1. REVOLUTION A TOTALLY new way of living:
From
Hunter-Gatherers
to Agriculture

2. Agricultural Revolution
Until the first civilizations, people were nomads. They lived in groups of , and spent most of their time hunting and gathering.  The men hunted game animals, and the women gathered fruits and berries. 
When they learned to cultivate crops and domesticate animals, life radically changed. This is known as the Agricultural Revolution.
 Agriculture (crops) led to permanent settlements, the establishment of social classes, and the eventual rise of civilizations.
Because there was enough food (surplus), social class divisions developed, such as farmer, craftsman, and warrior. (Would you need to fight if there’s nothing to gain?)

3. Agricultural Revolution
When resources became scarce, warfare among villages increased.  During war, some men gained stature as great warriors and became leaders in their society.
Priests and warriors were the upper class, while farmers were lower class. (Remember, there were no priests, warriors, or social classes before there was a surplus of food – food surplus changed EVERYTHING.)
New technologies developed in response to the need for better tools and weapons to go along with the new way of living.  They developed simple metal tools such as plows, to help with their work.  Metal weapons were developed as villages needed to protect their valuable resources.

4. 4 Early River Valley Civilizations
Archaeologists believe this is where one of the world’s first civilizations arose.
Mesopotamia (today’s Iraq) – is known as the cradle of Civilization.

5. City-States in Mesopotamia
“The Four Early River Valley Civilizations”
Sumerian Civilization - Tigris & Euphrates Rivers (Mesopotamia)
City-States in Mesopotamia
PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.

6. City-States in Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia means “the land between two rivers – (Tigris and Euphrates Rivers).
Because of this region’s shape and the richness of its soil, it is called the Fertile Crescent.
SW Asia
(the Middle East)
Fertile Crescent
PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.

7. City-States in Mesopotamia
Three Problems:
1. Unpredictable flooding / dry summer months
2. No natural barriers for protection - small villages lying in open plain were defenseless
3. Limited natural resources
- stone, wood, metal
PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.
PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.

8. City-States in Mesopotamia
Solutions to the problems:
1. Dug irrigation ditches
2. Built city walls with
mud bricks
3. Traded with people
around them
for the products
they lacked.
PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.
PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.

9. City-States in Mesopotamia
Government
Each city had its own government / rulers, warriors,
its own patron god, and functioned like an independent country
Examples include Sumerian cities of Ur, Uruk, Kish, Lagesh
At the center of each city was the walled temple with a ziggurat – a massive, tiered, pyramid-shaped structure.
PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.

10. Sumerian Religion
Sumerians worshipped many gods, not just one. This belief in many gods is called polytheism. “Poly” means many and “Theism” means gods.
Ziggurats were the main temples used to worship the gods of a city. Ziggurats were built in the center of the city. They had steps and ramps, and it was believed that the gods descended to the Earth using the ziggurat as a ladder.

11. The Ziggurat at Ur was first excavated by British archaeologist Woolley in The Iraqi Directorate of Antiquities restored its lower stages in the 1980s.

12. Ziggurat – Holy Mountain

13. BABYLONIAN ZIGGURAT

14. Sumerian Mythology
Sumerian myths, or stories, explained people’s beliefs. Sumerians believed that a person must keep the gods happy by going to the ziggurat and praying to them. They believed that the gods would reward them for good service. They also believed that the gods would punish the people who made them angry.
ziggurat

15. City-States in Mesopotamia
Powerful priests held much political power in the beginning.
Right:
“Priest-king,"
ca. 3300–3000 B.C.;
Uruk.
Left: Priests
intervening between
worshipers and gods.
PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.

16. Cultural diffusion is the spread of elements of one culture to another people, generally through trade.
Take the spread of writing. Similarities between the pictograms of Egyptian hieroglyphics, Sumerian cuneiform, and the Indus script are striking.
PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.

17. City-States in Mesopotamia
RELIGION
Belief in many gods - polytheism
God of the clouds / air was Enlil – the most powerful god.
(Nearly 3,000 others – with human qualities. The Sumerians viewed their gods as hostile and unpredictable – similar to the natural environment around them.)
Marduk, the Dragon god
A Sumerian warrior-god, gold figurine, ca. 2,400-2,500 B.C.
PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.

18. City-States in Mesopotamia
SOCIAL STRUCTURE:
Three social classes
a. Priests and royalty (kings)
b. Wealthy merchants
c. Ordinary workers
[Slaves] –were not free citizens and thus not included in class system
2. Women
Had more rights than in many later civilizations
(could own property, join lower ranks of priesthood)
But not allowed to attend schools
(could not read or write)
Left: Statue of Sumerian woman with hands clasped at chest,
ca B.C Right: Gypsum statue of man and
woman at Inanna Temple at Nippur, circa B.C.

19. City-States in Mesopotamia
ACHIEVEMENTS
1. One of the first writing systems - Cuneiform
Cylinder seal of Ibni-sharrum, a scribe of Shar-kali-sharri (left) and impression (right), ca. 2183–2159 B.C.; Akkadian, reign of Shar-kali-sharri. Mesopotamia. Cuneiform inscription in Old Akkadian. Serpentine; H. 3.9 cm (1 1/2 in.); Diam. 2.6 cm (1 in.). Musée du Louvre, Département des Antiquités Orientales, Paris  AO
This seal, which according to the cuneiform inscription belonged to Ibni-sharrum, the scribe of king Shar-kali-sharri, is one of the finest examples of the perfection achieved by the engravers of the Akkadian period. Two nude heroes with long curls are represented kneeling on one knee in a strictly symmetrical composition. Each of them holds a vase with water gushing forth, a symbol of fertility and abundance; two water buffalo are drinking from them. Underneath, a river winds its way between the mountains, represented in a conventional manner by a motif composed of two lines of scales. In the center of the composition, the text panel containing the inscription is supported on the backs of the buffalo. These animals are evidence of the relations existing between the Akkadian Empire and the region of Meluhha, identified with the Indus Valley, where they originated. The engraver carefully detailed their powerful musculature and their spectacular horns, which he depicted as they appear on Indus seals in a view from above. The calm equilibrium of the composition, based on horizontal and vertical lines, confers on this minuscule relief a monumentality entirely characteristic of the late Akkadian period style. Seals of this quality were the monopoly of relatives of the royal family or of high officials, and probably came from a workshop, where production was reserved for these elite figures.
Cylinder seals and their ancient impressions on administrative documents and locking devices are
our richest source for a range of meaningful subject matters.
A wealth of these have been discovered at Sumerian sites. *
PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.

20. Cuneiform

22. Review: What were the places of worship for the people of Mesopotamia?
What was their writing called?
3. Mesopotamia, the first permanent place for human settlements, had a special name for its shape. What?
4. The Fertile Crescent was between what two rivers?
The Fertile Crescent
ziggurats
Tigris and Euphrates
cuneiform