2. Why River Valleys?
1. Offered rich soils for agriculture and fresh water
2. Tended to be located in places that could offer protection from nomadic invaders

3. Geography

4. The Fertile Crescent
Arc of land between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea in Southwest Asia
Why the “Fertile” Crescent?

5. One land…Two Rivers Mesopotamia means = “land between the rivers”
Tigris River and Euphrates River
Both rivers flooded once a year and left thick bed of silt.
Silt: rich, new soil farmers could plant and harvest enormous quantities of wheat and barley
What problems could flooding bring?

6. Natural Problems with Geography
Sumer’s Solution
Unpredictable flooding
Lack of natural barriers/small area (size of Massachusetts)
Lack of natural resources (wood, metal, stone)
Creation of Irrigation
Built defensive wall of mud bricks
Trade grains, cloth, and tools with people of the desert & mountains

7. Sumer
The Sumerians stand out in history as one of the first groups of people to form a civilization.
Sumerians had built a number of cities, each surrounded by fields of barley and wheat.

8. Sumer
Although these cities shared the same culture, they developed their own governments, each with its own rulers.
Each city and the surrounding land it controlled formed a city-state. A city-state functioned much as an independent country does today. Sumerian city-states included Uruk, Kish, Lagash, Umma, and Ur.

9. Political Power of the Priests
Sumer’s earliest governments were controlled by 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
Why do their eyes look so big?

10. Political
Later followed Hereditary rulers: when the power is passed down to family members
Why did power switch from Priests to Kings?
Sargon of Akkad
CREATED THE WORLD’S FIRST EMPIRE

11. Economy • Metal tools and weapons (bronze, iron)
• Increasing agricultural surplus (better tools, plows, irrigation)
• Increasing trade along rivers – traded with Egypt
• Development of the world’s first cities
• Specialization of labor
What tools do you recognize?

12. Religion Belief in multiple gods: polytheism
Sumerians had 1000s (close to 3000) of gods for everyday purposes
Religion major part of everyday life
Why?
Society relied on farming and so needed to pray to the gods for good harvests
Gods could be angered at any moment and to keep them happy Sumerians:
Built impressive ziggurats or temples to sacrifice food, wine and animals
Souls of the dead wandered in the land of no return
WHAT WAS A HUMANS PURPOSE IN THE ANCIENT WORLD?

14. Religion Temples: Ziggurats Surrounded by wall for protection
Served varied purposes: store grain, ceremonies, sacrifices

15. MORE
ZIGGURATS!!!

16. Sumerian Society Slaves Ordinary Sumerian people Kings and Priests
What do you think rigid class system means?
Kings and Priests
Wealthy merchants
Ordinary Sumerian people
Slaves
Rigid class system where slavery was accepted

17. Women Could hold property Join lower ranks of priesthood
There were very few women scribes
Scholars think that girls were not allowed to attend schools
Is this common in the
ANCIENT WORLD?

18. Intellectual Epic of Gilgamesh
Myths and legends recorded in this long poem
One of the earliest works of literature in the world
What is the importance of this writing?

20. How do these inventions help Sumerian/Mesopotamian society?
Achievements
Science and Technology
Invented the wheel, the sail, the plow
First to use bronze.
Developed system of writing
Built irrigation systems, buildings, surveyed flooded fields.
How do these inventions help Sumerian/Mesopotamian society?

21. Achievements
Calendars
Number system

22. Conquerors
Under the leadership of individual kings, leaders start looking to expand their city-states
Why? Land (crops, people, crafts)=wealth
This marks the beginning of empires
Empire: a group of nations or peoples ruled by one leader

23. 1st Empire: Sargon Dynasty, 2340 BCE- 2125 BCE
Founder: Sargon of Akkad
Adopted many of the Sumerian practices/beliefs for his empire
Expanded his city-state from the north of Sumer to the Persian Gulf

25. 2000 BCE: Babylonians
Hammurabi created an empire out of the former Akkadian territories
Relocated capital to Babylon
Maintained Sumerian practices
Language and religion
Hammurabi wanted to stabilize his rule by creating a standard code of law

28. Hammurabi’s Code First uniform code of law
Meaning it was the same throughout the empire
Engraved on stone and placed throughout the empire
First copy found on a stele in 1901
Now in the Louvre in Paris

29. The Code Itself 281 laws (but no #13!)
Showed that the government played an important role in arbitration
In other words, the government helped to settle arguments
Based on retribution
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth
Laws were applied differently to different genders and different social classes

30. Tigris Now

31. Tigris Now

32. Euphrates now

33. Euphrates Now