1. Standard:
14.Introduce the Fertile Crescent cultures, Sumerians, Babylonians (Hammurabi), Assyrians and Phoenicians and their contributions to civilization
16.Describe the decline of Egypt and rise of other African cultures:
Kush, Ghana, Mali, Songhai,
including trade, products, slavery, learning,
beginnings and spread of Judaism and Islam

2. The Fertile Crescent

3. The Geography
Located between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers

4. The area once had large forests
But they were cut down for buildings and firewood
Today it is mostly desert

5. “The Land Between the Rivers”
Ancient Mesopotamia
“The Land Between the Rivers”

6. Southern Mesopotamia The rivers deposited silt as they flowed south
It created loose soil, good for farming
The people grew wheat and barley

7. But they were threatened by annual floods and drought
They built levees to protect from fall flooding
The built canals for irrigation during summer drought

8. Northern Mesopotamia It had good rainfall But the soil was rocky
not always good for farming
Some people cut timber and used metals and stone from nearby mountains

9. Review
Pg 57 #1 – 5
Use complete sentences

10. Sumer

11. The first Mesopotamian civilization 
About 5000 BC
They were an agricultural community
They grew crops and stored food

12. The people of Sumer were great inventors

13. Sumerian Inventions

14. Irrigation systems

15. Wagon Wheel

16. Sailboat

17. Potter’s Wheel

18. New ideas in Science and Math
The Sumerians developed a number system based on 60 and a 12-month calendar.

19. Cuneiform

20. Cuneiform Writing
Made by scratching a wet clay tablet with a sharp reed pen
It was a form of picture writing with about 500 symbols to represent sounds, ideas and objects

21. Sumer’s Schools Only a few boys of the wealthy went to school
They practiced cuneiform letters and studied mathematics to make accurate records

22. Some students became scribes
They recorded laws, legends, and songs
Girls did not go to school

23. City-States Life in Sumer was centered on its city-states
Which were often at war with each other
City-states had thick mud-brick walls for protection
They fought for control the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers

24. The King Ruled from the palace Operated the courts Ran the army
Planned canals and other projects

25. Religion Was the center of Sumerian life They practiced polytheism
The belief in many gods and goddesses
Ishtar, the goddess of love and war, was the most famous

26. The Ziggurat A pyramid of mud and brick
It was located at the center of the city and had a temple at the top
People gave gifts to the temple to please the gods and goddesses

27. Daily Life in Sumer Wealthy families
Lived in large brick houses with servants and slaves

28. Slaves were prisoners of war, sold by slave merchants
They had special haircuts so they could be identified

29. Poorer families lived in reed houses This kind of house is still built in Iraq today.
Everyone worked
Parents taught children their crafts

30. Leisure
The people of Sumer enjoyed playing board games and listening to music

31. City-States Unite Sargon, king of Kish created the first great empire
He united all the independent city-states of Sumer
He extended the empire north and west

32. Cuneiform writing allowed Sargon to send his laws across the kingdom
After Sargon’s death the empire broke up and the city-states became independent again.

33. Storytellers Greatest legend is the story of Gilgamesh
He set out on a journey to discover how humans could live forever
In the stories he has many adventures, but never finds the secret of living forever.
Here is one of those stories

34. Review
Pg 63 #1 – 5
Use complete sentences

35. Babylon and Assyria

36. Hammurabi King of Babylon Built dams across the Euphrates River
Which allowed him to control the river’s water flow

37. Babylon Hammurabi’s capital city
Center of trade in the Fertile Crescent
Became wealthy and powerful

38. Code of Hammurabi 228 laws dealing with everything
(wages, divorce, military service, etc.)
All citizens were expected to obey
Not everyone was equal under the code of laws

39. Hammurabi

40. Time of War
After Hammurabi’s death Assyria fought many wars against Babylon.
It’s armies were feared
Battering rams and horse-drawn chariots made them faster and more dangerous in battle.

41. Assyria
By 600 B.C. the Assyrian empire stretched from Egypt to the Persian Gulf and into modern Turkey

42. Assyrian Life Prisoners were brought in as slaves
To work on farmlands and building projects
Some eventually became Assyrian citizens

43. Assyrian men were hunters, soldiers and government leaders.
Assyrian women stayed home and cared for families

44. The Aqueduct Nineveh was located on the Tigris River
One ruler built an aqueduct (a raised waterway) to carry the water to 30 miles away.

45. War Between Babylon and Assyria
The Assyrian king, threatened by revolt in Babylon, ordered the city to be destroyed.
Palaces and homes were burned
The city was flooded with river water

46. Babylon fought back and destroyed Nineveh
Assyria never recovered
Babylon was a rich and important city and had one last period of glory

47. Review
Pg 71 # 1 – 5
Use complete sentences

48. The Birth of Judaism

49. Abraham The Hebrew Bible says
The Jewish people are the descendents of Abraham and his wife Sarah
A family of Ur

50. A Covenant with God Abraham and Sarah set out for Canaan
When they got there he made a covenant, or special agreement, with God
This event is considered to be the beginning of Jewish history

51. Migrating to Egypt There was a time of hunger
The Israelites went to Egypt where there was food
At first they were welcomed
Later a new ruler enslaved them

52. Moses Was born to Israelite parents
And later adopted by the pharaoh’s daughter
He was raised in the royal household
He shared the wealth and power of ancient Egypt’s rulers

53. According to the Hebrew Bible:
After seeing an Egyptian beating an enslaved Israelite Moses pushed the man away
The man fell and was killed and Moses fled to Midian
Present day Saudi Arabia

54. Moses as Prophet
After many years God persuaded Moses to return to Egypt and lead his people out of slavery
To the Israelites Moses is a prophet
A person who speaks for God

55. Moses led the Israelites to safety

56. Mount Sinai
Where God gave Moses the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, called the Torah

57. The Torah In Hebrew, Torah means “to teach”
Some of the laws were similar to those in Babylonia

58. Move to Monotheism
One important way the Torah was different from other laws
God forbade the Israelites to worship any other gods
This set the Israelites apart from other people in the Fertile Crescent

59. Ten Commandments Laws God gave Moses
The Core of the Jewish religion and teachings

60. 40 Years in the Wilderness
Then the Israelites crossed the river Jordan into Canaan
But without Moses
He died just before they crossed

61. The Nation of Israel In Canaan the Hebrews defeated several kings
They established the nation of Israel

62. King David
Under King David’s leadership Israel became a powerful kingdom
He made the city of Jerusalem his capital

63. King Solomon King David’s son He built a great temple
Jerusalem became the center of religious and political life for the Jews
It continues to be so today

64. Israel Divides
After Solomon’s death the kingdom of Israel split into two
The northern kingdom remained Israel
The southern kingdom was called Judah

65. Israel
In 721 B.C. Israel was conquered by the Assyrians

66. Judah In 586 B.C. Judah was destroyed by Babylonia
Solomon’s temple was destroyed
Jews were led away to Babylon

67. Diaspora
The scattering of Jews away from their homeland

68. Great Britain recognized the rights of the Jewish people to establish a “national home in Palestine."
But curtailed the entry of Jewish refugees into Israel even after World War II.
They split Palestine Mandate into the modern day Jordan and Israel.
1948 War of Independence
1956 Sinai War
1967 Six Day War
1973 Yom Kippur War
Despite the numerical superiority of the Arab armies, Israel defended itself each time and won. After each war Israeli army withdrew from most of the areas it captured.

69. Review
Pg 77 #1 – 5
Use complete sentences

70. Next up …
The Nile River Valley

71. Evaluation
Chapter Test