1. Focus Question #3: What are the four basic things you need to survive?
Answer: Food, Water, Shelter, Clothing
Have students discuss why these would be the very basic needs for survival. Need food and water in order to survive, clothing and shelter for protection to survive climate

2. Introduction to Civilizations
Obj. 2.1, 2.2,

3. First Civilizations
Emerged along rivers

4. Pros: Conditions favored farming Flood waters spread silt
Provided regular water supply
Transportation
Animals went to rivers to drink

5. Cons: Flooding caused death and destruction
Water had to be channeled to irrigate crops

6. Cultural Diffusion:
As people migrated, came into contact with different people
Trade cause introduction to new goods or better production methods
Wars brought change
Result: people shared and adapted customs

7. CITIES !
CIVILIZATIONS !!

8. What are the
characteristics
of a civilization??

9. CIVILIZATION Cities Writing Public Works Well-organized central
government
Art
&
Architecture
Complex
Religion
Social
Classes
Job
Specialization

10. The Ancient Fertile Crescent Area
Fertile Crescent – A arc of land between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea in SW Asia
The Middle East: “The Cradle of Civilization”

11. Mesopotamia:
"Land between
the rivers"

12. Mesopotamia Location: Between Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
In modern-day Iraq
Rivers offered rich soils for agriculture
Tended to be located in places that could offer protection from nomadic inaders

13. Tigris Now

14. Tigris Now

15. Euphrates now

16. Euphrates Now

17. Mesopotamia Accomplishments: Emergence of the first civilization
First to use irrigation for crops
Developed drainage ditches to control water supply
Wheel
Sail
Plow
Writing

18. Sumer: The First Civilization
Emerged: BC
Economy:
Primarily agricultural
Metal working
Trade
Society - 3 Classes:
Upper Class
Royal family, leading officials, priests
Middle Class
Scribes, merchants, craftspeople
Lower Class
Peasant farmers (90%), slaves ( most captured in war)
Women:
Could hold property
Join lower ranks of priesthood
Few women scribes

19. Government Theocracy - government by divine authority City-states
Ruled by kings
Fought constantly over land and water rights
“theo” means god
“cracy” means rule
Originally who was strongest held power
Then hereditary rulers took over with the power passed down to family members

20. Religion Polytheistic Belief in afterlife Belief in many gods
Believed different gods controlled forces of nature
Offered sacrificed animals, food and wine to the gods
Belief in afterlife
A place of darkness
Harsh, even for the good
“the place where they live on dust, their food is mud,… And they see no light, living in blackness”
gods and humans were similar
but gods were more powerful and immortal
gods were the masters
humans were the slaves
gods were ill-tempered, erratic, and very dangerous

21. Ziggurat Ziggurat Temple to a god
Most important building in every city
Believed to have served as a pedestal for the gods to descend to Earth
a sort of “step-temple”
usually seven layers,
with a shrine on top
a magic mountain
a “landing place” for the god/goddess
Believed gods could be angered at any moment
A lot of controll by the temple priests
Farmers believed they needed blessings for success of their crops
Priests were the middle man for the Gods
Priests demanded portion of farmer crops as tax

22. Ziggurat at Ur
290 ft high
Made of bricks - none of which more than 15” long
1 building contains 3 million bricks
Emphasize that bricks were hand-made mud, sun-dried
Very time consuming and labor intensive

24. UR

25. Sumerian Writing Invented the earliest form of writing
Called Cuneiform - “Wedge-shaped”
Used for record keeping and teaching

26. Sumerian Writing “Wedge-Shaped”
Used a reed stylus to make wedge-shaped markings on clay tablets
Tablets then baked in the sun
different from modern scripts
written on damp clay with a wedge-shaped stick
cuneiform (“wedge-shaped writing”)
writing medium
religious texts to contracts
with written texts we enter “History”
documents as insights into peoples thoughts
as well as records
evolved from use of simple symbols
rebus theory
eventually became conventionalized abstract shapes
used first for business, trade, records
“literature” came later....

27. Cuneiform: “Wedge-Shaped” Writing

28. Deciphering Cuneiform

29. Epic What does epic mean?
What is the title of the epic being discussed?
Who are the two main characters?
What happens to them?

30. Literature “The Epic of Gilgamesh” A tale of a Sumerian hero
Teaches lesson that only gods are immortal
“Epic of Gilgamesh” was:
One of the earliest forms of literature in the world
Recorded myths and poems
priests began to try to explain the how and why of things
creation stories: Enuma Elish and other stories
flood stories: Utnapishtim (etc.)
practical works: farmer’s almanacs
medicine, divination, astronomy, math, astrology, etc.
describes the creation of the universe
in a system based on “sevens”
the first three generations: gods of water, earth, sky
next three: gods of moving things
finally: Marduk make man so the gods can rest
corresponds with early Hebrew stories
with which you are more familiar
which are much later, derived from Sumerian models
creation based on a system of “sevens”
corresponding to the creation story in Genesis

31. “Gilgamesh, whither are you wandering?
Life, which you look for, you will never find.
For when the gods created man, they let
Death be his share, and withheld life
In their own hands” 31

32. Gilgamesh Epic Tablet Flood Story
Tells the story of a great flood that destroys the world
Similar to Noah’s story
Archeologists have found evidence of a catastrophic flood which devastated this area 4,900 years ago

33. The Great Flood
What is a myth?
Why did the flood occur?

34. Sophisticated Metallurgy Skills at Ur

35. Fertile Crescent Assessment3
Fertile Crescent Assessment
1. The Fertile Crescent was the land located a) along the Nile river b) between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers c) between the Euphrates and the Nile rivers d) between the Tigris and the Nile rivers.
2. Most people in Sumerian city-states were a) priests b) merchants c) scribes d) peasant farmers.

36. Fertile Crescent Assessment3
Fertile Crescent Assessment
1. The Fertile Crescent was the land located a) along the Nile river b) between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers c) between the Euphrates and the Nile rivers d) between the Tigris and the Nile rivers.
2. Most people in Sumerian city-states were a) priests b) merchants c) scribes d) peasant farmers.