1. Mesopotamia

2. Cities: Sumerian City-States city-states = a city that is also a separate, independent state ziggurats = pyramid-temples dedicated to a chief god or goddess of a city Rectangular in shape; surrounded by large walls Rival cities battled for control of land and water Examples: Ur, Sumer, Erech, Kish, Babylon

3. Central Government: First Empires Sumer (3200 BCE) – King Sargon: first empire builder Babylon (1790 BCE) – King Hammurabi: law code Assyrians (1100 BCE) – King Assurbanipal: library of Ninevah New Babylonia (612 BCE) – King Nebuchadnezzar: Hanging Gardens of Babylon Persia (539 BCE) – Cyrus the Great: largest empire of Mesopotamia

4. Writing: Cuneiform cuneiform = earliest form of writing invented by the Sumerians in 3200 BCE; “wedge” writing using a stylus (reed pen)

5. Social Classes: Hammurabi’s Code

6. Organized Religion: Epic of Gilgamesh

7. Technology: Hanging Gardens of Babylon

8. Job Specialization: Phoenician Merchants Phoenicians gained fame as sailors and merchants (traders) Sea snails  “Tyrian purple” Traded along Mediterranean colony = territory settled & ruled by people of a distant land alphabet  developed symbols to represent spoken sounds