a high and safe flood plain
Make irrigation and canal construction easy
Provide protection
Surrounding swamps full of fish and waterfowl
Reeds provide food for livestock (sheep, goats)
Reeds used for building materials

6. Religion Polytheistic Over 3600 gods and demigods
Shows diversity of religion from different regions
BUT all of Mesopotamia shared the same religion and same prominent gods
Enki – water, life, mediation
Enlil – supreme god of air
Shamash – sun, law giver
Ishtar – fertility, war, sex

7. Religion, cont’d Kingship created by gods
Therefore, the king’s power was divinely ordained
Gods lived on the distant mountaintops
Each city was ruled by a different god
Kings and priests were interpreters
Told the people what the god wanted them to do
Message from liver or lungs of a slain sheep

8. Ziggurats Temples dedicated to the god of the city
Made of layers of mud bricks in the shape of a pyramid
On platforms due to constant flooding
Temple on top was god’s home
Beautifully decorated
Room for offerings of food and goods
Temples evolved into ziggurats
Stack of 1-7 platforms decreasing in size from bottom to top
Famous ziggurat was the Tower of Babel

9. Government Political structure: early form of democracy
Frequent wars led to the emergence of warriors as leaders
Eventual rise of monarchy
Followed leadership of god of the city
Interpreted by a council of leading citizens or priests or leader of the city (king)

10. Sumerians ~ 3500-2000 BCE Sumer, Southern Mesopotamia
Irrigated fields and produced 3 main crops
Barley, dates, sesame seeds
Built canals, dikes, dams, drainage systems
Abundance of food = population increase
First city of the world - Sumer

11. Sumerians Developed cuneiform writing Invented the wheel
Developed trade system with bartering
Mainly barley but also wool and cloth for stone, metals, timber, copper, pearls, ivory
Individuals could rent land from priests
Controlled land on behalf of the gods
Most of the profits of trade went to the temple
Established social, economic, political basis of Mesopotamia but were unsuccessful in uniting lower Mesopotamia

12. Akkadians ~ 2340-2180 BCE Akkad, Northern Mesopotamia
Leader: Sargon the Great
Unified lower Mesopotamia after conquering Sumerians in 2331 BCE
Established capital at Akkad
Spread Mesopotamian culture
Dynasty was short lived when they were conquered by invading barbarians by 2200 BCE

13. Babylonians ~ 1830-1500 BCE Reunited Mesopotamia in 1830 BCE
Central location dominated trade and secured control
BUT… Mesopotamia not unified for long

14. Babylonians, cont’d Economy based on agriculture and wool
Individuals could own land
Artisans and merchants could keep profits and formed guilds
Grain used as the medium of exchange (shekel – mina)
Emergence of currency
Shekel = 180 grains of barley
Mina = 60 shekels
Mina was eventually represented by metals – one of the first uses of money

15. King Hammurabi Conqured Akkad and Assyria Built Legacy: Law Code
Walls to protect city
Canals and dikes to improve crops
Legacy: Law Code

16. Code of Hammurabi BCE
To enforce his rule, collected all the laws of Babylon in a code that would apply everywhere
First and most extensive law code from the ancient world
282 laws inscribed on a stone pillar placed in the public hall for all to see
Set of divinely inspired laws and also societal laws
Punishments designed to fit the crimes
Origin of “an eye for an eye”
Consequence for crimes depended on social rank
Poor = hand cut off; Nobles = pay a fine

17. Assyrians ~ BCE
City of Assur became important trade and political centre
Iron changed lifestyles
replaced wooden wheels, applied to chariots
Resulted in superior weapons
After Hammurabi’s death, Babylon fell apart and kings of Assur controlled more of surrounding area and came to dominate

18. Assyrians Made conquered land pay taxes Rule by fear
Food, animals, metal, timber
Rule by fear
States began to revolt and Assyrian Empire collapsed by late 7th century

19. The Persian Invasion
By 539 BCE, Mesopotamia was part of the Persian Empire
Led by Cyrus the Great, Persian Empire dominated for 800 years until Alexander the Great and the Greeks took over

20. Mesopotamia’s Legacies

21. Development of Writing
Pictograms: picture to show meaning
Ideograms: signs to represent words/ideas
Phonetics: signs to represent sounds

22. Writing – 3500 BCE Allowed for CUNEIFORM meaning “wedge shaped”
Transmission of knowledge
Codification of laws
Records to facilitate trade and farming
CUNEIFORM meaning “wedge shaped”
Wet clay tablets engraved with the point of a reed
Dried in the sun to make a tablet
Scribes were only literate folks
Priests, record keepers, accountants
Spread to Persia and Egypt
Vehicle for growth and spread of exchange of ideas among cultures

23. Gilgamesh – the first epic poem
Over 4000 years old, written on 12 clay tablets
Epic battle between Enkidu (wild man with a good heart) and Gilgamesh (controlling king)
The two became friends and went on adventures
This made the gods angry so they killed Enkidu causing Gilgamesh to wander the underworld in grief
Why is this important?
Earliest known author: Sin-leqi-unninni
Mentions a great flood similar to Noah’s flood in Genesis

24. Mathematics & Science
Mesopotamia, specifically Babylon, used a mathematical system based on 60
Some parts of the “base-sixty” system still remain:
360 degrees in a circle
60 seconds in a minute; 60 minutes in an hour
Calendar based on cycles of the moon
Number of days between the
appearance of two new moons
was set as a month
12 cycles made up a year

25. Royal Tombs of Ur Home of Abraham (Israelite patriarch)
Excavated from 1922 to 1934
Extravagant jewelry of gold, cups of gold and silver, bowls of alabaster, extraordinary objects of art and culture
Revealed full glory of ancient Sumerian culture
Great Death Pit
Mass grave containing bodies of 6 guards and 68 servants
Drank poison to accompany the kings and queens in the afterlife

26. Legacies of Mesopotamia
Codified laws
Concept of kingship and city-state government
Ziggurats – places of worship
Cuneiform writing
Oldest written records of a creation story
Irrigation
Metal working – tools
Trade networks
Transportation – the wheel
Mathematics and calendar
Prosperous living based on large scale agriculture
First civilization to do so

27. Sources www.mrvanduyne.com www.wwnorton.com www.tumblr.com