1. The Ancient
Middle East

2. Words to Know
Fertile Crescent – the area between the Mediterranean Sea and Persian Gulf
Mesopotamia – Greek for “land between rivers”; the Tigris and Euphrates
Ziggurat – pyramid-like temple
City-state – a city with its own government
Barter – trading one good for another

3. Words to Know Polytheism – belief in many gods
Dynasty – a family of rulers (kings etc)
Cuneiform – oldest writing; done on clay; wedge-shaped symbols; from Sumer
Gilgamesh – world’s oldest written story (4,000 years old)
Akkad – Addadian city (King Sargon I) with world’s first permanent army
Hammurabi’s Code – Babylonian laws (written by King Hammurabi); world’s first written laws

4. 1. Mesopotamia:
"Land Between
the Two Rivers"

5. Indo-European Migrations: 4m-2m BCE
The Middle East: “The Crossroads of Three Continents”

6. The Ancient Fertile Crescent Area
The Middle East: “The Cradle of Civilization”

7. Sumerians

8. Sumerian Religion - Polytheistic
Enki
Innana
Anthropomorphic Gods

9. Mesopotamian Trade
“The Cuneiform World”

10. Cuneiform: “Wedge-Shaped” Writing

11. Cuneiform Writing

12. Deciphering Cuneiform

13. Sumerian Scribes
“Tablet House”

14. Sumerian Cylinder Seals

15. Gilgamesh

16. Gilgamesh Epic Tablet: Flood Story

17. Ziggurat at Ur
Temple
“Mountain of the Gods”

18. The Royal Standard of Ur

19. Mesopotamian Harp

20. Board Game From Ur

21. Sophisticated Metallurgy Skills at Ur

22. Sargon of Akkad: The World’s First Empire [Akkadians]

23. The Babylonian Empires

24. Hammurabi’s [r. 1792-1750 B. C. E.] Code

25. Some Examples:
If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.
If he breaks another man’s bone, his bone shall be broken.
If he put out the eye of a man’s slave, or break the bone of a man’s slave, he shall pay one-half of its value.
If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out.
If any one strike the body of a man higher in rank than he, he shall receive sixty blows with an ox-whip in public.

26. Hammurabi, the Judge

27. Babylonian Math

28. Babylonian Numbers