1. Mesopotamia
Social Organization

2. Vocabulary
Code of Law: set of laws that rule society Value: was is considered good and desirable in society or a person City-state: a city that has its own government and laws Officials: a person who is employed as a government administrator Polytheism: having many gods Epic: a long poem or story focused on a hero and their great achievements

3. City Life
Mesopotamian cities were large and well populated (10000 km are and people) Cities were fortified (circled by a wall) Organization of cities helped organize administration of all the services The city protected the agricultural land surrounding it They had there own government and kings making them city- states

4. Law and Justice: Hammurabi
4000 years ago Hammurabi the king of Babylon ordered and engraving of the code of law
It was the world’s first code of law
It stated that the strong must nor oppress the weak
These laws were based on the values common to Mesopotamia
Since they were written down everyone had to respect them even the government

5. Power and Social Hierarchy: The Elite
The king was at the top of the social hierarchy He was chosen by a council of elders nobles The king had supreme power After several wars the strongest warlords became kings Over time royal power became hereditary The king and nobles(important priests, administrators and army leaders) owned most of the land in the city They made up the elite of society

6. Power and Social Hierarchy: The Middle Class
The middle of the social hierarchy were priest, officials and scribes They held positions of importance Scribes often practiced their art in the temples The middle class was composed mostly of merchants and artisans Some became very wealthy and owned land holdings

7. Power and Social Hierarchy: The Common People
At the bottom of the social hierarchy were peasants and slaves Peasants rarely owned land Most farmed lands owned by the temples or the kings and nobles The slaves did all the hard work (like building temples and digging irrigation ditches) In general slaves were either prisoners of war or peasants who were enslaved for a short time to pay their debts

9. Religion
They believed the king received his power from the gods: how they got their immortality were told in stories called epics The priests gained power as they talked to the gods for the people They believed in polytheism and to please the gods Mesopotamians built them homes on earth called temples Some temples were so large they seemed like cities within the city

10. Temple Sanctuary Ziggurats were part of the largest temples
At the top of each Ziggurat was a sanctuary dedicated to a god that protected the city
Each city had its own god
Stories of one god defeated another were created as history to represent one city state defeating another